Almont-Denby and the quest to find out what really happened

Jeff Seidel | Detroit Free Press

Show Caption Hide Caption New video from Detroit Denby-Almont football postgame confrontation More video from the Detroit Denby-Almont postgame confrontation at Walled Lake Central High School on Nov. 23, 2019. Viewer discretion advised.

The scene was chaotic and ugly. Emotions were high and police officers were trying to get control.

“Hey, hey! Back up folks!” somebody shouted at a group of Denby football players.

One of the Denby players had shoved a member of the Almont band, according to witnesses, after Almont’s victory in the state semifinals at Walled Lake Central on Nov. 23.

Almont says: That shove started this whole thing.

Denby says: That shove didn't start it. It was the racial animus. Where is the video evidence the shove even happened?

Denby administrators and coaches say the Almont crowd hurled racist remarks, shouted profanities, threw things, punched a player and spit at the Denby players. Almont administrators and spectators say they have found no evidence of racist remarks, no evidence that a Denby player was punched and have seen no video evidence that objects were thrown.

“Back! Back!” somebody can be heard yelling on video.

Oakland County Sheriff's deputies were trying to get the Denby players away from the gate.

Almont parents and spectators rushed to a platform overlooking the field and several were screaming frantically, which can be heard on video.

“Band kids stay together!” a woman screamed.

“Almont, back!” somebody yelled.

But the Almont football players were nowhere near the scene. They were on the other side of the field.

“It’s not Almont,” somebody shouted from the stands. “It’s all Denby."

At that moment, the they-said, they-said began, after this state semifinal that was called off in the fourth quarter by the officials because the game was getting out of control.

Denby says: It wasn't fair. The refs called significantly more penalties on us.

Almont says: The refs called this game because it was getting dangerous. Denby's players were out of control.

At least two sheriff's deputies directed the Denby players away from the stands and toward the field, and it looked as if everything was starting to settle down, although the chirping continued from the Almont stands.

Almont superintendent Dr. William Kalmar stood in the middle of the Denby players — he went there after he saw the commotion. Kalmar looked up into the Almont stands and says he heard one of the Almont spectators scream at the Denby coaches: “Get control of your F---- kids!”

A Denby player walked away from his team. He flipped a blue hood over his head and moved toward the stands. He hopped over a railing, rushed up a ramp toward the Almont fans, followed by many of his teammates. “I don’t know if there was a specific comment or if the fact that there were comments being said to them in general,” Kalmar said. “That spurred them to go past the police and confront those adults up there directly.”

As the Denby players rushed up the ramp, the chaos and frantic screams ignited again, which was captured in several videos. The Free Press reviewed more than 4 minutes of continuous video taken at field level. Voices can be heard, but the Free Press was unable to identify any racist remarks or see any objects thrown.

Almont says: If there were so many racial slurs, why weren't any caught on video? Your false accusations have harmed our community.

Denby says: The video doesn't prove anything. It's just one view. You are trying to blame everything on a few players.

People were screaming, and cops were trying to hold several players back. A woman tried to stop a Denby player, who swung his arm and spun away from her. The deputies stopped several Denby players, who simply complied and came down the ramp. Other players held back their teammates. It does not appear the Denby players ever reached the Almont crowd.

“Go home!” somebody screamed from the Almont stands.

A Denby player came down the ramp, jumped up and appeared to spit through a chain-link fence at an Almont spectator, who was standing above him on the platform. It is unclear what happened to provoke that. Kalmar said he saw the Almont fan lunge forward and spit back. Brandon Gable, an Almont fan, was standing next to the man who spit. “The cops were trying to get him to calm down,” Gable said. “And he kept saying, ‘The kid just spit in my face. The kid just spit on me.’

“I heard him repeat that over and over to the cop. He never said anything racist but he was fired up.”

Everything was out of control again. Two helmets were flung at the Almont spectators. “I had two helmets come flying by me almost hitting a little girl behind me,” Gable said.

