Norman High School Lady Tigers persevere & win State Basketball Championship days after racist language used against them
TULSA, Okla. (KFOR) – The Norman High School Lady Tigers are basking in triumph after winning the State Basketball Championship, claiming their grand victory just two days after a game announcer used racist language against them.
The Lady Tigers won the OSSAA Class 6A Girls Basketball Tournament on Saturday with a final score of 48-37 over Bixby.
But their path to the championship has not been without adversity.
As the National Anthem played ahead of their Thursday night quarter-final game against Midwest City, the Lady Tigers kneeled – an act of peaceful protest many athletes have taken against police brutality.
Matt Rowan, a game announcer who owns Tahlequa-based sports streaming platform OSPN, could be heard on a hot mic using racist language in reference to the Norman team while they kneeled.
OSPN, a third-party company, was contracted by NFHS to provide announcing for Thursday's game.
The outcry on Friday against Rowan's remarks was fierce and widespread.
School administrators across the area denounced Rowan's racist language.
"We condemn and will not tolerate the disgusting words and attitudes of these announcers. This type of hate speech has no place in our society and we are outraged that it would be directed at any human being, and particularly at our students," said Dr. Nick Migliorino, Superintendent of Norman Public Schools, in a statement. "We fully support our students’ right to freedom of expression and our immediate focus is to support these girls and their coaches and families, particularly our Black students and coaching staff. It is tragic that the hard work and skill of this team is being overshadowed by the vile, malignant words of these individuals. We will do everything in our power to support and uplift our team and everyone affected by this incident."
Mid-Del Schools also released a statement that reads, in part, "Language of this kind is an affront to the lessons we try to teach our students and the kind of world in which we all want to live."
Norman Mayor Breea Clark expressed her outrage on Twitter.
"I am livid and absolutely disgusted about the racist and hateful comments directed towards the young women on the Norman High School basketball team by a game announcer in the live broadcast of last night’s game," Clark said. "These young athletes were simply expressing themselves as hundreds of professional athletes around the nation have done, and no one, let alone a child, deserves to experience this kind of racist and toxic behavior. The announcer could’ve stopped with declaring he hoped our team would lose, but instead he went further and decided to use profanity and racist slurs about our children."
NFHS representatives issued a statement Friday, apologizing for what transpired and saying that the company "immediately cut ties" with Rowan's company.
However, administrators from Norman Public Schools, Moore Public Schools and El Reno Public Schools already announced they would be using services other than NFHS to broadcast games.
Rowan also issued a statement of apology, but said he used racist language because he was disoriented from his blood sugar spiking. He said he has Type 1 Diabetes.
“I made inappropriate and racist comments believing that the microphone was off; however, let me state immediately that is no excuse such comments should have never been uttered,” Rowan said in the statement.