The game was over at the high school football stadium outside of Seattle. Some team members headed toward the locker room, but others joined the assistant coach near the 50-yard line. The man knelt down in the middle of the throng, closed his eyes, and began his familiar post-game prayer for the last time.
“Lord, I thank you for these kids and the blessing you’ve given me with them. We believe in the game, we believe in competition, and we can come into it as rivals and leave as brothers.”
The assistant coach had been saying that prayer, or some variation of it, on the 50-yard line after every football game since he was hired in 2008. Players sometimes joined him, as did spectators and even players and coaching staff from the opposing teams.
But a few weeks ago, someone made a call to the school board, and the assistant coach was ordered to stop his post-game prayers. He refused.
After the game on October 16, the man who had become an unintentional lightning rod in the debate over school prayer was placed on paid administrative leave.
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