Tempers flared and tears trickled in a packed room where the hot topic of the day was debated.
Abortion?
Immigration?
Global warming?
No. None of those.
The topic that has folks in Fort Smith riled up and which prompted the resignation of a long time athletic director is over a high school mascot. The infighting at Southside High School stems from a decision made last year to drop the Rebels mascot and the “Dixie” fight song in favor of a new mascot, the Mavericks, which the students themselves helped select.
What should’ve been a done deal is never easy when adults with an agenda get involved. Joey Mc-Cutchen, a Fort Smith attorney, led a group who tried to block the change despite the fact the school board voted unanimously for it.
“Rebels forever, remember September,” was the battle cry for the holdouts, who wanted school board members replaced in September by people supporting their position. But the standoff took a major turn on Friday when two board members who were against the Rebels-to-Mavericks change said they wouldn’t vote for the Rebel mascot in the future.
“We don’t have the votes,” McCutchen said. “In effect, that ends the issue.”
The question now is whether Jim Rowland will reconsider after he resigned as athletic director of Fort Smith Public Schools during the contentious board meeting. Attempts to reach Rowland on Friday and Saturday were unsuccessful but many are hoping he changes his mind.
“There’s not a coach or an administrator here who wouldn’t want him to stay,” said Fort Smith Northside head football coach Mike Falleur, who grew up in Fort Smith. “He treats everybody fair and does what he can to make your job easier. He’s a great person and he loves Fort Smith.”
I don’t know McCutchen but I do know Rowland, who has been with the school system in Fort Smith for 53 years and whose name appears on the football stadium at Southside. Rowland criticized McCutchen for causing a “poisonous atmosphere” before asking Southside football coach Jeff Williams last week to announce his resignation.
The reaction to Rowland’s resignation was swift and too many weighed in to list here. But I was particularly interested in the words of Nick Lasker, the associate executive director of the Arkansas Activities Association. Lasker worked for 13 years in Fort Smith, both as an assistant and head basketball coach, and later as an administrator within the district.
“Had I known, I would’ve signed up to speak at the meeting,” Lasker said. “I’m a bit upset about what’s happening because I know the moral character of Mr. Rowland and what he stands for. He’s been a staple of the community for 53 years and he exhibits nothing but high character, even in difficult times.”
I worked at the newspaper in Fort Smith and I know the delicate balance in trying to appease those on the north side and south side of Rogers Avenue. If someone on our sports staff wrote 12 paragraphs about Southside, then someone else had better write 12 paragraphs about Northside or risk being accused of favoritism.
The juggling act is far more intense for Rowland, who has mostly kept the peace in what is still the best high school rivalry in the state. So, it is surprising the controversy that divides Fort Smith is not between Northside and Southside but from people at Southside turning on each other.
Joey’s a Rebel, a Southside graduate, and I’m sure he and other Southside graduates feel as if part of their past has been taken from them unnecessarily. They say the name change was a knee-jerk reaction to the tragedy in Columbia, S. C., where a young racist pulled a gun and killed nine black people in a church.
I get that argument but I also understand fully why black athletes would be offended, or at least feel uneasy, about playing in a stadium or gymnasium with “Dixie” occasionally blaring in their ears.
Symbols, don’t forget, can be just as hurtful as harsh words. Shove a swastika is the face of a Jewish person and see how she or he reacts.
“I worked at Southside for three years and everyone treated me great,” said Lasker, a black man who was an assistant for the Rebels before taking over as head coach of the Grizzlies. “But I would cringe a bit at “Dixie” because you think of the words and what it represents.”
“Dixie” will no longer represent Southside, which has adopted “Wabash Cannonball” as its new fight song. The hope now is that Southside can reunite and Rowland will return to the job he’s held with integrity and distinction for so many years.
Onward, Mavericks!
Rick Fires can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @ NWARick.