Sports
Inside the mind — and tattoos — of 49ers’ George Kittle, one of the NFL’s most interesting players
“Howdy!” George Kittle says as he steps onto the podium on Nov. 24 in Green Bay, Wisc.
It’s how he begins every news conference, and this time he seems disappointed when no one says howdy back.
But it doesn’t seem like a howdy type of moment. The San Francisco 49ers have just lost 38-10 to the Packers, which has been interpreted as the death blow to their season. Everyone else is gloomy. Fred Warner calls the game “probably the worst I’ve been a part of.” Deebo Samuel Sr. doesn’t even talk to reporters afterward. The day is cold, the mood funereal.
Except for Kittle. In a game full of lousy statistics, he finishes with 82 receiving yards and the team’s only touchdown. And afterward, the irrepressible tight end refuses to give in to the gathering darkness.
“No, why would it?” Kittle said when asked if the awful outing erodes his optimism about making the playoffs. “It’s definitely an uphill grind. But we get to see what we’re made of. And I’m looking forward to that.”
GO DEEPER
Silver: This 49ers season is effectively over — and Kyle Shanahan bears plenty of responsibility
The season has followed a similar script. The 49ers’ 2024 campaign will be known as one in which their stars, so radiant the year prior, were obscured by thick, unrelenting clouds. The exception again is Kittle, who at 31 is their oldest offensive weapon but leads them in receiving yards and touchdowns. With three games to go, he ranks third among NFL tight ends in receiving yards and is poised to surpass 1,000 yards for the second straight year and the fourth time in his career.
Longtime friend Trent Taylor thinks Kittle’s mentality — no one in the NFL is having a better time than Kittle — is tied to his success. There’s power in all those howdys.
“While he’s out here working his tail off, he also knows how to have fun with it,” Taylor, a 49ers receiver, said. “And the guys who don’t know how to have fun with it, those are the guys who burn out. I think that’s why he’s been so good for such a long time.”
The George Kittle who arrived at 49ers headquarters along with Taylor in 2017 — both were fifth-round picks — looked nothing like today’s version.
“I was fatter,” noted Kittle, who today weighs 243 pounds but had risen as high as 265. “In college they told me I had to weigh a lot more. I drank eight protein shakes a day. Don’t ever do that.”
He also had close-cropped hair, no facial hair and no visible tattoos. Today, he’s bearded and his blond hair is long. He dramatically whips his head back to get it out of his face before putting on his helmet.
And there’s ink everywhere.
Kittle explains he has a good-guy arm and a bad-guy arm and then ticks off each tat. The right arm and hand include Hobbes, the fun-loving tiger from the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip, Master Chief, the stoic protagonist in the Halo video games, and Godzilla.
“Godzilla’s a good guy,” he insisted.
The bad-guy arm includes Venom and the Joker, a tattoo he got on the eve of his 2019 wedding (to the chagrin of then-fiancee, Claire) and is a persona Kittle often adopts on game days.
“His dark place is the Joker mentality — where he’s giggling out there and kind of making light of everything,” Taylor said. “When George is out there goofing off, that’s when he’s ready to go to war.”
And he’s just getting started. Kittle says he’s planning a three-headed tattoo for the bad-guy arm, then launches into a two-minute explanation of what he’s contemplating. He’s like a 6-year-old going over his Christmas list. One head might be Sauron, the ultimate bad guy in “Lord of the Rings.” Sauron has always been a personal favorite. Another might be a dark figure from a cartoon called “Samurai Jack.” And the third?
“Have you ever seen the movie ‘Puss in Boots’?” he asks. “The second one, ‘The Last Wish’? It’s fantastic — significantly better than the first. Huge fan of it. There’s a character in the second one. And it’s a gray wolf and he’s known as Death. And he’s coming for Puss in Boots. And his character in the movie — it’s just fantastic.”
(Courtesy of San Francisco 49ers)
What 31-year-old professional football player gets giddy over a Puss in Boots tattoo?
For a glimpse of what’s swirling inside Kittle’s ever-active mind — and to figure out the origin of his tattoos — you have to go to the 335-acre farm in Lockridge, Iowa, where he grew up.
Calvin and Hobbes, the blond kid and tiger who go on all sorts of adventures together? That sounds an awful lot like Kittle and his sister, Emma, who is three years older.
Their dad, Bruce, would read to them every night before bed. And it wasn’t “The Hungry Caterpillar.” Instead, he’d pick up “Lord of the Rings,” even when George was really little, lighting up his boyhood brain with stories of giant spiders, great falls into the abyss and taking on armies of blood-thirsty orcs.
