DAVENPORT, Iowa — A public Facebook post written by Davenport North's head boys' basketball coach alleges three referees swore and used derogatory language toward him and his staff during Tuesday night's game against Pleasant Valley.
In the post, Head Coach Marquez Davis calls Tuesday night's game "one for the ages" and asks for "prayers of wisdom and a clear mind" as he navigates through his thoughts.
"As a leader of a racially diverse basketball program at a public high school, I feel it is my responsibility to make sure I do everything in my power not to let this get swept under the rug," Davis posted.
According to Davis, each referee told him to "sit the f--- down" and asked, "why am I b------- every time down the court?" Davis alleges the refs also directed the N-word toward him and his team.
"To treat our players and our staff with the blatant disrespect, with no fear of backlash, was the lowest moment of my coaching career," Davis posted. "These individuals are the ones walking among us every day. The ones teaching our kids, giving them medical care, judges in our courtrooms, with feelings toward an entire race of people beyond what we could probably imagine. To look these individuals up through social media and to see mutual friends, indicates that others in our area are aware of these closet racists."
Davis writes to hook himself and his staff up to a polygraph machine to see "who's telling the truth." He calls on those who know the referees to tell them that he will not stop bringing the incident up "until something is done."
"Even then, it won't be enough, but you can bet I'll NEVER let it go unaddressed," Davis posted. "To have these people around our kids, who internally they despise of, is a recipe for disaster."
Davis says all he wants is for the referees and those who hired them to be held accountable for their alleged actions.
"It seems to be a common theme when an inner city, predominantly urban demographic school plays a suburban school," Davis posted. "It was just on full display with NO filter this evening. Tonight didn't feel like we're about to enter the year 2023, we still have so far to go. I'll end by saying, they said all of this to the RIGHT coaches tonight."
The Davenport School District sent the following statement to News 8 Wednesday afternoon about the allegation:
"The Davenport and Pleasant Valley Community School Districts are working with Mississippi Athletic Conference officials as they review a conduct incident between coaches and referees at a recent High School basketball game. Both districts take issues of conduct very seriously and await the results of the review being conducted by the MAC Conference.
"The Davenport Community School District is also launching an internal review immediately. The district will work closely with Pleasant Valley Schools and the MAC Conference."
Todd Tharp, IHSAA assistant director and sports administrator of basketball, provided the following statement when contacted by News 8 on Thursday:
"The host school reached out to us yesterday morning to make us aware of the situation. We are confident that both schools are currently doing internal investigations and interviewing people regarding the incident and when they are ready to contact us regarding their results, we will visit with them."
News 8 has reached out to Davis for further comment on the situation. He has not responded to our inquiry.
News 8 will update this story as we learn more. Download our app and subscribe to our YouTube channel for updates.
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