Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 28, 1993 TAG: 9302280039
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
RICHLANDS DESERVED TROPHY
To Jack Bogaczyk:In response to your newspaper items of Jan. 29 and 30 regarding the Richlands and Salem contest:
The trophy might be forever tarnished in your mind, but to the Richlands citizens who watched the boys play their entire season, and the team who in their hearts know how hard they played, it will never be tarnished.
What color do you have to be in order for remarks to be considered racial slurs? Our boys were called "whitey," "white boy" and "you white S.O.B." This is black to white, but I'm gathering this is not considered racial. As long as time lasts we are going to have racism. The only way we can stop it is to change the color of somebody's skin. Any volunteers? Besides, the Orange County game was played on a Saturday afternoon and there were people from several areas to see this game. Who's to say they were Richlands fans?
Our team deserved what they played for. It's never been proved that we had to wear illegal cleats to win. Personally I feel it wouldn't have made any difference and, yes, I was at the game. I think Willis White knows it wouldn't have made a difference, that's what his biggest gripe is. He wants to make people believe Salem would have won if Richlands had not worn illegal cleats. Hogwash. He was also at the game, and he knows it wasn't the cleats. Salem was outplayed and outcoached.
John Curia should keep his nose out of the cleat controversy; his gripe was racial slurs.
Whether or not Coach Vaught is fired is nobody's business but the people of Richlands. We're the ones who support our team, our coach and the school. If you want to become a resident of our town and pay taxes here, then we will take your comments into consideration.
Willis White got his butt beat (again), and he's afraid it's affecting his image in Salem. Negative remarks have been made from Salem residents regarding Coach White and long before there was ever a playoff between the two schools.
Coach Vaught will have to live with this wrong the rest of his life, but you will forget it in time. I admit Coach Vaught was wrong in what he did, but you don't stomp a man when he's down. The human thing to do is pick him up, help him and pray he's learned from his errors.
JOYCE WESS\ RICHLANDS