Hiram Johnson High Basketball Team Scrambling To Replace Stolen Uniforms

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A high-school basketball team is trying to replace its uniforms after someone stole their jerseys last week.

A Hiram Johnson High School coach's car was stolen last week from his apartment complex, leaving the JV and varsity teams without uniforms.

They have a dream to be the first winning basketball team at Hiram Johnson in more than 20 years, but without the thousands of dollars in uniforms that were stolen, that dream becomes more difficult.

"It was heartbreaking," said coach Alex Gomes-Coelho.

His car was stolen from his gated apartment complex in the early morning hours on Thursday morning with the team's jerseys inside.

"We have nice brand stuff, some Adidas jerseys, a home and away one, matching shorts—they have our logos on them," he said.

The team's practice jerseys were later found and turned into police, but the expensive uniforms were kept by the thieves.

"The home ones say Warriors, the away ones say Johnson," he said.

The team is using the practice jerseys for now, but league rules say they can't be worn for games. Ordering new uniforms takes time and money—two things that are in short supply.

The uniforms have to be ordered by July 1 to get them by September, and the cost for another set of uniforms isn't in the budget.

"It was $3,000 for just the varsity jerseys," he said.

Add the junior varsity ones, and the team is out $5,000.

The coach is trying to work fast and think of ways to fundraise. In the meantime, his team is left holding the bag.

"They come and work hard and it breaks my heart to see that someone was selfish enough to steal their stuff.

The coach was planning on buying warm-up uniforms this year, something he says most other schools have and would make his players feel like their team was as good as any other team. That's also on hold as the coach has two weeks until the ordering deadline.