Something unacceptable took place during a game last Friday between two Ohio schools that led to the resignation of one coach.
During a contest between Brooklyn HS (OH) and Beachwood HS (OH), numerous reports share that Brooklyn was repeatedly using the word "Nazi" as a play call.
According the latest survey, done over a decade ago, Beachwood HS (located in the suburbs of Cleveland) has a Jewish population of about 90%.
Heading into halftime, Brooklyn head coach Tim McFarland acknowledged the use of the antisemitic term, Cleveland.com shared, and vowed to stop using it following a threat from the Beachwood coaching staff to pull their team from the contest, Beachwood Superintendent Robert Hardis shared.
Unfortunately, the statement went on to share that the use of derogatory slurs did not stop, and continued into the second half of Brooklyn's 35-3 win.
Monday morning, McFarland submitted his resignation, expressing his "deepest regret."
City Council vice president Eric Synenberg referred to the incident to Cleveland.com as a "gut punch" to the entire school community and provided some additional context, as well as a possible path forward to learn from the situation.
“This has always been a community that’s welcomed everybody. We have a large segment of our population that are Holocaust survivors, that came here and raised their families here, and now their grandkids are here and are in these schools. It’s a punch in the gut that this play would be called on our field on a Friday night during our holiest week of the year, in between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
“The kids, I know, on the team were traumatized, and it will take some time to heal,” he added before bringing up how it may be an opportunity to get the two teams together for a meal after the season in an effort to have a difficult, but honest, face-to-face conversation about why that was hurtful to Beachwood players.
Beachwood's statement goes on to share that the two districts have been in close contact since the incident and that Brooklyn administrators have been "appropriately concerned and apologetic."