Texas UIL temporarily removing referee who ripped the helmet off a Whitney student

KERA | By Megan Cardona

Published October 4, 2023 at 1:27 PM CDT

A student athlete runs a drill during a strength and conditioning camp at Arlington Martin High School Thursday, June 18, 2020, in Arlington, Texas. Texas will play high school football this fall, but some of it will be delayed, fans will be limited and masks will be required as the state fights a surge in new coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and fatalities. The University Interscholastic League on Tuesday, July 21, 2020 released its guidelines for Texas public high school fall sports, pushing back the start of the football and volleyball seasons for the largest schools by one month into late September and extending the football championships for those schools into January.

The Texas University Interscholastic League has temporarily removed a referee from officiating games after he pulled the helmet off a Whitney High School football player Friday night.

In a video shared to X, formerly known as Twitter, Whitney player Trey Haynes is seen colliding with a referee as he runs to the right side of the field before he is seemingly pushed by the official. The referee is then seen grabbing hold of Haynes and pulling off his helmet.

The video was posted by the student’s mother Karla Haynes Friday night.

Haynes was ejected from the game and Whitney went on to beat James Madison High School 56-28.

In a statement released Monday, UIL announced it would reverse the ejection and remove the referee from officiating games “pending the completion of a thorough investigation.”

The UIL announced its investigation Saturday but did not identify either the player or referee.

Most commenters on X expressed outrage over the situation and voiced their support for Haynes. Some doubted whether there was more to the story outside of a 10-second clip.

“If you knew my child...you would know he is the most respectful kid ever!,” Karla Haynes wrote in another X post. “He did nothing to deserve this. Those that know him can back that up! If you notice he even kept composed after being literally thrown by the official. That speaks for itself.”

Whitney football coach David Haynes, the boy’s father, told NBC 5 that he didn’t see the incident but was told one of his players “tried to maliciously run [the referee] over.”

Whitney is 5-0 this season, something David Haynes told NBC 5 had not been done in a long time.

“When you get kicked out of the game, you get suspended for the next game,” Haynes told NBC 5. “He’s a great kid, so I don’t want him to be suspended his senior year for playing football the right way.”

Got a tip? Email Megan Cardona at mcardona@kera.org.

KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider making a tax-deductible gift today. Thank you.