A Chronology of Selected Collegiate,  Professional, and High School Athletic Initiations and/or Hazings. Fraternity  incidents listed if they involve known athletes.

 May 20, 2008 last update,

Sources (other direct sources listed below): “Broken Pledges: The Deadly Rite of Hazing,”
(Longstreet Press, 1990), “Wrongs of Passage: (Indiana University Press, 1999) and “High
School Hazing” (Franklin Watts/Grolier, 2000).  Please do not plagiarize. Credit the author
and the reporters below if you use their work. Thanks. Hank Nuwer

Nick Haben                                          
“Realize that education, training and discipline make the person, not hazing.”
    --Alice Haben, mother of Western Illinois lacrosse club rookie killed in initiation

_____________________________________________________________

1923
Hobart College (New York)
Freshman Hazing

Two senior football players were expelled after freshman Lloyd Hyde was beaten and thrown into Seneca Lake. Three other senior
athletes received lesser punishments.

1928
University of Texas (non-athletic hazing; included because death of athlete)
Delta Kappa Epsilon
Fraternity hazing (athlete involved)

Pledge Nolte McElroy, 19, a UT football player, died from electrical shock. Members asked him
to crawl through mattresses charged with electrical current.

1975
University of Nevada, Reno
Sundowners (subrosa club heavy with athletes)
Drinking initiation death

Wolfpack football player John Davies died in an alcohol-related initiation. A grand jury blasted
members but no one was charged with a crime.

1976
University of Texas
Texas Cowboys school-and-athletic spirit club

Members brained an initiate with wooden boards, and he was taken to an intensive care unit.

1978
Alfred University (New York)
Klan Alpine

Chuck Stenzel, a new pledge who hoped to join this fraternity which contained many lacrosse players, a major interest of his, died
following a traditional Tapping Night for the chapter that included being locked in a trunk and given huge amounts of alcohol.

1979
Harvard University (Massachusetts)
Pi Eta

Paul Callahan, 22, a former Harvard basketball player, was paralyzed after a wrestling match which occurred following initiation
ceremonies between new initiates and actives on a beer-coated linoleum floor.

1980
University of Michigan
Hockey
Alcohol-related hazing--severe

Michigan’s athletic director castigated hazers (“Our practice is not to tolerate hazing in any
form,” said athletic director Don Canham) who shaved a player’s pubic hair, stripped him,
locked him in a trunk, drove around and then dumped him at a residence hall. He was drunk
and covered with foodstuffs. Four others were initiated. It was cold, and an R.A. said the
player had turned blue.

1980
University of South Carolina
Sigma Nu

Barry Ballou, who had been hazed in high school as a rookie football player, died following a drinking-related initiation run in part by
an alumnus.

1981
Toms River, New Jersey
Soccer team tradition of initiating first-year players

Rookie soccer players said they were physically and vigorously pummeled during a
long-tolerated school ritual known as “Freshman Kill Day.”
 

1981
Wilmington High School (Massachusetts)
Football physical hazing at camp

Senior players allegedly urinated on younger players, a player told the Boston Globe. (Oct. 17, 1992)

1983
Nogales High School (Arizona)
athletic hazing court case

Seven junior varsity players from Nogales High School in Arizona said that they had been
assaulted by older baseball players in the back of the team bus. Coaches were acquitted in 1984 court case but had to give up their
positions.

1984
American International College (Massachusetts)
Local fraternity (heavily weighted with athletes)
Alcohol-related hazing death

 Jay Lenaghan died in a 1984 marathon drinking hazing for his fraternity; many, like Jay, were athletes.  Many were football players.

1985
Lowell High School (Massachusetts)
Physical hazing
Injury

After two hockey players suffered serious injuries, the school superintendent merely banned practices run by hockey team captains
until the victim’s parents protested, prompting five
suspensions of veteran players.

1985-1986 season
Scotts Valley (CA)
Water Polo hazing

With the assistance of the  Committee to Halt Useless College Killings, a Scotts Valley anti-hazing activist fought hazing after his
son was subjected to physical and emotional hazing. He charged that water polo hazing could be tracked seven years. He said there
were substantial gains, but he wanted hazing fully eliminated. (Files, CHUCK (Committeee to Halt Useless College Killings), Sept.
8, 1986)
 

1987
Evangel College (Massaxhusetts)
Minor hazing (with school sanctions)

Four football team starters were suspended for shaving the legs of a new player.
 

1988
Medford High School
Football camp hazing

Paul McGaffigan revealed on WBZ-TV that he'd been forced to run naked with a cracker between his buttocks as part of a traditional
hazing game.
 

1988
Holmdel High School (New Jersey)
Improper Touching alleged
Football team

Football players were alleged to have been coerced into removing clothing and playing a game of  Twister. The event was videotaped.
The Bergen County Record on Nov. 12, 1989, said that “come coaches reportedly were disciplined.” Players were taunted about
incident by opponents.

