Coy Sheppard’s grandmother, and his step-grandmother, are cancer survivors. That’s why the seventeen year old senior kicker on the Mendenhall High Football team decided it was important to wear the pink cleats his grandmother gave him in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month this past October. His coach, however, felt differently. When Sheppard showed up in the cleats to a game on October 8th, his coach was so taken aback that Sheppard and his family claim that he “belittled” the boy and ordered him not to wear the cleats again. When Sheppard wore them to the next practice anyway, he was cut from the team.
The Simpson County School District offers academic credit for playing sports, so Sheppard’s graduation may be in jeopardy without the credits for playing football. That’s part of why the boy is suing the school district to be reinstated.
School officials claim that Sheppard was kicked off the team for failing to follow his coach’s instructions, not for wearing pink shoes.
“It had absolutely nothing to do with lack of support for breast cancer awareness,” District Deputy Superintendent Tom Duncan told USA Today. Duncan also made it clear that coaches have told Sheppard that he would be allowed to make up his lost PE credit and graduate on time.
“I do understand and we don’t condone being disrespectful to the coaches,” Joey Sheppard, Coy’s father, told WLBT.com. ”But he was standing up for what he thought was right. He’s had five or six different colored shoes throughout his last two years of kicking for Mendenhall and when he got the pink shoes that’s when it became an issue. I think it is the pink shoes.”
Sheppard has apologized and promised not to wear the shoes again if he is reinstated, but his coaches have refused. School board President Larry Cockrell said he hopes the dispute can be settled.
“I wish it could have been handled differently, where there could have been some compromise,” he told USA Today. “I think all the kid wants is to play football and finish out the year.”
Coy’s lawsuit asks the court to reinstate him to the football team, clear his record and for any monetary damages to go to the American Cancer Society.
