Dallas Madison Forced to Forfeit State Championships Amid DISD Recruiting Scandal

The University Interscholastic League is stripping Dallas Madison High School of it's back-to-back 2013 and 2014 Class 3A state basketball championships amid investigations into an athletic recruiting scandal and the murder of a high school athlete, NBC 5 learned Thursday.

The UIL said the school, along with Wilmer-Hutchins High School, played an ineligible player.  Both Madison and Wilmer-Hutchins are now being forced to forfeit all games from last season in which the ineligible players played.

The runner-up to the title games, Houston Yates High School, will be named champion, the University Interscholastic League said Friday.

The Dallas Independent School District said Friday the UIL's decision was disappointing for the players and schools involved, but that they accept the ruling and will ensure their athletic programs uphold the highest level of integrity and sportsmanship.

"Our new director of athletics, Gil Garza, brings more than 30 years of coaching and athletics leadership to the district, including an appointment by the commissioner of the Texas Education Agency to the University Interscholastic League State Executive Committee. He and his team are focused on restoring the credibility and strength of Dallas ISD's athletic programs," the DISD said in a prepared statement Friday.

UIL spokeswoman Kate Hector said the last boys' basketball team to forfeit state titles was South Oak Cliff High School in Dallas. The school was stripped of state titles in 2005 and 2006, also for using an ineligible player.

The scandal came to light after the March death of 18-year-old Wilmer-Hutchins player Troy Causey. Causey was killed in a fight over a video game with another student, standout Madison athlete Johnathan Turner, police said.

Turner has since been charged with manslaughter in connection with Causey's death. Meanwhile, officials said the pair were roommates at a home in Oak Cliff, even though Causey's family home was miles away in North Dallas — in the Richardson Independent School District.

Both were declared ineligible players based on residency.

As a result of that investigation into the recruiting scandal, the Dallas Independent School District fired 15 employees in June, including some basketball coaches, amid allegations of faked residency documents that helped the schools field stronger basketball teams.

That same month, our partners at The Dallas Morning News reported, according to DISD records, that at least 13 Madison students had the same home address as assistant basketball coach Tracy Flentroy. In an interview with the paper, Flentroy said his niece has stayed at the home, but that he didn't know why district records listed his address for 13 students.

The Dallas Morning News reported that some of the records had apartment numbers even though Flentroy's residence is a single-family home.

NBC 5's Ken Kalthoff contributed to this report.

Click here to read more from our media partners at The Dallas Morning News.

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