1988- 89 season
Kent State University (Ohio)
Alcohol-related hazing
Close call

Tim Evans, a rookie hockey player, nearly died after veterans coerced him to chug liquor and beer through a funnel.  Kent State
President  Michael Schwartz cancelled the school's
hockey season. Five veterans were given suspended sentences and fines.

1988
Watertown High School (Massachusetts)
Football camp hazing

Numerous hazing incidents occurred at football camp. Three coaches and five players received suspensions. Some events involved
humiliation and stripping and having a player sit in urine. (The News Tribune, October 7, 1988)

1989
Lyndhurst, New Jersey (high school)
Hazing
Football team

Leslie Weaver of the Bergen County Record reported that a high school sophomore football players was coerced into improper
touching of another player while a large group (20-30) of
players watched. The reporter wrote that the incident away from school took place at a Millersville, Pennsylvania football camp. The
board of education responded by tightening
academic requirements for players and banning secret societies.

1989
Pierce City High School (Missouri)
Football initiation

Source: students Eric Hartley and Maynard Moudy.  On the first rainy day of practice, new players either
wallow face-first in mud while grunting like pigs, or the juniors and seniors get to throw
them in the slop. (Source: “Broken Pledges: The
Deadly Rite of Hazing” by Hank Nuwer)

1989
Central Beurden High School (Kansas)
Wrestling initiation

Student Darrin Rierson said that the school wrestling team sometimes swirls
the heads of  rookies in a flushed toilet.

1989
Scottsville High School (Kentucky)
Baseball initiation

Student Danny Oliver said he played for his baseball team. The initiation he experienced was
getting held down while a player shaved leg hair. Several other clubs and band had no hazing—you
just joined and were in, said Oliver.
 

1990
University of Northern Colorado
Baseball team hazing
Serious injury

A slide into mud at the behest of some veteran teammates during an initiation left Kevin
Wolitsky,  18, paralyzed. His neck was broken. News items at the time carried strong denials
that hazing had occurred. UNC later disciplined the coach and players, according to the Denver Post. (See The Denver Post, March
15, 1998, etc.) The coach insisted the incident was “horseplay,” not hazing. But a supporter of the Colorado hazing bill from UNC
cited the case as hazing while lobbying for its passage.

1990
University of Texas
Texas Wranglers
Stealing as an initiation requirement

An initiate for this sports booster club was arrested for stealing a street sign he picked up while on a scavenger hunt.

1990
Western Illinois University
Lacrosse club drinking initiation
Death of rookie

Nicholas Haben died in a dormitory after being carried back to school following a drinking
initiation in a wooded area near campus. Twelve veteran participants were given community
service. The initiation had been going on for many years.

1990
Brockton High School (Massachusetts)
Track team

A rookie member claimed younger players had their underwear torn on bus and had traces of excrement rubbed on their faces and/or
were made to eat pubic hair.

1990
Whitehall-Coplay High School (Pennsylvania)
Football

A rookie suffered a concussion after being beaten by twin lines of veterans.

1991
Jackson State (Mississippi)
Athletic hazing

Football coach W.C. Gordon took strong action by suspending four athletes and kicked two off the squad for allegedly hazing
rookies.

1991
Delta State University (Mississippi)
Fraternity hazing by football players who were major part of group
Ordeal for hazing

Two members of the DSU football team charged that they had been beaten in an initiation by three starters.

1991
The Citadel (South Carolina)
Athletic hazing decision

Four athletes who quit school and gave “hazing” abuses as their reason for leaving were refused “special case” permission to try to
make the teams at another NCAA school. They were told to sit out one year  (two years if they wish to play for a Southern
Conference) team. The decision was made by Walt Nadzak, athletic director of  The Citadel. Two players who
protested the decision and reported hazing were defensive lineman Karl Brozowski and soccer player Michael Lake. Both were
freshman athletes on scholarship.

1991
Ontario High School (Oregon)
Baseball team male-on-male violence

Police ended a one-year investigation into the sodomizing of four rookie players. Police said six veterans sodomized the four.

1992
Wilmington High School (Massachusetts)
Football physical hazing at camp

Police and administrators came under fire when some references to more serious types of physical assault were deleted from a written
investigation report. Victims in the case claimed they were subjected to improper touching and physical assault, reported The Boston
Globe  (Oct. 17, 1992)
 

1992
Lodi (New Jersey) High School
Physical hazing
Financial settlement

Anthony Erekat, a member of the football squad, had his hair hacked off  and had players spread feces and peanut butter all over his
body during the initiation. He won a settlement.
 

1992
Sunnyside High School (Washington)
Hazing on Wrestling Team (sodomy)
Conviction

A young man, 15, claimed that he had been penetrated with a mop handle during an attack by several wrestlers. He suffered internal
injuries. After plea bargaining,  Richard Melendrez, entered a guilty plea to second-degree reckless endangerment.
 

1992
Johnson Creek High School (Wisconsin)
Taping admitted

Some wrestlers at Johnson Creek High School in Wisconsin admitted taping a student but denied sodomizing him with a mop handle
as the victim claimed; they were acquitted of serious assault charges.

