Tahlequah Sequoyah set to appear before OSSAA board
BY MIKE BROWN World Sports Writer
Wednesday, November 07, 2012
11/07/12 at 4:40 AM
The athletic fate of 12 Tahlequah Sequoyah football players will be on the line Wednesday when the school appears before the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association's Board of Directors.
Found in violation of a rule governing participation in individual summer camps, the athletes are ineligible until reinstated by the board.
"We are holding to the hope that the association will treat our boys kindly and hold them minimally accountable, when you consider this was not their fault," Sequoyah athletic director Marcus Crittenden said Monday.
Sequoyah officials contend that the athletes did nothing wrong knowingly, and are being forced to pay for the mistakes of previous school and tribal administrators. Sequoyah is administered by the Cherokee Nation.
OSSAA executive director Ed Sheakley said Sequoyah's own records showed that the athletes attended individual summer camps paid for by the school or outside sources - forbidden by OSSAA rules.
On Monday, the school signaled that it will abide by the OSSAA's findings by sending forfeiture notices to the nine schools the Indians beat during the 2012 football season. Sequoyah also forfeited its spot in the Class 3A playoffs.
Crittenden said the school's main focus now is on salvaging the athletes' eligibility in other sports for the remainder of the academic year.
