What Do You Think Of Wrestling Lawsuit?

EASTLAKE, Ohio, Posted 5:12 p.m. EST February 5, 2002 -- A former Eastlake North High School wrestler claims that he was forced to use dangerous dieting tactics to stay on the team.

NewsChannel5's Joe Pagonakis reported that as a result, wrestler Henry "Hank" Danes IV (pictured, left) has filed a lawsuit. The suit asks for $25,000 in damages against the Willoughby-Eastlake School District and his former wrestling coach.

At 135 pounds, Danes was a star wrestler for his high school at one time, pinning 14 opponents in a row. Danes looked like an upcoming champion, but his parents said that they never knew about the dangerous dieting game that their son was playing behind the scenes.

"(He would) eat rice on Mondays, ice cubes and Juicy Fruit gum, and that was all, period," said his father, Henry Danes III.

Henry Danes IV claims that coach Mike Kokitka (pictured, below) forced him to use illegal dieting techniques, allegedly threatening to remove Danes from the team if he didn't wear a plastic sweat suit to lose weight.

"There (are) too many kids (who) can die," Henry Danes III said. "They are conned into (losing the weight -- coaches say) 'You can do it, you can do it.'"

But Henry Danes IV couldn't do it. His father said that his son got sick and passed out at practice, and that his performance dropped.

The boy quit the team last year, and he then reported the extreme weight-loss tactics allegedly used by Kokitka to Willoughby-Eastlake Superintendent Keith Miller, who took action.

"We notified the Ohio High School Athletic Association, and then we asked the coach to step down, and he did," Miller said.

But Henry Danes IV said that the removal of the coach isn't enough, and said that the dieting tactics allegedly forced on him ruined his senior year of wrestling and his bid to wrestle in college this year.

He said that's why he has filed a lawsuit against the coach and the district. Meanwhile, his father has a warning for other parents.

"Don't let it happen," Henry Danes III said. "Protect your kids (and) see what's going on."

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in Lake County Common Pleas Court.