On Saturday, July 16, 2005, the Idaho Statesman ran an AP article (written by Allison Schlesinger) that had the following headline:
Police Say Coach Paid To Have Player Injured
I will recount the article and add some of my own comments to this horrific story...
PITTSBURGH - A T-ball coach allegedly paid one of his players $25 to hurt an 8-year-old mentally disabled teammate so he wouldn't have to put the boy in the game, police said Friday.
Okay, my stomach just turns as I read this story. There are so many, many things wrong with this picture. This is T-BALL folks. This coach (I can't even call him that, he is the farthest thing from a coach that I've ever read about) intentionally meant to hurt (allegedly...but that's all I'm giving him in this post) one of his own players through one of the other kids. C'mon you low-life, pick on someone your own size!!
Mark R. Downs Jr., 27, of Dunbar, is accused of offering one his players the money to hit the boy in the head with a baseball, police said. Witnesses told police Downs didn't want the boy to play in the game because of his disability.
These are the kinds of stories where you may be tempted to want to take justice in your own hands. I've been a coach for Little League for six years. You are out there, as a coach, for the players. In T-ball, it has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with winning. It's about instilling a love for the game and teaching, teaching, teaching -- about more things than just baseball.
Police said the boy was hit in the head and in the groin with a baseball just before a game and did not play, police said. "The coach was very competitive," state police Trooper Thomas B. Broadwater said. "He wanted to win."
But did he win? No. He lost because he is a loser. Losers may win a game or two, but they lose at life. This guy lost sight of all that was decent and went after a flimsy, paper crown. Not only that, but he has hurt a lot of people along the way.
Downs was arrested and arraigned Friday on charges including criminal solicitation to commit aggravated assault and corruption of minors. He was released from jail on an unsecured bond.
He better hide...people may start throwing baseballs at him.
The boy's mother asked state police to investigate her son's injuries because she suspected Downs wanted to keep the boy off the field, despite a league rule that required each player to participate in three innings a game, Broadwater said. Eric Forsythe, the president of the R.W. Clark Youth Baseball League, said Downs had two daughters on the T-ball team....If Downs is convicted of any crime, he won't be allowed to be a coach next year.
How about, he won't be allowed to be near children for the next 10-20 years.
Coaches, Authority Figures, Bosses, Managers, Student Leaders - we all need to be aware of the needs of those who might not have all the resources that most of us have at our disposal. That 8-year-old kid showed a tremendous amount of guts and courage to go out for T-ball and simply wanted to be on a team and play ball...just like everyone else.
There's a difference between simply coaching baseball and coaching kids. Winning with people will always go a lot farther than winning a game. People will remember the coaches who helped them become great people. They don't remember all that many games.
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