1992 TCHS Chess Team vs. A.I.A.
For years and years the Arizona Interscholastic Association has acted as an arrogant entity that consistently favored the Phoenix metropolitan area. At the first tournament of the year the TCHS chess team received shocking confirmation that the A.I.A. indeed planned to move the site for hosting the 1992 Arizona State High School Team Championship from Tuba City to Gilbert High School in the Valley of the Sun. Even though TCHS won that first tournament at Mohave High School, the players faces turned from joy to shock and bitterness upon hearing the news, so I decided to do all I could to fight the A.I.A. and bring the tournament back to Tuba City where it belonged.
- Letter to TCHS Athletic Director Copy of letter I wrote to AD immediately upon return from Mohave tournament. Copies were also sent to various media outlets.
- Arizona Republic article George Hardeen's freelance feature that helped provide the media blitz breakthrough
- Letter to the Editor Copy of letter to the editor that I sent various newspapers in response to Voie Coy's public media comments
After the Republic article and statewide Channel 3's feature story, the media floodgates opened. Flagstaff's Channel 2 news did a feature story, the TCUD school board called a news conference, various northern Arizona newspapers covered the story with a series of articles, and even the Sioux Nation's Lakota Times reported on the chess team's conflict with the Arizona Interscholastic Association. Senator James Henderson called for the elimination of the A.I.A. for its "racist" policies, Navajo Nation president Peterson Zah confronted A.I.A. director Voie Coy, and A.I.M. leaders Clyde Bellcourt and Russell Means called and threatened Mr. Coy. We also received word from the State Superintendent of Education and Arizona Governor Fife Symington.
janesbit1@rocketmailcom
