High School Sports

T.C. Williams High School, famously portrayed in the 2000 movie Remember the Titans, is changing its name because of the racist history of its namesake. 

The Alexandria City Public School Board announced the school will be renamed Alexandria City High School effective July 1, but the sports teams will retain the Titans nickname. 

It was originally named after Thomas Chambliss Williams, who was a former superintendent of the school from the mid-1930s to the 1960s. 

Per the school's official website (h/t TMZ Sports), Williams "did everything possible to slow down the process of integration in Alexandria."

The Titans gained national prominence when the movie depicting their 1971 football season was released in September 2000.

Remember the Titans starred Denzel Washington as Herman Boone, who led the program to an undefeated 13-0 season in his first year as head coach. 

Sixteen-year-old football player Jakobe Kyshon Cooper died Tuesday after collapsing at practice at Shannon High School in Mississippi, according to Wilton Jackson of the Clarion Ledger.

As part of a release confirming the news, the school said: "The Lee County School District and the Shannon Red Raider Family extend our deepest sympathy to this young man’s family. Next of kin are being notified before any additional information is released."

Lee County coroner Carolyn Green said the issue didn't appear to be heat-related, with the temperature around 80 degrees at the time.

Multiple football players have died as a result of heat stroke during practice, with the case of Maryland offensive lineman Jordan McNair among the most widely publicized. Last June, a 14-year-old in Florida died after collapsing during conditioning drills.

Cooper was a sophomore running back and linebacker on the football team.

Ben Luderer, a 30-year-old high school baseball coach at Cliffside Park in New Jersey, died Monday due to complications from coronavirus, according to Darren Cooper of NorthJersey.com.

Luderer was the starting catcher for the 2008 Don Bosco Prep team in Ramsey, New Jersey, that went a perfect 33-0 and was recognized as the national champion by several outlets.

Cliffside Park athletic director David Porfido said Luderer's death "should be a wake-up call for everyone," and Luderer's former high school coach, Greg Butler, added, "The message I want to get out there is that this is a war against everyone. Young people need to understand and take all the appropriate steps."

Per CNN, there are more than 803,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide, contributing to over 39,000 deaths. That includes nearly 165,000 confirmed cases and 3,170 deaths in the United States.

According to NJ.com's Joe Zedalis, Luderer had gone to the hospital on Friday but was sent home. Porfido told Zedalis that "things went bad" for Luderer on Sunday night and he later died at his home. Porfido called Luderer "irreplaceable."

After a standout high school career, Luderer went on to play his college baseball at Marist, hitting .263 with two home runs and 35 RBI.

In addition to coaching at Cliffside Park, Luderer was a special education teacher at the School No. 6 middle school in Cliffside Park. 

Mayfield High School wrestler Canaan Bower stopped a suspected kidnapping at a New Mexico convenience store Wednesday.

Bethany Freudenthal of the Las Cruces Sun-News reported Daniel Arroyo Beltran is accused of assault on several patrons and employees at a Chucky's Gas Station after witnesses said he attempted to kidnap three children from the store.

Troy Bower, Canaan's dad, said his 16-year-old son was filling up his truck at a nearby gas station when he heard the commotion and drove to the scene.

"So my son—who just won the wrestling district championship weeks ago—just came up behind this guy and body-slammed him and got him in a chokehold and waited for the police to show up," the elder Bower told Freudenthal.

Troy explained he had a mixed reaction after hearing about his son's heroics.

"I wanted to wring his neck," he said. "You fear for your own child's safety in that situation. You don't know if this guy's maybe got a gun or a knife—you don't know what this guy's capable of. I'm sure other people saw what was going on and didn't get involved. It's very terrifying that your child put himself at risk but, at the same time, confident that he would do the right thing and succeed in doing it."

Beltran has been charged with four counts of battery, two counts of assault, two counts of child abuse and one count of kidnapping after being arrested.

The United States Justice Department has weighed in on a federal lawsuit regarding transgender athletes in Connecticut interscholastic sports, offering a statement of interest that argues against treating transgender athletes as girls.

Attorney General William Barr and the Justice Department issued the following statement, per Pat Eaton-Robb of the Associated Press:

"Under [the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference's] interpretation of Title IX, however, schools may not account for the real physiological differences between men and women. Instead, schools must have certain biological males—namely, those who publicly identify as female—compete against biological females. In so doing, CIAC deprives those women of the single-sex athletic competitions that are one of the marquee accomplishments of Title IX."

