Football Coach Told to Remove "Team Jesus Christ" Banners

November 18, 2004

Source: The Gazette (Colorado)

http://www.gazette.com/display.php?sid=1358083

On November 18, 2004 The Gazette (Colorado) reported, "the day after the Air Force Academy’s superintendent said publicly that the academy was coping with a religious intolerance problem, football coach Fisher DeBerry hung a banner in the locker room that said, 'I am a member of Team Jesus Christ.' The banner came down Friday after officials deemed it inappropriate, academy spokesman Lt. Col. Laurent Fox said. The banner bore the 'Competitor’s Creed,' which begins, 'I am a Christian first and last .... I am a member of Team Jesus Christ.' DeBerry, the Falcons’ longtime football coach, put up the banner Wednesday 'as a motivation for his football players,' Fox said."