A 22-Year-Old Man Had Wife Pretend To Be Mother So He Could Play High School Basketball in Tennessee

A 22-year-old Louisiana man posed as an 18-year-old to play basketball at Ridgeway High School in Memphis. According to reports, the 35-year-old woman he lived with who claimed to be his mother was actually his wife. He has been identified by various outlets as “McKinzie” or “McKenzie” Sewell.

"In a letter to Ridgeway principal Jim Long, the student-athlete in question was identified as a transfer student from Louisiana but was not identified by name. After getting into disciplinary trouble at school, the student was found to be living in the Ridgeway district with a woman who was either his live-in girlfriend or wife and not his mother as originally thought, according to the letter. The TSSAA also determined that the student had received a General Equivalency Diploma from the Shreveport Job Corps and had also falsified a transcript from Peabody Magnet High School in Louisiana."

Ridgeway, expected to compete for a state title, was booted from the tournament. This ends what had been an eventful season for the school. Just in the past few weeks Ridgeway had 10 players suspended for a fight during a game. The school also had an assistant basketball coach, Jimmy McClain, found killed in his home.