Track Scars

But he still denies that the Examiner did anything wrong by failing to correct an impression that had doomed the two coaches' careers: that Billington had given the Examiner a false picture of what had happened in California.

When we asked Conaway if his original story -- or Zinke's ensuing correction -- could have been worded to reflect the actual nature of the event as Billington described it, he said, "That is a valid criticism."

One of the charges the school district leveled against Billington and Earley in the ensuing investigation was that they misrepresented the nature of the La Jolla event to school administrators as well as to the press.

But Earley says he can explain that: It was that damned word again -- "meet."

No one seemed to know what it meant.

Notes from a confidential meeting, in which school administrators questioned Billington, show that the coach insisted that the Examiner story was correct -- at least about the Truman teams competing in a cross-country meet.

Billington says he knew his state rules. Even the untimed, half-assed scramble down to the ocean qualified as a meet.

But Earley, questioned separately, says he insisted just as strongly to administrators that what had taken place was only a practice.

Earley now says his ignorance of MSHSAA rules may have helped sink both of them.

Actually, both coaches were correct -- the event, run like a practice, still qualified as a meet. But as Earley points out, administrators understandably got the impression that at least one of the coaches was lying, which is confirmed by internal documents written by administrators and obtained by this meat patty.

And as for making Independence administrators nervous, the coaches' timing couldn't have been worse.

In the fall of 2003, Superintendent Jim Hinson was beginning his second full school year at the helm of the district. The Strip was not able to contact Hinson before press time, but sources tell us he came in with the force of a hurricane, sources tell us, establishing a top-down, heavy-handed budget-cutting style that produced enormous resentment among teachers.

In its investigation, the district raised questions over how Billington and Earley had handled expenses on the trip. The coaches had purchased airline tickets, for example, without obtaining purchase orders. Billington and Earley kept several thousand dollars in fundraising cash in their own possession instead of depositing it into district accounts. And some receipts for the trip's expenses hadn't been submitted in a timely manner.

In the Examiner's pages, the charges sounded dire. KCTV Channel 5 also breathlessly reported that the trip had cost more than $13,000.

But parents we talked to -- even Ron Bruch, who had been so angry about Billington's alleged media deceptions -- say concerns about money were overblown.

"[The money] was never a personal concern of mine," Bruch says. He never doubted the outcome of the investigation, which found that not a dime of public money was missing.

And though Channel 5 was stunned by the $13,000 price tag, Martin Kreissler, Jared's father, says the trip was a bargain. Because of the team's fundraising efforts, Billington only asked Kreissler for an $80 check to cover Jared's expenses.

As for the cash in his office, Billington says it was something that all coaches did. "If I'm going to buy a group of kids some sports drinks and fruit for after a hard practice, it's hard to get the time for a purchase order."

At one point, Earley and Billington believed they might lose their teaching jobs as well as their coaching positions. But just before a scheduled public hearing before the school board, they reached a settlement that saved their jobs.

Today Billington teaches physical education and health at Independence Academy, an alternative high school. Since his firing, cross country and track at Truman have suffered a steep decline -- the Truman Invitational, once a premier metro event, no longer exists. Earley still teaches at Truman High School, but recently he was hired in another school district -- at Fort Osage High School -- to coach cross country.

Finally talking about what really happened two years ago, Earley tells the Strip, feels like a ton of bricks lifting off his shoulders.

And the Examiner? Karl Zinke rejected this cutlet's suggestion that his newspaper did more harm than good in its coverage of a story that briefly became a nationally reported scandal.

"I was told by the administration that our story had nothing to do with the firing of the coaches," he says.

Well, if that's what helps you sleep at night, Karl, then good for you.