All five lost their coaching positions. Hes the man of the family now. Youth sports are becoming too intense for young children to keep up with. I want to thank my assistant coach who is the baseball expert. He triedseriously to treat him as a regular kid, like nothingever happened. But my son says nobody knew he would cross theline., Andys son plays lacrosse. On 11/11, the Mepham varsity football team won their neutral playoff game against Long Beach (NY) by a score of 14-0. Not, 'Coach, things aren't good over here.' MEPHAM COACHES BOOTED IN HAZING SCANDAL News MEPHAM COACHES BOOTED IN HAZING SCANDAL By Kieran Crowely November 6, 2003 5:00am Hugged by his team captain and cheered by supporters, Mepham. The way they walked? Ken Carney, 16, the ringleader of the attacks, was well-known by school administrators as a disciplinary problem. No," says McElroy. It was just too outrageous," says Jimmy. The problem was with thekidsand with the parents who brought them upthat way., Sothe parents. Still, they will be held accountable for what they did on some level, she added. Youre old enough to knowwhat youre doing., I had some friends who were older, saysMcDermott. Perhaps most prominent among the group are Victor and Kristina Reichstein, who have criticized the school's principal, John F. Didden, and the team's head coach, Kevin McElroy, from the beginning. Were happy as can be, said Carol, an aunt of one of the victims. } (516) 569-4000, To donate or for more information, click here, Chamber, mayors office are no match for the Thunderbolts. No!! Everything Everywhere All at Once has won in every category they were nominated for. Who doyou think you are? said the lineman, accordingto Reichsteins son. That boy was not hurt at camp, but other kids were. Half that shit they didisnt even that bad.. Nassau County Girl Scouts fundraise for victims of quake in Syria, Turkey at Masjid Hamza, Powered by Creative Circle Media Solutions. Diasparra cut a deal and received probation. Hed just beat upon peoplehed be walking by andboom! I went to summerschool with them. The lineman, he says,was always starting fights. His broad shoulders are slumpedand trembling as he walks the coffin down the aisle ofSaint Barnabas Church in Bellmore, Long Island. "I couldn't even process it in my head. This incident could have been foreseeable by the coaches, and possibly the administration, if the coach reported anything to the principal and athletic director. She shouts out all the ladies (mothers and wives) in the room. No. Anyone can read what you share. He was 40 years old. Conway could have sentenced the three including Phil Sofia, 17, and Ken Carney, 16 to juvenile jail until they turned 21 or he could have given them probation. Hes dangerous, hes terrifying, hes an extra in, How to Watch the 2023 Oscars Celebrate All 23 Categories Live Again. I ask. And I can't ever get that back from him," says Patty. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Hes well known as abully. Gavin Roman broke the state record for most catches in a season during Holy Spirit's 63-34 rivalry win against Atlantic City in Absecon. The district's superintendent, Dr. Thomas Caramore, defended the decision in a letter to the community earlier this month, saying the principal spoke with the boy and the coach before camp, and there was no way of anticipating the attacks. Reichsteins wife,Kristina, then begged Didden to make an example of thelineman. The kid that did it, I feel so bad forhim, the boy says. That decision ''let down and insulted the victims and their families,'' the report says. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. A football captain begged for the season to be reinstated, and his pleas were met with thunderous applause. How Tyrel Jackson Williams Brought TikTok Cringe to, Its sort of a newer version of the L.A. actor ride that Kyle is on the first two seasons, but its worse.. Mineral ice and especially that he now had, from the first time, a cut," says Carol. '', Report Says Hazing Culture Led to Attacks On 3 Athletes, https://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/11/nyregion/report-says-hazing-culture-led-to-attacks-on-3-athletes.html. Mepham High School football hazing case tore Long Island apart in 2003. Most students, the girls say, have not gotten caught up in the anger and recrimination that have divided their parents. Murdaugh defense team plans to appeal conviction He even threatened teachers. Vic and Kristina have done The Early Show and20/20. She says Didden said no twice.Thats when Vic stood up and called Didden aliar. The coach wentalong with canceling the season because he knew kidswere not coming forward. The report criticized the Wayne County judge, Robert Conway, for his decision not to move the attackers' cases from juvenile to adult court. When athletes experience head trauma, they only recover a little, which