This item in Thursday’s edition of USA Today caught my eye:
“Jerry Joseph is either a promising 16-year-old sophomore basketball player at Periman (Odessa, Texas) or he’s Guerdwich Montimere, a 22-year-old who three years ago as a senior helped lead Dillard (Fort Lauderdale) to the Florida 5A state semifinals and was a McDonald’s All-American nominee.”
According to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman, Joseph is a Haitian who’s in the country illegally. She said ICE has determined through fingerprints that Joseph is not Montimere.
Montimere’s former AAU coach in Florida, however, says that Montimere and Jordan are the same person. So does the coach at an Iowa community college where Montimere signed in 2007.
What’s-his-name is scheduled to have an immigration hearing. If things go badly for him there, Montimere/Joseph’s next basketball game might be in Port-au-Prince.
I don’t know about Florida or Texas, but high school athletes in Mississippi have to produce a birth certificate. I’ll bet this young man’s birth certificate makes for interesting reading.
The story goes on to list other details about the case that seem curious. However, they’re familiar to anyone who has spent time around “amateur athletics” in high schools and colleges.
When I was growing up in Jackson, there were persistent rumors that many area schools, public and private, recruited athletes. Those rumors persist to this day.
One guy I went to junior high with claimed that an academy in Flowood offered him a scholarship. When this fellow was in the eighth grade, he had a beard and drove a car, so maybe he was a good prospect.
When I worked in Laurel, one of the area high schools had an outstanding running back. He was probably the state’s top prospect that year.
Early on, there was a lot of recruiting interest in this player, but then the big-name schools backed off. The story was that he had been in special education classes until he got into high school. Then his coaches had him put in regular classes, hoping to get him into college.
Southern Miss eventually signed him, but he never played a down of college football. He might have played some junior college ball. Later I think he got a look in Canada and in the U.S. Football League.
He ended up in prison. After he got out, the former high school star was involved in a shooting in which he and a police officer were killed.
Out in Georgia, there was a lot of talk about birth certificates. Valdosta High School had a powerhouse program that consistently won state titles. The coach at Lowndes, Valdosta’s intracounty rival, was always complaining about the ages of Valdosta’s players. He urged me to check the birth certificates of those players.
Valdosta coaches and boosters said the Lowndes coach’s claims were nonsense. Not that anybody at either school ever offered to show me anybody’s birth certificate.
I got tired of the Lowndes coach’s complaints and told him that there was no way I could legally obtain anybody’s birth certificate without their permission. He said I was on Valdosta’s payroll. I didn’t see any of that money.
Speaking of ages, I have run across a significant number of high school athletes over the years who were held back a year in school. This was always for academic reasons, of course.
I wouldn’t say that cheating in prep and college sports is universal. But it’s more widespread than it should be.
The reason is the same as always: money. Winning brings championships, prestige and job security, all of which means more money for schools and individuals.
Never mind all the college games ESPN shows. The Worldwide Leader has shown numerous high school games and plans to show more. The payday for the schools is significant. The temptation to cut a few corners must be significant, too.
Coaches are like people in any walk of life. Some of them can rationalize just about anything.
A former Gulf South Conference head football coach told me about an interesting conversation he had upon meeting the opposing coach before a road game.
“Coach, what’s happened to (name redacted)?” the coach I knew asked. “He was playing really well, but I haven’t seen him on film lately. Is he hurt?”
“Oh, Coach, it’s terrible,” the opposing coach replied. “The police arrested him for murder. He’s sitting in the county jail.”
“That’s awful,” my guy said. “What are you going to do?”
“We’re going to try to red-shirt him.”
