This time, we have an incident at St. Patrick St. Vincent (pick one already!) High School in Vallejo. Still not really clear on what happened, but the five players on the football team who were expelled allegedly stripped naked and somehow, uh, "assaulted" freshman football players with their genitals. The victims claim they told an assistant coach about the hazing but his response was that it was "Not my problem." Yeah, that'll put an end to sports hazing at your school.
Ultimately, word did get to the head coach Chris Cerbone in December and he in turn made a report to Principal Mary Ellen Ryan. So, of course Ryan fired Cerbone (who had not witnessed the incident) but kept the assistant coach. According to one report, Cerbone said he was angry adding, "The minute I found out about it I raised the red flag and brought it to their attention to save the kids from more misery and I get fired." Not surprisingly, the former coach also felt firing him for actually reporting the abuse sent the wrong message to students and staff at SPSVHS.
Here's more from the Vallejo Times Herald:
In his Dec. 19 report to Ryan, Cerbone said that a number of freshman football players reluctantly told him after the season that they had been victims of a hazing ritual in the St. Pat's locker room. The charges including that varsity players had removed their clothing and had held the younger players as they assaulted them with their genitals. One student reportedly told Cerbone that an assistant coach turned a deaf ear to the hazing activity, allegedly claiming that "it's not my problem." Last week, Ryan announced through Sacramento Diocese spokesman Kevin Eckery that while Cerbone had no knowledge of the hazing, he was "ultimately responsible" for the supervision of the students.Vallejo police will investigate high school sexual hazing charges - Vallejo Times Herald
