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White tennis player suspended after saying, ‘At least I know my dad’ to his N.C. A&T opponent
Aggies’ John Wilson IV says he’s heard these kinds of comments before
4:20 PMNorth Carolina A&T senior tennis player John Wilson IV took to Twitter this week to detail a racist encounter he had while playing tennis against an Appalachian State player on Jan. 28.
Update: Even though I have yet to be reached out personally from the administration of Appalachian State. The athletics program suspended Spencer indefinitely! Thank you all for the help, this is something I’ve always dealt with being a black tennis player. #NCAT pic.twitter.com/9MqHvTe6fR
— John Wilson IV (@jpheze) January 29, 2018
Hey #NCAT this is Spencer brown, a tennis player at Appalachian state. During our match today, along with other racist comments, Spencer told me, “At least I know my dad.” Their coach responded by saying, “..we have a black guy on our team.”
Black twitter, do ya thing. pic.twitter.com/ZRN61zCU2n
— John Wilson IV (@jpheze) January 29, 2018
Wilson says Spencer Brown, a freshman App State tennis player, directed the remark toward him, saying, “At least I know my dad.” Wilson said the Appalachian State tennis coach responded to those comments saying that “… we have a black guy on our team.”
Appalachian State swiftly took action and suspended Brown indefinitely after his comments.
Statement from App State Athletics: pic.twitter.com/pvDw3SveyV
— App State Athletics (@appstatesports) January 29, 2018
Wilson, a senior from Red Oak, Texas, later quoted his own tweet, explaining how the situation was handled and how he has been forced to deal with racial tension growing up as a black tennis player.
Wilson is declining all interview requests, while the Appalachian State sports department issued this statement about the Sunday incident but has declined to comment further:
“After yesterday’s men’s tennis match, an Appalachian State student-athlete engaged in behavior that was derogatory and offensive,” Appalachian State said in a release. “This student-athlete has been suspended indefinitely from the team, effective immediately, for violating the student-athlete discipline policy.”
According to the Winston-Salem Journal, Brown won the match 6-1, 6-1 against Wilson and Appalachian State beat N.C. A&T 7-0. Appalachian State’s next match is Friday, when it will host North Carolina Central, another historically black university.