Parents of players on the Morgan Park boys basketball team are prepared to have their sons boycott and forfeit Saturday’s home game against Simeon unless it is moved to Morgan Park’s small South Side gymnasium.
The Mustangs’ home gym, which is estimated to hold about 250 people, has not been used to host Simeon for several years due to the large crowds that the game between two of Chicago’s top programs attracts. Morgan Park is ranked No. 1 in the Tribune Top 20, Simeon No. 3. The teams have combined to win 10 state championships, seven for Simeon and three for Morgan Park.
The game has been scheduled to be played at Brooks, then Little Village, then Brooks again. The parents’ group, led by Tiffany Burrell, said that if the game is not moved to Morgan Park by 5 p.m. Thursday, they will proceed with the boycott, according to a statement released Wednesday.
“We want this game,” said Burrell, the mother of junior Romelo Burrell. “It’s a highly publicized game. Our children can get national recognition from this game alone. We just think they should be able to play it at home.
“We play Bogan at home,” she continued, referencing another top CPS program. “Last year it was Luwane Pipkins against Marcus LoVett. That was big and it was packed and we were able to play it at our gym.”
Morgan Park coach Nick Irvin, who has campaigned for a new gym at the school, declined to comment about the parents’ plan, which was first reported by the Sun-Times. Tiffany Burrell said Irvin had no involvement in the group’s actions.
Simeon coach Robert Smith said he is willing to play the game wherever it ends up but is growing weary of the logistical problems of where to play Morgan Park. He said he will consider asking CPS to transfer Simeon from the Red South division to the Red Central, swapping with Hyde Park, to avoid future problems.
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“I’m tired of the negative part of this, and this is going to keep coming up,” Smith said. “They don’t need to keep going through this and we don’t either.”
Smith estimates that 400 fans were turned away from the teams’ first meeting this season, a 70-65 Morgan Park win on Dec.11 at Simeon’s gym, which Smith said holds 1,200 people. He said he understands Morgan Park’s desire to play its home games at home but wonders if it is feasible.
“It is not the same as when they play Bogan,” Smith said. “When you have people who can’t get in that is controversy and screaming and yelling and pushing.”
Burrell said that Morgan Park principal Carolyn Epps decides where to play the Mustangs’ home games and that it is her call where to play Saturday. Phone calls to Epps on Wednesday were not returned.
Darlene Randall, mother of senior Jarrin Randall, said the parents’ group is not willing to compromise on the game’s location.
“It’s Morgan Park or nothing,” she said. “We go play at Simeon. That gym is packed. We want to experience the same thing at our school. Whether it’s 900 or 1,600 or 400 or 200, it is our home game and it should be played at our gym.”
Mustangs senior guard Charlie Moore, one of the state’s top players, did not commit one way or another to a boycott, but he did say he would prefer the game take place at Morgan Park.
“It would be great just to play the Simeon game at our gym at Morgan Park,” Moore said. “That’s where I would really like to play them, for sure. It would give our student section a chance to watch the game. I know we need a gym.”
According to the parents’ group’s statement, the desire for a new, larger gym at Morgan Park is a motivating factor behind the proposed boycott.
“If the reason we cannot play home games at Morgan Park is because our gym is too small,” the statement read, “then the solution should be to get a NEW GYM but until that time comes, we need to play at HOME.”
Mike Helfgot and Bob Narang are freelance reporters for the baiduhai.