U. Kansas football, basketball players fight in public
Published Sept. 25, 2009
UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS -- Hours after a reported confrontation Tuesday evening, a group of University of Kansas football and basketball players were seen arguing and shouting racial slurs at each other at about 10 a.m. Wednesday outside Wescoe Hall.
Seen among them were basketball players Marcus Morris, Markieff Morris, Mario Little, Sherron Collins, Tyshawn Taylor, Brady Morningstar, Travis Releford, Tyrel Reed, Thomas Robinson, Elijah Johnson and many others. The only football players sources could identify in the group were Dezmon Briscoe and Chris Harris, who the police were questioning.
One of the Morris twins told the police, "One of them just jumped out and threw his hands on me," referring to the football players who were involved in the fight.
Shannon Jobe, a sophomore student from Topeka, said she heard a football player tell the police one of the basketball players had tried to push a football player down the stairs.
Harrison Hems, a senior from San Diego, said he saw basketball and football players gathered in groups between Anschutz Library and the lower entrance to the Wescoe Underground. Hems said several basketball players were yelling at the group of football players. Hems said the group of football players continued to grow to 15 or more.
Erryn Kindle, Eudora junior, said basketball players were trying to calm Collins down.
"Mario Little told me football players had beef with Sherron," Kindle said. "He said they were talking trash."
Joe Dooley, assistant coach of the basketball team, arrived while the police officers were questioning the basketball players.
The coaches requested a meeting with the players for an undisclosed reason.
Police officers escorted some of the players inside Wescoe Hall shortly after the incident. The players were seen congregating outside the building near the entrance to The Underground. No police officers or players were available for questioning.
Sophomore guard Tyshawn Taylor was seen but not admitted to Lawrence Memorial Hospital on Tuesday night, a nursing supervisor said.
Associate athletics director Jim Marchiony confirmed that an incident occurred Tuesday evening in front of the Burge Union. The Lawrence Journal-World reported on its Web site that the incident involved members of the football and basketball teams. Marchiony did not confirm that.
“We’re aware of reports of an incident and we are fact-finding right now,” Marchiony said.
Player names and specific injuries have yet to be released.
UPDATE 2:08 p.m.
According to Mary Skevington, Overland Park senior, who witnessed the initial outbreak of the brawl, a football player yelled, "What did you say?" at 9:48 a.m. and ran up a set of stairs behind Budig Hall. Skevington said she saw one of the Morris twins throw the football player down the stairs. She said he fell backwards down six stairs before being caught by a fellow football player. She said immediately after, several pairs of football and basketball players begin fighting.
-- Cory Thibodeaux, Jayson Jenks and Haley Jones contributed to reporting.
