Humboldt County Parent Alleged to Have Punched Boy in Face During Basketball Game; Didn’t Happen, Says Humboldt Coach
Police are investigating an alleged assault by the parent of a Humboldt County basketball player on a young member of the opposing team. According to Lt. Kerry Curtis of the Medford Police, a Humboldt County parent allegedly punched the boy in the face following an altercation between the player and the man’s son.
The Humboldt County team’s coach disputes that the assault occurred. According to Issac Gildea Coach of the Humboldt Wild players, “Absolutely, there was no punch thrown”
Lt. Curtis said the incident allegedly occurred at the Central Medford High School around 2:40 p.m. yesterday.
“It sounds like there was a fight between two opposing players,” Curtis said. One was from Humboldt Wild and according to the Mail Tribune, the other was from the Hidden Valley club travel basketball team.)
“One of the involved players’ father reportedly came down…and punched the opponent’s player and left the building,” Curtis said. Curtis confirmed that some sources said the adult struck the youth while the youth was lying on the floor. The man that allegedly punched the 14-year-old was a parent of a Humboldt County player, according to the Mail Tribune.
Lt. Curtis said that investigators had “talked to the suspect by phone.” The man “called us to provide his side of the story,” Curtis explained.
Curtis said the parent of the Humboldt Wild player said that he went down to the court to break up the fight but that he didn’t actually punch anybody.
Currently the Medford police are “hoping to get access to video” that they believe will shed light on the situation.
Humboldt Wild Coach, Isaac Gildea, said he witnessed the alleged incident and there was no punching. “What happened is there was a heated incident [between the teams]” he said. “One of my team was fouled multiple times. Punches were thrown from my team and their team. Parents came out of the stands…Multiple parents were sprinting onto the court.”
One of the parents, the alleged suspect, came down to the court. Gildea explained, “My parent was trying to get in the way…He tripped…Absolutely there was no punch thrown.”
We understand that the Humboldt Wild players went on to win the tournament but we have not been able to confirm that from a second source at this time.
Gildea said that he doesn’t want to confirm whether they won because “the game did not end the way it should have ended.” He said that after the game was completed “we sent our players…over to their team and shook their hands.”
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Remember when basketball used to be a sport?
Most remember that it still is. Is something wrong with you?
Yup. So sad.
By the team name, I’m GUESSING, these were little kids-not even high schoolers.
Not that it would be ok for this garbage to go down with ANY team, but man, sports parents really can foul up a game. Pun intended.
How about hockey? Occasionally a game breaks out in the cage fight.
So, then, I assume your OK with the election and the massive fraud you feared. Trump won and said it was rigged. Impressive thought process. Can you hardly wait for the wrath of God’s Warriors to descend on us? Me, too. Just when we thought we could work it out. Damn. As long as they do just what God says to do, it’ll be fine. Bannon, Sessions, no problem.
the coaches direct fouling at certain times in the game i learned as a girls basketball parent .never liked the practice,dosent seem to promote sportsmanship.
i also learned there isn’t much sportsmanship in youth sports anymore its win at all cost like republicans and bullys
Republicans and bullies? Ever been to a Hillary rally when things don’t go her way?SMH
I’ve watched them and she calls out the ridiculous lies and false facts Trump fed to all of his supporters. Might I add she did it in a presidential manor, (not like a teenager how Trump does). If you look back at the race you would see that Trump was being a bully way before Hillary was, if anything she was backed into a corner having to defend herself. I’m sure you would crumble in a fraction of the pressure she was in. If you think Hillary is a bully what about the things Trump said first?
What constitutes a “presidential manor” – a large house in the country? And really, this is about a basketball game, not your hurt feelings over Hillary losing (and if Russia did interfere in the election, why didn’t Trump win the popular vote?)
Why is it necessary to turn every little thing into a POLITICAL debate, really there is no connection to politics, we need to remember the kids, it’s about them, not trump, not Clinton, after all we are to blame for who’s in office, not our kids.