Denby coaches were pushing their players back away from the stands.

“Please!” one Denby official pleaded to a group of Denby players. “Please!”

Finally, everything settled down again, and the Denby players left the stadium.

Almont says: We have identified the guy who spit and have banned him from ever attending another Almont event. He does not live in Almont and didn't graduate from Almont.

Denby says: We are skeptical that it was just one person.

The Oakland County Sheriff's Office is trying to sort it all out, going through video and taking statements. The sheriff's department has identified at least four potential assaults, including one where a Denby player allegedly pushed a police officer. A Denby player has said he was hit by a pop can.

“We are nowhere near done,” Oakland County Undersheriff Michael McCabe said Thursday. “The sheriff's office is still investigating this. We are trying to make arrangements with Detroit schools, so we can interview every one of the football players who wrote out a statement. We don’t have any names, no phone numbers (of the Denby players). We can’t complete the investigation until we talk to everybody potentially involved.”

The investigation is expected to last several more weeks. “We investigate,” McCabe said. “We are not taking sides in this. We are the fact finders. And we want to get all the facts and we want to submit those facts to the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office, so they can review it. We need help to finish this investigation.”

He said he has multiple detectives waiting to interview people. Media reports have suggested Denby players could be charged, but that is premature because the prosecutor's office has not received a report.

"The Sheriff’s Office has received over 40 statements from Denby players, administrators, and coaches describing the racial hostility they experienced after the game when the unrest started with Almont fans,” Detroit Public Schools Community District Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said in a statement. “We have not seen any video evidence that indicates any of our student-athletes pushed an officer or a band member. Again, if any spitting or pushing occurred, those reactions need to be placed in the context of the racial hatred and environment that our youth faced. There was plenty of pushing and shoving after the game ended.”

Almont says: If there was garbage thrown, why can’t you see it on the ground in the video?

Denby says: Look at the bruise on our player’s face!

And if this story ended right there, in a confusing, ugly, contradictory, emotional tale — a they-said, they-said — it would be one thing.

But the situation has intensified and shows no sign of slowing down on social media. The Almont community has been painted as racist, threatened repeatedly and attacked online. One person posted pictures on Facebook of Almont individuals with their children and wrote: “I want you guys to be on the lookout for them."

Almont says: That is out of control and crazy. This has to stop.

Denby says: It's crazy that some of our kids might get charged.

Other threats, from around the country, have been called into Almont schools.

An Almont player posted on social media that he had received a chance to play football in college, and somebody tagged the college and replied: "Do you really want a player from a school where spitting on, using the n-word at Denby hs players taking a knee is ok by them?"

Almont says: It is sickening and totally unfair to attack our kids. They did nothing. They were on the other side of the field. Could you at least admit that?

Denby says: Our kids have nothing to do with these social media attacks.

Most of the attacks on social media seem to come from adults not associated with either school.

Facts were twisted and everything started to get shared and retweeted. It quickly spun out of control.

Denby says: We have lived in fear forever. This is a hate crime against black children.

Almont says: We are going through hell. Our community is under attack. These unfounded allegations have hurt us and we are living in fear.

Almont faced so many threats and was so afraid of retaliation that the team took unmarked buses to Ford Field for the state championship game.There was a large police presence when Almont lost to Lansing Catholic Central, 31-17, in the Division 5 state title.

“That this happened to us in a semifinal, it is about the most unfortunate thing that I’ve become involved with in my 20 years of being involved in this business,” said Mark Uyl, the executive director of the Michigan High School Athletic Association.

Normally, when there is a conflict between schools, Uyl would try to work with both schools to resolve issues. But this has gone viral, which has complicated and amplified everything. “The social media aspect of this has made this incredibly difficult,” Uyl said.

Before the game

Almont and Denby high schools are located just 40 miles apart, but it’s like they come from two different worlds. And the stories of what happened that day couldn’t be more different.

