Wednesday, September 30, 1998
Tony Tata was barred from attending
By Pat Bigold
his graduation ceremony after the
school determined he smashed
the windshield of a
teacher's truck
Star-BulletinTony Tata, the state's most sought-after prep football player last year, was suspended and barred from graduation ceremonies last May after the St. Louis School administration determined he had smashed the windshield of a teacher's truck in front of the teacher's home.
The Tata story breaks as the St. Louis administration winds down its probe of allegations that players trashed rooms, drank alcohol and hired a stripper at a Las Vegas hotel early this month.
The Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star reported Monday that Nebraska football coach Frank Solich, assistant coach George Darlington and senior associate athletic director Al Papik were seeking details of the allegations against Tata, who was one of the nation's top linebacker recruits.
Tata declined to be interviewed about the allegations. A family member reached in Honolulu had no comment.
Tata, who is a redshirt freshman for the Cornhuskers, was the fifth brother in his family to earn all-state honors in football. He also earned as high as a 3.5 grade point average, according to St. Louis School president, Father Mario Pariante.
Last May, Tata was accused of smashing the windshield of a teacher's truck with a rock outside the teacher's home a week before graduation.
In the ensuing investigation, Pariante said there was sufficient concern about possible retribution against witnesses that he decided to bar Tata from graduation ceremonies and to withhold his diploma until he was out of state.
"That (action) was definitely related to my concern for witnesses and anyone who provided information to me about the incident," Pariante said. "We would hardly call him a model student of St. Louis School.
"I could have expelled him at that point," said Pariante, who has expelled five students this year under new discipline standards at the all-boys school.
Pariante said his investigation convinced him that Tata committed the vandalism. He said he knew a police report had been filed by the teacher.
Pariante said he knew of no threats made directly by Tata, but was aware of threats made by friends.
"There were friends of Tony who threatened relatives, principally a brother of a witness," Pariante said.
Pariante said concern was so great at one time for the safety of a witness that the witness' family considered moving him out of state.
But Pariante said that Tata told him on several occasions that he was telling friends to "lay low" on the matter.
The complaint was dismissed after the teacher decided not to pursue the matter further.
Nebraska coach Solich said he was unaware of the report about Tata until Monday. The Journal Star said Solich doesn't believe the smashing of the teacher's car brings Tata's character into question.
"Everything we heard about Tony Tata when we recruited him was that he was a good person, a good student and there were no problems," Solich said. "And George Darlington talked to a lot of people in Hawaii. I talked to a lot of people. Al Papik talked to a lot of people, and there were no reports of any bad behavior."
"There were a lot of coaches very excited about recruiting Tony, (coaches) from Colorado, Washington, Utah, Oregon and Arizona, among others," Darlington said.
Solich said Nebraska checks the background of all recruits.
In 1995, Nebraska took heavy criticism for keeping players on the team who had been convicted of crimes.
"Certainly, this case is nothing like that, and Tony has proven to be a good citizen, a good student and a good football player," Solich said. "I worry for him that he may be labeled incorrectly because of this."
Pariante said Tata never admitted the May incident, and that was a major reason why he was barred from graduation.
Ken Hambleton of the Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star
contributed to this report
