Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Randle cited for skirmish

By J-W Staff Reports

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Kansas University defensive back Jerome Kemp, 22, and former KU running back John Randle, 21, were involved in a fight with each other shortly before 3 a.m. Saturday in an alley in the 1000 block of Kentucky Street, according to a police report released Monday.

Randle allegedly slapped a 19-year-old woman, an acquaintance of both men, who tried to step in and break up the fight. Randle was given a citation for disorderly conduct and battery. Kemp was not cited.

It's Randle's sixth brush with the law since arriving at KU in the fall of 2003. He was kicked off the football team after being arrested on March 13, 2005, and charged with misdemeanor battery.

Randle was arrested again on April 16, 2005, and charged with battery and urination in public. He entered a plea agreement for the two battery charges and spent two weekends in jail.

Following the battery arrests - Randle's fourth and fifth arrests since 2003 - KU coach Mark Mangino promised to keep Randle on scholarship if the Wichita native chose to remain at Kansas and get his degree. Randle declined outside football interest and indeed stayed at KU, causing rampant speculation that he had a chance at playing football for the Jayhawks again.

Randle and Kemp were teammates at Wichita Southeast High before coming to Kansas, and are believed to be good friends. Kemp started the entire 2005 season at strong safety for KU.

Comments

craigers (anonymous) says...

Some of our football players are really classy. Maybe they will grow up and be professional football players that get busted for domestic violence and DUIs. It seems like they are just getting their record started.

April 18, 2006 at 7:35 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

RonBurgandy (anonymous) says...

Randle is a former football player. He was kicked off the team because of his classiness. Don't lump him in with the other players. Kemp could be a jackass too, but we don't know the situation that started the fight, so we can't tell.

April 18, 2006 at 7:59 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

sevenyearhawk (anonymous) says...

I've heard time and time again from people close to this situation that Randle really needs to get into some kind of substance abuse program.

So sad to p!ss away all that potential ...

April 18, 2006 at 8:17 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

OldEnuf2BYurDad (anonymous) says...

This tells you a lot: "shortly before 3 a.m." Outside of something employment related, I cannot think of a time that I was out of my house at that hour and NOT doing something I shouldn't have been doing. So when we say "we don't know the situation", we are simply failing to read into the story an obviously true assumption: they were drinking, and it got stupid. Usually, it takes two to get that stupid, especially when they are "good friends".

Yes, I'm making assumptions, but I'm confident that I'm probably on target.

April 18, 2006 at 8:34 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

gphawk89 (anonymous) says...

Sixth arrest?? And he's still on scholarship? Geez, how many second chances is this guy get? How about instead let's give our scholarship money to someone who's going to contribute positively to the team, and later on contribute positively to society, rather than ending up in prison.

April 18, 2006 at 8:53 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

thomgreen (anonymous) says...

First of all, I think you're making assumptions about Jerome Kemp here. It's a given that anything John Randle does is stupid (I was a witness to his battery and public urination incident where him and his friend blatanly beat the manager of the Granada). I think the key in this story is the part about Randle slapping a female. It sounds like Kemp stood up for the female, even against his own friend. Who knows the total details to the story, we can make all sorts of assumptions, but Mr. Kemp doesn't have the record to be lumped into the same "idiot" category as John Randle.

April 18, 2006 at 8:54 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

craigers (anonymous) says...

Ron, what other players? The Taco bell incident? I mean seriously, these guys are crazy sometimes.

April 18, 2006 at 9:33 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

esubrett (anonymous) says...

Whatever happened to three strikes and your out. There are plenty of other upstanding individuals who would kill for the chance to play D1 football. It is a shame that he was allowed to keep his "football" scholarship after he was kicked off the football team. Kansas University needs to cut all ties with this Bonehead. I mean come on!!

April 18, 2006 at 9:57 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

jlj3394 (anonymous) says...

Sorry, but this one is on Mangino. The first time Randle hit a woman, he suspended him for all of one half of one game. Not enough.

He didn't properly level discipline when he was arrested the other 4 times either.

What did he do? He kept him on scholarship and told him he'd bring him back to the team.

Sad, because this kid had NFL potential and if he'd been properly disciplined the first time, we might not be at this point.

Spare the rod, spoil the child

April 18, 2006 at 11:02 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

clintt (anonymous) says...

Who's to say the manager at the Granada didn't have it coming? A buddy of mine beat up the manager at the Granada 6 or 7 years ago and he had every good reason to do so. Now slapping a woman, that's another story...
Why didn't we win more games with Randle on the team, though? I thought having criminals in your backfield automatically guaranteed a top ten finish and a BCS bid.

April 18, 2006 at 11:04 a.m. ( | suggest removal )