For nearly three decades, Lonnie Brandon served as Montclair’s Director of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs, helping shape the programs and public spaces that define the town. His connection to Montclair runs far deeper than his professional career. His family has lived here for more than a century, and as a teenager in the 1960s, he was a star football player at Montclair High School.
During our deep dive into Montclair’s magnet system, we touched on Brandon’s experiences navigating racism as a Black student athlete. In this week’s episode, he visits to share his reflections on a powerful, and at times unsettling, glimpse into a complex chapter of the town’s history. Now an educator and historian who lectures across New Jersey on Black history, Brandon continues to share those stories while placing them in a broader historical context.
Photo Credit: Lonnie Brandon
🎧 The full conversation is available on this week’s episode of The Montclair Pod. Below is a summary of the interview.
An Uneven Playing Field
Brandon did not see much playing time until his senior year at Montclair High School, when he broke through in a big way. He finished somewhere in the top ten in the county in scoring, playing running back and also serving as a place kicker for extra points. He says he enjoyed playing and respected Coach Clary Anderson’s command of the game. Anderson was widely regarded across the state for his mastery of football strategy and his deep understanding of the X’s and O’s.
What Anderson lacked, Brandon says, were people skills, particularly with the African American community. He recalls that it was widely believed the coach kept enough Black players on the team to win, but did not always give other talented African American athletes a fair opportunity. Brandon agrees that the bar was higher for Black players. As he grew up, elders in the community warned him to be on his Ps and Qs with Anderson. They told him that if he gave the coach the slightest excuse, he would not play. Brandon says that happened to many players and that it was common knowledge Anderson was tougher on them in particular.
The most painful experience came during Brandon’s senior year, when a recruiting letter from Bradley University arrived at the school. Brandon did not receive it. A football manager who handled the coach’s mail told him about the letter, and when Brandon asked Anderson for it, he says the coach told him he could not get into that school and did not need the letter. Jean Henningberg, one of the few African American teachers at the high school at the time, overheard Brandon discussing the situation. Offended that he had not been given his mail, she enlisted a history teacher she trusted, and together they went to the boys gym and retrieved the letter. Brandon says he later learned it was fairly common knowledge that such incidents occurred.
After that episode, Brandon believes there were consequences. As a starting outfielder on the baseball team during his sophomore and junior years, he expected a strong senior season. Instead, as uniforms were distributed to sophomores and freshmen, he did not receive one. When he asked about it, he says Anderson told him he did not think baseball was going to be his sport that year. Brandon was never formally told he was cut, but without a uniform, he walked away and joined the track team, figuring running would help his college football prospects. He acknowledges he has no evidence that the decision was retaliation, but says that is his personal belief.
Few people stood up to Anderson, Brandon says. As chair of the physical education department and head coach of football, baseball, and hockey, Anderson held enormous influence at Montclair High School. He was successful, and in those days, Brandon says, no one challenged him.
Years later, after studying history at Wagner College and returning to Montclair to work for the town, Brandon encountered Anderson again. By then, Anderson had moved on to Montclair State as head football coach. Brandon met with him there about recreation department matters. The meeting was cordial and productive. Asked whether he sensed any regret, Brandon says yes and no. By that point, he no longer trusted him, but as a young man building his career, he considered it water under the bridge.
