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Coach Craig Jeffries of Dunbar High School in D.C. pulled his team off the field at Fort Hill on Sept. 19, after, players allege, they were taunted by racial epithets by the Fort Hill players. It happened in the third quarter, when Dunbar was ahead.
Federal and state investigators are looking into the allegations. In the meantime, a second D.C. school, McKinley Tech, also canceled a game at Fort Hill.
"I don't believe it. It's been blown completely out of proportion," said Susie Wesenmiller, the mother of a Fort Hill football player. "I'd say there was a lot of stuff going on on the field, but I think it was going both ways."
The Dunbar coach reportedly told a Justice Department mediator that other D.C. schools had advised him to never play at Fort Hill again. But the coach of Prince George's County Frederick Douglass High School's team wasn't intimidated.
"I can't speculate on that, I wasn't there," said Julius Pinkney, Frederick Douglass' head coach. "I don't know anything about that. I can only speak from experience. We came here last year -- we were treated very well.
Fort Hill's athletic director also doesn't believe the allegations.
"There are a lot of stereotypes about us, you know, we live up in the mountains, people think we're all -- the black athlete is an integral part of our program," said Paul Green, Fort Hill's Athletic Director. "Six kids on our team [are African-American]; four of the five starters on the basketball team are African-American."
One Frederick Douglas fan who attended Friday night's game said it's all about kids having fun. Dana Thomas says he hopes Dunbar's allegations are unfounded.
"The kids are just here to play football," he said. "It doesn't have anything to do with the color barrier."
School officials reported no problems during Friday's game.
Fort Hill school officials say they contacted D.C.'s McKinley Tech High about playing the canceled game in the District. The school system says its request was rebuffed.
Where were you on the real story for the evening? Mike O'Kelly, a Fort Hill senior, was seriously injured in a car accident. He is restricted to a wheel chair. For the past year, Frederick Douglas players and coaches have become friends with this young man and his family. Gifts have been exchanged throughout the past year. At last night's game, O'Kelly was made honorary captain and was at the fifty yard line for the coin toss. He gave the Frederick Douglas players his signed jersey, signed by the Fort Hill football team. There wasn't a dry eye in the stadium. Well, except by the WJLA truck who was there to "witness" made up racial tensions and unfounded bigotry. Believing the word of a lying coach, Coach Jeffries of Dunbar, WJLA expected the worse, but saw nothing. Instead of choosing to run a story about the friendship between these two teams, one which is mostly African American and one that is mostly white, they choose to make the comment that, "Tensions were running high before the game." What?! Mike O'Kelly's accident brought these two teams together last year, there is no tension. Just the ugly remarks made by a coach, Coach Jeffries, who was looking for a way to leave his game with Fort Hill a few weeks earlier..
Coach Jeffries made the remark, before his game with Fort Hill that he didn't mind making these road trips to play games as long as he was paid. He stated that he was paid $6,000.00 to travel to Ohio in the previous weeks. He got his money, left the game before Foft Hill was about to take the lead (Fort Hill was at the six yard line), and tried to save his decision by stating that his kids were called names. What a shameless and cowardly act by a coach.
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