Recently the Chester Upland School Board eliminated 4
football coaches. The Clippers football team will still complete the season. But
the elimination of the 4 coaches resulted in the following open letter. This is
a must read!
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Left to right: Al Layton (Defensive Backs), James Howard (Defensive
Assistant), Charles Crews (Head Football Coach), Beyheme Montgomery
(Line Backer), LaFennis Terry III (Defensive Line), Howard Maxwell
(Offensive Coordinator), Ed Kloss (Line Coach), not pictured L. Bell (dsbpix) |
Chester Football Given Death Sentence
In three
years, the Chester Football team has produced a record of 7-17. To put it
mildly, this is not a great record. Is a win-loss statistic the only indicator
of a successful program, though? The answer is an emphatic NO! In the past
three seasons, those teams, while finishing below .500, have produced 15
college student athletes. All of these collegiate athletes are successful on
the field and in the classroom. These students have enrolled in schools such as
Widener University, West Chester University, Thaddeus Stevens Technical School,
and Delaware State University. If you were to ask any of these fine young
gentlemen who helped lay the groundwork for their current success at the
collegiate level, they will tell you it was the coaches on the football team.
As a current
coach at Chester and a former coach at Interboro, I have learned that a coach
does not just teach the x’s and o’s of the game. Effective coaches help teach
the life lessons that form a foundation for success in an athlete’s life.
Self-discipline, motivation, and a commitment to a goal are some of these life
lessons. As a member of Chester’s football staff, I realize these lessons are
the foundation of this team’s success. This is why, as a coach on the Chester
Clipper staff, it was shocking today to learn that the staff was drastically
downsized. Eight outstanding mentors and leaders of young men were cut down to
four. Making the job harder, was the fact that our head coach was instructed to
eliminate not only positions but, if necessary, freshmen and junior varsity
football if he could not make due with his new skeleton crew of a staff.
Everyone is
aware of Chester’s financial issues. What makes this most shocking is the fact
that the football team was not a financial burden on the school district this
year. After taking an inventory of the team’s equipment and formulating a list
of the team’s needs, it became apparent that the district had been forced to
neglect the team’s equipment, uniforms, practice and game facilities because of
their lack of financial resources.
The facts
were staggering. The game jerseys were twelve years old; the practice jerseys
were twenty-two years old. Numbers were faded and missing. The jerseys were
tattered and worn. Shoulder pads worn by players in the 2011 season were from
the late eighties, in some cases. The thigh, knee, and hip pads were even
older. These issues were not just cosmetic; they also posed safety issues. Our
players needed proper protection.
Some of the
biggest issues, though, were off the field concerns. Rodents in the high school
were using stored practice equipment as a place to nest. To save this equipment
from further damage, it had be moved to a secured storage container outside of
the building. At some point, scrappers stole the team’s chutes and two-man
sled. At the Athletic field, the toilets do not work. The water cannot be drunk
from the fountain because it comes out a putrid, blackish brown. At the high
school, the situation is the same.
The coaching
staff decided something had to be done. We could not wait for the district to
attempt to come up with the funds by themselves. Teaming up with Coach
Montgomery, we were able to raise $30,000 through public grants and private
donations. This money went to buying new jerseys and pants, plus knee, thigh,
hip, tailbone, and shoulder pads. With the help of local businessman Joey
Iacona, we were able to procure a storage locker for our pads. We were able to
buy specialized sleds to replace our two-man sled. The team’s seven-man sled
was cut down to a five-man sled and the remaining portion was converted to a
two-man sled.
What should
have cost the district $30,000, cost the district nothing. There was no
district-incurred cost for this fundraising. All of the legwork was done during
the off-season when the coaches essentially volunteer their time. In spite of
the savings to the district and the fact that between freshmen football, junior
varsity football, and varsity football there are 50+ young men being mentored
and looked after everyday, the school district saw fit to cut the staff from
eight to four and leave it up to the head coach whether to continue the junior
varsity and freshmen season.
I have never
been a political man, but my philosophy on life when dealing with the masses is
simple. Cherish your elders and traditions and mentor your young. The Chester
Upland School Board has failed its city on all accounts with its actions toward
the football program this week. Congratulations! You have destroyed and
crippled a once proud football program, completely disregarded the pride your
graduates and alums have in the school’s football tradition, and given walking
papers to some of the finest mentors of young men in your city.