Final Down

The long, sad federal case of the high school athlete who was benched [“The Trophy Son,” January 15] came to a conclusion last week when it was dismissed by U.S. District Judge John Rainey.

In throwing out all claims, Rainey observed that Kyle Rutherford’s disappointment is experienced in every high school game in the country on every team by every player who must sit on the bench. “This does not create a federal case,” the judge wrote.

Rainey ordered Scott and Sonja Rutherford, who filed the suit in their son’s name, to pay the school system’s legal costs, estimated at tens of thousands of dollars. Reached at the office of his insurance business, Scott Rutherford told the Press, “The Rutherfords stand behind the facts!” and hung up.

The Rutherfords alleged in their suit that they were victims of a conspiracy that violated their constitutional rights, cost Kyle an athletic scholarship and caused all of them “severe emotional damage.” The mastermind of this conspiracy, they believed, was Wayne Hooks, the athletic director and football coach of Cy Falls High School. Hooks had removed Kyle from the starting quarterback position, after which Kyle eventually quit the team. The Rutherfords believed that Hooks had then pursued a vendetta against them and their son and had discouraged college recruiters from calling Kyle. Kyle had become the baseball team’s star pitcher, when just before graduation, he published in a senior memory book a “will” to the football coach: “To Coach Hooks, I leave a $40,000 debt. I figure you cost me that much” in scholarship opportunities.

As punishment, Kyle was benched during the last game of the season. The baseball coach, Archie Hayes, claimed he did this because Kyle had shown disrespect for the school’s athletic program; the Rutherfords claimed that Hayes benched Kyle after Hooks threatened Hayes’s job. The family took its complaint to the school’s principal, to a disciplinary committee, to the school board and, finally, to court.

And nearly two years after the benching, the judge affirmed the coach’s original decision, or at least refused to interfere. Most of the “facts” that Scott Rutherford referred to had been contested by the defense as rumors and hearsay, some of it fourth-hand. In most instances, the judge agreed. He threw out all claims of a conspiracy. All conspirators worked for the school district, he wrote, “and the district cannot, as a matter of law, conspire with itself.” Rainey rejected claims of a First Amendment violation, noting that the free-speech rights of students “must be applied in light of the special circumstances of the public school environment.” And he found no basis for Scott and Sonja Rutherford’s claim that they had constitutional rights as parents that were violated by the benching of their son.

“The courts should not get involved in second-guessing a coach’s decision to play one person over another,” Rainey concluded. “Federal judges issue opinions and orders, not starting lineups.”

The suit has brought attention to the Rutherfords from all over the country. The family has always been puzzled by the response from people who thought they were being poor sports and has generally attributed the problem to the incomprehension of reporters. Given the chance to explain themselves, the Rutherfords were confident they could find sympathy. Scott Rutherford said in December they would win the case if it were put before a jury of their peers. But if it were thrown out, he said he would lose all respect for the judicial system. Last week, his lawyer, Larry Watts, reported that Mr. Rutherford had indeed been “cynicized.”

Watts, too, was suffering that effect. He was amazed that “not even John Rainey (and he’s really intelligent)” had seen the constitutional violations. Yet another level of authority had been blind to the gravity of the offense, which said something about the world we live in.

“The message is ‘Who cares?’ said Watts. “And I think that’s probably the sad thing.