Thursday, September 27, 2012

Chester Football Given Death Sentence



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!
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.

17 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Its been a sad day in Chester, but the one thing to be proud of was the football team and the committed coaches that officiated and gave these children hope. The football team has saved the lives of some of those young men and surely it has helped develop them as young men... Many if which were from single-parent households and this group made a difference. This is sadly deplorable.

      From a parent who's son was a star running back for Chester High's football team.

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    2. This action of dismissing the coaches smells political. We need dedicated male staff to mentor and teach our young men. There's so many positive results from the coaches efforts that do not warrant them being let go . The likes of two "instructors" Wanda Mann and Ms. Jordan who can't act civilized and control themselves when disagreeing rather than rolling around fighting in a school parking lot among students-THAT warrants firing! Not coaches who HELP the students! The coaches must be called back!

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  2. Its always a sad day anywhere when this happens. It just doesn't make any sense to me when you want to cut back or eliminate programs for our children in schools or anywhere. I know a few of the coaches there at CHS and and the privilege of coaching one of the young men when we had a semi-pro team in the city. Broddy Montgomery was a very good ball player that took his job and competed with passion, determination and the heart to do his best even when he was playing through injuries that he may have had. He was a leader on and off the field and always willing to help his teammates when it was needed. When he was to hurt to play in a game he was an asset on the sidelines for me and his teammates. It did not surprise me when you had said what he did to help with raising money for the team at the school. The school district there in Chester should step up and be thankful for the young men and women who go out of their way to help our young men and women succeed in life but as usual they don't. To the football staff don't let them destroy what you are doing, keep up the great work that you all do it is appreciated by all the ones who care. I will continue to keep you all on my prayers daily. Love my city and always tell people where I was born with pride and joy. I still attend as many games that I can. Tell Broddy to keep up the great job he is doing. Buzz Taylor Class 1970, Go Clippers. God Bless you all.

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  3. Im sure the basketball team has new stuff every year

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  4. Absolutely eloquent letter. Having been a member of one of the teams that has lost to Chester, I have great respect for the program and the coaches that manage to do so much with so little. Don't give up, you have too much to lose.

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  5. I can't believe this board! Get them out!

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  6. As a parent and alumni of Chester high, I find this story very disturbing and, heartbreaking. I myself remember growing up without the proper role models. Had I had the coaches these young men have maybe I would have been in a better place in my life. And where does the financial burdon come in at if they raised $30k. As a school board you've failed ur community. As adults you've failed your children. Keep them on the fields and off of the streets. They don't have to win state championships to be winners.

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  7. Smh at the get them out comment. This is why as a people we can't get ahead. If u feel that way about the coaches I'm sure that they are looking for volunteers. As they always do. Why don't you go offer your time. Perfect example of a person looking at the record of wins and lost, and not the graduation% since that staff took over. What people don't know is one of the coaches came out of his own pocket to pay for a former players down payment on his dorm room when the father wouldn't and the mother couldn't. Nobodies mad at Larry Yarbrey for telling Under Armour not to sponsor the whole athletic department when they wanted to. Get it together. Or maybe if we as tax payers stop paying a fill in superintendent $800 a day we probably wouldn't be in a financial problem. Wanda Mann gets rewarded for doing wrong. And the kids suffer for doing right.

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  8. Football team was never really competetive but always sad to hear news of giving up on kids......

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  9. Media vs Chester was the biggest Thanksgiving day game in the county.I am a Media guy hear pulling for CHS.Great stadium,nedds some TLC..dream of night games,and a packed house with the Chester Cheerleaders,cheering in front of the Clipper band(also in need of a revival,one time the BEST).
    Keep plugging...go Clippers!
    Love an OLD Mustang

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  10. I think the last comment wasnt understanding the point the letter was trying to make... I think the message was that they are preparing and making the young men successful in life.. Which is i think is a very important thing in the community of Chester right now.. If you win football games in high school then go to the streets and sell drugs after high school i dont think thats a job well done... Oh and I think you mean "competitive" not competetive and as far as that i thought they won the league title like 4-5 years ago when they were 8-3 or 9-2? When Payne was QB and won 5-6 games the year after when the QB from Widener, Campbell was there..

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  11. Its a damn shame.. As a 4 year football player for CHS in the late 90's and early 2000's i played on one of the worst teams(record wise) to come through there which was 0-11.. We had our up years too with 9-3 and 6-6 records also but if it wasnt for this sport and the coaches pointing me in the right direction i would have never went to college, graduated and become the productive adult i am today.. I didnt have a father that was there to teach me right and wrong and etc.. When i had problems in school i went to the coaches, when i was stuck with issues in life i went to coaches.. If i was out and hungry with nothing to eat the coaches helped.. They were the ones that took me out to games, bought me food, pushed me to make something of myself of course along with my mom but my point is.. As a football player in high school coming from where we come from a coach is more then just a coach... Hes a counselor, hes a big brother, hes a disciplinarian, a therapist, and in some cases a father.. and once a coach always a coach so when i see them even to this day i greet them as coach... Thanks to the staff that coached me Coach Bo Payne, Peach, Ducky, Allen, Bates, Skip and special thanks to Chuck Coles for helping me get into college.. Most of todays kids arent strong enough to make it in society without direction and taking this program away will leave a bunch of kids without direction... C-Pride

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  12. What we as a community should do is go to the next school board meeting and let them know we won't stand for it. And another thing people don't know is the coaching staff came up with a plan to get the A-field completely redone with turf,lights,new stands, locker rooms and press box that can fit more than two people at a time, new bathrooms with running water for the fans and the teams. And board member Anthony Johnson tried everything he could to not let that happen. But here's the kicker. It would have cost the district nothing but a yes to go ahead with plan

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  13. I was born and raised in Chester. I played JV, then varsity football for my Clippers and was on the team that finally beat the mighty St.James 8 - 0 in the Thanksgiving Day Classic (1971). My year on the JV squad still found me on the field as a member of the C.H.S. Marching Band which turned every half-time into showtime. I mention this all to underscore longstanding tradition of pride and excellence that some would let fall by the wayside. While I understand that the Chester I grew up in is vastly different from today's (industry vacated and crime seemingly filled the void), one thing remains constant. Young people need programs with caring people at the helm to mentor, guide, encourage and keep them out of harms way. Each generation owes the one behind it the chance to do better not worse, than themselves. I pray that the powers that be will become BIGGER than the problem.

    - Gregory Holtz, Sr. CHS - Class of 1973

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  14. This really is sad! I would like what other sports/programs will be cut? The basketbal team on the other hand is costing the district a great deal of cash. In fact basketball would continue to exist if CUSD were to close down for good! It is said to see the powers that be give up on our kids. The distrct did no even atempt to get the parents to pay a small fee to offset the cost of running the program. I am so veryupset and hope that this gets worked out for the sake of our kids!

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