Coach Bud Walpole, left, was fired after a controversial post-game ritual upset parents. iReporter Harry Griffin, right, played on the coach's team a few years ago.
- High school football coach fired after controversial "watermelon ritual"
- Players would smash a watermelon and make "monkey sounds" after games
- Local NAACP supported the school's decision to fire Bud Walpole
- Former football player Harry Griffin shared this story with CNN iReport
(CNN) -- UPDATE: High school football coach Bud Walpole was offered his job back, effective Thursday, CNN affiliate WCBD reported. The school district superintendent invited him back Wednesday only after Walpole submitted a written commitment to focus more on diversity and sensitivity training, according to a statement.
A high school football coach in Charleston, South Carolina, was fired after he permitted a post-game celebratory ritual involving a watermelon that some say is racist.
After a parent reported the "watermelon ritual" to the school board, the Charleston County School District launched an investigation and ultimately fired Academic Magnet High School coach Bud Walpole, according to CNN affiliate WCSC.
"Players would gather in a circle and smash the watermelon while others were either standing in a group or locking arms and making chanting sounds described as, 'Ooh, ooh, ooh,'" school district Superintendent Nancy McGinley said, describing the noises as "monkey sounds." The watermelon was decorated with caricatures drawn with Sharpie markers, she added.
Dot Scott, president of the Charleston branch of the NAACP, said the organization supported the school's decision to fire Walpole. Scott thanked the superintendent at a Wednesday press conference "for her swift attention to an inappropriate and racially insensitive ritual performed by the football team."
The school district has not yet responded to CNN's request for comment.
A number of parents and students, however, are standing in support of Walpole, who coached at the school for 10 years. More than 4,000 people have signed a petition to reinstate the ousted coach, as of Wednesday afternoon.
Mike Rice, pictured in 2011, was fired from his head coaching position at Rutgers University after a video surfaced of him verbally abusing his players, shoving them and throwing basketballs at them. Click through the gallery to see which coaches also crossed the line. 
New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton was suspended for the entirety of the 2012 NFL season after his players were accused of taking part in a bounty program, rewarding them for intentionally injuring opposing players. Payton still claims that the accusations are unfounded. 
Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams was also linked to the bounty scandal and suspended indefinitely. Williams was reinstated by the NFL and hired as a senior assistant defensive coach for the Tennessee Titans in February. He is now the defensive coordinator for the St. Louis Rams. 
In March 2000, a video was released of Indiana head basketball coach Bobby Knight choking former player Neil Reed. After more claims were made, the hot-headed coach was fired. Here, Knight talks to Indiana player Ted Kitchel during a game against Northwestern University in February 1983. 
Longtime Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno was linked to the sex scandal surrounding former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, second from right in 1999. Sandusky was convicted of 45 of the 48 counts against him, including unlawful contact with minors and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse. Court testimony showed that Paterno was aware of the misdeeds but failed to report them, leading to Paterno's termination and the revoking of all his records and titles as Penn State head coach. 
Former baseball star and manager Ozzie Guillen has made headlines more than once for his controversial statements. Guillen used an anti-gay term to describe a Chicago Sun-Times columnist in 2006 and expressed sentiment for Fidel Castro in 2012. He apologized for both comments after backlash in the press. 
Mike Price was fired from his head football coaching position at the University of Alabama before the team played their first game for him. In 2003, Price admitted propositioning and bringing two women back to his hotel room after attending a golf tournament in Florida. One of the women ordered room service, which was charged to Price's university-issued credit card. 
In 2004, video of the head coach of Spain's national soccer team, Luis Aragones, showed him using racist language in describing the opposing team's star player, Thierry Henry. Aragones -- here in 2008 -- claimed that he was trying to "motivate" his players to be aggressive and that he was not a racist. Despite public outcry, he was fined but not fired. 
In 1978, Ohio State University head football coach Woody Hayes punched a Clemson University player in the throat immediately after he intercepted an OSU pass. Hayes, here in 1970, was given the chance to resign but refused and was fired. 
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill head football coach Butch Davis was fired in July 2011 in the midst of an NCAA investigation into a cheating scandal involving tutors writing papers for players and a recruiting scandal involving players accepting impermissible benefits. In announcing the move, the university cited the damage that the controversies were causing to UNC's reputation, but Davis maintained that he himself had not done anything wrong. Coaches who went out of bounds
Coaches who went out of bounds
Coaches who went out of bounds
Coaches who went out of bounds
Coaches who went out of bounds
Coaches who went out of bounds
Coaches who went out of bounds
Coaches who went out of bounds
Coaches who went out of bounds
Coaches who went out of bounds
Photos: Coaches who went out of bounds Some say they don't see the ritual as racist.
"I just don't understand why the school district is concerned this is an issue," Connie Biggs, the president of Academic Magnet's Booster Club told WCSC. "Is it because it's a watermelon? If it had been a pumpkin or a cantaloupe would that have been a different reaction from the district."
Harry Griffin, a junior at The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, said he has known Walpole for six years and considers the coach a man of integrity. Griffin played for Walpole's high school team as a fullback and nose guard. CNN first learned of this story through an iReport Griffin uploaded.
"Coach Walpole was fired because his team had a harmless tradition that was made to seem prejudiced," Griffin wrote in a CNN iReport. "They had a post-game ritual of smashing a watermelon and eating it after every victory. A parent on an opposing team deemed this act as racist and the school board decided to interrogate the players."
Some parents are taking issue with how the investigation was conducted and how students were questioned about the ritual.
"The school district is not telling us what they said to these kids," Biggs said. "They're giving us two questions that they say that they asked but these interviews have lasted 10-20 minutes apiece, so I'm really unclear how two questions could take that long."
Griffin called Walpole's firing an injustice.
"I want to help my coach get his integrity back," Griffin said.
"You can ask anyone that has ever met Bud Walpole if he has ever said or done anything that would cause you to think he was racist. Nobody would ever say such a thing."
No comments:
Post a Comment