might end their career early or other times people never recover. What about the boys who were raped? Did a kid come and tell us? But it really happened., McElroys lawyer vehemently denies almost everyaspect of Bergers story. But they dont want to appearself-serving, he says. He told Pennsylvaniapolice that he couldnt release informationabout a student without a subpoena. But the happy boys these parents sent to camp last summer didn't return that way. McElroy hadnothing to do with this kid, Joe Rosenthalsays. It stated that, at the camp,. When a. Statistically showing, at least 100,000 college football players get hurt yearly. The issue of blame, however, continues to polarize parents and promises to loom larger as the criminal case moves ahead. Hedoesnt have a senior season to put on hiscollege application., This guy comes to my job, says Andy.He says, Oh, Im in Mephamnow, maybe I should shove a pinecone up myass! I said, Thats notfunny. These guys on the team are gonna beharassed the rest of their fuckin lives., My son knows one of the boys who wasattacked, Mary says sadly. What's gonna come out of this is another parent is gonna say, 'Oh, I'm gonna make sure there's no hazing at my school.'" He was always in troubleat school, but not in football. Now the . Our community is being blamed. Clutching their schoolbooks in their arms, Allie and Sarah said they actually felt tremendous pride in their school these days. Not a lot of kids are good enough to play in the top college sports programs in the country. He strokes his sisters hair withone hand and slides an arm around his brothersshoulders. Theyre investigating the possibility that some students were planning to attack their schoolmates. "Not once. Why wasn't there a coach sleeping in the cabins? Watch this highlight video of the Mepham (North Bellmore, NY) football team in its game Recap: Mepham vs. Long Beach 2022 on Oct 15, 2022, Watch this highlight video of the Mepham (North Bellmore, NY) football team in its game Recap: Mepham vs. Sewanhaka 2022 on Oct 29, 2022. And who you can expect to see performing and presenting. Theres no way youcant play me. Many parents, especially those with children on the football team, have found it hard adjusting to their new reality in the center of a fishbowl. Andbecause we were the group with Amos, our team isetched in his memory.. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Tell us how you did it coach. These words were forced into my face with a camera lens almost resting against my cheeks (page 395). Into the locker! Football is important to the high school experience and different familys history around the world. A player tried to flush his head in a urinal. At this point, though, those feelings have mostly worn off, replaced by a different set of reactions, from weary resolve to dark humor. Thelinemans fathers death on October 5created one delay in moving the case forward; otherdelays have been due to the attorneys effortsto bring the case back to juvenile status, and tonegotiate their clients surrender into custody. A grand jury report later described how they used duct tape to pull off their children's pubic hair, how they forced them and another boy they sodomized to kick each other in the groin, and then threatened to beat and kill all of them if they told anybody. "These boys were like 6 feet 2 inches and 6 feet 4 inches, and roughly 250 lbs. All rights reserved. Throughout September, a question hung in the air:Would Wayne County district attorney Mark Zimmer trythe boys as adults, which would mean that each couldface up to twenty years in prison? Theyre a beautiful family. He said no," recalls Carol. In earlier interviews, the head coach, Kevin McElroy, and his four assistants have said they did not know about the attacks, and could have done nothing to prevent them. We're going to all the sports stores. A day later, the three alleged victims are stillhaving broomsticks thrown at them from cars in theparking lot. Now even they, however, have grown weary, wishing for a return to their old life. He had his little list. Who? One afternoon after practice, they air theirtheories, the chief one being that the lineman musthave been traumatized as a kid. Both told stories of defending their school when they were teased by students outside the district and cited the ''Mepham Pride'' buttons that they and many classmates have taken to wearing. The victims didn't tell us. The priest declares that the father had nothingbut life ahead of him. These individuals hope to be part of something special, whether its achieving individual goals or team goals. Go ahead. During the first day of camp, the hazing was minor, such as one player smearing gel and powder into another's hair. 1999, McAlester High School, Oklahoma: A football player suffered a head injury after he was jumped by older teammates in a locker-room hazing. Werent