Oct. 6 2022 via WLF Facebook page – As my high school alma mater, Bishop Miege gets ready to host its Homecoming game tomorrow evening for 2022, where a new Homecoming Queen and King will be surely named, I take a moment to remember and recognize the Homecoming King of 2021 on the last day of his reign, Jaylen Burch, someone I am immensely proud of and had the pleasure of representing. Jaylen and his de-facto foster family, retired Marine Fred Keeney and Karie Keeney and their two kids, became clients of mine a few years back in 2019 after Jaylen was deemed ineligible to play sports or do other activities by the Kansas State High School Activities Association (KSHSAA) for Miege, where he had just started attending, in what would have been his sophomore year of high school.
The first day of the school year at Miege that year was what Jaylen said was his first “first day of school”, in that he had never gone to the actual first day of the school year prior to that as he would often end up starting about a month or so later due to family hardships causing him to miss school days. Despite a desire to attend school and learn, Jaylen had only gone to school “most” school days in his first years of school, then much more sporadically and irregularly the following years, and then just missed eight grade altogether as no one was able to take him, and he needed to stay home and help take care of his 7 siblings, whom his mother was struggling to take care of as a single parent. Further financial hardships came and led his family to be effectively homeless and split up, and he was sleeping alone and apart from them on the couches of others with little to no clothing or belongings, or basic needs.
During this same time Jaylen had been playing football for a local youth team with other kids his age and he was able get rides to practice from a family friend, which he paid for by doing yard work for them, and he would hop a ride with coach on games further out of town. During a very cold day of practice during the winter, his teammate, Collin Keeney, had noticed him only wearing a short sleeved t-shirt and shorts and inquired where his coat was since freezing outside. Jaylen said he didn’t have one, so Collin decided to make it happen for him and wanted to help him out. He told his parents and they all went and bought him a coat. Thereafter the other members of the football team helped further in pulling together a great deal of clothing for him, and Jaylen thanked them and asked if he could give some of the clothes to his siblings and cousins since they needed some too, and of course he did so. Over the next year or so the Keeney’s learned more about Jaylen and his hardships and began to help him further, ultimately culminating in taking him in to their home as another member of the family. Their son Colin had been attending Miege at the time, and Jaylen was going to be enrolled there as well to have the same upbringing, since now living with the Keeneys. He was enrolled and started school with little issue, however, due to some further unusual circumstances surrounding his enrollment and tuition payment by a scholarship fund for at-risk children set up by a faithful Christian woman, whom had helped his siblings and mother out in numerous ways over the years and in bringing the children to church weekly, there was what appeared to KSHSAA as an ongoing violation of their rules regarding ‘undue influence’ and in effect that he transferred schools based on a desire to play sports, which was a violation, and was further having his tuition paid for in furtherance of playing sports, another violation which would be ongoing and render him ineligible indefinitely. These rules were put in place to prevent recruitment to private schools for the primary purpose of activities/sports. Miege’s great success in sports over the years surely did not help, in that it would seem like a destination for someone looking to do just that, and Jalen being a good athlete and a young black man too likely fueled that perception. However, that was not the case here, and his attendance at that school was due to the charitable actions of others in helping him to overcome great hardships, and it was ultimately my job to make them see that instead.
Fred Keeney, in looking for an attorney to help in this matter to see what could be done in helping Jaylen to be a normal kid who was able to do sports and activities along with the others, first sought out a big shot out in New York, whom he knew, as to do the appeal of the KSHSAA decision. That New Yorker informed him he couldn’t help with a matter in Kansas but he did look into who could, and gave him my name and told him I was their guy to hire. Upon receiving their call, I was baffled at first as I had never heard of someone appealing a KSHSAA decision before, and having no one to refer him to either, I figured I probably was the best for it and had the skillset to figure it out. While also being intrigued and inspired by the story, I decided to take it on and hoped to figure it out to get them success. To my knowledge no one had ever appealed a decision such as they requested, let alone won, however I was able to figure out in theory how it was supposed to be done. We ended up going through the process and doing a hearing on the matter in Topeka at the KSHSAA offices, which was initially denied to my surprise by one board vote! Not to be deterred and thinking we were still in the right, we stayed after it with a final appeal of that new board decision, to a higher and smaller board where we got the votes and found success! Ultimately overturning the earlier denials, and freeing Jaylen to be able to participate fully as a normal kid. Miege was very helpful throughout the process with the President and Activities Director both coming to assist and provide testimony at the hearings, as they too wanted to help and see the young man succeed. Jaylen put in extra work after school with teachers to make up for all the lost schooling prior to that in his life and he began to realize he was smart as well, as he started to score well alongside the rest of the student body at a very good academic school in the metro.
In the end, I was very glad that the highest level of the Board was receptive to our arguments and chose to overturn the initial decisions after being provided with more information at the hearings. It was great to be able to help this young man change course in life and set a new path where he could use his gifts to be successful, and to assist with and reassure the efforts of the Catholic and Christian families whom were living out their faith in loving their neighbor with their charitable efforts towards him. While the appeal process continued on and into the winter of his sophomore year, he began to participate fully therafter. In his Junior year Jaylen went on to make the varsity football team and and lettered also during his senior year, where he was the starting running back for a highly competitive team and had a blast while doing it! He also competed individually in track in the spring and won the State Championship for Kansas in the 100m dash his Junior year, and came in 3rd place at State for the same event his Senior year. In addition to that success, he made the honor roll throughout and graduated that way! His final senior semester was nearly straight As! And as stated before, oh yeah, he even became Homecoming King his senior year! Wow!
All this success couldn’t have happened to a nicer and politer young man, and assuredly that character is what helped to also bring about all that success. He remains still apart of the Keeley family and Fred took him recently to Morningside University in Iowa, where he will be going to school and playing for the football team as a red-shirt freshman. Jaylen was the first in his family to graduate from high school, is the first to attend college now, and will surely be soon the first to graduate college given his drive. Collin Keeley graduated as well after playing football with him on the Miege varsity with great success of his own, and just started his first semester at Ole Miss where he looks to ultimately make the football team too. It’s been great to follow their story and I don’t think the success is over yet. Hopefully ya’ll are inspired by their growth, determination, charitableness and living out their faith as I am, and I am glad to have been able to help on the legal side and to share their story. I wish them all great success in whatever comes next!
