Air Force Investigating Coach’s Racially Charged Remarks

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The Air Force Academy is looking into comments made by longtime football coach Fisher DeBerry, who said black athletes “run very, very well” and that the program lacks minority athletes.

The 67-year-old DeBerry, in his 22nd year at Air Force, first mentioned the academy’s lack of minority players compared to other schools on Monday.

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“It just seems to be that way, that Afro-American kids can run very, very well. That doesn’t mean that Caucasian kids and other descents can’t run, but it’s very obvious to me they run extremely well,” DeBerry said in remarks broadcast Tuesday night by Denver television station KWGN.

Academy officials released a statement Tuesday, saying they were aware of the remarks.

“We cannot comment further until we have a chance to review all the reports, the coach’s actual statements and to speak with the coach personally,” academy spokesman Lt. Col Laurent Fox said.

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