1992
Clintondale (Michigan) High School
softball hazing

Two female players removed a freshman teammate’s ponytail with a knife.

1992
Golf club (Indiana)
Caddie initiation

A Ball State U. student, Mark Patterson, disclosed his regret at unintentionally breaking the arm of a new caddie when Patterson and
another veteran caddie put a broomstick between the legs of the rookie to give him a ride as a type of wedgie. The item was listed in
my book “High School Hazing” with Mark’s permission as a cautionary tale.
 

1992
University of Western Ontario
Hazing allegation
Varsity football team

The London Free Press six years after the fact (November 1, 1998) reported that a high
school coached warned the UWO athletic department that hazing was occurring. The coach reported that one of his former high school
athletes quit the UWO Mustang team. The athlete said the hazing included coercion to steal, nudity, being pelted with food.

1993
Sky View High School (Utah)
Hazing and intimidation
Football team

School Superintendent Larry Jensen cancelled the last game of the football season and
eliminated a playoff berth after a player charged that he had been taped nude to a table, mocked, and then subjected to having his
female date see him in this state. The case was still in the courts in 2000.

1993
Glenbard West High School (DuPage, Illinois)
Hazing policy following physical hazing
Sports cheering squad

Administrators wrote a strict anti-hazing policy. The policy followed the physical hazing of Topperettes who were covered with bleach
and other objectionable substances, plus talked into simulating sex acts.

1993
Haddon Township H,S. (New Jersey)
Football Hazing Reforms

Faced with hazing rumors they could not pin down, Haddon authorities instituted a hazing policy.

1994
Paine College (Augusta, Georgia)
Omega Psi Phi
Boxer alleges injury in physical hazing

Former Southeastern Golden Gloves heavyweight boxer Ric Ross claimed he suffered a spinal  injury following a beating by members
in a historically African American national fraternity.
 

1994
Shawnee Mission East High School (Kansas)
Soccer player hurt in school freshman initiation custom

The Kansas City Star (September 3, 1994) reported that the arms of two boys (one a soccer player who missed some games) were
broken in a physical hazing (“hill rolling) ritual. The principal made an announcement that the custom was forbidden after the injuries
occurred.

1995
Texas Cowboys
Athletic booster (spirit club) group
Alcohol-related drowning death in initiation

The Texas Cowboys, a spirit group that boasts members such as former Dallas Coach Tom Landry, held an initiation for so-called
“Newmen” which included large amounts of alcohol. Gabe Higgins drowned in the middle of the night in the Colorado River. The
Cowboys were known for shooting the cannon during football games and for forming a sort-of honor line
through which football players passed before each game. The team was put on probation and returned in 2000. (See
Nuwer, “Wrongs of Passage,” and extensive coverage by the Austin (Texas)
American-Statesman).

1995
High School in Hasbrouck Heights, N.J.
No action taken in initiation

Two seniors on the football team were not charged by police or punished by the school after asking two younger players to take a lap
around the playing field without pants. Family members asked the police and school to let the participants settle the problem
themselves.
(See The Record, September 6, 1995)

1995
Wisconsin Heights High School (Wisconsin)
Athletic hazing

Five students were suspended for hazing rookies, including the taping of a player to a goalpost. (See Capital
Times, October 19 and October 30, 1995)

1996
Duxbury High School (Massachusetts)
Baseball initiation

Players were caught shoplifting items froim a dtore while dressed in varsity and JV uniforms as part of a team tradition. The team
forfeited 13 games as part of its punishment. (New York Times, May 5, 1996)
 

1996
Azle High School (Texas)
Hazing (including cheerleaders volleball team members)

Two students were suspended and others apologized after a traditional initiation got out of hand, but fell short of qualifying as criminal
hazing. The school acted swiftly to take action. (Star-Telegram, Sept. 9. 1996)

1996
Midland Lee High School (Texas)
Cheerleader allegations

A young woman charged that she had clothing ruined with substances in an unauthorized initiation. (The Houston Chronicle, Oct. 26,
1996)
 
 

1996
Salt Fork Storm (Jamaica High School and Catlin High School)
Alleged physical hazing
Football team

Joshua Lock, 14, told the Chicago Tribune (August 30, 1996) that his lacerated spleen was the result of  hazing by an older player
(and part of a pattern of hazing by older players).

1996
Buffalo Grove High School (Illinois)
Physical hazing
General (male/female) student body (includes football team members)

A physical hazing supposedly got out of hand when overzealous bystanders lost control, according to some 20 older students who
hazed 17 first-year students by spraying them with
urine, cat litter, and hair-remover. (See Chicago Sun-Times, October 10, 1996)

1996
University of Georgia
Fraternity hazing of football player
Conviction

Running back Rod Perrymond was hospitalized with severe bruising after being paddled 50-70 times. He left Georgia because of a
lack of playing time and a feeling of discomfort walking about campus. Three Phil Beta Sigma fraternity males pleaded guilty and were
sentenced to perform community service but had all jail time suspended, according to the Atlanta
Constitution.
 

