Ankle Frostburne played football for Florida A&M in 1950, the year the school won its first Black College National Championship under Coach Jake Gaither. In fact that’s who first called him Ankle. Had to do with the way Ankle ran and was to be able to quickly change directions seemingly without moving his upper body. Coach Gaither said it was all in his ankles, so called him that.
After college, Ankle returned to Tampa to work in his father’s grocery business, and marry his longtime sweetheart, Luanna. After the birth of their second daughter, the family relocated to Daytona Beach and operated a small motel for nearly 20 years, finally selling out to a developer, their business having waned along with the entire business district, with the rise of desegregation. Ankle and Luanna returned to Tampa, settling into a quiet residential area where they each had a garden, his flowers, hers food. Their daughters both were raising families in the Tampa area, so it was easy for grandchildren to visit.
Though neither were ever politically active or even followed politics closely, they did watch the growing support of Barack Obama with a shared sense of amazement. They hardly spoke of it, but they watched it.
Starting a family in the same days as the start of the civil rights movement had never escaped them. They had never marched or sang in public, they had never been confronted by a mob or police, they had never really felt particularly threatened. They had lived their life within the system, quietly and lovingly raised a solid family which is solid into a third generation. Perhaps they had dreams that were unfilled, but it was not because of racism, they would say. It was because some dreams remain just that...dreams.
A few days before Christmas, a letter arrived from the FAMU Football Alumni Association. Luanna handed it to Ankle along with two Christmas cards received that day. He looked at the Christmas cards first and then opened the letter. It was an invitation to travel to Washington, DC for the Inauguration along with the Florida A&M Band, who would be marching in the Parade. The university was organizing buses from several Florida cities to caravan along with the band. One bus would come from Tampa.
Ankle did something he had never done, or hardly ever that he could remember. He made a big decision without talking to Luanna, but he knew it was important for them to make this trip, and he didn’t want the space to sell out. So he acted. He picked up the phone and reserved two seats on the bus.
When he told her what he had done, she said it was the most romantic thing he’d done in years.