KISSIMMEE, Fla., Feb. 15 (UPI) -- The owner of a Florida umpire academy said he could lose his business now that Minor League Baseball has severed ties with the school over racial allegations.
The Jim Evans Academy for Professional Umpiring in Kissimmee has come under fire after it was discovered three employees dressed as Ku Klux Klan members at a company bowling party, WESH-TV, Orlando, reported Tuesday. After the end of every umpire camp, Evans hosts a bowling party at Orange Bowl Lanes where each team chooses a team name -- one group chose a name and costumes based on the KKK.
The only black employee of the umpire school said the costumes made him feel uneasy and his complaint sparked an investigation by Minor League Baseball.
Pat O'Conner, president of the baseball organization, called the incident "reprehensible, shocking, offensive and disgusting."
MiLB said it would no longer accept the academy's students into its professional ranks, WESH reported.
Evans said he thinks the controversy could kill his business and hates that the three employees had to lose their jobs over it.
"It was a bad joke [and] not meant to hurt anybody," Evans told WESH.
