A high school swimmer in New Jersey was disqualified from a race after wearing an oversized American Flag Cap to honor his grandfather who died during the 9/11 attack.
According to the high school swimmer’s father, the talented swimmer was disqualified from a race because the American flag patch that the latter donned on his cap was ruled to be too large.
In the statement released by the father who was identified as Rob Miller, he explained that his son, a 16-year old sophomore at Morristown High School in New Jersey was wearing the hat during the race to honor the latter’s grandfather, who reportedly died during the September 11 attacks in New York.
In an exclusive report published by Fox News, it was revealed that “the meet was during Morristown’s Senior Night against Parsippany Hills High School” and that Miller said that the “opposing coach waited until the 400-meter free relay race was over to have the emblem measured.”
Following the incident, Miller posted on Twitter and said, “The issue is the coached [sic] waited until after the swim to get the DQ, deciding to put the burden of a ‘loss’ on a 16 year old, letting down all the Seniors that won their last dual meet of their HS careers.”
“He usually wears the team cap or another colored one inside out, no logo/flag. The one time he wears this in a meet and the coach DQ’d him. Unreal luck,’ Miller said in a separate tweet.
In addition, the Morristown swimming team also posted on Instagram about the incident and said that “everyone knows motown boys were the real winners.”
Amid the incident, the rules the National Federation of State High School Associations Swimming and Diving rules drafted resurfaced.
“One American flag, not to exceed 2 inches by 3 inches, may be worn or occupy space on each item of uniform apparel. By state association adoption, to allow for special occasions, commemorative or memorial patches, not to exceed 4 square inches, may be worn on the uniform without compromising its integrity,” the Federation noted.
The disappointed father also wrote in a later tweet that he was “guessing it could be a ‘political statement.’”
