by TEXASGLORY » Sat Jun 20, 2009 8:26 am
I have been on the road for the past two weeks with my team working and practicing each day in an effort to qualify for Gold Nationals. Someone told me at the park in Tulsa on Friday that I should read the post that glori put out here. No surprise that she takes cheap shots, however for her to know, I will respond.
Mel Hall came to me in August of 2006 and wanted to coach a Glory team as he had a number of players that were entering their senior year and needed help getting into exposure tournaments. We (Dan & Kevin) talked to him and his coaches and decided to bring them in. After a couple of tournaments, one of my closest friends and advisors who was helping to coach the team told me that he suspected something to be wrong with Mel and his actions toward a certain player. We started to investigate and found some evidence that pointed towards him trying to date a 17 year old. I called Mel Hall that day and releived him of his coaching duties and he never coached another softball game. I also spoke with the North Richland Hills police department and turned over all the evidence we had on him. I have since worked with the Tarrant County DA's office and was a witness for the State of Texas in the trial this past week in Fort Worth at Mel's trial. I also spent a lot of time with the victims from previous sports and teams. It was a pleasure to face Mel one last time and present the evidence that along with the testimony of the victims to insure that he will never again walk the streets looking for young girls to prey upon.
This episode has made us a lot better at screening coaches when they come to us. Mel had never been convicted of this and there was no criminal record. He passed the ASA background check. We do a lot more home work on potential coaches today, including personal and professional references. I regret that our paths ever crossed but I am confident that this also helped to convict him.
Dan Adkins