College basketball rivalries always come with heightened emotions, but the Division II Tuskegee-Morehouse game Saturday rose to an unexpected level – as Tuskegee coach Benjy Taylor found himself escorted off the court in handcuffs after a postgame incident at Morehouse’s Forbes Arena.
Social media videos captured Taylor confronting a security officer as players from both teams formed the standard post-game handshake line. After a brief exchange, the officer placed Taylor in handcuffs and led him off the court.
Taylor and Tuskegee athletic director Reginald Ruffin released a statement Saturday saying that Taylor asked the security officer to help remove multiple Morehouse football players from the handshake line, with Taylor adding that the football players were “yelling obscenities” and Ruffin saying that the football players were creating a “security breach.”
“I am at a loss for words, and I am upset about how I was violated and treated today,” Taylor said in his statement. “For my players, my family and people of Tuskegee to witness that is heartbreaking for me. I was simply trying to get the football team out of the handshake line as they were following right behind me and the team yelling obscenities! It was a very dangerous situation.”
Taylor has not been charged with a crime and the school confirmed that Taylor accompanied his team on its return bus ride to Tuskegee. Morehouse won the game 77-69.
An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. He also hosts Gulfshore Sports with David Wasson, weekdays from 3-5 pm across Southwest Florida and on FoxSportsFM.com. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.
