When the Coolidge High Colts won their first Turkey Bowl championship since 1986 last week, the school already shared an important piece of the Thanksgiving tradition's history.

Days before the Colts’ victory, alumni of the 1969 Turkey Bowl between Coolidge and the McKinley Tech Trainers reunited in front of RFK Stadium, where their historic game was played.

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“They were trying to bring the city back together and they were going to do it through the youth,” said Coolidge High alumnus Rev. Dr. Robert Screen.

Seven years before their game, in 1962, St. John’s High played Eastern High at RFK Stadium in front of over 50,000 fans.

The game ended in a riot, putting an end to games at RFK.

In the wake of the 1968 riots, loc

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