In 1991, the David W. Carter and Justin F. Kimball football teams were both vying for the district championship. Twenty-six years later, the rivalry is rekindled each year when the schools meet on the field in what some call the “Oak Cliff Super Bowl.”
The 2017 version of the matchup is slated to begin at 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 9, at Dallas ISD’s Kincaide Stadium, 9191 S. Polk St. The day before, Dallas City Councilman Casey Thomas conducted a news conference on the Dallas City Hall Plaza to draw attention to the rivalry and the great schools in the Oak Cliff community.
Kimball is in Thomas’ council district, and Carter is in Councilman Tennell Atkin’s district. The two agreed on a friendly wager that at next Wednesday’s Dallas City Council meeting, one of them will be wearing a shirt supporting the winning team.
Members of the drum lines from each school provided a pep-rally atmosphere as the principals from each school – Kimball’s Llewellyn Smith and Carter’s Jonathan Smith – talked a little friendly trash about the other school’s chances of winning Saturday’s game.
Another aspect is that the head football coaches from each school – Kimball’s Henry Cofer and Carter’s Patrick Williams – were members of the teams they now coach. Both were players when the Carter-Kimball rivalry began, and two played together on a club team. Read a story from last year that explains the rivalry’s roots and the current coaches’ feelings about the game.
Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway said he will attend the game Saturday and will be pulling for both teams, something he can do because he graduated from Roosevelt High School.