Get over it they both sucked
Nobody sucks as much as Chump Trump. Except Satan.
Ya says you, your entitled to your opinion, I personally believe they are on the same level, the fact that they were our two choices speaks volumes, I’m tired of people whining about it in every thread, again it’s done get over it in 4 years we have another chance
Please don’t insult Satan like that.
@ Grim Reaper… Agreed 250% Which is exactly why I didn’t vote for either of them!!! Shillary made her biggest mistake, IM(ns)HO when she screwed Bernie out of the Dmubocrat’s nomination,if she would do that to a fellow party member, then what would she do to the voting or especially the NON voting public!!!????
You obviously don’t know anything about basketball. Fouling “at certain times” to stop the clock is a strategy as old as the game.
I was always taught if you win celebrate in the locker room, and if you lose , accept it and congratulate and move on , why so hard to teach our kids this?
And we wonder why kids are getting in so much trouble, great examples they have to follow.
Hey, that IS wild!
waaaa he punched me waaaaa
I guess the moral of the story is if you can’t beat ’em, have your dad beat ’em?
I agree with you comment, how embarrassing for the kid, daddy comes running to the rescue and hits the other kid.
Congratulations Kym, a worlds more informative article than what the TS posted. Keep up the great work!
I was there, I saw the whole thing beginning to end. Yes, a couple players got to shoving, which immediately turned into at least five players on each team pushing and shoving, then a really fast fight, then about five dads from the home team ran down from the bleachers and started body slamming everybody on both teams. they must have body slammed every player at least three times. they had no method, they were totally indiscriminate, they body slammed their own kids. of course the coach says it didnt happen, one of the dads looked right at him and said “if you tell anybody, you’re next”. I guess technically nobody was punched.
Neither was a home team…This may be a true account but I’m highly skeptical. My email is [email protected] if you would like to provide some indication that what you say is valid.
Basketball lesson, Kym: In a tournament when two teams are playing at a neutral site, one team is designated “home” and the other “visitor.” It doesn’t matter that it isn’t that team’s gym. It’s mostly for the scoreboard, the uniform color, the officials and the scorekeeper’s use.
Sports….not my strong point. But still, why the heck in a gymnasium full of people would it seem sensible to say, “if you tell anybody, you’re next”. Presumably there is a heck of a lot of people in the room. Silencing one person only would be ineffective… Unless I get a better explanation for the validity of this description, I’m highly sceptical.
Eye call bs
Tweeker town.
Sit on the bleachers and be silent if you can’t have something positive to say. Some of those kids probably don’t even like basketball but play just to please their parents. Get over yourselves it’s just a game. When it stops being fun, what’s the point?
There is no such place as “Central Medford High School”!
http://www.medford.k12.or.us/Domain/24
What ever happened to innocent UNTIL proven guilty?!? I’m appalled at all of you who have already decided that he is guilty. Do you have all the evidence & facts? If so, please share. If not, why don’t you wait before you destroy a man’s & his family’s life. If he is guilty, he will serve whatever punishment the court gives him. If he is innocent, actions like yours have already condemned him.
I was the other coach and I saw the man punch my player in the face.
The refs could have prevented everything if they would have broke up the kids from fighting, but they stood there and did nothing.
Let the video set you free. If their is a video please present it.
Larry, thank you for sharing your facts. I’m so frustrated with people or trolls on here trying to stir up drama. I’m sorry this happened & I am sorry for the kids.
The video will tell the truth, you are right. In the age of cell phones, there has to be multiple videos out there. Please come forward.
I was 30 feet away when players started fighting , I was on my way on court to ” break it up”
the Dad ran bye me and I thought I saw a punch ,
really.but also saw younger ref trying to break up kids.
I thought it was going to be a riot. I actually, with one other guy had the Dad against wall telling him to calm down .
He seemed to already be regretting whatever happened and anxious to get out of gym.
It was bad enough but was close to being really bad. That’s how I saw it.
