Connecticut high school apologizes for 'Hitler' football play call
Greenwich (Connecticut) High School has apologized for its players running onto the field and shouting "Hitler" as a code for a play in its freshmen game with Trumbull High School on Thursday.
According to the Connecticut Post, one of Trumbull's players heard the call, exited the game and subsequently told his mother, who said she was "outraged":
“My grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins perished at the hands of Hitler,” Debbie Levison said on Friday. “My father and mother suffered unspeakable atrocities during the Holocaust. So yes, I’m outraged.”
Levison said her son came off the field visibly angered. When he told her why, she approached some Greenwich players after the game to make sure he had heard correctly. They told her to talk to the coach, which she did.
“Coach James Briggs looked me in the eye and confirmed that they do indeed use a play called Hitler,” Levison said. “I repeated it back to him twice to verify that we were being utterly accurate.”
The Connecticut Post also reported Greenwich High School has used the play for years, as well as one called "Stalin."
The community outrage has caused the school's headmaster, Chris Winters to issue a letter of apology, saying "this admittedly offensive practice" has been stopped and that the team has reached out to members of the Trumbull community to "express our sincere apology."
“Anything that aims to either glamorize or use something as horrible as Hitler or the Holocaust as an icon is just disheartening,” Greenwich rabbi Andrew Sklarz told the Post. “That’s something we can’t accept in sports or from students who are supposed to be leaders in the community.”