1996
West Warwick High School (Rhode Island)
Football Incident

Whatever happened during an incident involving West Warwick football players is unknown, because the school district refused to tell
a reporter, but a hazing policy was written after it occurred.  (See
October 8, 1996, The Providence Bulletin; “Wrongs of Passage”).

1996
Santa Fe High School (New Mexico)
Football coach blasts student body for hazing

Stunned by repeated physical hazings and even a life-threatening alcohol initiation,
administrators and coaches have begun speaking out. Steve Baca, varsity football coach, called the hazers “knuckleheads” in an
interview with the Santa Fe New Mexican (October 5, 1996).

1996
Walla Walla High School (Washington)
Football hazing

Eight players were suspended from the team after a hazing incident at a Boise training camp saw six first-year players humiliated with
improper bodily contact and having parts of their bodies coated with toothpaste. (The [Bend, Oregon] Bulletin, September 1, 1996).
Fourteen players were reprimanded for not speaking out about the hazing they saw. Parents of the hazed
students praised the school for its handling of the incident.

1996
St. Edward Catholic School (Chicago, Illinois)
Hazing allegations
Football Team

Five seventh-grade football players said they were bruised following a paddling by eight eight-grade players. “Isn’t no big deal,” the
father of one eight grader told Fox TV News in Chicago.

1996
Hillcrest High School (Utah)
Football hazing

Five upperclass members of the football team were kicked off the team and suspended from school for hazing.

1996
Hempfield Area School District (Pennsylvania)
Football hazing
Injury

Nine veteran players admitted involvement after a sophomore football rookie was injured
during traditional hazing. The school passed a hazing policy.

1996
Midland High School (Houston, Texas)
Cheerleader initiation

MHS cheerleading newcomer had chocolate syrup poured all over her school clothes.
 

1996
Alexander  High School (Ohio)
Athletic hazing
No contest, conviction

The Columbus Dispatch, February 15, 1997, reported that football team captain Travis A. Hawk, 18, of Athens,  “pleaded no contest
to a misdemeanor charge of  hazing  involving several freshman teammates in the locker room showers in late October.” Hawk was
given a
suspended sentence and $50 fine, plus community service requirement.

1996
University of North Carolina
Alcohol-related soccer team binge drinking

A rookie passed out in the home of a soccer team co-captain.The team was threatened with a forfeiture of games, and the school said it
took a hard line on
such activities. The team did some alcohol awareness-connected exercises on programs as a
community service.
 

1996
Thorndale High School (Washington)
Football hazing

A junior-high player was brutalized with a plastic bottle by older players. The group apologized to the victim in juvenile court. (The
Houston Chronicle, Sept. 23, 1998)
 

1997
Lifeguard hazing (Town of Babylon, New York)

Newsday journalist Michael Dobie wrote a 1999 article on the lifeguard initiation of Trevor Howard, 22, held two years earlier.
Howard drank 17 shots and was incoherent.

1997
Holmdel High School
Soccer hazing

More than 200 people attended a Board of Education meeting after hazing reports surfaced. Many were angry that someone had
complained about hazing. “Soccer is not a sport of the timid,” a mother told the board, according to the Asbury Press (Nov. 7, 1997).

1997
Harvard University (Massachusetts)
Athletic hazing
Admissions made to newspaper

In a comprehensive look at hazing on campus, the Harvard Crimson (October 3, 1997) detailed numerous hazing behaviors such as
so-called “voluntary” and coerced drinking, chugging from kegs of beer, eating of chili sauce, drinking at different stations, jumping
off a diving board. Both male and female players were involved. Teams included women’s water polo, men’s swimming, and
unspecified sports. Football players had whipped cream licked off
their bodies as part of a cheerleader initiation. “Hazing and alcohol abuse will not be tolerated
at Harvard,” said Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis.

1997
Old Lyme High School (Connecticut)
Soccer
Hazing

Two male soccer players were suspended from school after a player reported that his pants had been sprayed with a chemical
substance and lit in a hazing practice known as “butt burning.”

1997
South Windsor High School
Hockey
Hazing

The school looked into allegations that new players were coerced into jumping off a ten-foot wall as an initiation.

1997
University of Washington
Soccer team
Rookie hazing

The men’s soccer team under Coach Dean Wurzberger was given probation for hazing three rookie players.

1997
West Virginia University
Hazing allegations
Swim and diving team

Some team members were suspended for two meets after reports of coerced rookie drinking
in conjunction with calisthenics was reported. A newspaper article said that the swim coach supported hitting hazers with penalties.

1997
Westlake High School (California)
Wrestling team

Seven wrestlers were suspended for hazing.

