Guard: Coach asked me to make fake ID for player

Monarch employee resigns from post after state inquiry

The request from Monarch High’s head football coach was startling, a security guard recalled: Make a fake I.D. for star athlete Calvin Ridley so another student could take a test in his name.

Elvin McCray, who worked security at the Coconut Creek school and also served as the junior varsity football coach, said coach Calvin Davis asked for the favor as Ridley was being recruited by the University of Alabama, but first needed to pass the ACT college admissions test.

There’s nothing in a state investigative report on the incident to suggest Ridley, nowa wide receiver for Alabama’s national championship team, was in any way involved. Ridley later took the test and scored high enough to be admitted to the university, said Damian Huttenhoff, athletic director for the Broward school district.

Attempts to reach Ridley through the university were unsuccessful, but he issued

a statement to investigators in April 2015 questioning the accuracy of McCray’s report.

Davis also disputes McCray’s account, saying the guard made up the story because he was upset that his son wasn’t allowed to play on the varsity team. He told state investigators he was not at school the day the alleged conversation with McCray was said to have taken place.

But district and state Board of Education investigations backed upMcCray’s allegations and also saidDavis offered to pay the student who would be taking the test.

The state last month accepted a settlement with Davis where he would be reprimanded, fined $1,500 and be required to take an ethics class. Davis agreed not to contest the charges but did not admit guilt. He stepped down as Monarch coach in February 2015, citing family reasons, but he still teachesworld history at the school.

Separately, the Broward School Board approved a five-day suspension for Davis on Feb. 9, a district spokeswoman said. He served it in mid-February.

Davis was a rising star in the high school coaching world during the 2012 through 2014 seasons, leading Monarch to a 26-8 record, two playoff appearances and a district title. Football powerhouse Alabama recruited not only Ridley but Monarch defensive back Shawn Burgess- Becker. Alabama head coach Nick Saban even made a personal visit to the school, Huttenhoff said.

But two months before signing day, in December 2014, McCray said Davis askedhimtomake a student I.D. that included Ridley’s name with a picture of the student whowas to take the test for Ridley.

“I was like, ‘whoa, what do you mean? He asked if I could do it,” McCray said during an interview with the Sun Sentinel.

McCray, who said he had a rapport with Davis, told the head coach it was another employee’s job to make student I.D. cards. McCray said Davis replied: “Oh man, you know he might snitch on us.”

McCray said he worried the consequences would be too severe for him, Ridley and the student who had agreed to take the test if theywere caught.

The security guard reported Davis to his boss, leading to a district and state investigation.

“I wasn’t going to jeopardize my job,” McCray said. “And I knew that if Calvin (Ridley) reallyworks hard, he’s going to be number one and guaranteed to make millions.”

The test-taking idea came after aMonarch football player overheard Davis talking with another athlete about Ridley’s difficulty in passing the ACT, according to statements given to investigators. The football player then told Davis he would take it for Ridley, and while Davis initially turned him down, he eventually offered to payhiman unspecified amount of money, the football player reported. Much of the conversation was texted, but the football player told investigators he had reset his phone due to space limitations and no longer had the messages.

“Let the record showthat meand(Ridley) are not necessarily close friends or best friends. We are strictly teammates,” the student wrote. “Honestly, I don’t even think (Ridley) knew about the plan of ours.”

In a statement sent to investigators, Ridley said he knew nothing about the alleged planandwas skeptical aboutMcCray’s account.

“Coach Daviswould never put me in a situation where Iwould get into trouble, after all the hardwork I put into ACT prep classes and reading classes at school and working hard to getwhere I’mgoing,” Ridley wrote. “Coach Davis has never ever approached me, as a joke or in any otherway, about someone taking the ACT, SAT or any other test for me. I schedule my own test and passedmy own test by myself.”

McCray was upset that Davis accused him of lying because of his son’s football prospects. He called it “an attack on me andmy son.”

He said his son was recruited by Davis from the junior varsity team to play varsity but his son felt he wasn’t ready.

“There was no vengeance about it. There was no reason to be upset. There was no reason for me to want to pull a chair out from under him,” McCray said.

stravis@tribpub.com or 561-243-6637 or 954-425-1421