What Happened To A Seattle-Area Coach Should Scare All Of Us
Posted
Roger Grossman, Lake City Radio-
When I started writing this column for the Times-Union about two years ago, I made a pact with myself and Sports Editor Dale Hubler that I would try to write about local things and that I wouldn’t be afraid to tackle tough subjects. Today, we are going there. What is happening right now in a school district outside of Seattle should make everyone, no matter your race, religious affiliation (or lack of one) or world view, shudder. Sports fan or not, you need to know what is going on there. Bremerton, Washington is a town of about 39,000 people across Puget Sound from downtown Seattle. That makes it about twice the size of Warsaw. But the two towns have a lot in common: water-related commerce and recreation is pretty important, close proximity to major metropolitan areas, and it has one high school. According to the people who live there, the role of football in places like Bremerton, Port Orchard and Manchester is pretty similar to here: they love their football Fridays. But Bremerton has become the focal point of a debate that has drawn national attention in the last few days over the actions of one of its football coaches. Now, if you have read my past articles you are probably thinking in your head “oh, Roger’s about to tell us that the coach beat up one of us players, right?” No. “Well then he made a fool of himself complaining about an official’s call and the whole country can see it on You Tube?” Nope. “Well then he turned his head while his players ran amuck and caused chaos and embarrassment to the community?” No. “Well then what DID he do” you ask? He prayed. I’ll give you a second to chew on that ... ok, let’s continue. After the final play of every game, after all the players have shaken hands, after the post-game huddle with parents gathered round for a last-minute speech from the head coach, assistant coach Joe Kennedy walked out to the 50-yard line and he prayed. And he’s in trouble for it. Back in September, the 46-year old Kennedy was told by school administrators that his post-game prayers were in violation of federal law and made the school corporation vulnerable to lawsuit – and they told him to stop doing it. So he did, for a while. But on October 16, he felt the need to make that walk again. With the Homecoming game having just wrapped up and with players headed to their locker rooms and fans to the parking lot, Kennedy strolled out to midfield to thank God for the opportunity to work with the kids on his team and for the safety of the players. He kneeled to pray all by himself, but when he looked up he was surrounded by players – from both teams – and a few fans too. He was stunned. He was a lot less stunned when the school corporation notified him two days later that he was being put on paid leave for disobeying their order and praying on the football field. “The district is in no way taking away an athletic coach's freedom of expression,” Superintendent Aaron Leavell said in a statement posted to the district's website. “What we are doing is what every state-funded agency and school district must do: abide by the laws that govern us.” The coach had a choice to make. He knew that if he went back to the middle of that field he could face punishment, including the loss of his coaching job that he loves so much. But he loved something else more. So instead of just taking a knee to pray that night, he planted the flag of his faith at the 50 and made a stand there. Now, before you get all fired up, this is NOT a Sunday School lesson OK. It’s not an effort to sway you to “believe.” It IS a warning to all of us that our society is making a HUGE mistake. No matter what your religious beliefs, this story should concern you because a guy who had rallied and unified people in his community in a positive way had a warning shot fired across his bow by his school district, and then they started firing torpedoes. Joe Kennedy never asked anyone to join him at the middle of the field. His players will tell you that many of them don’t go to church but are glad to join in the prayer because it is a “positive thing that brings players and coaches from both teams together.” Heck, he didn’t even advertise that he was doing it or encourage others to join him. He just did it. I use this column so often to point out people in sports who get it wrong, and here’s one who got it right, and for his trouble he got separated from his team. What a waste! Well if you attend games around Kosciusko County, and many other places, guess what you will see at the end of almost all of them: kids and coaches from both teams gathering around in a huddle or a circle … praying. And often you see the people in the stands stop what they are doing while that prayer takes place in respect for those kids who just went nose-to-nose on the field of competition, but stop to be thankful for the person next to them and the ones across from them. Tell me that’s bad. Tell me that with kids committing suicide and turning to drugs and alcohol and running their lives directly into the ground thousands at a time around our country, that allowing kids and coaches to come together to pray for 30 seconds after a sporting event is somehow wrong. We kicked what was good out of our schools and then wonder what went wrong. So I say “pray on” to athletes everywhere. I will be in my broadcast location, but my heart will be in that circle with you. And to Coach Kennedy, if you find yourself looking for work, I have a feeling there are football coaches and communities around here that would be glad to have a guy like you on their staff.