1997
Rancho Bernardo  High School (California, Poway School District)
Physical hazing and sexual assault
Junior varsity baseball player

After a rookie baseball player was sodomized with an object in the locker room, he settled for $675,000 with the district, according to
the San Diego Union-Tribunel. Court records showed that the attack was part of a six-year pattern of
assault in several sports and was deeply entrenched in school athletics

1997
University of Oklahoma
Female Soccer Hazing
Lawsuit

Kathleeen Peay, a player, charged that her coach led an initiation in which Peay had to wear a diaper and simulate sexual acts. Peay
sued. Her coach is no longer with Oklahoma. Source: ESPN

1997
University of Wisconsin-Stout
Baseball hazing
Suspension

Veteran baseball coach Terry Petrie was suspended for one year after veterans were accused of coercing rookies into eating goldfish on
a team away trip.

1997
Highlands Park High School (Colorado)
Football team

Highlands suspended seven players after allegations surfaced that hazing occurred at a football camp.

1997
North Carolina Central University
Football player hazing

A hazing incident occurred outside a residence hall. Five football players participated.

1997
Joseph High School (Oregon)
Football players and male-on-male violence

 The Vancouver Columbian (September 28, 1997)  reported the suspension of
two athletes following an attack at a football team picnic.  About 12 players
attacked a 10th grade player while riding in the back of a pickup driven by a coach. One player rubbed his exposed genitals against the
boys skin, and another forced the boy to touch the older player’s genitals.

1998
Culdesac H.S./Lapwai School District
Suit filed in an Idaho court in 2000

The Lapwai School District and eight employees have been sued following initiations which two victims and their parents described as
“assaults” and mock “rapes.”

1998
Potsdam State College (New York)
Female soccer team hazing
Alcohol-related

Eight veteran players found themselves in considerable trouble after coercing first-year players
to drink at a team gathering.

1998
McMaster University (Canada)
Rugby and volleyball hazing
Forfeitures

Two varsity teams forfeited games following accusations of rookie hazing.

1998
St. Bonaventure University (New York)
Drinking incident
Women’s rugby

The school cancelled the club’s season following a drinking incident. The school said it was
punishing the drinking and that hazing did not occur.

1998
Alfred University (New York)
Football hazing
Alcohol-related

Alfred  University President Edward G. Coll cancelled one football game, expelled a veteran
player, and suspended six others after an alcohol-related hazing on campus. The incident
occurred 20 years after an Alfred University student died at Klan Alpine, a fraternity preferred
by campus athletes.
In response to the athletic hazing, Alfred University conducted a survey (“Initiation Rites and
Athletics: A National Survey of NCAA Sports Teams”) that was published August 30, 1999.
The survey was funded by the Riedman Insurance Co. (Disclosure: I was a national advisor on
this survey).

1998
Scituate High School (Massachusetts)
Football player suspended in unusual (likely wrong) interpretation of hazing

A football player who dropped a young man on his face, requiring stitches and dental care for the victim, was suspended from the
football team even though the action was intended as a prank and was not connected to the team. (The Patriot Ledger, October 30,
1998)
 
 

1998
Mead High School (Spokane, Washington)
Female soccer players
Initiation

A local paper quoted a student who said soccer players were taped to trash cans.

1998
Leonia High School (New Jersey)
Football team “bullying”

When older football players ganged up on a younger player, school officials termed the
episode “bullying,” and definitely not hazing. In my book, “Wrongs of Passage,” I cite several
instances in which college administrators show the same reluctance to use the term hazing. In a
positive step, Leonia officials drafted a strong anti-hazing policy that athletes sign.
 

1998-1999
University of Western Ontario
Hazing
Football team

Numerous reports of hazing on the football team were reported. Hazing included an
objectionable scavenger hunt list, use of alcohol,
sexually explicit reading matter, condoms. Coach Larry Haylor did not coach the final two games of the season.  Members of the team
apologized. What was interesting was how many
high school football coaches reported that their former players had expressed strong
reservations about initiations at UWO.

1998
Mesa Mountain View High School
Coaches suspended
Football "Punishments" Administered

Mesa school board suspended the new head football coach and two assistant coaches briefly for not abolishing the practice of players
administering pink bellies that went back to the 1970s
here, according to the Arizona Republic. The pink bellies were a punishment, not hazing per se.

1998
Palm Harbor University High School (Florida)
Baseball
Physical hazing

Five baseball players punched rookies on the team bus. One or more  put a burning ointment
onto one rookie’s bare backside.  Players received light punishment, 3-5 day suspensions. (St. Petersburg Times, March 11, 1998)

1998
Thorndale High School (Texas)
Football
Sexual assault

Four football players pleaded guilty to misdemeanor hazing after injuring a rookie’s anus and
delicate organs with a soda pop bottle.

1998
New Orleans Saints
Professional football hazing

After the New Orleans Saints conducted a 1998 hazing similar to a gang “jump-in,” rookie
Cam Cleeland was sidelined with an eye injury he sustained when bashed with a bag of coins
and rookie Jeff Danish was sent through a window and hospitalized for stitches.
In 1999 Jeff Danish’s hazing suit (U.S. District Court in Wisconsin) against former New Orleans pro football player Andre Royal was
dismissed. Reason: Danish’s attorneys did not
continue their suit.

