Football player cut for wearing pink cleats for breast cancer awareness

[Analog]

By Chris Joyner, USA TODAY
JACKSON, Miss. — A Mississippi high school student has sued his school district, claiming his football coach dismissed him from the team for wearing pink cleats during October's Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
According to the suit, filed last week in Simpson County Chancery Court, Mendenhall High School football coach Chris Peterson dressed down Coy Sheppard, a 17-year-old senior kicker, during an Oct. 8 football game for wearing the cleats.
When Sheppard arrived at practice the next week wearing the shoes, Peterson cut him from the squad, says Oliver Diaz, a former state Supreme Court justice representing Coy.
Because students in the Simpson County School District earn academic credit for sports, Diaz said, Coy's "graduation may be in jeopardy."
District Deputy Superintendent Tom Duncan said the problem isn't the color of Coy's shoes but that the student ignored the orders of his coaches to take off the shoes.
The school board announced Wednesday that it will hold a news conference Thursday morning to discuss Sheppard's case.
"It had absolutely nothing to do with lack of support for breast cancer awareness," Duncan said. He also said the coach told Coy he would be allowed to make up his lost PE credit and graduate on time.
The shoes were a present from Coy's 82-year-old great-grandmother, and he wore them in honor of his grandmother and step-grandmother, both cancer survivors, said his mother, JoAnne Sheppard. She said her son, who also plays soccer and works part time, has never been in trouble before.
Busy with soccer practice and his after-school job, Coy was not available for comment, his mother said. The coach, she said, "belittled" her son. "That's hard from someone you look up to," she said.
Diaz said Coy has apologized and promised to leave the pink shoes at home, but school officials have not budged. School board President Larry Cockrell said he hopes the dispute can be worked out.
"I wish it could have been handled differently, where there could have been some compromise," he said. "I think all the kid wants is to play football and finish out the year."
Coy's lawsuit asks the court to reinstate him to the football team, clear his record and for any monetary damages to go to the American Cancer Society.
The school district has 30 days from the Nov. 4 filing to respond.
The lawsuit is the latest legal action by a Mississippi student challenging the decision of school officials. In March, Itawamba County Agricultural High School senior Constance McMillen filed suit after she was told she could not bring her same-sex date to the school prom. The school district eventually settled the claim, paying $35,000 in damages and $81,000 in legal fees.
In August, Ceara Sturgis, another lesbian teen, sued her high school in Wesson over its refusal to allow her to wear a tuxedo in her yearbook photo. The suit is pending in federal district court.

 

[edro]

Isn't High School football season over anyway?

 

[ch33zw1z]

I hope he wins, the coach is a dumbass.

 

[sdifox]

sigh, why is there so much fuzz over pink stuff. They want to wear it, let them wear it.

First the referees, now a player. Good thing the month is gone or the cheerleaders would be next.

 

[geno]

sigh, why is there so much fuzz over pink stuff. They want to wear it, let them wear it.

JACKSON, Miss.

ahem.

 

[Malak]

I hope he wins, the coach is a dumbass.

I hope he loses. Courts don't need to be tied up with a waste of time like this. There's nothing worth suing over. He got cut, and the coach can cut him for whatever reason he wants to. Bottom line, the kid was told not to do something and he did it anyway. This has nothing to do with breast cancer, they are trying to make this a case about that and it isn't.

 

[Codewiz]

While I think the coach is RETARDED, the coach has every right to dictate the uniforms worn.

Both parties in this one are dumb.....

This reminds me of my high school a few years ago. Our head football coach kicked his star QB off the team because he refused to run hills. The family of the player turned it into a racial issue because the coach was white and the player was black. It was amazing because the high school was 60% black and the football team was 90% black. It had nothing to do with race. It had to do with respect and the punk as kid had none because he thought he was a superstar.

The district reinstated the player against the coaches will. The coach made the kid ride the pine the rest of the season. He never saw the field. All the district did was undermine the coaches authority.

 

[sdifox]

ahem.

Jackson, Miss


I am not American so I don't know what the location tells me.

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Jackson, Miss


I am not American so I don't know what the location tells me.

Redneck

 

[moshquerade]

I hope he loses. Courts don't need to be tied up with a waste of time like this. There's nothing worth suing over. He got cut, and the coach can cut him for whatever reason he wants to. Bottom line, the kid was told not to do something and he did it anyway. This has nothing to do with breast cancer, they are trying to make this a case about that and it isn't.

This is what I got from the story too. They are trying to make the kid out to be a hero honoring any female (or male) family member, or acquaintance who has went through breast cancer. When in fact he probably wore the cleats just to get a laugh or to test the coach.

 

[mvbighead]

Jackson, Miss


I am not American so I don't know what the location tells me.

They're in the souf. The deeeep souf.

