GAINESVILLE STATE SCHOOL FOOTBALL STORY HOW TO

Gang activity exists within the inwardly sloping barbed wire fences, and inmates from opposing crews tangle with each other from time to time.

Most members of the football team see athletics as motivation to keep their noses clean while serving time. Gainesville State will be able to supply new gear to other athletics departments with the extra money.

Donations continued to roll in until settling a couple weeks later at a little over $3,500. The remaining $194 was chipped in by a donor within an hour.

To get the wheels spinning, the trio contributed $106 that they had left over from a previous fundraiser. They had to verify with the fundraising website that they were legitimate and, in turn, the moderators confirmed with Gainesville State that the funds would be used as intended. Ghaffari-Tabrizi, Cash and Kirby started a GoFundMe page to raise the money. “But we have to work out with what we have.” He’s been looking forward to joining the team since the beginning of this year but the humid climate and the gear make it a struggle at times. Thomas, who has been the basketball coach for several years, pointed out that the state doesn’t provide much funding for the athletics department and the team is forced to make due with aging equipment.īrandon is an inmate playing with the football team for the first time this fall. The lawyer and Reddit moderators contacted the Tornadoes’ new football coach, Henry Thomas, to see what kind of help they could offer the team. “If we can’t catch these kids before that, they will be a statistic,” Ghaffari-Tabrizi says. Ghaffari-Tabrizi, Cash and Kirby recognize that moment as a crossroads where a former inmate can either fall into recidivism or rejoin society. When the boys at Gainesville State are released, they’re given a clean slate and an opportunity to start over. “If these kids realize people believe in them, maybe it will give them a little faith in themselves,” Cash says. A criminal conviction on an adult record makes many ex-convicts pariahs within the job market. Cash spent 6 years in prison, learning how harsh the experience can be.

GAINESVILLE STATE SCHOOL FOOTBALL STORY HOW TO

Hundreds of former inmates look to the online forums for support and advice on how to restart their lives after prison.

Omid Ghaffari-Tabrizi, a Chicago lawyer specializing in expeal (clearing criminal records), stumbled upon the school a few months ago and posted the 2008 story to the Reddit community for ex-convicts that he moderates with Chris Cash and Kort Kirby. The private school’s fans spent the rest of the game in the Tornadoes’ bleachers, cheering on the convicted criminals. Dozens of Grapevine students formed a spirit line for the inmates to run through at the beginning of the game. To the prisoner athletes, the idea of people cheering for them was so foreign that they ran around the side of the spirit line until a coach sent them back around. Gainesville State garnered media attention in 2008 for a game played against Grapevine Faith Christian School. “A great deal of these kids haven’t really had a chance in life,” Luera says. Dotty Luera is the Volunteer Services Director for Gainesville State. It’s one of six facilities run by the state for juvenile offenders and it receives inmates from every corner of Texas. Gainesville State School is a juvenile detention facility with 270 teenage felons. The Gainesville State Tornadoes didn’t exactly have a winning season last year (0-10), but they are the favorite team for ex-cons around the nation who are donating thousands of dollars for the team.

Gainesville state school football story