Almont is located in a rural, two-light village in Lapeer County. Downtown is about a block long. Almont has a McDonald's, a water tower and there is a community bulletin board, in the grocery market, which doubles as a hardware store, where people have post things like "Custom Deer Processing" and a 2005 custom Harley Davidson ($7,500 or best offer). The school’s superintendent has an office in the high school, one of just three schools in the 1,500-student district. And as Almont advanced through the football playoffs, there was a joke that half the town showed up for the games, and it might have been true. Most of the players are white.

Denby is located on Kelly Road in Detroit. The school’s three-story building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The school is part of a district with more than 45,000 kids. And most of the Denby players are black.

But the players from both teams shared one thing in common. This semifinal game was the biggest game of their lives. Each team was one win from playing in the state championship in Ford Field, the ultimate destination for any high school football player in Michigan.

Things started to unravel, according to the Denby perspective, when players from Denby took a knee during the national anthem.

What happened next is the first of several disputes: "Our cameraman is white and was filming near some Almont fans," Denby coach Deon Godfrey told the Free Press after the game. "During the national anthem, he overheard them saying: 'Look at these N-words taking a knee and they don't even know why they're doing it,' and they kept going.”

The Free Press talked to several Almont fans, coaches and administrators. All vehemently deny there were any racial statements made about the kneeling, or at any point, really. Several said they expressed sympathy toward Denby during the game because the score was so lopsided.

“I had a middle school principal in that area,” Kalmar said. “I had a dean of students. I had multiple teachers. I had parents and community members I trust. I had school employees up there. We have talked to everyone we possibly can. We have asked if they heard any racial slurs. We have not gotten one person to say yes. We have no tolerance for this stuff. I don’t want people in my stands, trying to instigate racial animus.”

Almont jumped to a massive lead and put in its second string in the fourth quarter.

That’s when the game started to spin out of control.

“Plain and simple, their team was out of line at the end of the game,” Almont assistant coach Dan Walker said. “They ripped off one of our player’s helmets and he was bleeding in the face. Finally, we said to the refs, somebody is going to get seriously hurt. We are talking 10 seconds after a play, we are getting smoked in the back. It was like really scary for a minute there.”

That Denby player was ejected from the game.

The officials decided to end the game with 3 minutes left, and Almont had a 36-8 lead.

Uyl reviewed a copy of the game film and concluded the game officials made the right decision to end the game.

“Looking at the game video, there were fouls that were committed on, I believe, 10 of the last 12 plays of the game,” Uhl said. “When you look at the last dozen plays of the game, there were some personal fouls to where it appeared, players were no longer trying to make a legitimate play, either to gain yards or to tackle the runner, it really became a matter of, we are just going to try to take a foul here, by throwing somebody to the ground, who was obviously out of the play. There were two or three plays where we had some blindside blocks, which of course is now a foul at all levels of football. In that dozen or so last snaps, things were really getting to a point where player safety was a major issue.”

Godfrey was upset at the discrepancy in penalties. Denby's 16 penalties were twice as many as Almont's eight.

Bob Burg, a Denby assistant coach, wrote on Facebook: “First of all these Detroit Denby football players are just wonderful. ... Today they were railroaded! I won’t make excuses but these numbers don’t lie! 32 [sic] total penalties for 217 yards! 1 TD taken away because of a phantom call! And 8 first downs taken away from penalties! It’s pretty obvious who they wanted at Ford field[sic]!”

Game official Brent Shoemate submitted a statement to the MHSAA, saying: “Almont displayed exceptional sportsmanship and composure during the semifinal contest with Detroit Denby High School. Almont never retaliated or complained while they were receiving illegal hits from the opposing team — such as blocks in the back and blind-side blocks."”

Cheering or taunts?

It is important to remember how different these two schools are.

When you consider any part of this story, you have to view it through that prism: What one side sees is not what the other side might see. What one side hears, the other side might not hear. And what one team considers cheering, the other might consider taunting.