Sad! An article on a kids game, totally shifted to start complaining about the government and arguing over the politics over the comment section! It is okay to voice opinions…there is NOT a link between every article and the horrible election! Nobody won…IN my opinion. But starting political crap about politics SHOULD be kept to the articles about the crap going on IN POLITICS!
Sorry, then.
Well said Jayne Dough !!
I totally agree Jayne. These comments, as usual, when way off the main topic. Way off.
Ball don’t lie. Camera don’t, either.
I thought the ‘basketball incident’ happened in Oregon.
The local coach, Gildea, is an honestly good dude. I believe his account, and would say the opposing team is embellishing out of sour grapes about the humboldt team winning the tourney.
Here’s the deal for all the lame people that complain about everything. Isaac is a great basketball coach. He has been a vital asset to our community. While other youth are out smoking weed, causing trouble & getting bad grades Isaac has his kids working out after school. He has them training in the gym across from Jacoby Creek and at the Samoa gym. He has provided an opportunity for countless kids to play basketball and get exercise as opposed to getting into trouble. He spends his weekends driving out of the area for his traveling basketball teams. He coaches multiple grade levels. The guy has been a very good mentor to our son who is now on a local varsity basketball team. If it wasn’t for Isaacs help he probably wouldn’t have made the varsity team as underclassman. Just look at many of the top young players in our county. They were trained by Isaac. The guy is a saint as far as I’m concerned. We love him & just wish there were more people in the county like him that were willing to give back.
Well said. There are several people in our community who give up a lot of their personal time to work with the kids. It’s an unfortunate event however it went down and I am certain none of the coaches condoned it. Isaac and all the others like him should be given a hand shake and a thank you for all they do. These kids work hard and its understandable that emotions run high during their games, that’s no excuse for throwing punches nor do I condone that, I am saying I could see how it could happen. Personally I think it’s great that we have kids from Humboldt getting the opportunity to travel to other areas and compete in tournaments. Its sad that teams have been traveling around to tournaments not only for basketball but baseball as well and we hear nothing about them or the people who give up the time to manage them until something like this happens, then all we do is jump on the band wagon to crusify them. It would be nice to see people put the time and effort into supporting the youth sports in our community and sharing their stories of success instead of only having interest when something like this happens.
I went to a fight once, and a hockey game broke out.
Just look around at the fine folks of Humboldt, look at the comments here, why wouldn’t someone have gotten punched, most folks in Humboldt are drunk or stoned including parents of the players,…
We coached hoopsters for over 15 years,and sponsored 3 teams a year,you wouldn’t believe how parents act,UNREAL.HAPPY HOLIDAYS
True and very sad. Parents need a fence around them.
Find it hard to believe that someone didn’t get it on video. Everyone has their damn phones out these days recording every aspect of thir lives. IF this is true then it would be in someone’s cell. Now, if this happened in Redding then true story.
It wouldn’t be American sports without a few punches thrown…
What about tiddly winks.
We had several friends that were refs,after one game one of the parents told him I’ll see you in the parking lot,he was walking to his car the parent came up and beat him up bad.the parent was a coach too.so he no longer coached after that,and never allowed on adorni property again.so dumb,we teach our kids just the opposite.parents get way involved over sports that they aren’t playing in.WEIRD kinda takes the fun out of PLAYING
Coach can say that he never saw a punch thrown by a parent but can’t say it never happened.
The article in the Daily Courier is a little different. Even states the player needed 10 stitches.
http://www.mailtribune.com/sports/20161220/alleged-punch-by-parent-draws-scorn
The child needed 10 stitches to close the wound from the punch. Stay classy, Humboldt.
Teach your players how to play good defense without tackling opposing players on lay-up attemps. That will help avoid incidents like this in the future. Not condoning violence at all, that is unacceptable. The wound was most likely caused by the kid when they were scuffling, not the parent who went down to keep the Oregon kid away from his son. The opposing coach’s viewpoints are worthless to me…wasn’t it his kid that was also involved in the fight after his poor defensive effort?