Summary
Fort Myers High outfielder was surprised by the plum assignment. He received an offer to play at Albertus Magnus College, a Division III school in New Haven, Connecticut. Tucker's father is Michael Tucker, who was the 10th overall pick by the Kansas City Royals in the 1992 draft. Madrid Tucker played for seven teams over a 12-year big league career. Tucker played in the National League Championship Series three times. He was a high-level prospect, a three-sport star on a trajectory for Division I or the Major League amateur draft by the time he graduates. At least nine Fort Myers players joined a coach in walking out on their teammates. Some parents and fans in the bleachers "began applauding, cheering and fist-bumping" One Fort Myers administrator who witnessed the walkout called the scene "so selfish... an injustice to the kids" The Fort Myers high school baseball team quit a game and left their two teammates. The two players were the only two players of color on the team. One coach said he had never seen a team abandon its own players. Police are investigating the incident. The players' parents are also being investigated. Medina says the walkout did not appear to be a reckless act concocted by teenagers. Instead, he says, it was orchestrated and blessed by coaches and parents. The cliches of teamwork and togetherness were collapsing in real time. The walkout resulted in the cancellation of the remainder of the baseball season. The Fort Myers High School baseball team walked out in protest of the way they were being treated. The team is made up of mostly white students. The walkout was sparked by racial tensions. The school is considered the "crown jewel" of Lee County, Florida. The parents of three players who participated in the walkout also declined to be interviewed by ESPN. Two active members of the Lee County School Board, Melisa Giovannelli and Jada Langford-Fleming, also declined. Andrew Dailey, one of the adults who encouraged the walkouts, declined to comment. A white player on the junior varsity said he "wanted to punch those two n-----s in the face," referring to two of his Black teammates. Some parents -- both white and Black -- complained first to Chris Chappell, the head junior vender coach, and later to Burchfield. Carcioppolo told the players and their parents to "get over it" Alex Carcioppolo, then a Fort Myers High assistant coach, was removed from his position after sending a group message with a racial slur. In January 2023, Michael Tucker says he and his wife, Dee, met with Burchfield to tell the coach they did not want Carcieppolo associating with their son. Burchfields, they say, did nothing. Carcioppolo said the text was intended for a group of Black military friends. He was fired within 48 hours. The school district opened a Title VI discrimination investigation. Some parents said the coach should be forgiven. Others said he should be fired for his actions. Some players argued if Carcioppolo were Black, no one would have cared. White parents and players were enraged that a white coach was fired for using a word Black people used routinely as a figure of speech. It was an unfair racial double standard that galvanized the white players and parents. Burchfield would tell investigators that Carcioppolo's firing was the first time he had heard the word "walkout" around his team. Tate Reilly recalled being asked by his white teammates to join the movement. When he declined, alienation from his teammates ensued. The Reillys and Tuckers refused to join the boycott for Coach Alex Carcioppolo's firing. "You had to go with what everyone else said, and if you weren't with them, then you were against them," says Madrid Tucker. The Green Wave also were losing -- Fort Myers lost its first seven games of the season. Carcioppolo was fired for using the N-word, but Black people used the word frequently and without penalty. The anger over use of the word at Fort Myers mirrored conversations and controversies around the country. Still, race and cultural grievance permeated the dysfunction. On Feb. 23, nine days after Carcioppolo's firing, Burchfield held a meeting announcing tougher discipline. The following day, Barchfield emailed his zero-tolerance mandate to parents. The Tuckers interpreted the message as a vindictive response to Carcieppolo. Fort Myers High School student-athlete tensions grew so toxic that a school administrator was placed in the dugout for every game. When a player suggested Tucker was all talk, he assured them he wasn't -- and his response netted him a five-game suspension. The Tuckers argued their son made no racial slur against another race. Two Black kids talking to each other using common language did not constitute "hate speech" Michael