Sophomore running back Bill Jackson played for Cardinal Ritter College Prep in St. Louis, Missouri. In the 2018 title game, a referee ejected Jackson from the field following some infraction. As a result, Jackson was suspended from playing in one game in the following 2019 season.
In the 2019 opening game, Cardinal Ritter head coach Brandon Gregory, rather than honor the suspension and keep his star player off the field, inserted him into the game under an alias. Junior running back Bill Jackson, jersey number 24, ran onto the field as freshman Marvin Burks, jersey number 4.
Bill Jackson, aka Marvin Burks, ran for 109 yards that night and scored a touchdown in his team's 32-21 win over its opponent. To local sportswriters excited about the new running back, Coach Gregory praised Marvin Burks as a kid who had earned his right to start the game. "It was his time to play ball," Gregory said, knowing full well he was really talking about Bill Jackson.
Well into Cardinal Ritter's 2019 undefeated season, the truth emerged about Marvin Burks' real identify. Someone noticed that the freshman running back had Bill Jackson's tattoos. Moreover, the player known as Marvin Burks and Bill Jackson were the same size, and had the same running style. As it turned out, Marvin Burks was Bill Jackson.
Game over.
Tamiko Armstead, the Cardinal Ritter College Prep president, voided the football team's 2019 season, and fired head coach Brandon Gregory and his entire coaching staff.
Ex-coach Brandon Gregory, rather than take full responsibility for ruining the season for his football team and its fans, said in the passive voice of someone unwilling to admit guilt, that "a mistake had been made."
If that response wasn't bad enough, the coach said he didn't know Bill Jackson had been suspended for one game. If that were true, why did Coach Gregory give his star running back a different number and a phony identity--for one game? Yeah, mistakes had been made, the big one being hiring this guy as coach.
In the 2019 opening game, Cardinal Ritter head coach Brandon Gregory, rather than honor the suspension and keep his star player off the field, inserted him into the game under an alias. Junior running back Bill Jackson, jersey number 24, ran onto the field as freshman Marvin Burks, jersey number 4.
Bill Jackson, aka Marvin Burks, ran for 109 yards that night and scored a touchdown in his team's 32-21 win over its opponent. To local sportswriters excited about the new running back, Coach Gregory praised Marvin Burks as a kid who had earned his right to start the game. "It was his time to play ball," Gregory said, knowing full well he was really talking about Bill Jackson.
Well into Cardinal Ritter's 2019 undefeated season, the truth emerged about Marvin Burks' real identify. Someone noticed that the freshman running back had Bill Jackson's tattoos. Moreover, the player known as Marvin Burks and Bill Jackson were the same size, and had the same running style. As it turned out, Marvin Burks was Bill Jackson.
Game over.
Tamiko Armstead, the Cardinal Ritter College Prep president, voided the football team's 2019 season, and fired head coach Brandon Gregory and his entire coaching staff.
Ex-coach Brandon Gregory, rather than take full responsibility for ruining the season for his football team and its fans, said in the passive voice of someone unwilling to admit guilt, that "a mistake had been made."
If that response wasn't bad enough, the coach said he didn't know Bill Jackson had been suspended for one game. If that were true, why did Coach Gregory give his star running back a different number and a phony identity--for one game? Yeah, mistakes had been made, the big one being hiring this guy as coach.
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