THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 16, 1995 TAG: 9510160033
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Guy Friddell
LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
When the One Great Scorer comes to write against your name,
He marks - not that you won or lost - but how you played the game.
Place that ode to sportsmanship by Grantland Rice alongside a dispatch out of Miami last week.
A former high school soccer star has been awarded $277,000 for a knee injury he got after an opposing coach told his team to ``waste him.''
Gary Beharrie, 20, had reconstructive knee surgery after being kicked during the game in 1992.
A college scholarship of $12,000 a year was withdrawn after his knee was damaged. He has been earning $6.50 an hour at a Miami freight company. He hopes yet to play soccer professionally.
A jury deadlocked on the case last year, but a new panel in Fort Lauderdale found at fault the opposing coach and the player who had kicked Beharrie.
A senior at 17, Beharrie was captain of the Piper High School team playing against Deerfield Beach High School. Piper led 4-3 in double overtime as Beharrie was moving the ball along the sidelines.
An official testified he heard Deerfield coach Phil Drosdick exhort his players: ``Waste him! Waste him! Waste him!''
A home video, played for the jury, showed Deerfield's Sebastian Tenutta kicking Beharrie in the right knee without trying to get the ball. Officials stopped the game and awarded the victory to Piper.
Ron Allen of the Florida High School Activities Association said many adults and some coaches are overzealous.
The trial showed, he said, that sometimes coaches forget they're there to teach kids to have fun and to achieve through hard work and not to get people hurt because they want to win by whatever it takes.
Beharrie's lawyer, Peter Herman, said, ``This sends a message to the schools they have to act reasonably.''
But lawyer Ronald Solomon said the Broward County School Board will appeal. The jury award, he said, ``will have a chilling effect on those people who coach at the high school level as well as those who volunteer for junior sports.''
One hopes the chilling effect will beset all overzealous coaches and parents as well as spectators.
The question for the Florida High School Activities Association is whether to ban from the game coaches who encourage mayhem.
Beharrie suffered a torn ligament as well as a shredded one. As he lay writhing in pain while the Deerfield stands cheered, he feared his soccer career was ended.
Used to be, fans fell silent when a player was hurt and applauded him as he was helped from the field.
The Deerfield principal should assemble the little Huns, denounce their conduct - and take away their Christmas vacation.
That's how to drive home the basic value Grantland Rice wrote about. by CNB