Rubama: Kempsville moves forward from racism issues with new baseball coach, athlete program

VIRGINIA BEACH — Two months ago, I wrote a column criticizing a horrendous situation that happened at Kempsville High when the school’s baseball season ended early after “a lengthy investigation” found that “racism, hate speech and harassment” have been prevalent on the team for multiple years.

I was so upset and angry that I asked the question, “What is going on? Is this 2024 or 1944?”

One of the Black players kept a notebook of some of the things done to him and the hurtful and ignorant words said to him, including being teased during Black History Month and being told by a teammate that they couldn’t see him during a recent eclipse.

When I wrote the column, I wondered if things would change or would it be swept under the rug and forgotten.

My answer came last week.

In front of an auditorium filled with prospective baseball players and their parents, Kempsville’s administration held a press conference to introduce Luke Stice as the program’s new coach . He replaced John Penn, who is no longer with the school.

Kempsville student activities coordinator Zach Wolff, who got the job in June, knew changing coaches would be his first major responsibility in his new position.

He saw how much negative publicity the school endured.

“I spent 10 years at Kempsville, and it hurt to see the whole process. That a child, and children, would have to go through something like that,” he said. “Professionally, I knew it was going to probably be the biggest decision that I was going to make in my first year.”

The hurt didn’t just come from Wolff’s connection with Kempsville, but also his own feelings.

Before he was born, his parents adopted two of his biracial cousins. And though they were raised under the same roof, he knew his experiences were far different from theirs.

He remembers when they would go out as a family and he’d see the stares from other families as they wondered what was going on with his family makeup.

“I’m never going to say, ‘I know what they we’re going through’ because I don’t,” he said about his sisters. “But I understand it. And I don’t want it to happen to anybody else.”

That’s why when it came to hiring a new baseball coach, the committee wanted to make sure to get a coach who wouldn’t be afraid to address the elephant in the room.

And Stice did that.

“The questions were formed in a way that we were inviting people to talk about it,” Wolff said. “We really wanted to see if they were going to talk about it, or if they were going to come in and treat it just as a baseball interview. It was not just a baseball interview. He came in and immediately addressed it and immediately talked about it.”

As soon as Stice finished, the committee members knew they had their man.

“He wasn’t afraid to address the elephant in the room, like so many others who sat at that table for that interview that were afraid to do. He came in, he addressed it and he talked about it,” Wolff said. “And that’s really what we need right now. Someone who’s not afraid to address it and have tough conversations about it because we’re not here to stick our heads in the sand.”

I got a chance to talk to Stice before and after his introduction as coach.

What impressed me was his sincerity and love for his players. He coached the school’s junior-varsity team the past two seasons. He said he had no idea what was going on with the varsity program.

“Just being first-hand in the situation and seeing the impact that it had on the boys really drove me to say, ‘This is really screwed up,’ ” he said. “I just kept communicating with them the whole time, keeping that door of communication open with them and letting them know that I’m here for them.”

When he heard the school was looking for a new coach, he wanted the job.

“The players on the JV team also faced some challenges to deal with once the news came out,” he said. “I knew from that moment, if anything changes, I want to be the man for the job.”

He believes he can change the culture of the program.

“I’m not going to put a timeline on it. It could be a year, it could be five years. I don’t know how long it will take,” he said. “With the (administration’s) support, I know we’ll get the culture right. … Wins will come after that.”

Melissa George has been at Kempsville for 13 years, including seven as a principal. She admitted it hurt to hear the things people said about the school. She said it “was a very trying time for everybody.”

She said the school is looking forward.

“We’re not just going to be a better baseball program, but we’re going to be a better school for it because our eyes were opened to things that I think we weren’t fully seeing,” she said. “Now that our eyes are fully open, we will be looking at ways that we can improve to ensure that all students, no matter what sport you’re on, no matter what classroom you’re in, that everybody who walks through the doors knows that they are welcome. And that they’re not going to experience what was experienced earlier by some of our players on the baseball team. It was something I wish we never had to go through, but if we did go through it, let’s find out what we can learn from that. And that’s what we’re going to do, we’re going to learn from it.”

Wolff said the hiring of a new coach is just part of what’s changing at Kempsville. The school also is redoing its athletic policy and putting together an athlete development program for its coaches and athletes.

“I’m not ignorant to believe we’re going to solve everything with a wave of a magic wand and everything is fixed,” he said. “But I’m excited in the direction that we are moving in.”

Kempsville rising senior TJ Davis, who is Black, is encouraged by what he heard last week from the administration and from Stice.

“I’m very excited to see what he brings to the team, and how he creates bonds with all the players and brings us together,” said Davis, a pitcher and outfielder.

He said he’s spoken with Stice several times and likes the direction of the program.

“I feel good,” he said. “Hopefully with a new coach, things will get better.”

Larry Rubama, 757-575-6449, larry.rubama@pilotonline.com