South Pittsburg High School has been notified by the TSSAA that its football program is being placed on probation for two years due to an improper benefit given to a player’s family.
Bernard Childress, executive director of the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association, said that after an investigation by the state’s high school sports governing body, it was determined that a member of the South Pittsburg Quarterback Club used funds to help make the December rent payment for a student-athlete’s family.
“No one from our school administration, coaching staff or school personnel were aware of this until after we had been contacted by the TSSAA,” said Tim Bible, South Pittsburg’s principal. “It was a situation where the family was in a tough financial situation at Christmas, so without any of our coaches or administrators or even the family themselves knowing, someone from the quarterback club stepped in and helped so they would not be evicted around the holidays.
“It was a one-time thing, and we’ve given proof that the family made their own rent payments before and since that month. I think there were good intentions for trying to help out a family in need, but the issue was the quarterback club should have communicated with someone at the school so we could tell them that was not allowed by the TSSAA. That was completely wrong, and we immediately reported back what we had found to the TSSAA and began the process of working with them.”
The student-athlete, an underclassman, has been ruled ineligible to compete in athletics at South Pittsburg for one calendar year.