The Russian Czars, an American-style football team touring the United States for the first time, lost their coach Eldon Cunningham when he was arrested at a football practice in Bowling Green, Kentucky, for failure to pay child support.
Cunningham, who took the Czars to the States last week, was escorted off the field during the joint practice with the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers on Thursday as his team stood by helplessly.
He has been charged with failure to make a single child support payment after a Texas court ordered him to do so 44 months ago, The Associated Press reported.
With Cunningham awaiting extradition to Texas in a local Kentucky jail, his rudderless football team fell to the Hilltoppers 45-14 on Saturday. The Czars lost under the guidance of Western Kentucky offensive backfield coach Lee Murray.
Cunningham, 41, an American football trailblazer in Russia, has been involved with organizing football in Moscow for the past two years. After leaving the Moscow Bears, another Russian team, Cunningham founded the Russian Czars, taking as many as 20 players from the Bears. With a collection of former rugby players, wrestlers and other athletes, Cunningham fashioned a 34-man squad worthy of a tour in the heartland of American football.
In their first game last week against Team U. S. A. , a U. S. Football Federation team made up of professional and amateur players from all over the United States, the Czars were trounced 35-0.
Leading up to their second game with the Hilltoppers, Western Kentucky coach Jack Harbaugh, father of Chicago Bears quarterback Jim Harbaugh, agreed to have a joint practice with the Czars.
The charges that led to Cunningham's arrest were filed on Sept. 1 by Debra Faye Worley, the mother of his two daughters, Ashley Marie, 7, and Tiffany Arlene, 4. The warrant from Texas ordered Cunningham to make payments of $350 per month in child support, AP reported.
Cunningham remains in jail without bond for fear he might flee the country, according to AP.
His players were scheduled to return to Russia on Monday, but their situation was unclear with Cunningham sidelined.
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