BARROW COUNTY, Ga. — The interim head football coach at Apalachee High School resigned Wednesday during a district investigation into racially derogatory language, and one father says the coach told a recent graduate at a junior varsity game, “This is for whites only.”
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Charles Kenyon stepped down on Wednesday, the principal told football families and families of students whose classes will get a new teacher.
“The resignation comes as we were investigating reports of racially derogatory language,” the email said.
Ray Michael Williams says his son, a senior on the team, was in the concession line at the Oct. 15 game when a recent graduate teased Kenyon about the burgers he was grilling.
“He made a comment back to her that this is for whites only,” Williams said.
His son, a senior volunteering at the game, was next and talking with a friend as the band practiced behind the stand. Williams says Kenyon overheard and told the teen to go play guard for the band.
“My son was a little confused and perplexed, but he said, ‘Coach, what do you mean?’ and coach said, ‘Well, you know, color guard,’” Williams said, pointing to his own skin.
Three parents volunteering in the stand heard the comments, and one emailed Williams that Sunday. His son had not mentioned it because the coach always joked, Williams says.
He says he called the superintendent’s office and the school’s athletic director the next morning, then reached the district’s human resources director, who apologized and started an immediate investigation.
Williams says what his son heard can’t be swept under the rug.
“I’m not gonna accept it as a father, as an African American in the community, as a taxpayer,” Williams said. “It’s not acceptable.”
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He calls the resignation a first step that makes sense but worries it leaves Kenyon free to work at another school.
The principal’s email to families made clear that calling something a joke is no defense.
“Any inappropriate or unprofessional statement or behavior, even if intended or represented as a ‘joke,’ will be taken seriously and thoroughly investigated,” it said, adding that all students, staff and guests should be treated with dignity and respect.
Not every parent sees Kenyon the same way.
Tyler Cash, a Black single father whose son is on the team, says he and other Black parents don’t recognize the coach in the allegations.
Cash says when his son went a week without lunch over a school account problem, he called Kenyon first.
“He made sure that he paid my son’s way all the way up,” Cash said. “That man took out of his pocket. I can’t overlook that.”
Cash says he doesn’t know what, if anything, was said at the concession stand, but he doesn’t see it in the man he knows.
“He’s not a racist,” Cash said. “That man is a genuine, loving man.”
Channel 2 Action News left a message for Kenyon and has not heard back.
The principal named Coach Alex Savakinas acting head coach for the rest of the season, citing his “positive leadership” and “steady guidance.”
He is the 1-6 Wildcats’ fourth head coach in less than four years.
“I would like to see Apalachee be intentional on hiring the right person for the right job,” Williams said.
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