Work will set you free!
Posted on 10/05/2006 10:08:20 AM PDT by Graybeard58
After posting a message on players' lockers last week that was worded the same as a Nazi slogan, Maine South High School's top football coach was suspended for a game, officials said Wednesday.
Dave Inserra, 39, will sit out Maine South's homecoming game against New Trier this Saturday, Principal David Claypool said. The one-game suspension comes after Inserra put up signs saying, "Work will set you free," on the lockers of the varsity team. The German version of that phrase -- "Arbeit macht frei" -- became infamous when used by the Nazis, who posted it at the entrance to Auschwitz and at other concentration camps.
"I regret it ever happening. It was a completely honest mistake," Inserra said. "Ignorance is not an excuse. I should have checked the origin."
Claypool agreed the incident was "an honest mistake."
Writes apology to staff Inserra posts a "weekly phrase," intended as inspiration, on the lockers of his team members, he said. Often, the phrases are quotes from famous leaders, including President Theodore Roosevelt and football coach Vince Lombardi, he said. Sometimes, he makes up his own.
Inserra heard "work will set you free" during a school-wide meeting at the beginning of the academic year, he said. The speaker who used it "was talking about teaching," he said. And while some in attendance knew the phrase's origin, he did not, he said.
The phrase fit well with the varsity football team's theme for the season -- "Work hard, work smart, work together," Inserra said.
Last Thursday, Inserra posted fliers saying "Work will set you free" on the varsity team's lockers. The next day, a colleague told him, "This could get you in trouble," he said. He took the signs down immediately and wrote an apology to the entire teaching staff.
Claypool said Inserra did not know the historical significance of the phrase. "Dave Inserra is one of the most respected people at Maine South," he said.
Ashley Tomzik, a Maine South senior on the girls basketball team, said, "I think it got blown out of proportion and that he didn't mean it."
Varsity chief 6 years Adam Schupack of the Anti-Defamation League's Chicago office said he hopes the incident caused people to learn more about the Holocaust. "Those of us in the Jewish community very much know this quote. Obviously, it's very hurtful to hear that somebody might have used it to motivate a football team," Schupack said.
Inserra has coached at the Park Ridge school for 17 years and been varsity football coach for six, with a record of 62-9.
This is ridiculous. There's nothing wrong with using that phrase.
Oh fer cryin' out loud; gimme it a break! This PC Crap must be reversed and destroyed.
Arbeit macht freiheit. The original German sounds much better.
Bad choice of slogans. How about "Winners never whine and whiners never win"?
Well, it set HIM free.......for a week.......
This is asinine. That work will set you free is a simple truth and isn't a phrased owned by the Nazis. It isn't as if he put "Heil Hitler" or "God Bless the Fuhrer" up. This is just crazy.
Here's a good one for the visitor's locker room!.........
"Work will set you free,"
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WTH is going on? Work WILL set you free. It will also help cure you of being a LAZY PC correct moron.
I have one for the admin that made this decision.......
Free you mind and your A$$ will follow.
Hitler once used the phrase "Pass the salt."
> Bad choice of slogans. How about "Winners never whine and whiners never win"?
Or: "Football means never having to say you took history."
Imagine the outrage when they find out he ordered his players to the "showers" after practice.
Sheesh! No kidding.
> That work will set you free is a simple truth ...
Errrr....
Ah, no.
Let's suspend every coach who uses the word 'blitz' this weekend.
Any coach who uses the term "Total War" to describe a coming game better call his lawyer.
Don't throw the 'long bomb' either.
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