Almont has a loud, spirited student section and band, and they do a series of chants at every game.

“I heard there were some comments that our student section was hurling insults,” Walker said. “What those insulting comments were, was basically what they do at every game. It’s something we kind of consider normal. If the other team gets a penalty, they go, ‘Read the Rule book’... I think they really took it personally. When one of their players go kicked out of the game, our student section started chanting, ‘Nah, nah, hey hey hey, good-bye.”

Walker ran to the student section and said he “told them to shut up."

"I don’t think they understood what they normally do, at every game, meant a little bit more in this game," he said.

After the game

Video shows the Almont players lined up to shake hands after the game. The coaches from both teams had a cordial handshake, by all accounts.

But the two teams didn’t shake hands.

The Almont players went to an end zone and took a knee. “The Denby kids didn’t do that with their coach,” Kalmar said. “The Denby kids started to walk across the field. Their coaches and several teammates tried to halt these kids from doing that. They were walking very close to our guys. We had several police officers there, to make sure the players didn’t intermix. Unfortunately, because they left right way, they ran into our band, which was leaving that same exit.”

Several Almont coaches and spectators told the Free Press that a Denby player pushed an Almont band member. Gable said he watched it happen. “Two of the Denby players got right in the faces of band members instigating and verbally harassing them,” Gable said. “The band members gave no reaction to them. A third Denby player turned toward the band, walked over, and shoved a band member to the ground, the band member never even saw it coming. A cop immediately grabbed the player, that player shoved the cop off of him.”

The Almont administration did an investigation and found no taunting by its band. “Our findings have concluded that while our band was chanting ‘Hard work' (a chant they have had during our playoff run) a Denby player pushed one of our band members while walking behind our band,” Almont athletic director Gauthier wrote in a report to the Michigan High School Athletic Association, which was obtained by the Free Press. “A police officer on scene and a parent wittiness saw this and both mentioned that our band member did not do anything to provoke being shoved.”

The Free Press made multiple attempts to get a comment from Denby principal Tanisha Manningham, but she didn't return calls.

Detroit Public Schools is submitting a report to the MHSAA, but it was not provided to the Free Press. “(Detroit Public Schools) will be submitting a clear account of what occurred at the Almont game to the MHSAA and a set of demands to address concerns,” Vitti wrote on Twitter. “ One concern will include the use of a racial epithet 'you people' to our coach from the lead referee.”

Denby says: Your parents were out of control. Why couldn't your administration control them?

Almont says: Your players were out of control. Why couldn't your coaches control them?

The entire community of Almont continues to be attacked on social media, and the village increased its security for its holiday lights parade.

“I’ve got secretaries in my buildings, taking death threats," Kalmar said. "I’m getting hate mail. I got an email the other day from a guy, which we referred to the police. The worst threat we got was from New Orleans. I guy from Sacramento called me a cockroach. You know what I mean? For me, I can kind of laugh some of this off. I’ve been doing this a long time. But for parents it’s terrible.”

Weeks after the game, this is still a mess.

“Now is the time to bring folk together,” Rev. Dr. Wendell Anthony, the president of the Detroit branch of the NAACP said in a statement. “Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said it very clearly, 'People fail to get along because they fear each other. They fear each other because they don’t know each other. They don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.”

But there is little communication going on right now.

Almont says: It's not fair for anybody to paint our community like this. We are hurting like you can't imagine.

Denby says: It's not fair to blame this on a few of our kids. We are hurting like you can't imagine.

Almont says: You don’t know us. We just want this to end. Stop screaming at us and just listen.

Denby says: You don’t know us. We just want this to end. Stop screaming at us and just listen.

Amen.

Raw video: Detroit Denby-Almont football confrontation Raw video of the Detroit Denby-Almont football confrontation on Nov. 23, 2019. Viewer discretion advised.

Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @seideljeff. To read his recent columns, go to freep.com/sports/jeff-seidel/.