Florida teen has diploma withheld, ordered to clean school gym after Tebowing during graduation ceremony
Posted: May 22, 2012 8:51 PM EDT
Updated: May 24, 2012 10:58 AM EDT
By NewsCore
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FORT MYERS, Fla. -
A Florida teenager had his diploma withheld and was ordered to clean the school gym as punishment for Tebowing on stage during his graduation ceremony -- and later discovered the punishment was his mother's idea.
Chuck Shriner, a 17-year-old football player at the private Fort Myers Catholic school, performed the popular kneeling-in-prayer pose Saturday and said he was shocked at his punishment, Naples News reported Tuesday
"I just thought it was fun," Shriner said. "I was just doing it to make graduation memorable."
The move, which also requires placing a fist on your forehead, was inspired by Jets quarterback and devout Christian Tim Tebow and has been mimicked across the world, even spawning a website where people can submit pictures of themselves striking the pose.
Shriner's version drew laughter from the audience, but not the school's administration, who told him he would not be getting his diploma at the ceremony.
"They said what I did would give underclassmen inspiration to do something else, that it might lead to something else," Shriner said of the administration's reaction. "So they were trying to set an example."
He added on his Facebook page, "Moment in my life I'll never forget, getting my diploma taken away for doing the Tebow on stage in front of [Principal John] Cavell. So worth it."
But after cleaning the gym Monday, his mother -- a math teacher at the school -- told him she was the one who pushed for the punishment because she wanted to "teach him a lesson."
Shriner's mother picked up the diploma on his behalf.
"She was really mad," he said. "But I think it was worth it."
Read more: Naples Daily News