“My dad had a great story-telling voice,” George said. “He could change his voice enough to where 4-year-old me thought he was watching a movie. I loved it.”
The next day, the kids would live out the adventures — leaping off bales of hay, chasing rabbits and sidestepping the snakes and spiders that lived in the old barn. Emma said it was as if she and her brother grew up in a different time.
“Growing up on a farm with horses — when you think about ‘Lord of the Rings’ and those stories and the Riders of Rohan? They’re on horseback,” she said. “There was just so much relatability where we felt like we could be one of the nine on these quests. For us, the magic of the storybooks felt very real.”
George Kittle’s imagination came to life on his family farm in Iowa with his sister, Emma, and cousin Henry Krieger, who later played football at Iowa with George and had a brief NFL career. (Courtesy of Jan Kreiger)
The farm was a place where the kids’ imaginations could run wild and where they could test themselves.
Emma remembered an episode when George was 8 and was helping with a young pony named Jack. The ponies had a mean streak and were particularly nasty that day. Emma and their mom, Jan Krieger, watched the scene unfold.
“Jack kicked up and just about smoked George right in the face,” she recalled. “I think he might have clipped his shoulder a little bit. And it scared us really bad and it was like, ‘Get him out of the ring!’”
George, who was all wobbly legs and elbows at the time, didn’t let Jack be the lord of the ring that day.
“You could see the rage bubbling up,” Emma said. “And he went in there to show him who’s boss. He didn’t say that, but he flung the gate open, marched in, grabbed the harness and told Jack, ‘We’re not going to be that way.’ I just remember Mom and I were freaking out.”
There were other books — the “Harry Potter” series, for instance — mixed in, but “Lord of the Rings” was the go-to, the one that stuck. Bruce thinks he probably read the trilogy aloud three times, nearly 1.5 million words total.
“By the third time, George was like, ‘Dad, skip ahead to the battle of Helm’s Deep!’” he said.
The bedtime stories sparked George’s love of books. He listens to audio versions to and from work and always has a stack — Sherlock Holmes mysteries, crime thrillers and especially sci-fi and adventure series — on his bedside table. “Lord of the Rings” also frames how he sees life and certainly how he views an NFL season, which also revolves around a powerful ring. It’s no wonder Kittle is the NFL’s biggest character. He sees himself as a character in a 17-chapter adventure tale.
But which one? Who was his favorite growing up?
“I should say Smeagol just to mess with him and give you a dark article,” Emma said with a laugh.
She and Bruce agreed that Aragorn, the virtuous leader played in the film series by Viggo Mortensen and also known as Strider in the books, probably was George’s favorite and a role model.
“But,” Bruce said, “it’s hard not to be in the camp of the Hobbits, too. Because so many people discount them because they’re smaller.”
Bruce, a former Iowa offensive lineman who coached George when he was little, noted his son was “super gangly” as a boy.
“There was a long time when he looked like a baby deer,” he said. “You know, a lot of legs.”
George Kittle and his older sister, Emma, developed a love for books thanks to the nightly readings from their father, Bruce. (Courtesy of Jan Kreiger)
And no one thought George was anything special coming out of Iowa, either. The 49ers only caught onto him after zeroing in on his buddy, Hawkeye quarterback C.J. Beathard, whom they drafted in the third round.
“George being a later-round draft choice — I think there was a little bit of Hobbitt-esque leaning,” Bruce said. “Like, ‘I’ve got a lot more power and gifts than you might imagine.’”
George conceded that those guesses are correct.
“I mean, Strider’s hard to beat,” he said.
But he added he also has an appreciation for Sauron, the all-seeing antagonist, and for bad guys in general. It’s why he has so many bad-guy tattoos, which he uses to channel dark energy on game days. After all, sweet, whimsical, hilarious Hobbes — who’s an excellent approximation of every-day-life George — isn’t the ideal persona when your job is cutting down 235-pound linebackers on run plays.
“It’s not all the time,” George said. “But there are times when you want it to be a little bit of chaos and laugh at life like the Joker, and there are times when you need to be as serious as possible and do things to get the job done like Master Chief. There’s also time to breathe fire like Godzilla. There’s certain energy I can pull from these things. I like seeing them and I just kind of channel it when I look at them.”
Taylor admits he used to think it was strange when he would cross paths with Kittle before games and the tight end would be muttering to himself as he morphed into one of his Sunday characters. Then he realized everyone was going through their own transformations.
