Official Memories: Unintended Consequences | News, Sports, Jobs

The two previous sports editors did not exit. They were not from the area and quickly moved to jobs in their home states.

I later learned that the final decision about the job rested with me and an older gentleman whose multiple physical ailments ultimately factored into the selection.

I had worked in the Athletic Department for four years as a stringer and was a senior at SUNY Fredonia.

I recently changed my major from education to English after a humbling, life-changing interview with the assistant principal of a local high school. As a prospective student teacher, he saw my appointment not as a future educator but as an office graffiti cop who would drug bored, artistic, juvenile delinquent students.

The OBSERVER building has been my home away from home for decades.

My offers to volunteer as a coach or advisor for the yearbook, school newspaper, library, debate, or honor society were pointedly rejected. It was the graffiti that mattered. It had to be stopped. Pretty bad, right?

I never applied for the sports editor position. It was a dream job of mine, one that I assumed was way beyond my reach, especially at my age.

I was stunned when City Editor Keith Sheldon and Deputy City Editor Ted Lutz offered me the job. My parents, Mark and Jean Hammond, advised me to accept and I have never regretted my decision.

However, there was one high school football coach in the area who was not a fan of my appointment. He complained bitterly about me to his school’s promotion club on a date. He was certain that my background as a Cardinal Mindszenty High School graduate and FSUC student-athlete would be disastrous for his school.

When my father heard of this criticism, he left her a note. Told him I’m not biased against his school and please give me a chance to prove myself. Pretty tame, right?

Mark Hammond

Somehow word of the correspondence reached my father’s enemies in the local official football association and he was immediately brought under charges. Officials are prohibited from collaborating with coaches.

My father was a thorn in the side of the group for years. He advocated for change in a variety of areas and butted heads with the Jamestown-dominated leadership repeatedly.

A sought-after entertainer for the sports banquet, his considerable debating and public speaking skills made him a persistent problem on the board. The management wanted to leave.

He was charged with conduct detrimental to the organization and the group’s grievance committee recommended the death penalty, a lifetime ban. Pretty lame, right?

For expulsion, the accused had the right to present his case to the full membership for a decisive vote. A two-thirds vote would be needed to uphold the committee’s draconian decision.

The board called an emergency meeting to deal with the matter, betting that its distant members were unlikely to attend on short notice. They felt they would have more than enough votes from the Jamestown attendees and my father’s fate would be sealed forever. Pretty low, right?

They seriously underestimated my father, who retained a lawyer friend to represent him. He personally called every non-Jamestown member and implored them to attend and vote against this grave injustice.

They appeared in overwhelming numbers, and counsel put up a masterful defense.

When the chairman of the complaints committee was asked by the lawyer to produce the alleged note, he admitted that he did not have it and that he had never seen it.

The coach was then contacted by phone and said he threw away the mail.

Total lack of evidence and hearsay do not win cases, not even in kangaroo courts.

The vote was not close. My father was exonerated and continued to officiate for more than another decade. He happily bought drinks from a nearby establishment that night.

My father only confessed this incident to me after he was acquitted of the false charges. He said he didn’t want me to feel guilty about taking my dream job. Pretty damn noble, right?

I just wish more dads were like my dad.

——

Bill Hammond is a former EVENING OBSERVER sports editor.