“Remember the Titans”: a Character Analysis of Gerry Bertier

Gerry Bertier’s Leadership in “Remember the Titans”

Gerry Bertier is the team captain and one of the best players and leaders from Virginia High School football teams. He is also a character in the film Remember the Titans. Analyzing the character of Gerry Bertier at the beginning of the film, he could be described as an assigned type leadership; he also has a strong personality. According to Northouse, an assigned leader is based on a formal title or position in an organization, and an assigned leader is not always a true leader.

Although Gerry, at first, is a passionate leader and loves his team, he lacks a behavioral approach. The behavioral approach focuses exclusively on what leaders do and how they act and is composed of two behaviors task behaviors and relationship behaviors (Northouse, 71). Apparently, Gerry needed to work on relationship behaviors. He was intense and more of a task leader.

Challenges and Growth in T.C. Williams High School

Gerry ends up at T.C. Williams High School. After three schools merged, he did not seem to agree with the decision to switch coaches, much less he agreed to have black players on his team. Things were rough for Gerry since the beginning. The day the football team left for a camp, Gerry went to his new coach Boone and introduced himself with confidence and determination in the following way “I’m Gerry Bertier. The only All-American you got on this team. If you want any of us to play for you, you reserve half the open positions for Hammond players, half the offense, and half the special teams. We don’t need any of your people on defense. We’re already set.’ (Remember the Titans, 2000).

The Power of Teamwork and Leadership Dynamics

Gerry attended Hammond High School, where he became a key player for that school, he gained a reputation at that High School, and certainly, he began to form his character to become an excellent leader. At the beginning of the movie, we can see that Gerry’s character also lacks team management. The team spent a week together at the Gettysburg College Camp for training, and Gerry realized that he wanted to succeed, and that was the same goal for Coach Boone. Now, the captain and the coach felt that they had the same goal they must work together to keep the team united and win all the games. Coach Boone represents a democratic and cross-cultural type of leadership, which is exactly the kind of leadership that the team requires in its present predicament.

Although there is a lot of frustration, lack of trust, and no teamwork with the rest of the players. Gerry wants to work hard for the team, but during the training in the camp Julius who is the left defensive end, argues with Gerry about who is doing their part of the job in the field; Julius tells Gerry, “Then Why don’t you tell your white buddies to block for Rev better? Because they have not blocked for him worth a plug nickel, and you know it! Nobody plays. Yourself included. Am I supposed to wear myself out for the team? What team? Nah, Nah, what I’m gonna do is look out for myself and me’ma get Mine’. Gerry replies that this was the worst attitude he had ever heard, but Julius responds, ‘Attitude reflects leadership’. Gerry soon realizes that the issue of the play is not Julius for allowing blockers to come at him. That disagreement with Julius made him understand that he needs it to get things right, and it would be beneficial for both to come together as a team. Julius represents a democratic and uniting kind of leadership, which the team requires more than ever due to the recent racial tensions within the team. Gerry and Julius became best friends.

They worked together to unite the team. Although there were differences between the players, Gerry and Julius worked hard for the success of the team. On one occasion, Gerry and Julius separated a fight between blacks and whites at their school, and they realized they had more in common. Another example of Gerry’s leadership is when he had to kick off the team Ray Budds, Gerry’s best friend, because he was not doing his job as a blocker and was damaging the team; even though it was hard for Gerry to make this decision, he needs it to fire his friend for the good of the team. In this instance, Ray does not display any kind of leadership qualities as opposed to Gerry, whose leadership skills enable him to recognize his responsibility to the team as a whole as opposed to his friend. On this occasion, Gerry represents a Style 3 (S3) and D4 in Development Levels. It was good for the team that Gerry and Julius worked together; they became transformational leaders creating new perspectives on their teammates and crossing racial bridges. It can be said that Gerry is a true leader because of his personality and traits; he does not give up even after the car accident. Gerry was with his team until the end.

Other Noteworthy Leaders in “Remember the Titans”

Other leaders in the movie are Herman Boone, the coach, and Bill Yoast, another coach. And Sheryl Yoast, the daughter of coach Bill Yoast. Herman Boon and Bill Yoast have leadership skills, which they convey with their actions. For instance, Coach Boone at first declined the coach position when it was offered, which showed consideration for the team, which is a good leadership style of leading. Bill Yoast, on the other hand, took a position under Herman to quell the potential chaos that was brewing in the school, a good leadership style that aimed at avoiding conflict and chaos. Sheryl Yoast is highly involved in team activities even after her father is no longer the head coach, which sets a good example for other stakeholders of the team. Each of the leaders mentioned above has their own followers. The followers of Coach Herman and Yoast are the team players who are very chaotic throughout the movie.

Both the black and white students on the team got into a few behavioral problems, but under the leadership of the two coaches, they were able to straighten themselves out and act like the team they were. The leaders treat their followers as fairly as possible depending on the circumstances the players find themselves in. For instance, players were not allowed to participate in sports if they failed to attain a certain grade in their classes. This rule was practiced by both coaches and applied to students of all colors. The leaders in the movie definitely portray a number of leadership theories that we have dealt with in class. Coach Boone portrays the path-goal approach to leadership as he deals with the members of his team. Critical thinking and motivation theory is also another theory of leadership portrayed by Coach Bill Yoast. He thought critically about taking a position under Coach Herman, which would act as a motivator for the white students to integrate and play with the rest of the team.

References:

1. Northouse, P. G. (2018). Leadership: Theory and practice (8th ed.). SAGE Publications.

2. Remember the Titans. (2000). [Film]. Directed by Boaz Yakin. Jerry Bruckheimer Films.

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