“Everyone’s doing this weird stuff before the game,” Taylor said. “And it’s like, ‘Who am I to judge?’ We’ve all got to be a little bit crazy to play this game of football.”
The tale of Aragorn, Frodo and Sam also lends itself well to what the 49ers are going through now. The trilogy is about faith and sacrifice, grittiness and resilience and maintaining the course even in the face of overwhelming odds. It’s also heavy in veneration for those who fought before you.
“It means showing up even when you’re (6-8) and it’s not looking great,” Bruce said. “Because the game knows. You don’t want to create bad football karma.”
Which was why there was a tense “howdy” when George took the podium after their most recent game. The 12-6 loss to the Los Angeles Rams all but eliminated the 49ers from the playoffs and, on top of that, it was marked by a teammate, De’Vondre Campbell Sr., quitting midway through the contest.
George Kittle, normally so chipper during post-game press conferences, was anything but following De’Vondre Campbell’s unexpected exit Thursday. Look who Kittle was wearing/channeling…
[image or embed]
— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows.bsky.social) December 15, 2024 at 10:25 AM
With no Sauron on his arm — yet — Kittle wore the “Lord of Rings” baddie on the front of his T-shirt instead, then channeled some rarely seen postgame energy.
“Whatever his decision was, it wasn’t for this organization, it wasn’t for this team,” Kittle said. “And that’s on him. I’m not very happy about it. I wish I would’ve heard about it on the field, but I didn’t.”
This year, the path seems blocked for Kittle and his companions. They’re two games back in the division with no edge in tiebreakers. It’s very unlikely they will finally find the magical ring this season.
But while it might be the end of this particular book, the Kittles are certain there’s more to the story. And they know the darkness will only make the light seem that much brighter. That is, it’s no time to be glum.
“It’s a beautiful, beautiful ride,” Bruce said. “Yes, it’s tumultuous, but what avenue of life isn’t? So quit moping and go f—ing do it.”
(Top illustration: Dan Goldfarb: The Athletic; photos: Michael Owens and Brooke Sutton / Getty Images)
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Team USA can breathe a sigh of relief, and they can thank Team Italy, the squad that put their World Baseball Classic hopes in limbo, after their win over Team Mexico on Tuesday night.
With Italy’s 9-1 victory at Daikin Park, they have won Pool B with a perfect 4-0 record and earned a spot in the WBC quarterfinals.
But Italy also ensured that Team USA’s run in the tournament continues despite handing the star-studded group a shocking 8-6 defeat on Monday night.
Vinnie Pasquantino of Italy hits a solo home run in the 6th inning against Mexico during the 2026 World Baseball Classic – Pool B at Daikin Park on March 11, 2026 in Houston, Texas. (Houston Astros/Getty Images)
Team USA knew going into this game they would be big fans of Italy, one of the more surprising teams of the tournament thus far, but a thrill to watch. They have the fun espresso home run celebration, which has been used a ton including Tuesday night’s game, and a mixture of veterans and top prospects who have been giving their pool fits on the field.
However, Vinnie Pasquantino, the team’s captain who stars for the Kansas City Royals, came into this contest without a single hit through three games. Luckily for Italy – and indirectly the U.S. – his first three hits of the tournament were difference makers.
Pasquantino belted three solo home runs in the win, marking the first time in WBC history that a player went yard three times in a single game.
TEAM USA’S WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC HOPES TAKE MASSIVE HIT WITH ITALY UPSET
He got Team Italy on the board first in the top of the second, hitting a 342-foot blast to right field. Then, in the top of the sixth inning, he hit a towering shot that stayed fair down the right field line to take a free trip around the bases again.
As he stepped to the plate in the top of the eighth inning, Pasquantino, already two espresso shots deep after his first two longballs, got just enough to get it over the right-field fence one last time.
Jon Berti of the Italy reacts after hitting a solo home run in the fourth inning against Mexico during the 2026 World Baseball Classic – Pool B at Daikin Park on March 11, 2026 in Houston, Texas. (Houston Astros/Getty Images)
But, just like the other three games, there wasn’t only one Italy hitter showcasing his power. Jon Berti, who has had a great tournament thus far, made use of the Crawford boxes in left field, hitting one just far enough in the top of the fourth inning to extend Italy’s lead to 2-0.
Meanwhile, Mexico couldn’t get the bats going against veteran hurler Aaron Nola, the reliable Philadelphia Phillies starter who had his patented knuckle-curve working in Houston. He tossed five innings, allowing just four hits while striking out five over 69 pitches.