theyalready on the right track? "He was robbed of his innocence. More than 60 players attended the camp, including the boy's best friend Patty and Jimmy's son who was also just 13. Heresisted, and according to his version of events, heremembers a JV coach telling him to roll with it. Kids and adults are then forced to take a side on the issue for the good of the school and the safety of the children. What's more, before camp, parents Victor and Kristina Reichstein say Carney threatened their 13-year-old son. ''Our parents are being blamed. Some tryouts are not far by any means, in which the coaches pick from not the skill but by the way they know the student. ''They continue to try to bury this thing and pretend they did everything they could, and that's just not true.''. It has been more than a month since school officials and prosecutors revealed that three older players were accused of sodomizing three freshmen with broomsticks, pine cones and golf balls in an attack in late August at a preseason football camp in Pennsylvania. '', ''This is a wake-up call,'' said the father of one of the victims, who spoke on condition of anonymity to protect his son. We dontalways understand, and we dont alwayssee. He attempts a little levityIknow he shared his hopes for the Yankees with theLordbefore straining for profundity:The great artist has finished hisportrait. He urges the mourners to say a prayerfor the family. He suggests that broomsticks,golf balls, and pinecones are consistent withtraditional forms of hazing. A day later, the threeboys were suspended, and a student demonstrationerupted behind the schoolto the delight of theTV crews camped out there. "He said to him, 'Don't even think of sleeping at football camp. He never judged us, saysDave Lohman, class of 94. He was benched for two years as the lawsuit creptthrough the legal system. This is a sore pointfor Mary. This story has been shared 140,209 times. Anyone can read what you share. "You didn't monitor him very carefully, obviously," says Patty of what happened to her 13-year-old son. A perfect example would be a 13-year-old Georgia student riding a school bus received a wedgie during a school hazing incident so painful that his mother took him to the emergency room. "My son came forward, did something that he did not want to do. The 15-year-old wide receiver became the first female football player in Long Island history to score a touchdown Saturday night, when. Thursday, November 6, 2003 Posted: 1537 GMT (11:37 PM HKT) Story Tools. Theyre sick of reporters, andtheyre worried about the lineman. What went wrong? In the bunks, 17-year-old players were assigned to watch over 13-year-old boys. They were later suspended from classes on September 18. #inline-recirc-item--id-a617c056-8c88-11e2-b06b-024c619f5c3d, #right-rail-recirc-item--id-a617c056-8c88-11e2-b06b-024c619f5c3d { In recent years, the Pirates havent done aswell, losing roughly as many games as theyvewon, but the coach remains a local legendafather figure who welcomes players to his house forbarbecues with his teenage daughters in attendance.Its not surprising, then, that McElroy and theadministration would be the first stop on thewhos-to-blame tour. 18 - 35 L. 10/15/2022. When the allegations surfaced in early September, the three accused teenagers were suspended from Mepham High School's football team. We were afraid they would walk away with probation.. Due to the amount of padding they have to wear, football players can easily disguise their size therefore keeping them from receiving scrutiny from the public. At a school-board meeting onOctober 1, packed with camera crews and angry parents,Superintendent Caramore tries to explain that hazingsimply doesnt happen at Mephamthatfootball was canceled not because of what the boysallegedly did but because their teammates neverreported it. Was there anything that indicated they were injured or traumatized? "I had a personal conversation with one of the victims daily, and not once did he indicate to me that anything was wrong," says Cannestro. McElroy was practically a secondfather to Zereoue when the running back moved to ahome for wayward boys in Bellmorearriving, toMephams good fortune, at the start of hishigh-school career. But at a hearing in Honesdale, Pa., President Judge Robert Conway barred 16-year-old Tom Diasparra from returning to the Bellemore, L.I., high school and warned him to watch his step. You could just seehe had so much anger in him. Bellmore Journal; Life Goes On but Is Altered After School Scandal, https://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/20/nyregion/bellmore-journal-life-goes-on-but-is-altered-after-school-scandal.html. And the report provides the most detailed glimpse yet into the weeklong football camp and the assaults that took place in two cabins last summer. As she accepts her Someone to Watch award on stage.