The Henderson Boys Baseball Association (HBBA) is receiving public criticism in light of their board’s decision to suddenly remove one of their coaches this week. A Facebook post by Lamarcus Brown, now the former coach of HBBA’s 10U Diamondbacks team, has drawn hundreds of comments and shares after it revealed a screenshot of a text message he allegedly received from HBBA president Alex Hawkins explaining that he would not be allowed to represent their association as a coach in their postseason All Stars tournament.
The text in the screenshot reads: “The board and myself have had a lengthy discussion over the last week about you coaching Allstars. We have discussed the group in convos and in persons as well. We have decided and voted up not having you represent Henderson Allstars in the postseason. We feel that you cannot adequately represent our town and our organization at this time. This isn’t personal, this is a decision we had to make for the betterment of the organization. I have spoken with our district Dixie youth representatives and they agree that we have to put the kids and the organization first and to do what is in their best interest. We appreciate you coaching this year and we understand that it is a thankless job. Please feel free to contact me or Dillon if you have any questions about this decision. Good luck on the rest of the season.”
Brown says he was blindsided. “I was at the gym when it was sent to me out of nowhere. There were no prior conversations held about All Stars at all.”
Brown, who played for HBBA teams as a kid and is nicknamed Coach PeeWee by his players, coached the Diamondbacks to a 12-1 record this spring season, the best in the 10U league. According to their bylaws and longstanding tradition, the HBBA coach with the winning record then gets to be the head coach for their league’s post-season All-Stars team. Now Brown and his supporters are questioning the timing and motive behind HBBA’s decision to remove him.
Angry commenters and Brown himself have speculated that this was done so that Hawkins or HBBA vice president Dillon Heim, both 10U league coaches as well, would get to coach All Stars instead once Brown was removed. The runner-up coach was planning a mission trip in the summer and wouldn’t be available so Hawkins or Heim would be next in line.
Heim denies this and has stated he has already turned down the All Star coaching position “if it were to come down to us.”
“You were good enough to coach league but not All Stars? Adequate enough to represent HBBA in Henderson but not outside the county line?” said one of the top-liked comments by Tyrell Jenkins, one of Brown’s many friends and supporters.
Several of Brown’s supporters raised the question of racism being a factor in the decision to remove him, as he is the only black coach in the league.
The history around the Dixie Youth Baseball League, which HBBA is officially associated with, is a particularly racially sensitive one already due to the fact that it was infamously founded in protest of desegregation in 1955, didn’t integrate until 1967 and continued to use the Confederate flag on its uniforms for another 25 years.
HBBA denied any racial bias in a statement made through their Facebook page and asserted that the decision was done in light of complaints they received about Brown and “his on and off the field actions.”
The statement also gave an apology to Brown for how the situation was handled.
“We didn’t thoroughly access the situation like it should have been, and for that we are sincerely sorry. As a volunteer Board, we have members of our community stepping up to help and take time out of their lives to better the lives of the kids at HBBA, and to be honest we aren’t perfect. Since the beginning, the objectives of the Henderson Boys Baseball Association has been to implant firmly in the minds of the players the ideals of good sportsmanship, honesty, loyalty, courage, and reverence so that they may be finer, stronger, and happier boys and will grow to be good, clean, healthy men. This is achieved by providing supervised competitive athletic games. The supervisors are required to bear in mind that the attainment of exceptional athletic skills or the winning of games is secondary, and the molding of future men is of primary importance. We as a board felt like that wasn’t the case, but we also didn’t take the proper channels to address it like it should have been. We are sorry that this turned out this way and regret that it got to this point.”
The post did not allow community comments and supporters of Brown including parents of his players and umpires he’s worked with this season have responded skeptically over the allegations of unprofessional conduct against him.
In comments made under Brown’s post, HBBA vice president Dillon Heim alleged that Brown had been “mouthy, constantly argues with umpires and coaches, got booted from a game for mouthing and threatened to whoop fellow coaches,” which Brown denied.
When pressed for specifics, Heim alluded to an argument between Brown and an assistant coach which, according to Brown, happened before the spring season even started and was unrelated to the league.
After receiving a request from The Henderson News for what exact evidence was presented to the HBBA board that led to a “10-1” vote to remove Brown, Heim said that he needed to consult with the board before commenting further.
“If there were complaints during the season why weren’t they addressed and or documented?” said one Facebook comment by Kaitlyn Kangerga. “Does the board have any minutes/ agendas for these meetings?”
“It’s crazy because we know plenty of coaches that have gotten kicked out or argued with other coaches and still got to coach All Stars,” said a comment by Arqez Walton.
“If there were issues, they should have been addressed prior to the end of the season. To wait until the end, well, quite frankly, it smells,” commented Amy Henderson. “I personally do not think it is a race issue, but instead some good ole boy networks that want to coach and ensure their kids are on the team. Probably the worst thing ‘Alex’ could have said is parents said their kids wouldn’t play if PeeWee coached. So that only strengthens the speculation. Not to mention, as an organization, the bylaws are not subjective…they are put in place for the greater good of the organization. At the end of the day, the lack of transparency has created a divide.”
“I just wish I was able to attend this meeting held for them to make the decision to remove me,” said Brown. “And wish I was notified about any issues I had caused prior to the text message sent to me.”
Heim expressed his regret over how the situation has spiraled and asked that the community refrain from harassing HBBA board members and their families.
“Whether we give our side or not people have made their own narrative about why they think it happened. Unfortunately, it’s caused chaos to ensue which we didn’t want at all. We appreciate Mr. Brown for coaching not one but two teams this year. I myself coached two teams,” Heim said. “Mr. Brown’s actions during the season was enough to register a 11-1 vote on him not to represent the face of All Stars which he didn’t want to coach anyways. We hate that it blew out of proportion but wanted to let people know that the decision was not based off race at all, which they all assumed it was by pure speculation. Now the organization has been hit with slander and harassment over this which has caused a huge mess.”
Heim emphasized that he doesn’t have a personal issue with Brown, and that he even donated to his team to help with their season. “We are all volunteers trying to do what’s right for the kids and we are not perfect by any means. But when the community of Henderson slanders our names and harasses us, that’s crossing the line.”
Brown denies that he “didn’t want to coach” All Stars and says it was something he’d been looking forward to. “Me and my coaches had discussed it on multiple occasions—who could possibly make it since we were in a position to win the league.”
Brown says no one had asked him prior to being removed if he had wanted to coach All Stars or not. “They made that decision on their own and tried to offer me the position after they caught all the backlash for removing me. And I kindly denied it since I wasn’t secretly wanted there in the first place stating from the message explaining why I couldn’t represent.”
In the meantime, Brown is working with his Diamondbacks assistant coaches to start a new travel ball team that will play on weekends. Over a hundred people have donated to his fundraiser which Brown says will go towards uniforms, tournament fees and equipment for the kids. “We have had nothing but amazing support and generous donations from multiple individuals to help us provide uniforms and equipment for our players and we want to thank each and every one of them.”
