Chris Cuellar

ccuellar@dmreg.com

Monday night’s chants from within the Dallas Center-Grimes student section traveled across the court faster than activities director Steve Watson could silence them.

The Class 3A district playoff game turned sour for Perry fans and boys’ basketball players who heard the cheers — "Trump! Trump! Trump!" Perry’s multi-ethnic and growing Latino population got the message that picked up GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump's anti-immigration comments.

Now, the programs northwest of Des Moines are thrust into a complex conversation about sportsmanship, respect and crowd control at high school athletic events. DCG and Perry are approaching the fallout as a learning opportunity.

“(DCG) has addressed our concern and certainly we’re all wishing it hadn’t happened,” Perry activities director Tom Lipovac said. “I’ve spoken to Steve the last two days. Their superintendent has been in contact with our superintendent. Their principal has contacted our principal. Their basketball coach has been in contact with our basketball coach.

“What a few might do doesn’t represent the sportsmanship of a school district, its fans, students or administrators.”

Perry won the first-round game in Adel, 57-50, and students spoke out on the chant to area TV stations and across social media.

“It's honestly disrespectful. That's how I take it. I hear it during the game, on and off the court. Everywhere I go,” Perry senior Shammond Ivory told WHO TV.

No Perry varsity players are Latino, the team's coach, Ned Menke, said, but 48 percent of the student body population is a minority, according to Perry school leaders.

Like the cheers or yells that spread in the bleachers, Twitter or Snapchat posts can escalate a sportsmanship problem before administrators can stop it. Both schools said they were made aware of social media banter between students after the game.

Watson said the Trump chants came from 10 to 15 individuals of the 100- to 120-member student section. He estimated the chant was yelled "four or five times."

In the noisy playoff atmosphere, some on the Perry sideline couldn’t even hear the chant.

"When they saw me come down the bleachers, they knew it was wrong," Watson said. "As an administrator you'd like to think you wouldn't even have to tell them to stop, or they wouldn't even start it."

Watson declined to discuss any disciplinary measures taken against the students participating in the chant, citing student privacy.

"Whenever anything turns personal or offensive, it's out of line, and this is definitely out of line,” Watson said. "Our kids know that. They knew it before. They chose to do it."

The Iowa High School Athletic Association and Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union allow districts to handle disciplinary issues that stem from behavior on-site or online.

“Unless requested by a school administrator, the athletic association does not become involved in resolving the issue because we believe that is best left to the school administrators of the schools involved,” IHSAA Executive Director Alan Beste said Wednesday.

Iowa’s prep programs follow “Conduct Counts,” which encourages spectators to stay positive and avoid disrespectful conduct that could result in warnings or an ejection from the event.

The policy’s posters are found in gyms statewide and their message will be reinforced after Monday’s incident.

“We emphasize cheering for and not against,” Lipovac said, “but we all face challenges when it comes to sportsmanship. You see it at all levels and for some sports, it’s more of a challenge than others.”

In an editorial to the Perry Chief newspaper, Perry junior Kevin Lopez wrote that Monday marked the fourth time the “Trump!” cheer had been used in a negative manner toward the Bluejays.

“It is a chant said to intimidate and discriminate our Latino/Hispanic students and it is a chant that is fueled by racism,” Lopez said in the editorial.

Storm Lake boys’ basketball coach Heath Stille said Wednesday that his program had yet to encounter any similar discrimination this season. According to 2014 Census estimates, Buena Vista County counts Latinos as nearly 25 percent of its total population, while the number is 5.6 percent statewide.

“I’m not saying it hasn’t happened, but it’s not something the basketball team has had to deal with, so I don’t think about it. I haven’t heard anything at our school or anything to keep an eye out for, which is good.”

Whether political and technological changes continue to affect student section behavior, the state’s athletic associations acknowledge that cheers and policies are constantly evolving.

“Activities are an extension of the classroom,” Lipovac said. “It’s a lesson best learned with the proper respect shown to everyone. And we all struggle with that. Where is that line when it comes to sportsmanship?”

Specific words and phrases won’t be banned because new ones will come along. But the hope for both programs is to build sportsmanship — on and off the court — going forward.

"Our goal in every event is that our kids will support our own kids in a positive way,” Watson said. "No kid that puts a basketball uniform on deserves to go out on the court and be personally attacked or offended.

"I talked to some of our kids this morning, asking, 'How do we move on?' It'll be a long educational process for us. Unfortunately, but probably fortunately, our basketball season is over. Generally, we need to be more respectful."

Perry (13-9) plays Boone (8-14) in the Class 3A District 15 final at 7 p.m. Thursday in Johnston.