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Ohio hazing incident costs coach Nick Fratalonie his job

Moderator: Once again a school refuses to release details on the incident and cites the protection of its students. The Plain Dealer should interview the coach and find out the hidden facts. Story follows:
Trinity confirms hazing incident with the baseball team; coach Nick Fratalonie resigns

Tim Warsinskey, The Plain Dealer, April 01, 2010 12:28 p.m.

Garfield Heights, Ohio – A hazing incident took place involving Trinity’s baseball team last month and the coach has resigned, a school official said.

“A physical incident, not sexual in nature, which we consider a form of hazing, took place during a baseball team trip the weekend of March 19-21,” Trinity principal Carla Fritsch said in a statement. “The team members involved in the incident received disciplinary consequences and the head baseball coach resigned his position.

“In handling this matter, we have followed the guidelines in our own student handbook.”

Fritsch declined to comment further on the incident, where it took place or the number of players involved.

“Discussing disciplinary actions with persons other than the parents/guardians of those involved violates the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act,” Fritsch said in the statement, which was sent to The Plain Dealer in response to an inquiry.

She said the coach, Nick Fratalonie, did not hold any other positions at Trinity.

“I resigned for personal and family reasons not directly related to this,” said Fratalonie, who also is the manager of the Ohio Thunder 18U summer baseball team that annually features some college-bound seniors.

He also declined further comment. Fratalonie was hired in June of 2006 after serving as a Trinity assistant the previous two seasons.

Garfield Heights police said a report had not been filed and they were unaware of the incident.

Trinity Athletic Director Paul Prospal, a former baseball coach, has been named head coach for the remainder of the season, which started Monday.

Plain Dealer Reporter Tim Rogers contributed to this report.

By Hank Nuwer

Journalist Hank Nuwer tracks hazing deaths in fraternities and schools. Nuwer is the Alaska author of Hazing: Destroying Young Lives; Broken Pledges: The Deadly Rite of Hazing, High School Hazing, Wrongs of Passage and The Hazing Reader. In April of 2024, the Alaska Press Club awarded him first place in the Best Columnist division and Best Humorist, second place.

He has written articles or columns on hazing for the Sunday Times of India, Toronto Globe & Mail, Harper's Magazine, Orlando Sentinel, The Chronicle of Higher Education and the New York Times Sunday Magazine. His current book is Hazing: Destroying Young Lives from Indiana University Press. He is married to Malgorzata Wroblewska Nuwer of Warsaw, Poland and Fairbanks, Alaska. Nuwer is a former columnist for the Greenville (Ohio)Early Bird and former managing editor of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner in Alaska.
Nuwer was named the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists columnist of the year in 2021 for his “After Darke” column in the Early Bird. He also won third place for the column in 2022 from the Indiana chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He and his wife Gosia, recently of Union City, Ind., have owned 20 acres in Alaska for many years. “The move is a sort-of coming home for us,” said Nuwer. As a journalist, he’s written about the Alaskan Iditarod sled-dog race and other Alaska topics. Read his musings in his blog at Real Alaska Daily--http://realalaskadaily.com and in his weekly column "Far from Randolph" in the Winchester Star-Gazette of Randolph County, Indiana.

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