 

[sdifox]

Redneck

pink is pretty close to red

 

[mvbighead]

This is what I got from the story too. They are trying to make the kid out to be a hero honoring any female (or male) family member, or acquaintance who has went through breast cancer. When in fact he probably wore the cleats just to get a laugh or to test the coach.

I could see that point... but when you flip on the TV on Sundays, and see pro players doing exactly the same thing... I can't see how that would be frowned upon for a highschool kid, even if he is a little punk looking for attention. And for me, if the school doesn't provide the shoes (which I can't think of one that does), he should be able to wear whatever shoes he can... so long as they function for the event.

 

[moshquerade]

I could see that point... but when you flip on the TV on Sundays, and see pro players doing exactly the same thing... I can't see how that would be frowned upon for a highschool kid, even if he is a little punk looking for attention. And for me, if the school doesn't provide the shoes (which I can't think of one that does), he should be able to wear whatever shoes he can... so long as they function for the event.

I imagine the shoes were a distraction, unlike the NFL players who wore them as a team and were asked to wear them by the NFL organization I would guess.

The article says he wore the pink cleats to a football game and was told not to wear them again. He proceeded to wear them again even when told not to. The kid was no saint in this.

 

[waggy]

I hope he loses. Courts don't need to be tied up with a waste of time like this. There's nothing worth suing over. He got cut, and the coach can cut him for whatever reason he wants to. Bottom line, the kid was told not to do something and he did it anyway. This has nothing to do with breast cancer, they are trying to make this a case about that and it isn't.

I would agree if it was just about the sport. the fact that it counts as a graduation requirement (witch i think is lame) makes it sue worthy.

 

[moshquerade]

I would agree if it was just about the sport. the fact that it counts as a graduation requirement (witch i think is lame) makes it sue worthy.

Nah.

They just let kids who go out for sports count it as gym class. You do need phys ed credits to graduate anyway I believe. He just goes back to regular gym class now to get his credit.

He also said the coach told Coy he would be allowed to make up his lost PE credit and graduate on time.

 

[Numenorean]

I would agree if it was just about the sport. the fact that it counts as a graduation requirement (witch i think is lame) makes it sue worthy.

They said he can make up the PE credit and graduate on time.

I say fuck this little twerp. He needs to be cock punched. Bottom line is he was told not to do something by his coach, and yet he did it anyway. He deserves to be cut.

If he disagreed with the coach, then he should have gone to the school principal and voiced his objections over not being allowed to wear his pink cleats. But he shouldn't have put them on again until he had permission to do so.

Fucking kids these days think they can just do whatever the fuck they want and it doesn't matter if someone tells them not to do something they will just fucking do it anyway.

Sounds like he needs a good beating by his parents, not help suing the school.

 

[TheVrolok]

I hope he loses. Courts don't need to be tied up with a waste of time like this. There's nothing worth suing over. He got cut, and the coach can cut him for whatever reason he wants to. Bottom line, the kid was told not to do something and he did it anyway. This has nothing to do with breast cancer, they are trying to make this a case about that and it isn't.

Agreed 100%.

 

[jhbball]

lol @ the south.

 

[JulesMaximus]

They said he can make up the PE credit and graduate on time.

I say fuck this little twerp. He needs to be cock punched. Bottom line is he was told not to do something by his coach, and yet he did it anyway. He deserves to be cut.

If he disagreed with the coach, then he should have gone to the school principal and voiced his objections over not being allowed to wear his pink cleats. But he shouldn't have put them on again until he had permission to do so.

Fucking kids these days think they can just do whatever the fuck they want and it doesn't matter if someone tells them not to do something they will just fucking do it anyway.

Sounds like he needs a good beating by his parents, not help suing the school.

You really are a miserable little twat aren't you?

 

[DrPizza]

He'll win in court, unless the entire team wears identical footwear. As it is for a PE credit, the coach did not follow due process. As far as "he can just take gym" - while we don't know what his schedule looks like, what if it would force him to drop, say an AP elective that he was taking in order to fit phys ed into his schedule?

 

[Numenorean]

that kid really is a miserable little twat isn't he?

ftfy

 

[moshquerade]

He'll win in court, unless the entire team wears identical footwear. As it is for a PE credit, the coach did not follow due process. As far as "he can just take gym" - while we don't know what his schedule looks like, what if it would force him to drop, say an AP elective that he was taking in order to fit phys ed into his schedule?

And what if it doesn't? We could "what if" all day, but at the end of the day this kid went against authority and wore the cleats again even though the coach told him not to.

 

[Phokus]

Jackson, Miss

Hah, missed that part, should have known.

"HURF DURF, PINK MEANS GAY" *spits tobacco through missing teeth*

 

[KMc]

F-ing kickers.....