Coach silent as Kings parents trying to figure out how racist jerseys ended up on kids

Some Kings parents are "outraged" and trying to piece together how racist and sexist basketball jerseys ended up on the backs of children in a game.

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Anger over the uniforms continued to grow Tuesday, two days after the team wore jerseys with names like "Coon" and "Knee Grow" on the back during a game. The front of the jerseys were emblazoned with the nickname "Wet Dream Team." It was the team's fourth game of the season and the first away from their home court.

It's unclear, exactly, who made the jerseys.

Cincinnati Premier Youth Basketball League spokesman Ben Goodyear said no one reported the jerseys in the first three games of the season.

"Once we were alerted, we took swift and decisive action, meaning that we immediately canceled the game and 34 minutes after being notified they were removed from the league," Goodyear said.

Each community is responsible for obtaining their own jerseys.

"In short, the approval process is done at the community level," Goodyear said.

All teams register with the name of their community and coach's last name, he said.

The team was officially registered as Kings Gill VB-R after coach Walt Gill. That name appears on the league's website.

"Teams are not registered with nicknames," Goodyear said. "The league was not aware of this name until it was reported. The team consists of Kings students that compete in the bracket of grades 7-12.

Gill didn't return a phone message or multiple e-mails on Tuesday.

On Monday, the league issued a statement on his behalf: "We sincerely apologize to anyone that was offended by the jerseys. We offered to cover them up or change, however the league saw fit to remove us and we have accepted that decision."

While the independent league pays rent to play in school gyms, it isn't operated by any school district.

Still, Kings Local School District Superintendent Tim A. Ackermann sent a letter out to all parents on Tuesday.

"While we are terribly disappointed in this news, we will take this opportunity to learn and grow from this experience together," Ackermann said. "Kings Local Schools strongly condemns any type of hateful, inappropriate, and racist commentary. We have an outstanding, supportive community, but we are not perfect."

The superintendent pointed out league coaches are volunteers and not hired by the school district.

"We do understand that the students involved are Kings students and the teams rent our facilities," Ackermann said. "After the district was notified of the team’s behavior, the district immediately started the process of gathering information and evaluating the team’s use of our facilities."

The situation has left some parents wondering how this could happen in their community.

Kings High School 1998 graduate Denise Anderson returned to the area after college.

"I love the area, my family is here, the schools are terrific," Anderson said. "This incident is not what I think of when I think of our schools."

Earlier coverage: Team kicked out of league for offensive basketball jerseys

Kings is the type of place where teachers know students' names outside the classroom, she said.

"I have not seen a comment from any parent that thinks this is OK," Anderson said. "There are hundreds of parents on a school Facebook page that are outraged."

Parents are trying to figure out what to do, she said.

"I don't want this swept under the rug," she said. "I want our community to learn from this and do better."

West Clermont parent Tony Rue pointed out the jerseys during the Sunday game and later wrote a much-commented-on Facebook post about roles adults had to play.

"This isn’t a typo, this isn’t a mistake, these are ideas that were thought of, discussed, agreed upon by adults and kids alike, printed on uniforms ... and no one thought this was a bad idea or inappropriate?" Rue asked in his post.

The league has taken steps to prevent similar incidents in the future, Goodyear, the league spokesman, said.

“We have communicated with our communities that inappropriate uniforms, warm up, etc., will not be tolerated and teams in violation will be immediately ejected from the league,” Goodyear said.

League teams have been asked to certify all uniforms are in compliance and not inappropriate “in any manner,” he said.

“We have communicated to the referees to inspect the jerseys before the game and immediately cancel the game and report any violations,” Goodyear said. “As in this case, if we find a violation, we will act in a swift and decisive manner.”

What should happen?

The children involved need to be suspended and get counseling, said Rodney Coates, a professor at Miami University of Ohio professor/Black World Studies coordinator.

“The phrase that comes to mind is hurt people hurt others,” Coates said. “As strange as this sounds, it is a cry out for pain. And as strange as this sounds this is only going to get worse.”

What is concerning is the children wearing jerseys didn’t think anything would come of it, he said.

Team members may have gone through something rough or feel victimized themselves, Coates said.

“Whatever they are going through that is rough, they have not changed that by targeting another,” Coates said.

“Young people are particularly targeted by racist groups for recruitment,” he said. “And kids who tend to be recruited tend to be marginalized.”

Conversations with children on the team need to happen, Coates said.

“These are kids and I would think that the parents should be the first place where the conversation should be had,” Coates said.

Dismissing the terms as racially offensive does nothing to get inside children’s heads and find out why it is occurring, he said.

“The more difficult conversation is what was this about,” Coates said. “They had to have some help in doing this.”