A locker room hazing incident at Sky View High School has left a reserve quarterback without a team - and his parents demanding action against his attackers.
Brian Seamons, 16, said he was jumped by 10 teammates after stepping from the shower on Monday, Oct. 11. Seamons ran to an adjoining locker room to evade his attackers, many of whom he considered close friends, but could not escape. The mob restrained him, strapped him to a towel rack with athletic tape, and constricted his hands and legs. The group also placed tape across his chest, back and genitals. Once he was confined, his teammates brought in a female student who had been dating Seamons. When the girl realized what was happening she screamed and ran from the locker room."I could not believe what was happening - some of the guys involved were good friends," said Seamons, a high school junior. "I had double-dated with one of the guys, and I was going to go to Homecoming with the girl who walked in and saw me."
Seamons thought about retaliation but instead told his father about the incident the next evening. Horrified, Seamons' parents decided to approach school officials about the matter.
"We had a meeting with (principal) Myron Benson, his assistant principals, and (football) coach Doug Snow - but everyone seemed to make light of the whole situation," said Jane Seamons. "We were told by coach Snow that he could think of nothing that would justify kicking one of his players off the team or even suspending them. I said, `What about murder?' and he told me that a student from another school had gotten drunk and killed another person in an accident - and the student was allowed to play in a state championship game."
A second meeting was held between Brian Seamons and the football team captains in an attempt to wrap up the incident. According to Jane Seamons, her son was told by the captains that he had betrayed the team by publicly reporting the incident, but he would be allowed to remain with the team if he apologized. Brian Seamons refused.
Upset that school officials were taking little action, the family contacted the Cache County School District and notified the police.
The matter was turned over to the school board, who called for an emergency closed meeting.
According to board member Carol Funk, the situation remains unresolved and a second meeting will be held Thursday.
Coach Doug Snow said, "It needs to go on record that there was no malice involved in the situation. However, we don't condone hazing. It's gone on for years, there has been no established policy, but we do not condone it. It's just something that has always gone on in locker rooms."
Snow also said that Seamons had been involved in hazings of other students.
"Mrs. Seamons took my comment about even murder not being a justifiable reason to be excused from the team completely out of context. Murder and hazing are two completely different things; I made my comment facetiously.
"Brian was not excused from the team; he made the decision to leave himself."
Benson said, "We know that the incident did occur, that several of our players were involved, and it was carried too far. We are taking the whole thing very seriously, and actions against the participants are still being considered," he said.
Benson added that some of the perpetrators acknowledged that they had also been hazing victims in the past and accepted the actions as an athletic "rite of passage."