1999
Great Neck South High School (New York)

A player was roughed up during a hazing, according to Newsday.

1999
Cato-Meridian High School (NY)
Hazing punished  (football)

The football coach punished players for hazing infractions. 

1999
University of Vermont
Hockey Hazing

The school ended the season prematurely for hazing.

1999
North Branch School District (Michigan)
Basketball hazing
Saginaw State camp

Two coaches were fired, a player was expelled, and six players were suspended after
terroristic-type hazing practices occurred at an away camp.

1999
Middletown, N.J.
Football camp at Wagner College (Staten Island, N.J.)
Alleged head shaving and physical hazing

Prosecutors said they lacked evidence to support claims by a 13-year-old Middletown
boy who said he had been hazed at a non-mandatory football camp this summer.
 

1999
Kalaheo H.S. (Hawaii)
Female soccer team

Two coaches were suspended after girls were made to run around a field in underclothing.

1999
Prospect High School  (Illinois)
Football team
Controversy
A freshman football player said he had endured hazing. Veterans called it horseplay.

1999
Chicago Bears (Illinois, professional)
Football hazing

After a coaching edict forbade hazing, players carried out an initiation anyway. No punishment followed.

1999
Stevenson H.S. (Illinois)
Football hazing

Officials suspended four players for so-called atomic situps that involve ridicule and humiliation. Sports Illustrated ran an article “In
Praise” of such hazing and failed to print letters from parents whose children had been injured or tormented in hazing incidents.

1999
Raoul Wallenberg Traditional Alternative High School (California)
Baseball
Sexual assault investigation

The San Francisco Examiner reported that school officials and police authorities are
investigating a possible “sexual assault by high school baseball players on younger
Teammates while at a tournament.”  The coach was fired immediately.
 

1999
Aiee High School (Hawaii)
Soccer   (charges filed)

A player was assaulted by six teammates after refusing to let them haze him.
 

1999
McAlester High School (Oklahoma)
Football physical hazing
Injury

Matt Warnock suffered a head injury after he was jumped by teammates in a locker room
hazing by teammates. It was the second hazing injury involving the football team in two years.
The incident angered the mother who demanded that the football team be shut down, just as
fraternity chapters are closed when members are caught hazing.

1999
Hinsdale H.S (IL)
Baseball hazing

Three players faced battery charges after forcibly cutting a player’s hair.

1999
North Thurston School District (Washington)
Study underway

A study on student behaviors resembling hazing and other related behaviors is being conducted
at North Thurston School District in Washington. The school had a football team hazing
incident.

1999
Georgia Southern University
Baseball Hazings alleged

Several players were suspended in the aftermath of a hazing investigation. Players
complained the school made them scapegoats.

1999
Ellicott City High School (Maryland)
Hazing by senior players

Senior players kicked balls at the rumps of junior high school players in an annual tradition known as butts up.
 

2000
Marian College (Wisconsin)
Hockey hazing

Coach Paul Caufield resigned after a hazing on the team bus, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

2000
Newtown High School (CT)
Wrestling Hazing

A practice called “swirlies” (dunking a rookie’s head in a toilet and flushing it) led to the forfeiture of four matches by the wrestling
team.

2000
Hofstra University
Crown and Lance (mainly football players in this fraternity)
Hazing investigation launched

 New York Newsday reported March 9 that Hofstra University suspended Crown and Lance fraternity scheduled a Hofstra judiciary
board hearing to look into possible hazing. Officials alleged that Crown and Lance, mainly made up of football players, may have been
involved in some  initiation ritual that involved five pledges and a sheep on a public beach.
The police sent the group packing without charges and no alcohol was involved.
 

2000
Fort Madison High School (Iowa)
Minor infractions admitted (sodomy refuted)

The  Des Moines Register reported that school officials said that an investigation found that a wrestler was taunted and taped by older
players, refuting a claim by Fort Madison (Iowa) high school nurse who earlier alleged that a
 "rookie" wrestler was sodomized with a marker by teammates.

2000
Trumbull High School (CT)
Wrestling team

One new wrestler (a special education student) was injured, and several others
allegedly were hazed, at Trumbull H.S. Six wrestlers face charges. Although police
refused to identify charges publicly, a lawyer said the special ed student was forced to
suffer indignities, including the insertion of a plastic knife into his rectum. Eight were
suspended. Three veterans  were arraigned in Bridgeport Superior Court on criminal-assault charges.
 

2000
Absegami (NJ) HS
Wrestling initiation

Labe Black, a wrestlerarrested for making a young wrestler chug alcohol as part of an
initiation, was allowed by the school district to win a championship.

2000
Nazareth High School (Pennsylvania)
Athletic hazing  (basketball)

Three coaches resigned and seven varsity players received one-week suspensions after a January
initiation in which basketball veterans removed underwear of junior varsity players on
a team bus. Coaches were present but failed to halt the hazing. Parents have come to the defense of the coaches.

