Northwestern Wildcats wide receiver and safety Rico Lamitte spoke out to the media about how as he called it “absolutely disgusting” hazing rituals that took place on the football team.
Lamitte described an incident, via SI.com, of offensive linemen “racing back up the hill and into the showers, lathering themselves with soap and lining up at the only entrance to the showers” harassing players.
He called this the “carwash” where the players would line up four or five per side and would force underclassmen to squeeze past to get into the showering area.
“It was absolutely disgusting,” Lamitte said. “Touching anybody—that was a hard red line that never should have been crossed ever.”
“I didn’t want to see that s—,” Lamitte said. “I didn’t want to have to fight back or anything like that. I would rather smell like garbage than experience that.”
The most shocking thing, according to Lamitte, is that coaches knew.
“Stuff like that was seen in a very twisted way as team-building and character-building,” Lamitte added. “And if you can’t deal with that, then you don’t have what it takes. That is the core of everything going on right now. They became willfully ignorant to certain things that might be negatively affecting others.”
Now, the whole athletic department, including former head coach Pat Fitzgerald, is being sued by former players like Lamitte for hazing.
{SI.com}
