High school football coach Joe Kennedy, who lost his job in 2015 for openly praying on the field, returns to the sidelines at Bremerton High School in Washington state Friday night — and he says after the game he expects to pause at the 50-yard line to “take a knee.”
The coach is back after the Supreme Court ruled last year that the former Marine had been unfairly fired for exercising his right to freedom of religion with his postgame, midfield prayer.
Mr. Kennedy, who put in 20 years in the Marine Corps, understands why his case resonated with so many people, but he said hearing people call him “the praying coach” made him feel “almost like a fraud.” “I’ve been a fighter my whole entire life, and obviously I’m not a great one because of all the damage I’ve sustained,” Mr. Kennedy said. “But I never give up that fighting spirit, and that’s the way I believe all Americans should be and that’s the kind of Christian I am.”
It was in the Marines that he learned the discipline he promised to bring to the young men on Bremerton High’s team when he interviewed for the job. He told the school he didn’t know “the Xs and Os” of the game — “O” standing for offense and “X” for defense in football play diagrams — but he knew how to build character.
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