Ilion High School - Class of 1981

Utica Daily Press - February 14, 1981

To Forfeit Games Until 'Culprits' Found

Article 2

Source is here Utica NY Daily Press 1980 - 1028.pdf on fultonhistory.com

Utica Daily Press - To Forfeit Games Until 'Culprits' Found - 1981

To Forfeit Games Until 'Culprits' Found

ILION - The Ilion High School's girls basketball team will forfeit its game tonight against Herkimer unless the_culprits who broke the window of a Herkimer school bus Friday night are found, Ilion Superintendent Joseph Fusco said last night.

Fusco said Ilion teams will forfeit interscholastic sports contests on a "day-to-day basis" for the rest of the school year until the vandals are found.

The district announced the forfeit plan at a Board of Education meeting, Tuesday night.

The window was broken as the bus, proceeding with a police escort, was leaving for Herkimer after the Herkimer-Ilion basketball game. No one was injured.

A similar incident occurred last year following a Herkimer-Ilion basketball game. A Herkimer spectator's bus was hit by a thrown object, and several cheerleaders were sprayed with fragments from the broken glass, although no one was seriously injured. Buses were then given police escorts.

Fusco said the culprits believed responsible for Friday's vandalism have not been identified, but added "we have two or three names that we are investigating."

Meanwhile, classes at all schools has been canceled for the remainder of the week because "25 percent of the students are out sick," Fusco said. He said, however, that sports will be canceled because of the action taken against vandalism.

"We met with the athletes (yesterday)," Fusco said. "We explained what the situation was. They've got to exert their leadership."

He said that since the action, most phone calls to administrators and board members have supported the district's actions. But some athletes' parents were upset, he said.

"I don't blame them," Fusco said "I understand why they're unhappy. But I hope they understand there is something much greater at stake here."

Created and maintained by Aileen Carney Sweeney - Class of 1974