mepham high school football scandal mepham high school football scandal

Athletes must commit time to practice and traveling. On 11/4, the Mepham varsity football team won their home playoff game against Elmont Memorial (Elmont, NY) by a score of 14-7. No. If they have failing grades as well, the colleges are sending their students into the world without a real chance at becoming professional athletes, and without an actual education. NEW! Students have pushed their bodies to the limits, causing extreme injury that will hold them back from sports in the future. And he told us that they were keeping them up. Just because someone shows up and participates, doesnt not mean they deserve the same treatment as everyone else. We've received your submission. 28 - 13 W. 10/22/2022. Hugged by his team captain and cheered by supporters, Mepham HSs head football coach was fired last night and his four assistants got the boot, too. "Not once. He told Pennsylvaniapolice that he couldnt release informationabout a student without a subpoena. Most are no longer talking about the issue publicly, tired of the maelstrom of feelings that is stirred each time. In the southern reachesof Long Island, nestled between the bucolic SouthernState Parkway and the fast-food joints and cardealerships on Sunrise Highway, the four small townsof Bellmore, North Bellmore, Merrick, and NorthMerrick make up a solid community of working- andmiddle-class families. He used to play in the minor leagues and the team loved him because of his dedication to their lives and his credibility at baseball. "Standing up and giving a 'rah, rah' when my son and the other boys are hurting in this way is so disrespectful. Pertzborn and assistant coach Brad Rogeberg were made aware of the initial bullying on July 24, 2022, according to the police report. 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? This is hard tosayI know he was a good coach and a lot of kidsliked him. The question has whirled aroundBellmore for weeks: Who would raise a child who woulddo this to another child? With FamousAmos on the squad, the team made the county playoffsall four years. I think hes adirtbag. Thanks for contacting us. 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. What we're saying is, I notice when somebody's limping. October 11, 2014 / 7:28 PM / AP. ", "Did a parent come and complain to us? I dont evencare what they did.. Its all fun and games, saysMcDermott. We as coaches donot see this incident as hazing, he said,but as a criminal act., Coach Mac has an attorney, Joseph Rosenthal, who isshifting the blame right back to the parents.The coach is a very dedicated, sincereperson, the lawyer says. These parents are now lobbying for a national hazing law, one with severe penalties. Now the . Anotherparent, Jim Rullo, delivers a prepared statement onbehalf of the victims families. Now, McElroy and Junior Varsity Coach Art Cannestro exclusively tell their story to 48 Hours. Tell me why I should just know? Before the 68 varsity and junior-varsity players left the Long Island communities of Bellmore and Merrick to attend the weeklong camp in Preston Park, Pa., coaches warned the team that hazing would not be tolerated, and spelled out the edict in a note sent home to players' parents. Webuilt a very good tradition with our team, and we justwant to make sure that anyone who wants to fit in onthe team knows about the tradition.. Were happy as can be, said Carol, an aunt of one of the victims. Does heknow this for sure? At Mepham High School on Long Island, the entire football season was canceled after players admitted to sadistically hazing fellow teammates. The parishioners sing Make Me aChannel of Your Peace. And then the younglineman, who charged onto the varsity squad hissophomore year at W.C. Mepham High SchoolHomeof the Piratesis in tears. I told him what hazing was, he says.I did not explain to him that hazing wasgolf balls, broomsticks, and pinecones.Reichsteins son was unharmed; three otherfreshmen werent so lucky. High school coaches should not be required to give equal playing time to all players who make the team. } "Everybody says we should just know. Michelle Yeoh Promises No Swearing, Only Tears During Best Lead Performance Win. The coach wentalong with canceling the season because he knew kidswere not coming forward. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Life goes on in Bellmore, despite the sex-abuse scandal involving members of the high school football team that has roiled this Long Island community. *Sorry, there was a problem signing you up. On Bellmore Avenue, themain drag in town, a mile or so east of Mepham,Docs Pub serves as an unofficial class-reunionspace. West Jersey Football League all-stars: United Division, 2022. I said, You wantto lock me in a locker and laugh for an hour, fine.But Im not down with urine, dude., At the beginning of his junior year, Berger says, heshowed up to start the season. "I don't want everything he's gone through to be just a waste. Students moved from one cabin to another without the coaches' knowing, the report says. Three varsity players are charged by Pennsylvania authorities with sodomizing three junior varsity players with broomsticks, pine cones and golf balls. That hasnt satisfied parents whocomplain about the lost scholarships, the deflatedhomecoming celebration, and the fund-raisers for othersports, all of which depend on football and are nowruined, theyre saying, because of a couple ofmessed-up kids. In the meantime, experts say violent hazings in high schools are becoming more frequent. The coaches also showed 48 Hours a tape never before made public - one they say was recorded on the last day of camp. The sexual assaults that occurred last summer among members of a Long Island high school football team sprang from old traditions of violent hazing that coaches and school officials could not curb, according to a report handed up yesterday by a Pennsylvania grand jury. Mepham High School football hazing case tore Long Island apart in 2003. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Were more Jewish! another kidyells, laughing. 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. }, First published on April 12, 2004 / 5:10 PM. When trying to become a professional athlete, one must start playing sports as early as possible (Ferguson 34).Playing sports comes with many sacrifices. Watch this highlight video of the Mepham (North Bellmore, NY) football team in its game Recap: Mepham vs. Long Beach 2022 on Nov 4, 2022. In the case of my four month concussion, there are residual mental and physical problems. Everyone should be so lucky.''. These towns lost seventeenpeople in the World Trade Center attacks.Theyre places whose kids go to college locallyand then settle here and raise families. Go to the back of theline.. Broomsticks dipped in mineral ice, a kind of liquid heat, golf balls, pine cones and toothbrushes, were all pushed into the boy's rectums. "He's one of the victims.". Because if these attacks are acceptedas hazing, then the school is responsible. Kids have come to practice Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday, and Friday to get better, while their academics are suffering. The emotional impact on him is unbelievable," adds Carol. no.". ''These assaults appear to have grown out of a history of hazing both at the football camp and at Mepham High School itself,'' the report says. Thats when Berger says Coach Mac lunged athimhis hand reaching the boys throat. 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. And I know the family of one of theattackers. Most high school athletes across America share one common aspiration: play their sport at the next level in college. "He's victimized because I asked him to do a favor in this. More than 60 players attended the camp, including the boy's best friend Patty and Jimmy's son who was also just 13. For many years, people have been debating about whether sports teams for kids should have selective tryouts. I believe that exclusive tryouts should be held for children because they are extremely good for their mental health in three ways: tryouts teach kids humility, in that they arent always going to be selected, they help kids learn to work harder, and they boost kids confidence. School administrators, however, let him get on the bus anyway. 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. But critics say their mistakes started early. Reichstein called Didden, whose reply, according toReichstein, was that there was no hazing at Mepham,because if there were, wed cancelfootball season. (Didden and his attorney didnot return repeated calls.) But it really happened., McElroys lawyer vehemently denies almost everyaspect of Bergers story. display: block; Some kids even approach them and suggestthat the time has come to let bygones be bygones.Their logic is biblicalan eye for an eye.The linemans father died! As well as rebuking the attackers, the report criticizes the school system and the Pennsylvania judge who handled the cases. Yet to place responsibilityon any adult, coach or parent, means at leastpartially acquitting the kids; to suggest that someoneshould have stopped them is to believe that they couldhave been stopped. Sofia was sent to a boot camp, and Carney was sent to a juvenile detention center. Waiting outside in front of the hearseis a police escort, to ward off the media. In practice, theyd put meon the B squad and Id tear up the Asquad. He says he stayed on the team for twoyears but was allowed on the field only once,returning a kickoff 50 yards. One was sent to a boot camp, another to a juvenile treatment facility and the third returned home on probation. ''Despite these warnings and policies, the players all expected hazing to take place in one form or another at the camp,'' the report said. We said, 'Are they hurting you?' He never brought this incident toMcElroys attention; he must have brought it tothe JV coachs attention. High schools on Long Island have led a crackdown on rough-housing since the 2003 Mepham High School football training camp hazing scandal rocked the nation. Did a kid come and tell us? A few blocks from school, Allie Pagano and Sarah Mirenda, both 14, stop at the local pizza shop, Luigi's, on their way home. Since returning from camp, he has barely slept. .component--type-recirculation .item:nth-child(5) { "The gastroenterologist said, 'What happened? Theyre big football players who look andact like football players, says Jesse.Big and aggressive., The lineman was yelled at a lot,remembers another boy. Sometimes its hardto tell what bothers the people of Bellmore andMerrick moreallegations of sodomy or the abruptend of football season. No. Did you know that depending on the sport, students who play sports in college most likely have less than a 2% chance of becoming professional athletes? Because the National Football League sits on a higher platform, they bring in an exceptional amount of money compared to that, However, whenever hazing involves assaulting the victim, then it goes to another level. Hes been introuble before, that kid. Despite the linemans threats, noone could have anticipated what happened atcamp, Caramore told parents in a speech, adding thatwhatever happened wasnt hazing:None of us in Bellmore-Merrick has used thatterm to define what is, in fact, a brutalcrime., The hazing-or-not debate is a key factor in the legalbattles to come. } But even those who are, still have an astonishingly low chance at making the professional leagues. The coaches, however, say that, in attempt to deal with Carney's threats to another member of the team, they put Reichstein's son in the cabin closest to them, and asked an upperclassman to keep an eye on both boys.