Houston School Uses Adult Replacements for Football

[MrMustang1965]

Bigger. Faster. Better beards.


Looking back now, it should have been obvious that something was amiss about the adult football team that Texas Christian School fielded three weeks ago in Austin.

Not to mention the tattoos.

"Some of the guys had tattoos and full beards and looked like they were like 25," Not Your Ordinary School senior running back David Johnson said of his opponents that Oct. 28 afternoon. "At the time, we thought they were just sort of big.

"Now we see why they looked so old."

It turns out Johnson and his team unwittingly played a six-man team made up of college-age players, coached by Texas Christian's Herc Palmquist. The Texas Christian varsity team was told the game had been canceled and they had the night off.

Instead, Palmquist brought eight college-age players to play what he called a "pickup game," which NYOS won 28-18.

Now, Palmquist is serving a five-game suspension leveled by the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools, which governs Texas Christian athletics.

The board investigated after being tipped by Granger Huntress, administrator of the sports Web site sixmanfootball.com.

"My school supports me," Palmquist said in a phone interview last Friday. "We're just ready to get this behind us."

Palmquist founded Texas Christian, a TAPPS six-man school near Katy and incorporated under the Texas Christian Education Foundation, in 1990. Also the school's head administrator, Palmquist issued a letter of apology to the Texas Christian parents, faculty and student body Nov. 4, the day after his TAPPS suspension went into effect.

"I believe those who know me and know me well know that I would never intentionally hurt my savior, my family, TCS or any team," Palmquist said.


Two versions of story
According to Palmquist, he told coaches of the Austin-based NYOS that he wouldn't be bringing his high school players to the game but had six or seven guys who would "like to play a pickup game for fun."

NYOS coaches tell a different story.

"We had no clue that these were college-age players," NYOS volunteer assistant coach Wayne Alldredge said. "He was very vague about the players he wanted to 'bring up.' His language indicated that they were either JV players or even other students that wanted to play. He never indicated that they weren't players or high school kids. We would not have agreed to a game against college-age players."

Founded in 1938 as a way to help small schools field football teams, the six-man leagues in Texas have avoided many of the recruiting scandals and eligibility problems that have plagued bigger high schools.

No one was injured during the game, but Alldredge said game film shows what he termed "some pretty nasty hits."

"We had no idea anything was wrong," Alldredge said. "Even when the game was over we didn't know."

Texas Christian, which has 42 students in its high school, lists the Oct. 28 game with NYOS as canceled on its Web site.


Coaches suspected a ruse
Palmquist said he canceled the nondistrict game after some of his players were injured during an Oct. 21 district game and needed "time to recover" before their next district game.

But Palmquist later called NYOS coaches back and said he had players who were interested in a pickup game. Alldredge said he did not think the game wasn't for real, and NYOS coaches prepared for Texas Christian as they would any other team.

Both sides say Palmquist offered to forfeit the game twice — once at halftime when Texas Christian was leading 18-0 and once during the third quarter — but Alldredge said he thought the offers were a ruse.

The matter may have never come to light if Jeff Ramsey, parent of a former Texas Christian student, had not asked questions. The same night as the game, two current Texas Christian players went to the Ramseys' home to visit his son, Taylor.

Jeff Ramsey asked the players why they weren't at their game.

"They said the whole team was off, that the game had been canceled," Jeff Ramsey said.

The following Monday, however, Ramsey found a score for Texas Christian and NYOS on the sixmanfootball.com Web site. He contacted Huntress via e-mail to inquire how a score was posted if no game had been played.

"Granger e-mailed back and said a game had been played," Ramsey said. "I said there's no way — the quarterback and center had been at my house that night."

Huntress forwarded the

e-mail to TAPPS officials, prompting an investigation. During that time, Palmquist admitted to bringing college-age players to play in the game, and he was suspended for five games beginning Nov. 3 and placed on probation until May 30, 2007.


Palmquist may step down
Only after TAPPS imposed its sanctions did NYOS realize it had played a game against a team of college-age players. According to Alldredge, one of the players was Palmquist's son, who attends Texas State University. Palmquist declined to comment on his relationship to the players.

"They were friends of friends of friends and none of them have ever played college ball; they were just high school graduates," Palmquist said in his apology letter.

" ... I only knew one of the players, some of the other guys had never met each other before."

As he fulfills the TAPPS-imposed suspension, Palmquist is considering stepping down as head football coach.

And because he first brought the violations to light, Jeff Ramsey has been threatened. The family contacted the Harris County Sheriff's Office last week and filed a report after anonymous threats were made on sixmanfootball.com.

Huntress immediately removed the post from the Web site but e-mailed the remarks to Ramsey in case he wanted to take further action.

"It's just the tip of the iceberg, I'd say," said Ramsey, who made his first public interview on bringing the rules violations to light on Channel 13. "No one ever said that doing the right thing would be easy."

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/3466940

[SMU Football Blog]

In a totally unrelated story, Jared Romo won't be available on Saturday. New transfer and walkon QB Michael Vick will play in his place.

[Peruna_Ate_My_Rolex]

In a totally unrelated story, Jared Romo won't be available on Saturday. New transfer and walkon QB Michael Vick will play in his place.

Are you sure? I heard it was going to be Ron Mexico.

[SMU Football Blog]

That is much funnier. Dang it. I wish I had thought of that.