Blake Murphy Sports Writing

Adrian Griffin and Nick Nurse used the same word to describe their immediate reactions to watching the clip: heartbreaking.

On May 25, George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis while in police custody. The incident was caught on camera, with officer Derek Chauvin’s knee pressed against Floyd’s neck as he and onlookers pleaded with the officer to back off.

This hit home for Griffin, one of Nurse’s lead assistant coaches and the father of four, all now in high school and college.

“I’ve said this before to a couple of my close friends: I don’t see it as a race thing,” said Griffin, who was raised in Wichita, Kansas. “It’s a humanity thing, in my opinion. It has nothing to do with white or black to me. It had to do with a person who was pleading for his life. As a society, we can’t just stand by idly and let something like that happen. I would be just as furious if it was one of my white brothers, Asian, whoever else. That can’t happen, especially when it relates to law enforcement that we trust to protect us.”