http://www.ottawadailytimes.com/news...toryid=9002512
Cru's next opponent wins via forfeit
Confederate flag invokes controversy at Stronghurst Southern
STRONGHURST (AP) — A Chicago charter school with an overwhelmingly black student body has forfeited Saturday’s scheduled football game at Stronghurst Southern High School in this Henderson County community because of Southern’s traditional display of a Confederate flag.
Stronghurst Southern’s nickname is the Rebels, and the school mascot, dressed as a Confederate soldier, carries the Stars and Bars near the end zone after each home-team touchdown.
Southern was scheduled for a visit from the Longwood Campus of Chicago International Charter School, but Bill Ham, Longwood’s coach and athletic director, notified officials at Southern on Wednesday that he intended to forfeit. The decision was approved by other officials at Longwood.
Next Saturday afternoon, Marquette is scheduled to host Stronghurst Southern in a game at Gould Stadium.
Ham said Southern coach Scott Dillard telephoned him on Tuesday to ask if the Confederate flag ritual would bother his players, who are from Chicago’s South Side.
“Our kids were kind of shocked,” Ham told the Chicago Tribune. “They kind of looked at me, and a few had their mouths open. This can’t really be true.
“Pretty soon they said, ‘No coach, we don’t want to do that. We don’t want them to do that.”’
Ham said that in a later conversation he had with Dillard, the Southern coach said the flag would be excluded from Saturday’s game, but Ham and Longwood Director of Schools Robert Lang decided to forfeit anyway, saying unhappy Southern fans might be tempted to make comments that could lead to an unpleasant incident.
Beth Delaney, executive director of the Chicago Charter School Foundation, said she approved of the decision to forfeit.
“Those practices are not conducive to the environment in which we want our students to play,” Delaney said.
Charles Barber, superintendent of Southern Community Unit District 120, released a statement Friday which made no mention of the flag. Barber said the game had been canceled because of Southern’s mascot. Barber said there was no malicious intent in choosing a Confederate soldier as a mascot, which he said was done in response to a rival school’s use of a Union soldier.
Will Bavery, who coached football at Southern for 20 years until his retirement last year, said the use of the flag had no racial connotations. He also questioned Ham’s motives.
“I have a problem with him wanting to make headlines because he does not want to play a football game,” Bavery said.
Illinois High School Association Executive Director Marty Hickman said Friday the flag was inappropriate and supported Longwood’s decision to forfeit.
Hickman said the IHSA would investigate the matter further.
____________________________________________________
It's nice to see that some schools and coaches still value growing young men and women over wins on the field.
The High School in question sports a Confederate flag, has a mascot that looks like something out of a history book, and encourages fans to bring small flags to the game.
This is ridiculous behavior. I don't care one bit what the connotations are or aren't, what it represents or doesn't. You simply don't intentionally engage in behavior that makes others feel this way - and at a high school! It's a shame that the student body and the athletes of this Southern High School are being told by the adults in their community that there is nothing wrong with these actions.
Again, however, it is nice to see adults in the other community showing their young adults some of the important lessons that sports can teach.
I posted this because every once in a while, you get a little down by hearing about the Clarett's, Baylor's, idiot coaches, etc. and its nice to see positives.