Fans, coaches stay silent as transgender wrestler Mack Beggs inches closer to title defense
Whenever the topic of transgender wrestler Mack Beggs came up Friday afternoon inside a relatively packed gym at Allen High School, everyone really wanted to “stick to sports.”
In reality, nobody wanted to discuss him at all.
Because while Euless Trinity High School senior has said that he is to compete with the boys, UIL rules mandate participants must compete against the gender that appears on their birth certificate.
Last fall, when the knowledge that Beggs had been injecting monthly testosterone injections of less than a milliliter became public knowledge, people in the wrestling community (most of whom were unknown to him) voiced their criticisms.
Last season, he produced a perfect 56-0 record the Class 6A girls state championship at the 110-pound weight class.
Beggs hasn’t lost this year, either (he’s currently 31-0). Through the first two rounds of the 2018 Class 6A Region II wrestling tournament, he’s been his typically dominant self.
In the quarterfinals, it took Beggs just four minutes and 28 seconds to win in a fall over Lewisville High School’s Elyse Nelson. In the semifinals, he was even better, pinning Lewisville Flower Mound’s Nicole Matera in a mere 1 minute and 40 seconds.
But nobody wanted to talk about those performances Friday afternoon and evening. Not the near-dozen opposing wrestlers, coaches, fans or parents. Many of those types of individuals, who didn’t have any connection to Beggs, began walking away when his name came up.
And it’s almost certainly because of the questions that might come next.
To be fair, Euless Trinity head coach Travis Clark, Beggs and his teammates have been consistent in not discussing the topic until the conclusion of meets such as these. So it wasn’t that surprising when Clark and his team stuck to that approach.
In the past, opponents, parents and fans have been - to varying degrees - open about their frustrations with what they view as an unfair situation.
While Beggs drew cheers at his state title medal ceremony at the Berry Center in Cypress last February, he also received an audible chorus of boo’s from some in the crowd.
A little more than a day after Beggs' state title win, Jim Baudhuin, a Coppell attorney and father of a female wrestler, filed a lawsuit against the University Interscholastic League. That suit was eventually dismissed by a Travis County judge.
With the exception of encouragement from teammates and coaches, there wasn’t much reaction from the stands either way.
Of course, Beggs has shrugged off the negativity before, and for once, the silence from would-be critics might be a welcome change.
In an interview with the Dallas Morning News from this past week, the senior opened up about his triumphs and struggles. He also said that he’d received a non-Division I scholarship offer to compete in the men's division.
On Saturday, Beggs seeks to earn another state tournament bid and defend his title.
And given how well he’s done so far in this tournament, it should be clear to everyone that’s what matters to him most right now.
This story was originally published February 16, 2018 at 8:58 PM with the headline "Fans, coaches stay silent as transgender wrestler Mack Beggs inches closer to title defense."