Williams says he was kicked off college team for his hair
Former Edmond Santa Fe player claims racism against coach
A former Edmond Santa Fe High School basketball player is back in Oklahoma, but his return comes following what he and his family allege was racial discrimination at his previous university.
Tyler Williams will be a senior suiting up for Southern Nazarene University in Bethany this season, but he was set to play his second season at the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith as recently as Aug. 16. That was until Williams was dismissed from the team that same day by U AF She ad coach Jim Boone.
On Sunday, a UAFS student tweeted out screenshots of a letter to the university written by the Williamses about their son's dismissal from the team. The letter sparked a firestorm of passionate responses across social media and demands Former Edmond Sante Fe guard Tyler Williams, right, will play college basketball this season at Southern Nazarene in Bethany. Williams was at the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith, before he was allegedly kicked off the team for his hair style. [KT KING/THE OKLAHOMAN]
for Boone' s firing. In the letter, Reginald and Tiffini Williams detail how Tyler Williams' first encounter with Boone over the summer “took a toll on their son.”
“I didn' t know the letter had got out, but I'm glad it's out and people are seeing my story ,” Tyler Williams told The Oklahoman Tuesday night. “It shouldn't be tolerated.”
Tyler Williams told his parents when he first met Boone, the first thing the coach t old him was he didn't like his hair and he wouldn't recruit other players with hair like his. Williams has dreadlocks that Boone allegedly said he wouldn't allow players to have on his team.
“To kick someone off the team just because of their hair, that's not right ,” Tyler Williams said .“I just felt disrespected and de valued after he told me that.”
Tyler Williams recorded the Aug .16 meeting a nd provided The Oklahoman with the audio. Williams opened the meeting by bringing up Boone's comments about his hair. Williams can be heard saying, “When you came in, you had talked about my hair and you not liking it and not wanting to recruit anybody with( dread) locks like mine.”
Boone is heard saying “It's not that we don't recruit them, but we make it very clear that once they get in here they're not going to have their hair that way. I told you though, because you were here before me, that I didn't think it was fair for me to tell you you needed to cut your hair, that I was going to let you have it.”
Tyler Williams: “But that' s like basically saying you're not going to let nobody in with hair like mine .” Boone: “Probably not.”
In an Aug. 16 meeting with Boone requested by the Williams family, Tyler Williams told Boone that he was bothered by his statement in their initial meeting.
“Styles such as dreadlocks, braids, cornrows and, of course, afros, can' t be disentangled from black culture ,” t he Williamses wrote. “Boone's action of policing black hair is a form of pervasive racism and bias.”
Following a prep career at Edmond Santa Fe, Williams played at Northeastern Oklahoma A& M and Allen Community College (Kan.) before enrolling at UAFS in 2018. Williams, 21, was set to be a senior leader of the Lions, until Boone was hired in April.
Williams, a 6- foot guard, was UAFS's leading returning scorer (12.9 ppg) and the Heartland Conference' s leader in free throw percentage ( 88 percent). At UAFS, Williams was selected to represent the university at the NCAA Leadership Development Conference. He was also a member of the NCAA Student Athlete Advisory Committee and carried a 3.4 GPA in organizational leadership.
U AF S has had the Williams es letter since Aug. 1 9, but no statements were made until the story gained publicity this week.
On Tuesday morning, UAFS chancellor Terisa Riley issued a statement to the school' s students, faculty and staff via email acknowledging that an investigation was underway. In the statement, Riley said that the school's Department of Human Resources has yet to issue a final report, thus she could not comment on the specifics of the investigation.
Riley said the statement was sent in the“spirit of transparency .” The statement was emailed to The Oklahoman following individual requests for statements from Boone and UAFS athletic director Curtis Janz which went unanswered.
“The university received a copy of t he allegation from a student and his parents approximately two weeks ago,” Riley said in the statement. “At that time, the allegation was sent to the university's EEO officer in the Department of Human Resources to be investigated. This is our standard practice for investigating any allegations of wrongdoing against employees of the university.
“The University of Arkansas-Fort Smith will not tolerate racism or retaliation. We never want a student to leave the university feeling disrespected or devalued, and this situation serves as a powerful reminder that we must continually assess and work to create an inclusive environment that values all members of our community.”
According to Rachel Put man, the interim director of public information at UAF S, the school does not have a time frame for the conclusion of its investigation, but Put man said she expected it to be completed within a few days.
During the investigation, neither Boone nor Janz will release a statement, and Boone is still the men' s basketball coach and has not been placed on administrative leave, Putman told The Oklahoman.
“We began an invest i gation as soon as we received that letter ,” Put man said Tuesday afternoon.
The Williams es took Tyler to enroll at UAFS on Aug. 15. He met with Boone the next day. His family was moving him out by Aug .17, with classes set to start on Aug. 19.
The Williamses moved quickly to enroll him back home. “Southern Nazarene came through for him ,” Reginald Williams told The Oklahoman vi a phone Tuesday evening. “He's adjusting.
“He didn't have anywhere to goto start school. He was all enrolled and, boom, scholarship gone, put off the team on a Friday and school started Monday.”
Williams said he started class at Southern Nazarene on Aug. 2 6, where he'll have a chance to play alongside his cousin, Micah Speight, who played at Putnam City North.
And while Williams said the transition hasn't been that bad, he never wanted to leave Fort Smith.
“He said I could keep my scholarship, but I was no longer on the program,” Williams said. “My scholarship is in basketball, so I can't keep my scholarship if I'm no longer playing basketball.
“I loved it there. That was my second home. Being told I couldn't play because of my hair, that hurt.”
Williams announced via Twitter on Aug. 25 that he was transferring to Southern Nazarene for “undisclosed reasons.” The Williams family' s letter to UAFS went viral a week later.
“When we sent it, we sent it just to the school,” Reginald Williams said. “I started seeing screenshots. I couldn't tell you how it got out there or who put it out there.
“If it hadn't been for social media, this would have been swept under the rug, never brought to life. It's kinda been nice to know we' re not fighting this thing alone by ourselves.”