Jean-Jacques Taylor

Archive | Blog | E-mail

High schools athletics has never been about winning championships — no matter how much civic pride they produce. That should never change.

Don’t misunderstand. Winning titles at the high school level, where there’s still actually a little bit of innocence, can be wonderful and inspiring because there isn’t the win-at-all-cost mentality that exists in college and pro sports.

High school athletics teaches young men and women the importance of accountability and responsibility. It’s where they learn how to overcome adversity and discover there’s no shame in failure as long as you have given your best effort.

Athletics teaches them the value of teamwork, leadership and d iscipline, while providing numerous lessons and examples they can use to succeed in life and become productive members of society.

Sadly, some people in positions of power at South Oak Cliff High School lost sight of that.

On Wednesday, DISD superintendent Michael Hinojosa said the Office of Professional Responsibility’s investigation into allegations of grade-changing at SOC revealed at least two people were responsible for changing a player’s English grade, allowing him to play in the regional and state tournament when he should have been ineligible.

Ridiculous.

Now SOC, which had won the last three Class 4A state titles, must forfeit its 2006 championship. The report absolved coach James Mays II, who declined comment, of any involvement in the scandal.

But that doesn’t remove the stain from his reputation. Or the disappointment in a community built around its basketball program. This is, after all, a program that had won four state championships and made 11 trips to the state tournament.

SOC had accounted for four of the district’s 14 state titles in the modern era, which began in 1971. It has produced NBA players such as Dennis Rodman and Tony Battie, and another in Kansas forward Darrell Arthur is on his way.

Basketball is as much a part of this community as football is in Southlake. So when a title is forfeited, the pain and frustration are is tangible.

Those responsible, none of whom are currently working at the school, should never be in a position to pimp teenagers again. Let’s call it what it is.

Those who played a role in the grade being changed sold out the players on the basketball team and the students, because they became intoxicated with the attention and acclaim that accompanies a basketball powerhouse like SOC.

Frankly, the thought is repugnant

. There is no shame in failing to win a championship. Shame is the result of quitting. Or giving a half-hearted effort.

REX C. CURRY / Special to DMN

DISD superintendent David Hinojosa said all of the right things about SOC's situation, but an in-depth explanation was needed, Jean-Jacques Taylor writes.

Or, in this case, cheating.

The students in SOC’s district live in a community where nearly 50 percent have household incomes of less than $25,000, so they see enough examples of people taking shortcuts to get what they want in life. The teachers and administrators are supposed to be the ones teaching these students that hard work and sacrifice are the keys to breaking the cycle of poverty.

Any successful person will tell you shortcuts don’t exist. But that’s the lie those who participated in changing that student’s grade tried to perpetuate.

Hinojosa, an avid sports fan, said all of the right things about being disappointed and embarrassed over forfeiting the state title. And he said all of the right things about academics taking priority over athletics.

Hinojosa did say he’s going to hire an outside firm to review other DISD schools, sports and departments to ensure this is an isolated incident — not a systemic problem that will lead to future embarrassments in the future.

“As a former basketball coach and basketball player, this is painful for me,” Hinojosa said. “I understand how important it is to win, but we must win within the rules.

“Success has to come the right way. Any success that’s not achieved within the rules is hollow.”

Hinojosa, DISD athletic director Jeff Johnson and SOC principal Regina Jones each read from sanitized statements. Their words, though appropriate, would’ve had more sincerity had they spoken, even briefly, from their hearts instead of reading some prepared text that who knows how many people had to read before it was approved.

Johnson and Jones each made a point of saying they had only been on their respective jobs for two years, which was clearly their way of saying they had nothing to do with the scandal at SOC.

That’s fine, but it gave the appearance of a copout.

So did Hinojosa’s refusal to answer more than a handful of questions and give some real insight into how the student’s grade was changed from 50 to 73.

This is one of those times when simply admitting the problem wasn’t enough; we needed to hear an in-depth explanation of how this happened.