Tucker began derisively calling Burchfield's new mandate "The Madrid Rules" "The whole thing didn't make sense to me," Dee Tucker said. Michael and Dee Tucker say they recorded a meeting between Burchfield and the Tuckers. Michael Tucker: "How is it that we've been talking about racial issues, and the only kids that have been disciplined are the kids of color?" Burchfeld: "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend anyone" Michael Tucker attended Burchfield's wedding. Four years earlier, they supported his hire. Michael Tucker now saw Burchfied as duplicitous. Burchfeld would confirm Michael Tucker's fear, later telling investigators that Madrid Tucker "dropped the N-word twice, with little to no consequences" Michael Tucker says he doesn't feel like Fort Myers High School protected his son. School documents contain several emails from Shane Reilly to school administrators demanding action. A month before the walkout, Shane Reilly emailed Fernando Vazquez, a school district investigator, recommending Burchfield be fired. Shane Reilly emailed Butz and told him he ordered Tate to "call 911 immediately" should he face any threat. "We have little confidence in Fort Myers High School's willingness to protect ALL kids," he wrote. "I have nothing good to say about Coach Burchfield," he said. Burchfield says he tried to help Tate Reilly play Division III baseball. "He's very slow. He doesn't have the best baseball IQ," he says. "When he's on base, he gets picked off.... He gets signs wrong. It costs us wins" Shane Reilly's complaints led to Burchfield being investigated for physically confronting a student and two other charges. Burchfeld was investigated for physical confronting a students as well as the two other claims. Per district rules, a person who is the subject of an investigation is temporarily removed with pay from their position. White parents believed the Tuckers and Reillys were the only voices being heard. In response to a social media post, Nowak Walsh said, "They're only listening to 1 of trouble maker family!"Nowak Walsh declined to be interviewed by ESPN. In April 2022, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed HB 7, known as the "Stop W.O.K.E. Act" "We shall fight on the landing grounds. We shall fight in the fields and in the streets. We Shall never surrender," Churchill told the British House of Commons. In his November 2022 speech after sweeping to a second term as governor of Florida, Republican Ron DeSantis chose a similar cadence. The southwest coast of Florida is heavily conservative and Republican. More than half of white Americans do not believe being white provides them societal advantages. In the 2016 election, Donald Trump won Lee County by 20 points over Hillary Clinton. In his two gubernatorial races, DeSantis defeated Andrew Gillum by 22 points in Lee County. Rosalind Blalock filed suit in 1964 after being denied enrollment at Fort Myers High, then a whites-only school. Her case forced the district to begin integrating the public school system. It took 35 years for the School District of Lee County in Florida to eliminate its dual systems of education. The American Civil Liberties Union accused Florida of being one of the states leading the country in classroom censorship. In response, grassroots movements in the state combined with the ACLU of Florida in November to announce Free to Be Florida. PEN America reported in September a 33% increase in public school book bans from two years ago. In 2016, the N-word and a swastika were found on a dugout wall at Joey Cross Field. In 2015, video surfaced showing a previous baseball coach, David Bechtol, taking a sledgehammer to a wall in his home with a drawing of Gary with a noose around his neck. Former Lee County School Board member Gwynetta Gittens lost her seat in 2022. She sees the Fort Myers baseball team as a microcosm of the state and country. "Did you used to call each other n----s and b-----s? Yes, you did. Was it right for the coach to talk like that? No, it wasn't," she says. Leaders of the Green Wave Booster Club support the walkout. Mark Lorenz: "Our sons did peaceful, nonviolent protest intended to get people's attention" Michael Tucker: "Who did they take their protest out on? They took it out on the only two Black kids on the team" Former Lee County school board candidate Jada Langford-Fleming endorsed Gov. Ron DeSantis' education agenda. DeSants signed a bill requiring public schools to teach about Communism. Langford -Fleming: "I'm running to rid our schools of anti-American race theory" The walkout meant a forfeit of the game and an early end to the team's season. The school district already had begun a Title VI discrimination investigation. Sources in the Fort