Former Douglass Football Coach Claims Refs Were Racist

A former Douglass High School Football coach says officiating calls were racially motivated in the state 4A playoff semis.

Tuesday, December 3rd 2013, 6:45 pm

By: Karl Torp


A former Douglass High School Football coach says officiating calls were racially motivated in the state 4A playoff semis.

Poteau High defeated Douglass 27-20 in McAlester, a neutral site, on November 30. Stanford White, who coached the Douglass Trojans for decades before retiring in 2004, posted this on his Facebook page about the officials.

Stanford White's Facebook post:

"We must remember Douglass fans the game was played in a redneck part of a "Red" state and the zebras were just doing what comes naturally to some of them...having Obama flashbacks and started "taking their country back." But the treatment wasn't limited to the field. One of McAlester's "finest" forced one of the Douglass coaches wife to leave the stands because she was jumping up too much and the Poteau fans behind her could not see. The Douglass ball girls and their supervisors were treated rudely by the police before the game started. And for those who are blind to the obvious bias displayed by the officials, I wonder what the reaction of Poteau's fans would have been if they had settled down in their seats to watch the game and were greeted by four BLACK officials. They'd be trying at this very moment to amend the U.S. constitution. Reminds me of the "good old days" when we African Americans "knew our place."

Mike Whaley, the Director of Officiating for the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association, says the officials that worked the game were some of the best in the state.

OSSAA has around 150 officiating teams it uses for games, and each are graded by coaches after every game. On November 30, the top teams were used as officials in the semi-final rounds of the state playoffs according to OSSAA.

"They are the top 20 of the all officials in the state, or else they wouldn't be working." Says Whaley.

Coach White did not respond to News 9's multiple requests for an interview.

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