Child's football case passed back to court

Child’s football case passed back to court

BY ZIVA BRANSTETTER World Projects Editor
Friday, October 19, 2007
10/24/07 at 9:19 AM

The parents of a third-grade Jenks football player were back in court Thursday after the league’s governing body voted to remove the boy from his team.

The Indian Nations Football Conference board voted Wednesday night to remove Brayden Mathis, 9, from his third-grade Jenks football team. The board also voted to remove his father as an assistant coach of the team, saying the family violated an agreement that they would move into the Jenks district.

Brayden and his parents, Tony and Dana Mathis, live in the Union district but have a contract to buy a house in Jenks.

The parents requested a temporary restraining order Thursday that would have blocked the board’s action. That request was denied by District Judge Gordon McAllister after the couple rejected a settlement offer by the conference.

They say they plan to pursue their son’s case in court next week, although Brayden will miss Saturday’s football game. Two regular season football games remain in the league before playoffs begin in late October.

Their son plays quarterback.

Dana Mathis said she believes that the board’s action occurred because its commissioner, Tom Lott, does not like her husband.

‘‘It’s very unfair to punish a child for what you consider bad actions on the part of his dad,’’ she said.

But Lott said the board’s vote “has nothing to do with the little boy.”

“These are the rules made by Indian Nations. Tony Mathis broke the rules in the first place,” Lott said. “This child has always had a place to play.”

The ruling and board vote are the latest developments in a legal battle between the family and the Indian Nations Football Conference.

In July, Tony Mathis sued the football conference, the umbrella league that includes Union, Jenks and about 30 other districts or leagues. The conference requires players to live in the districts for which they are playing football. Mathis’ suit sought to force the conference to allow Brayden to enter the third-grade football draft in Jenks or halt the draft until questions of Brayden’s residency could be resolved. The Mathises say they decided to switch districts after conflicts with their son’s coach at Union, where the boy played for two years.

In a settlement reached July 23, the conference agreed to allow Brayden to play in the Jenks youth football league if his family moved to the district.

The agreement was not made in open court, and there is no court record stating a date by which the family had to move.

Tony Mathis said a letter from the conference states that the family had to make “reasonable efforts to move.”

He said they have held several open houses and reduced the price of their home in the Union school district three times, but it remains unsold.

Tony Mathis said he and his wife have tried to satisfy the agreement that they move to the Jenks district. He said he stands to lose $12,000 on the sale of his house.

Brayden has attended school at Jenks Southeast Elementary School since August.

“We not only were doing everything we could do, but we were going above and beyond,” Tony Mathis said.

Dana Mathis, who was PTA president in Union, said she is aware some people may think the family should give up the quest. But she said Brayden is happy in school and wants to remain in the Jenks district.

“When this happened, we asked him yesterday if he wanted to just give up and go back to Cedar Ridge, and he said, ‘Absolutely not.’ ”

Before McAllister’s ruling Thursday, the two sides spent several hours trying to hammer out a settlement agreement that would allow the boy to finish the season. Tony Mathis said he rejected the deal because it called for him to close on a new house in the Jenks district by Oct. 29.

The conference also wanted to ban Mathis from attending games or practices, an action it takes against all suspended coaches.

“We turned down the offer, and we’re going to take our day in court,” he said.

Tommy Askew, an attorney for the conference, said the board’s ruling removing Brayden from his team and banning his father from coaching stands.

“Right now the ruling of the board remains in effect,” he said. “We always have to look at this from the big picture side. It’s not about one child but the thousands of kids who participate in the conference.”

Tony Mathis said his son loves playing with his team and has been emotionally torn by the experience.

‘‘The real truth is that when you talk to all the parents, coaches and everybody involved with our team, they will tell you we’ve absolutely been a godsend to the team. All the kids and coaches love Brayden.’’

Ziva Branstetter 581-8378
ziva.branstetter@tulsaworld.com

Associated Images:

OFF TEAM
Brayden Mathis: He was removed from his third-grade football team.