The game started to get away from Mexico, too, in the top of the fifth inning, when nine-hitter Dante Nori dropped a perfect sacrifice bunt that scored Pasquantino’s Royals teammate, Jac Caglianone, to make it a 3-0 game. Then, Miami Marlins outfielder Jakob Marsee came in clutch with a two-out, bases-loaded single that scored two runners before he was picked off at first base to end the inning.
With a 7-0 lead, Mexico, facing desperation, saw some offensive life in the bottom of the seventh with bases loaded and no outs. But after Alek Thomas’ groundout to first, and Rowdy Tellez hitting a liner right at Pasquantino for the second out, Jarren Duran struck out as they were only able to get one run out of a potentially game-changing situation.
Vinnie Pasquantino of Italy runs the bases after hitting a home run in the sixth inning against Mexico during the 2026 World Baseball Classic between Italy and Mexico at Daikin Park on March 11, 2026 in Houston, Texas. (Kenneth Richmond/Getty Images)
Pasquantino’s third home run flipped momentum right back to Team Italy, and they rode it into the final frame where they sealed victory.
As Italy soars into the quarterfinals, Mexico is eliminated as their players will head back to their respective big league camps to finish out spring training.
Team USA’s quarterfinal matchup will be against Team Canada, the winners of Pool A, at 8 p.m. ET in Daikin Park on March 13.
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HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL, SOFTBALL SCORES
Wednesday’s Results
BASEBALL
CITY SECTION
Bell 4, San Pedro 0
Carson 7, Granada Hills 5
Chatsworth 1, Sylmar 0
East Valley 15, Panorama 4
Hollywood 12, RFK Community 4
LA Wilson 26, Contreras 0
Locke 22, Animo Venice 2
Monroe 3, Eagle Rock 1
Rancho Cucamonga 5, Huntington Park 0
San Fernando 9, Cleveland 5
SOCES 12, Northridge Academy 2
South Gate 22, Marquez 0
SOUTHERN SECTION
Alemany 6, Crespi 0
Arlington 5, Liberty 0
Arroyo 4, Rio Hondo Prep 0
Beckman 8, Tustin 0
Bellflower 12, Paramount 1
Beverly Hills 6, Shalhevet 0
Bonita 8, Santa Fe 0
Burbank Providence 14, Santa Monica Pacifica Christian 1
Campbell Hall 21, Grant 1
Cantwell-Sacred Heart 8, Bishop Montgomery 6
Carpinteria 5, Nordhoff 4
Castaic 10, Saugus 9
Century 4, Laguna Hills 3
Chino Hills 16, Riverside Prep 7
Claremont 7, Charter Oak 4
Coachella Valley 6, Banning 5
Dana Hills 8, Great Oak 6
Desert Hot Springs 7, Desert Christian Academy 3
Eastvale Roosevelt 14, Patriot 0
El Rancho 4, Whittier 0
El Segundo 3, Wiseburn-Da Vinci 1
Elsinore 3, Maranatha Christian 2
Etiwanda 4, Rancho Cucamonga 1
Fullerton 19, Segerstrom 2
Glendora 4, Downey 1
Grace 10, Oak Park 0
Hart 15, Canyon Country Canyon 2
Harvard-Westlake 6, Sierra Canyon 0
Hemet 3, Canyon Springs 2
Highland 7, Palmdale 1
Hueneme 8, Fillmore 0
Huntington Beach 13, Edison 3
Irvine University 13, St. Margaret’s 0
Knight 10, Eastside 7
Lakeside 3, Orange Vista 2
Lakewood 14, Westminster 1
Lancaster 13, Antelope Valley 0
La Serna 12, California 2
La Sierra 11, San Gorgonio 0
Linfield Christian 5, Murrieta Valley 2
Long Beach Cabrillo 6, Bosco Tech 4
Long Beach Poly 7, Cerritos 6
Los Alamitos 9, Fountain Valley 5
Loyola 8, Chaminade 0
Miller 13, Norte Vista 4
Mira Costa 6, Torrance 4
Moreno Valley 14, Heritage 2
Murrieta Mesa 8, Fallbrook 4
Newport Beach 11, Marina 2
Nogales 5, Baldwin Park 4
Norco 3, Gahr 0
North Torrance 12, New Roads 3
Northwood 5, Irvine 3
Paloma Valley 7, Riverside Poly 6
Pioneer 14, El Monte 1
Quart Hill 17, Littlerock 0
Rancho Alamitos 20, Garden Grove Santiago 15
