John Wilson, a student-athlete at North Carolina A&T State University, claims that an Appalachian State University student said “at least I know my dad” during Sunday’s NCAA Division I match between the two schools. Wilson, a tennis player at the historically black university, identified the App State student as Spencer Brown.
Brown has been suspended indefinitely from the Appalachian State men’s tennis team.
Wilson took to Twitter to identify Brown, including a photo of him in the tweet. He wrote on Twitter:
“Hey #NCAT this is Spencer brown, a tennis player at Appalachian state. During our match today, along with other racist comments, Spencer told me, “At least I know my dad.” Their coach responded by saying, “..we have a black guy on our team.”
Appalachian State University issued an official statement on Monday, January 29, saying:
“After yesterday’s men’s tennis match, an Appalachian State student-athlete engaged in behavior that was derogatory and offensive. This student-athlete has suspended indefinitely from the team, effective immediately, for violating the student-athlete discipline policy.
We have reached out to the #NCAT to convey our apologies on behalf of Appalachian Athletics and the university for the conduct of this member of the team.”
Wilson posted an update to Twitter, saying that he had yet to receive a personal apology from Brown or Appalachian State:
“Update: Even though I have yet to be reached out personally from the administration of Appalachian State. The athletics program suspended Spencer indefinitely! Thank you all for the help, this is something I’ve always dealt with being a black tennis player. #NCAT”