Myers educational community were dubious of Chuck Bradley, the man handling the discrimination case. Some sources were pessimistic about Bradley's ability to conduct a thorough, impartial investigation. investigations paint picture of mounting frustrations and personal grievances that ultimately led to the walkout. Two themes emerged from the slew of interviews, text messages and personnel files: the degree to which athletic director knew in advance a protest was imminent but took no initiative to prevent it. and how much Xavier Medina's fears were realized. Hours before the game, the player's mother called Keeth Jones, who had been brought in to assist during Burchfield's suspension. She said she did not agree with the boycott, that her son did not want to jeopardize his chance to play college baseball. According to the details in Vazquez's Hinson report, Butz, Cato, Jones and Perry were all alerted in some way during the season of a possible protest action. None of them contacted parents, addressed the potentially striking players or took an action to cancel the game. One Fort Myers player left the dugout demanding a reason for why Burchfield was not coaching the game. The coach told him, "I'm going with my guys" The parents sparred for nearly 20 minutes, the parents spared for nearly 15 minutes. Then, the plan hatched. Fort Myers police bodycam footage shows players and parents refusing to leave. "If they wanted to boycott, they should have gotten in their cars and gone home -- but they didn't," Melanie Reilly said. Under threat from Perry, the boycotters eventually dispersed. Andrew Dailey's wife was captured on Perry's bodycam Footage telling him: "I'm going to tell you, we're the victims" The Tuckers and Reillys felt their children were harmed by Carcioppolo's text and the racial climate at Fort Myers High. Chuck Bradley's heavily redacted 36-page report concluded that "Fort Myers High School administration and baseball program staff did not intentionally discriminate against individuals based on race, color, or national origin" "They keep telling us this isn't about race, and yet the whole thing began with a racist text message," Shane Reilly said. Mark Lorenz, who first did not want his son involved in the walkout, said: "They found the coaches did nothing wrong. It was a witch hunt" Burchfield said he "could not have asked for more love and support" in "probably the most difficult time" in his life. He already had told investigators that the Reillys were upset about their son's playing time and "are using race as an excuse" Burchfield had been fabricating his involvement with the Braves. He had told investigators he was concerned for his coaching prospects. On his Facebook page, Burchfield prominently stated his affiliation with the club. According to the team, Kyle Burchfeld has never been associated with the team in any paid or official capacity. In mid-October, the School District of Lee County released the Office of Professional Standards "investigation file" report. The report was also nearly completed in early July, before the completion and release of the Title VI report. To the furious Reillys and Tuckers, it was another example of corruption within the school district. Principal Robert Butz resigned just a few weeks after the walkout. Christian Engelhart was named principal. Darya Grote, the assistant principal who was not in the dugout on April 6, was promoted. Toni Washington-Knight, who was in the digsout the day of the walk out, was sent to another school. Before the Title VI investigation was complete, Burchfield resigned and joined the staff at Naples High School. "I kept relationships with lots of the players up until that moment," he said. " I look at the kids differently... those that walked out. I also look at... the ones who stayed back differently" "Under no circumstance do I believe Steven Cato protected my son," Shane Reilly said. The Tuckers filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against the School Board of Lee County. In February, Madrid Tucker chose to return to the baseball team. The season cancellation dropped his rankings to 186th in the nation. opposing team yelled "Happy Valentine's Day" to Madrid Tucker. "That just proves what the culture is here," Dee Tucker said. He says his real friends are on the football team and associates with virtually none of his baseball teammates. "I am left wondering what they think I did to deserve all the hate," he said in an email to ESPN. CNN's John Defterios has been following the case of a man accused of raping his wife. He was found guilty of raping her. Defterio: "He was trying to get her to do something she didn't want to do" Defterius: "She was trying not to do anything he didn't like"