Bernstein: High School Football Facing Legal Pressure
By Dan Bernstein--
CBSChicago.com senior columnist
(CBS) It's only one state, but 49 others are watching warily.
A class-action lawsuit alleging failure by the Illinois High School Association to properly protect football players from the dangers of head injuries is the first of its kind at that level, mirroring successful efforts challenging the NFL and NCAA. That this contention is now being made in regard to the local grassroots comes as no surprise, nor did the feeble response from the defendants that only raised tougher questions.
The deeper pockets of the pros and colleges might be more attractive targets for those chasing settlement dollars, but any reckoning forced by this and any other actions against high schools may ultimately end up being more significant. Football's head-trauma enlightenment is only growing, and the illumination of the perils to children brings it even closer to home.
In a motion filed in Cook County Circuit Court to dismiss the suit, the IHSA alleges that it "threatens high school football," apparently not understanding that high school football might deserve to be threatened. On top of that, its executive director used another argument that further undermined his side's position when he essentially stated that high schools don't have the resources for the kind of proper management and safety protocols the plaintiffs demand.
Standing at a press conference flanked by notable area coaches, Marty Hickman tried the populist political play, casting himself as a fighter for all the schools that would have to shutter their programs due to prohibitive costs to better protect players. But he overreached with his logic and made it worse.
"Mount Carmel (High) isn't the Dallas Cowboys," Hickman said, "in spite of what Mount Carmel fans might think. Wilmington (High) isn't the Alabama Crimson Tide."
So keeping kids safer costs too much, then. We are left to conclude that this is an admission, of sorts – whatever flimsy, inconsistent system currently in use by the schools to supervise head-injury issues must not be brought up to any kind of accepted code, simply due to expense. This is like the airlines banding together to argue against the costs of regulated maintenance of their planes.
Whether it's this particular suit succeeding in Illinois or any next one making the inroads long expected to keep administrators honest about the inherent dangers of football, an inexorable process has been initiated.
There was a time when high school boxing was a thing, too, remember. Youth boxing clubs were immensely popular in this country in the first half of the 20th century, and two states – Wisconsin and Louisiana – sanctioned prep boxing, in large part to feed their high-profile college programs. The former ended its official sponsorship of the activity 10 years after a 15-year-old sophomore collapsed and died following a bout.
In the wake of that tragedy, the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association called boxing "at best a questionable high school sport," instituted new guidelines and began to wind down its involvement until the programs disappeared, per the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Louisiana stopped in 1958, in part due to increased coaching-certification requirements that rendered many of them unqualified.
Football and boxing are blood brothers in their ability to inflict irreversible injury with the insidious accumulation of sub-concussive blows, as well as with the knockout shots that draw a largely disproportionate amount of media attention. A likely outcome of what has started with the IHSA suit is analogous to what has already occurred with boxing in both high schools and colleges, as youth participation continues with independent clubs unaffiliated with schools in any official capacity.
Privatization would keep a talent pipeline intact enough for the sport's upper levels and would put an end to the deep irony of institutions of learning so deeply wedded to something that can be so unhealthy for the human head.
This lawsuit is the first of its kind, but it won't be the last. Costs will rise because they must to keep players safer, and insurance companies will begin to give district superintendents bad news about their premiums covering exposure to football-related concerns.
Yes indeed, this "threatens high school football," because it's more than fair to wonder why our schools are still in the brain-injury business.
Dan Bernstein is a co-host of 670 The Score's "Boers and Bernstein Show" in afternoon drive. Follow him on Twitter @dan_bernstein and read more of his columns here.