2000
North Yarmouth Academy (Maine)
hockey hazing

Two players were disciplined by the headmaster after a  hazing.

2000
Hilton Head High School (South Carolina)
Wrestling hazing

 Wrestling coach George Dixon resigned after a student said he had been sexually
assaulted with a broomstick during an initiation rite.

2000
Einstein High School (Maryland)
Athletic hazing
Einstein High School suspended veteran wrestlers and forfeited one match after a rookie was hazed.

2000
Decatur High School (Texas)
Athletic hazing

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported an instance of athletic hazing in which two players were
severely bruised.

2000
Mansfield High School (Texas)
Athletic hazing

A football player beaten by veterans was treated for fluid in his lungs and quit school, according to
the Fort Worth Star Telegram.

2000
Glendale School District (CA)
Athletic hazing

A coach resigned in the wake of athletic department allegations involving acts of sodomy with a small
bat and broom handle.

St. Michael's College (Canada)
Football Hazing
Nudity, physical hazing

 Five players apologized after taping  an unclothed player to a goalpost and smashing eggs into him.

University of Maryland
Athletic Hazing
Investigation concluded
2000

The University of Maryland investigated several hazing allegations and decided hazing had occurred.

University of Brunswick (Canada)
Rugby (close call--alcohol)
Hazing
2000

A 17-year-old rugby player survived with blood alcohol content FIVE times the legal intoxication level. He was hospitalized and is expected to live. The school has suspended the team while investigating the incident. No arrests have been made or announced.
 

2000
Yale University
Athletic hazing charges and denials

Allegations of hazing were levied against the heavyweight crew
team, leading to a team suspension. The team was found innocent by the Athletic Department after two first--year members were taken to health services because of severe intoxication.  There was confusion on campus as several other squads, including the men's swim team, had members declare that they participated in voluntary initiations. The Athletic Department has strict rules against hazing.

2000
Elkhart Memorial High School (Indiana)
Swim team lawsuit

Sam Lentine, a new member of the swim team, alleges that his head was shaved and cut by another
athlete. When he went to the school's athletic authorities, alleges Lentine, he was told that the head
shaving was part of team tradition.
 

2000
Winslow High School (Arizona)
Sexual hazing alleged (basketball/track)

Members of a girl's athletic squad charged that they saw evidence of male athletes being
sodomized with fingers and objects.  A parent of a young
man accused of hazing says due process was not followed. Basketball coach Daniel Gonzalez was
indicted on three felonycounts of child abuse.
  .
 

Eastern Randolph H.S. (North Carolina)
Hazing injury: Football rookie

The school's football coach is paying for the medical costs of treating a  freshmen player  who has a
bruised ear and a slight concussion following a traditional rookie pillow fight.
 

Moon Area High School (Pennsylvania)
Football hazing and coverup

After a football player suffered a concussion after being belted with an alarm clock in a hazing
incident, team members tried to make
up a story to cover up the incident, the school confirmed.  "One [player] said the thing
about going to camp [for an initiation] is to pull together as a team. This whole thing has
splintered us, " Coach Mark Capuano told the Pittsbugh Post-Gazette.
 
 

New Richmond High School (Wisconsin)
1999-2000 hockey team
Season forfeited for hazing

The team forfeited four games after a player was taped by teammates.
 

Spartan Youth Football program (WI)
Hazing charged and denied
youth football
2000

A player had his arm broken. There is a dispute as to whether hazing or discipline was the cause.

Lansing High School (KS)
Soccer
hazing
2000

Varsity soccer players were arrested for alleged physical hazing.
 

Cibola High School (NM)
physical hazing
Athletic hazing allegations under investigation
2000

Five Cibola students have been suspended for hazing, said
Cibola coach Ben Shultz, who declined to name the athletes and non-athletes.

 
 
North Hardin High School (Kentucky)
Cheerleader hazing (lawsuit)
2000

The Louisville Courier-Journal revealed hazing allegations by two girls alleging physical restraint, abusive behavior and verbal abuse. The two filed
a lawsuit in Hardin County District Court.
 

Yucca Valley High School (California)
Football hazing
Hazing and rape alleged
2000

At least two victims claim they were hazed and raped in a hazing initiation.  Charges were
brought against numerous senior members of the football team, dividing this quiet community into camps of supporters of the victims and antagonists saying racism was a factor. Six were expelled.
 

El Dorado High School (CALIF)
Non-Criminal Athletic Hazing
Football team
Nov. 2000

School authorities suspended seven starters for a videotaped incident in which a student was shoved in a locker. The coach
subsequently was let go by the principal.
 

Mohawk High School (Ohio)
Wrestling team
Hazing
2001

Six wrestlers served out suspensions for hazing.
 

El Dorado High School (California)
Coach fired, blames hazing
2001

Twelve-year veteran coach Rick Jones says he was fired after he reported a non-criminal hazing incident. The school says other factors were involved.