Rancho Christian 13, Hillcrest 0
Rancho Mirage 2, Beaumont 1
Rancho Verde 7, Riverside Notre Dame 2
Redlands Adventist 13, Desert Chapel 3
Riverside King 10, Riverside North 3
San Clemente 7, Vista Murrieta 3
Santa Monica 3, Newbury Park 1
Santa Paula 12, Malibu 1
Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 6, St. Francis 2
South Torrance 5, Peninsula 4
St. John Bosco 11, Damien 0
Sunny Hills 5, Orange 1
Thousand Oaks 11, Camarillo 1
Upland 5, Santa Ana Calvary Chapel 1
Valley View 7, Citrus Hill 1
Vista del Lago 13, Perris 9
West Covina 15, Rosemead 5
West Ranch 15, Golden Valley 1
Woodbridge 3, Laguna Beach 2
Woodcrest Christian 11, Rialto 2
INTERSECTIONAL
Campbell Hall 21, Grant 1
United Christian Academy 14, Public Safety Academy
West Torrance 7, Venice 1
SOFTBALL
CITY SECTION
Birmingham 25, SOCES 0
Eagle Rock 9, Cleveland 5
Fairfax 22, Contreras 21
Franklin 8, Orthopaedic 4
LA Wilson 18, Narbonne 10
Marquez 5, Port of LA 4
Middle College 33, Discovery 15
Newbury Park 17, Van Nuys 0
Sun Valley Poly 9, Taft 3
West Adams 17, RFK Community 2
SOUTHERN SECTION
Agoura 3, Oak Park 0
Arroyo 15, Rowland 12
Azusa 14, Garey 3
Baldwin Park 20, Nogales 8
Buena 30, Hueneme 1
Buena Park 14, Loara 4
Chaparral 19, Woodrest Christian 6
Claremont 7, Chino 3
Colony 23, Fontana 0
Colton 12, University Prep 0
Corona Santiago 17, San Dimas 16
CSDR 18, Indian Springs 17
Desert Hot Springs 18, Desert Christian Academy 8
Eastvale Roosevelt 8, Arlington 1
Flintridge Sacred Heart 7, Flintridge Prep 5
Glendora 10, Muir 2
Huntington Park 7, Gahr 3
Lakeside 29, California Military Institute 2
Lakewood 6, Hemet 3
Lawndale 33, Hoover 10
Los Osos 8, Northview 1
Lynwood 17, Animo Leadership 5
Maranatha 8, Culver City 6
Monrovia 15, West Covina 5
Ocean View 12, Westminster La Quinta 2
Orange 22, Godinez Fundamental 5
Pacific 14, Norte Vista 10
Paloma Valley 8, San Jacinto 0
Patriot 8, Canyon Springs 1
Peninsula 27, Beverly Hills 2
Rancho Cucamonga 30, Miller 1
Redondo Union 25, Long Beach Jordan 0
Riverside Poly 13, Orange Vista 3
RSCSM 28, Noli Indian 3
San Bernardino 12, Visa del Lago 2
San Juan Hills 3, Capistrano Valley 2
Sierra Vista 12, Duarte 6
Southlands Christian 9, El Monte 7
Temescal Canyon 10, Murrieta Valley 9
Tesoro 5, Northwood 4
Vasquez 15, Westridge 4
Western Christian 16, Summit 5
Yucaipa 14, Liberty 9
INTERSECTIONAL
Animo Watts 13, Locke 3
El Camino Real 7, La Canada 3
Newbury Park 17, Van Nuys 0
Palos Verdes 8, San Pedro 0
Pasadena Marshall 18, Fulton 1
Santa Monica 2, Carson 1
South Torrance 8, Venice 2
United Christian Academy 22, Public Safety Academy 0
West Torrance 9, Wilmington Banning 2
Wilmington Banning 10, Wiseburn-Da Vinci 0
Sports
Brooke Slusser sparks liberal social media meltdown by speaking about SJSU transgender volleyball scandal
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Left-wing social media users launched a volley of insults at 23-year-old Brooke Slusser in recent days.
In response, dozens of high-profile women’s rights activists have come to the former San Jose State University volleyball player’s defense.
Slusser has addressed the critics herself in a statement to Fox News Digital.
“I would just say people that don’t know my life or my trauma don’t have room to say how good or bad my time at SJSU was. I hope they never have to understand going through something as awful as that,” she said.
She has also acknowledged the responses in a series of TikTok posts, as she has become more active on the platform this week to speak about her alleged experience at SJSU.
