Coach Has to Resign After Racial Incident

Football Coach George Pugh of Alabama A&M; was forced to resign Friday, a week after nine of his players were involved in the beating of a student who had said he didn’t like whites being at the historically black school.

“Coach Pugh has tendered and I have accepted his resignation. . . ,” interim President Alan Keyes said.

Pugh said he was forced to resign.

“This is a very, very cold day for me,” the coach said. “This was something I didn’t expect at all, I didn’t think it was going to happen. I was totally caught off guard.”

Oliver Speller, the student beaten, had told the Huntsville Times that the trouble began when he complained to friends that he did not like white students being at Alabama A&M.;

He said his remarks were overheard by kicker Joey Thornton, one of two white players on the A&M; team. Speller said he later was surrounded on a dance floor by football players, who knocked him down and kicked him.

The university’s judicial board recommended one-year suspensions for the nine players and one former player involved.