The CIAC has argued that by treating transgender athletes as girls it is "following a state law that requires high school students be treated according to their gender identity" and is complying with Title IX, "the federal law that allows girls equal educational opportunities, including in athletics," per Eaton-Robb.

The lawsuit was filed by the families of three female Connecticut track-and-field athletes—Selina Soule, Chelsea Mitchell and Alanna Smith. They have claimed that transgender girls competing against them have cost them various achievements, including wins or state titles. 

"Males will always have inherent physical advantages over comparably talented and trained girls—that's the reason we have girls sports in the first place," their attorney, Christiana Holcomb, argued. "And a male's belief about his gender doesn't eliminate those advantages."

If the lawsuit is successful, it could erase wins by transgender girls like Andraya Yearwood and Terry Miller from the state record books and set a precedent for other cases across the country.

"Andraya and Terry should not be forced to watch on the sidelines while [the families of Soule, Mitchell and Smith] attempt to bar them from participating in the 2020 spring track and field season and expunge all record of their past accomplishments," Thania Edwards, the mother of Yearwood and Miller, said in a court filing, per Dan Brechlin of the Hartford Courant.

The filing added: "Andraya and Terry have both excelled in track and field but, contrary to the allegations by Plaintiffs, their successes have been a result of hard work and are well within the range of high school track times for non-transgender girls."

Chase Strangio, the ACLU attorney for Miller and Yearwood, told Dave Zirin of The Nation that the lawsuit "is both completely inconsistent with prevailing law and a logical extension of the many attacks on trans existence that we have seen from [the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative think tank] across the country."

"ADF and its clients are seeking from the court a decree that trans people do not and cannot belong," he added. "No court has ever accepted such a dangerous argument, and we will fight to ensure that they don’t and that trans youth remain protected under both state and federal law."

Connecticut is one of 17 states in the United States that permits transgender athletes to compete without restrictions, per Zirin, rather than forcing them to compete based on their birth sex. It remains a hotly contested issue both in the United States and globally. 

The International Olympic Committee is expected to update its own guidelines on transgender athletes after the Tokyo Olympics, which has been postponed until next year. 

One member of the Moore High School Cross Country/Track team in Oklahoma died and five others were hospitalized after they were hit by a vehicle while running on the sidewalk.

Moore Public Schools released a statement on its Facebook page:

"Our hearts are heavy in Moore Public Schools as we process this tragedy that is unbearable to comprehend. While members of the Moore High School (MHS) Cross Country/Track team were running on the sidewalk, six of them were violently struck by a vehicle.

"... This evening and as we move forward through this unthinkable tragedy – please keep our students, staff, and families in your thoughts and prayers."

News9.com in Oklahoma reported the news as well, noting Max Leroy Townsend was arrested following the crash but away from the scene. Police said one student died at the scene, while three others are in critical condition.

Townsend faces one complaint of manslaughter in the first-degree and six complaints of leaving the scene of an injury accident.

Police said he also hit a number of vehicles before and after hitting the runners.

A 54-year-old man was arrested Saturday for attacking a 17-year-old high school wrestler during an event in Kannapolis, North Carolina.

According to TMZ Sports, Barry Lee Jones ran down from the stands and knocked over his son's opponent before getting subdued:

Jones was arrested for simple assault and disorderly conduct, and he was later released from jail on $1,000 bond.

While the exact reasoning for Jones interrupting the match at a meet between Southeast Guilford High School and Hickory Ridge High School is unknown, Fox 8 reported that he may have been upset about a move being ruled illegal.

Sharon Contreras, the superintendent of schools for Guilford County, said the following regarding the incident in a statement to Fox 8:

"It's very unfortunate, and it just shows a society that I feel sometimes we're just losing all decorum. I want to say that the parents from that high school wrote us a lovely letter saying they were equally appalled. It's not who they are as a community. And I certainly apologize to the students at both high schools who experienced that, particularly the student who was attacked."

Police said the wrestler who was attacked by Jones did not suffer any injuries during the incident.

Sylvania (Ohio) Northview High School cross-country runner Noor Alexandria Abukaram was disqualified from last weekend's Division 1 Northwest District meet for wearing a hijab, which violated uniform regulations.

"It was like your worst nightmare to have to compete and then find out that you got disqualified and it's because of something that you love," Abukaram told CNN's Christina Zdanowicz on Thursday. "Why should you have to sacrifice your religion and a part of who you are to run, to do another thing that you're very passionate about?"