University of Minnesota, Duluth
Rugby death
Men’s and women’s rugby initiation
Ruled an accident
2001

Although Ken Christiansen had been drinking at an initiation party and veteran members scrawled pictures on their faces, he died of an accident when he fell dead drunk into a creek and died.
 
Grants High School. (New Mexico)
Athletic Hazing leads to expulsion
2001

The school suspended one student and kicked out another after alleged hazing occurred on the baseball squad. Two victims were hazed, and a 19 year-old pleaded guilty to indecent exposure.

Lookout Valley High School.(Tennessee)
Criminal Hazing Alleged. 
Athletic Hazing allegations (Lookout Valley baseball team)
2001

Michael Shaun Long, 18, was  charged with  sexual
battery  assault, but the charge was reduced to indecent exposure. The charge is that he participated in a hazing for the baseball team in which a 16-year-old boy
was forced to accept a player's genitals on his face. Long's attorney plans to argue his client released the victim, unaware the other person planned to expose himself. There also is conflicting testimony by witnesses as to whether or not the victim was actually touched by the supposed assailant.

Palm Harbor University High (Florida)
Principal Says Incident was Rough-housing, not hazing
Baseball Team Incident
2001

Alec Liem, Palm Harbor University High principal, says an incident in a Fort
Lauderdale hotel where players jumped on another player is not a case of  hazing, but rough-housing. The Pinellas County Sheriff's
Office earlier had said it was investigating whether hazing had occurred.

Holden School (Louisiana)
Non-criminal Athletic Hazing
Basketball team
2001

The Holden School decided on education instead of punishment after sixth graders were given pink bellies by the veteran basketball players as a greeting. The coach was unaware of the ritual. No one was injured.

.Alexandria High School (Louisiana) Update on 2000 case
Athletic hazing with injuries
Civil lawsuit (June)
2001

The mother of new football player Trey Warner III is suing for $50,000, seeking damage for a broken nose and other head injuries. He was beaten in the locker room.

Update on earlier case (1999 incident)
Athens High School (Texas)
Civil Suit Alleges Hazing and Inaction by school district

Tommy and Susan Stutts of Athens and their son filed a suit that said the school and its officials improperly handled an incident in which he allegedly was jumped and hazed on a team bus.

Andrew High School (Iowa)
Athletic Hazing (basketball) alleged
2001

An alleged basketball hazing made victims uncomfortable at their old school. One player who transferred
to Bellevue Marquette was allowed to do so without any eligibility penalty as a result of his victimization.

Colgate University
Athletic Hazing
Past Incidents Revealed in Book

Eustis High School (Florida)
Junior HS Football Hazing
Under Investigation (Oct 2001)

A school principal was temporarily removed as investigation is under way.       

Buffalo Grove High School (Illinois)
Chicago suburb
Hazing Suspensions (Nov 2001)

Allegations of improper touching of athletes' bodies during a football hazing are being investigated by the school and police, according to the Daily Chronicle newspaper.   

Baldwin High School (NY, Nov-Dec 2001)
Hazing charges
Football team

Averill Park High School (Sand Lake, NY , Dec 2001)
Hazing on Trial, allegations of tampering
Football

 
  Tulsa Schools suspended fourteen students  and cancelled the Webster ninth-grade football season after a 14-year-old
  student allegedly was  held him down and raped with a broom handle. This was followed by whipping him with a weight belt. His genitals were beaten  with traffic cones.

Pentucket High School (Mass.)
Sexual hazing acts alleged
Police investigation follows school "internal" handling of situation.
Football team

An alleged preseason hazing incident involving eight or more players  at a football camp is now being looked into by police.
AtCamp Marist in Center Ossipee, N.H., veteran players allegedly placed genitals in faces of players, according to an investigation by the  Lawrence (Mass.) Eagle-Tribune reported. One coach expressed surprise, saying the matter had been handled internally.

 New London High School (Madison County, Ohio)
Sexual assault allegation
Wrestling team (2002)

A 14-year old player's statement that he was sodomized with fingers by teammates is under investigation.

Alamo Heights High School (Texas)
Cheerleader Hazing and Alcohol
Case Appears to Be Headed to Court (2002)

Officials dismissed 15 of 16 varsity cheerleaders for alleged  hazing  and underage drinking. Parents at first countered with a lawsuit,
saying males present were punished less severely. The suit was eventually dropped. 

Las Vegas (NM) City SchoolsRobertson High School
Baseball hazing (2002)

 I am building  a comprehensive list of miscellaneous hazing-, pledging- and
initiation-related incidents in student organizations of all types at the high school and college level. This will include sports, band, fraternal groups, cheerleader squads, honor societies, etc.

All are subject to verification. To submit a correction or clarification on any of these incidents,
write Hank Nuwer.  If you were involved (as participant, parent, coach, witness, news
reporter/editor) in one of these cases and would like to comment for educational purposes,
write Hank Nuwer.
 

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