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Subscribe today<\/a> for unlimited access to Texas\u00a0Monthly. Already a subscriber? Log in<\/a>. <\/p>\n A dispute over coverage has put Texas Christian University and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram at odds\u2014an unlikely turn for two institutions whose histories have long been intertwined. As a young Fort Worth was taking shape, TCU and the Star-Telegram were coming of age within it. The Star-Telegram published its first stories in 1909, after the Fort Worth Star\u2019s merger with its rival, the Telegram. Early the next year, TCU\u2019s Waco campus building was destroyed in a fire, leaving the university searching for a new home. Fort Worth quickly came calling, launching a citywide campaign to bring the campus to North Texas. It succeeded, and the still-fledgling Star-Telegram celebrated<\/a> TCU\u2019s impending arrival in an editorial, noting that in its newest educational institution, Fort Worth \u201cis taking her surest and best course to greatness and fame.\u201d<\/p>\n Over much of the twentieth century, the two institutions maintained a close relationship. In the late twenties, when TCU formed a committee to construct a new stadium for the now-competitive football team\u2014after the Star-Telegram ran an aerial photo of 22,000 fans packed into the team\u2019s stadium to emphasize the need for a larger space\u2014 the group selected Amon G. Carter, a cofounder and the longtime publisher of the Star-Telegram, to lead the initiative, calling him \u201cthe one and only man\u201d who could pull off the effort. Carter founded the TCU Stadium Association, mobilized Fort Worth business leaders, and helped sell the bonds to finance the stadium. And in 1951, the university renamed it the Amon G. Carter Stadium.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now, 75 years later, the Star-Telegram is barred from covering TCU sports at Amon G. Carter Stadium, and all Horned Frogs athletics, after a disagreement over the newspaper\u2019s coverage.\u00a0<\/p>\n It all started August 18, when TCU announced<\/a> that Jacob Fields\u2014a high-profile Louisiana Tech University transfer\u2014would be departing the team for violation of its rules, without sharing any specifics. As these things usually go, the Star-Telegram was on the case. Using the university\u2019s public crime log and details supplied by a source who claimed direct knowledge of the incident, the newspaper\u2019s beat reporter, Steven Johnson, reported that Fields had been removed for a locker-room fight<\/a> with an offensive player\u2014though it didn\u2019t explicitly identify the player. The anonymous source also told the Star-Telegram that Fields had \u201cfelt targeted by teammates with insults and threats,\u201d and that despite reaching out multiple times to coaches, \u201cthere were no attempts to de-escalate the brewing tension, which ultimately led into the confrontation in the locker room.\u201d A few days later, in a now-deleted Instagram video, wide receiver Dozie Ezukanma revealed he was the player Fields had assaulted, and he described the experience. (The Star-Telegram later reported<\/a> that Ezukanma was hospitalized for three days with a brain bleed and concussion, among other injuries, after the incident.) With Ezukanma having publicly identified himself, the Star-Telegram published another story on August 21, including his name<\/a> as part of its coverage of the incident.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Star-Telegram published an updated account<\/a> the same day, quoting someone \u201cwho was authorized to speak on behalf of Fields and his family.\u201d That source disputed the notion that Fields had been bullied or mistreated. Then, on August 23, a spokesperson for TCU athletics told the Star-Telegram that the program was pulling all of the newspaper\u2019s press credentials<\/a>, which allow journalists to cover home and away games, because the coverage led to threats against the victim. TCU\u2019s athletic director, Mike Buddie, doubled down in a statement on August 25. \u201cThe inclusion of the misinformation advanced a narrative that endangered a student-athlete and resulted in threats to him and his family,\u201d Buddie said.\u00a0<\/p>\n In a statement to Texas Monthly, TCU athletics spokesperson Kyle Neaves said the credentials were pulled not because the Star-Telegram reported on the assault but because of how the newspaper initially characterized what led to it. Neaves said the paper\u2019s source lacked \u201cdirect firsthand knowledge of the locker-room incident and has since been discredited.\u201d When the Star-Telegram reached out to TCU for its initial story, Coach Sonny Dykes had declined to comment, and a spokesperson told the reporter that the program had no comment on the matter.\u00a0<\/p>\n Neaves also told Texas Monthly that the newspaper had been warned before and after publication that its account was inaccurate. But it\u2019s unclear in what capacity this was relayed to the Star-Telegram.<\/p>\n Johnson, who didn\u2019t respond to an interview request, said he would travel to Dublin, Ireland, to cover TCU\u2019s opener against North Carolina despite the credential loss. \u201cAs for the situation,\u201d Johnson tweeted<\/a>, \u201cI don\u2019t have much to say aside from I look forward to continue covering TCU and believe the Frogs have a chance to be pretty good this year.\u201d (TCU lost to North Carolina 15\u201310.)\u00a0<\/p>\n In the week since TCU pulled the Star-Telegram\u2019s credentials, sports reporters from across the U.S. have rallied behind the century-old newspaper. Shehan Jeyarajah, the president of the Football Writers Association of America, the national organization representing college-football journalists, called<\/a> for Johnson\u2019s credentials to be \u201creinstated immediately.\u201d Tim MacMahon of ESPN asked<\/a>, \u201cWho knew Horned Frogs have such thin skin?\u201d Andrew Marchand, a senior writer at The Athletic, wrote<\/a> that TCU\u2019s decision \u201cseems embarrassing.\u201d ESPN senior writer Dan Wetzel called<\/a> TCU\u2019s decision \u201cwild,\u201d adding, \u201cThe Star-Telegram is the only traditional media outlet that regularly covers TCU . . . and has for decades and decades.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n A quick look through the Star-Telegram archives evidences its historic commitment to TCU sports coverage. One online collection<\/a> includes a Star-Telegram photographer\u2019s 1938 photo of Davey O\u2019Brien, the football player who won TCU its first Heisman Trophy and led the Horned Frogs to an undefeated season and its second national championship. The newspaper\u2019s sports reporters followed the football team throughout the 1951 season, from flights to California<\/a> to its training for the Cotton Bowl<\/a>. A September 1973 photo<\/a> shows Star-Telegram sportswriter Jim Trinkle talking with two TCU football players; another shot later that month documents a University of Texas at Arlington quarterback throwing over one of TCU\u2019s defensive linemen<\/a>, with the caption noting that the Frogs would ultimately win 49\u201313.\u00a0<\/p>\n