The online hate campaign started after Slusser shared details about living arrangements in the same apartment with transgender volleyball teammate Blaire Fleming while at San Jose State university, in an interview with Fox News Digital.
During the interview, she said, “You find out you’re just chilling in a bed with a man that you have no idea about… I [was] unknowingly sharing a bed at that time with a man,” and alleged SJSU volleyball coach Todd Kress encouraged her to live in the same apartment as the trans teammate when another group of players were also looking for a final tenant.
The fallout of the interview has prompted high-profile activists, lawmakers and even an actor to speak out, taking a side behind or against Slusser.
Many critics echoed the sentiment that “nothing bad” happened to Slusser, despite the fact that the anxiety from the situation ultimately led to her developing an eating disorder and not being able to complete her college degree.
Former “Glee” actor Kevin McHale even appeared to mock Slusser’s appearance.
A coalition of “save women’s sports” activists rushed to Slusser’s defense, with OutKick host Riley Gaines, XX-XY Athletics founder Jennifer Sey, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., women’s tennis legend Martina Navratilova and former ESPN star Sage Steele leading the charge to defend Slusser from the pro-trans detractors.
“Brooke has every right to feel violated. This is a violation of her personal space and boundaries. She was lied to. She would not have agreed to room with or play with a man,” Sey wrote in response to one critic.
Navratilova wrote in response to that same critic, “Brooke has every right to be mad. Try again with the punishment wish…”
Slusser finds herself at the center of a sports culture war flashpoint at a time when the conflict over her school’s handling of her transgender former teammate has reached a political impasse.
‘HORRIBLE’ MOMENTS EXPOSED FOR UNR VOLLEYBALL PLAYERS WHEN THEY WERE ROPED INTO THE SJSU TITLE IX SCANDAL
After the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) announced at the end of January that an investigation into the university for its handling of a trans athlete and other players concluded that the school violated Title IX, SJSU and the California State University system declined to resolve the violation.
Instead, SJSU President Cynthia Teniente-Matson announced Friday that the school and the California State University (CSU) system are suing the federal government to challenge the investigation.
“Because we believe OCR’s findings aren’t grounded in the facts or the law, SJSU and the CSU filed a lawsuit today against the federal government to challenge those findings and prevent the federal government from taking punitive action against the university, including the potential withholding of critical federal funding,” Teniente-Matson said Friday.
“This is not a step we take lightly. However, we have a responsibility to defend the integrity of our institution and the rule of law, while ensuring that every member of our community is treated fairly and in accordance with the law. Our position is simple: We have followed the law and cannot be punished for doing so.”
The school is also requesting that OCR rescind its findings and close its investigation.
Teniente-Matson affirmed the university’s commitment to defending the LGBTQ community in the announcement.
“Our support for the LGBTQ members of our community, who have experienced threats and harms over the last several years, remains unwavering. We know the attention the university has received around this issue and the investigative process that followed have been unsettling for many in our community,” the university president said.
Among ED’s findings, it determined that a female athlete discovered that the trans student allegedly conspired to have a member of an opposing team spike her in the face during a match. The department claims “SJSU did not investigate the conspiracy, but later subjected the female athlete to a Title IX complaint for ‘misgendering’ the male athlete in online videos and interviews.”
Slusser alleged in a November 2024 lawsuit against the Mountain West that she and former assistant coach Melissa Batie-Smoose were made aware of a meeting between Fleming and Colorado State women’s volleyball player Malaya Jones on Oct. 2, 2024, during which Fleming discussed a plan with Jones to have Slusser spiked in the face during a match the following night.
Slusser’s own lawsuit partially survived motions to dismiss last week as well.
Colorado District Judge Kato Crews dismissed all the plaintiffs’ charges against the Mountain West Conference but did not dismiss charges of Title IX violations against the CSU system.
Crews deferred his ruling on whether to dismiss those charges until after a decision in the ongoing B.P.J. v. West Virginia Supreme Court case, which is expected in June.
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Brooke Slusser #10 and Blaire Fleming #3 of the San Jose State Spartans call a play during the first set against the Air Force Falcons at Falcon Court at East Gym on October 19, 2024 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. (Andrew Wevers/Getty Images)
The CSU provided a statement to Fox News Digital in response to Crews’ ruling.
“CSU is pleased with the court’s ruling. SJSU has complied with Title IX and all applicable law, and it will continue to do so,” the statement said.
The outcomes of the lawsuits by and against SJSU on this issue could ultimately set a consequential precedent for the future of women’s sports in America.
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