Abukaram had posted her best 5-kilometer time of the season, unofficially clocking in at 22 minutes and 22 seconds at the meet. Unfortunately for the 16-year-old runner, though, her time will not be recognized by the Ohio High School Athletic Association (as of now) due to the fact she did not have a signed waiver that permitted her to wear a hijab during the race.

According to Zdanowicz, Abukaram has previously competed for her school's soccer and track teams, adding the cross-country team to her activities this year. Never before had the junior been notified that her hijab was a violation of OHSAA rules.

Abukaram told the Toledo Blade's Kirk Baird:

"I couldn't ask for a better support system. My coach is completely on my side and my teammates are so supportive. I've been a student-athlete for as long as I can remember and wearing hijabs since 2016 ... which is why I was so appalled when there was an issue. It's never happened to me before, and I certainly didn't expect it to happen to me at cross country."

The OHSAA said in a statement to the Blade, "Cross-country runners may participate in competitions with religious headwear, provided the runner has obtained a waiver from the OHSAA and submitted to the head official before the race." 

Abukaram's parents have contacted an Islamic civil rights attorney, according to Baird, and plan on reaching out to the OHSAA to receive clarification on the rule.

"We ultimately want a dialogue to speak out not just on Noor's behalf, but on future athletes," Yolanda Melendez, Abukaram's mother, told Baird.

New Jersey high school wrestling referee Alan Maloney received a two-season ban after an investigation by the state's Division of Civil Rights into his actions during a December 2018 match involving Buena Regional High School wrestler Andrew Johnson. 

Maloney, a white referee, told Johnson, a black student-athlete, he needed to cut his dreadlocks in order to compete during a meet against Oakcrest High School.

New Jersey attorney general Gurbir S. Grewal announced the decision Wednesday and said the state's Interscholastic Athletic Association agreed to institute implicit bias training for all officials and staff, according to ESPN.

"Student-athletes should be able to compete with each other on a level playing field," Grewal said. "Racial discrimination in the enforcement of the rules of any sport is inconsistent with the spirit of fair play."

Johnson ultimately agreed to the haircut and won his match in overtime to help Buena defeat Oakcrest.

After the story made national headlines last December, a source close to Maloney told TMZ Sports the referee was "merely enforcing a rule about hair maintenance—and insists race was not a factor."

In 2016, Mark Trible of the Courier Post reported black referee Preston Hamilton said Maloney "poked his finger in his chest" and called him the N-word during an officials' event, which led Hamilton to tackle him to the ground. Maloney said he didn't remember using a racial epithet.

Maloney, who'd been suspended pending the results of the investigation, will be eligible to return for the 2021-22 wrestling season.

A high school swimmer in Anchorage, Alaska, was reportedly disqualified following a win on Friday because an official thought her swimsuit was too revealing. 

According to Beth Bragg of the Anchorage Daily News, an official who has not been officially identified said the Dimond High School swimmer did not adhere to National Federation of High Schools rules stating girls must cover their buttocks and breasts while competing.

The swimmer has been disqualified from just one of 14 races she has competed in this season.

Annette Rohde was working as an official at the meet and said the referee who ruled on the disqualification said the girl's suit "was so far up I could see butt cheek touching butt cheek."

Rohde said she "froze in disbelief" when hearing the explanation and that "she didn’t notice [an issue with the suit] at all."

Anchorage School District said in a statement Monday the swimmer "was wearing the approved, school-issued suit during the race" and that it is reviewing the incident:

"The disqualification appears to stem from a difference of opinion in the interpretation of the rules governing high school swim uniforms. Immediately after the disqualification, the Dimond HS swim coach filed a protest with the official to contest the decision. The coach's protest was quickly denied at the meet, and we expect the coach to appeal. We intend to gather all the facts surrounding the disqualification so we can accurately address the matter with officials and take appropriate action to ensure fair, equitable competition and consistent application of the rules for this athlete and her peers."

Lauren Langford, the coach at nearby West High, wrote a blog post on Medium.com titled "Alaska’s Inexcusable Swimsuit Scandal Unfairly Polices Young Girls' Bodies" providing additional details and touching on some of the outrage the decision caused.

Langford wrote the swimmer "was targeted for the way the suit fit her curvier, fuller-figured body."

She also said there is a racial element in play, pointing out "the officials are overheard acknowledging that white athletes are baring too much skin as well, yet they’ve never been disqualified for a similar violation."