The 1999 summer basketball play of my second Stephen Decatur squad showed great promise. We returned most of the squad from the year before and players' familiarity the coach's system was finding the much needed comfort zone. We handledvsome better Illinois teams that summer including a highly regard Rock Island squad. Things would take an unfortunate turn at a September 17, 1999 Decatur Inter-City fooltball game. No it wasn't an injury but of all things a fight in the stands...not a very good fight at that. I saw a hellava lot better fights at Parsons Field East St. Louis in 1956. However, when a bunch (seven) Black teenage boys run around amongst White fans throwing wild punches and kicking at each other folks get upset and rightly so. Had the fight taken place in the parking lot it would have been a non-issue.
The punitive fall out was devasting to our basketball fortunes. We (Stephen Decatur High) lost one of our better senior players. Actually, had the player been a junior he would have missed two years because the expulsion for the fighters was two years. Rev. Jessie Jackson seized the moment as he often did to get involve. Jessie was coming to town bringing a bus load of protesters to make a point about excessive penalties. At that time our basketball team under IHSA rules had started practice. The Decatur school administration made a wise choice 'locking-down' high school campuses during Jackson's visit. STOP and put yourself in a coach's shoes. I have a group of Black players who are picking up pieces after losing one of their teammates to a suspension. You got a known prolific hell raiser in Rev. Jackson coming to town. Emotionsvwould be running high and I was not going to let my guys go withoutbsome upfront cautionary mentoring comments. I broke the rules. I called a practice for 6:00 AM during the lock down. Actually, we didn't practice. I had no intention of practicing. Instead I sat my guys down in the bleachers and painted a picture that would soon be in living color that afternoon and evening. I told my players that I understood if they wanted to go to the rally and listen to what was expressed. BUT UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES should they lose control of their emotions and do something foolish that could compromise their personal academic and athletic standing. These kids needed guidance during this highly emotionally charged moment. Well, I got called out by the administration for 'ignoring' the lockdown edict. How do you plead, Coach? Guilty, Guilty & Guilty, your honor. And sometimes it feels rght to be guilty when those in need benefit.
At the end of the month, I was touring the East Coast with a couple of speaking engagements. I recall an administrator at Thayer Academy in Braintree, Massachusetts asking me if it was commononplace for Illinois schools to suspend students for two-years? I answered, "I can't say, but I hope not."
Next: Close the City's Namesake School, Protect Eisenhower & Turn the Page.
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