GRANT, NE—Perkins County High School diving coach Tony Spencer was fired Friday for what he called an "old-fashioned no-water practice," a drill that left three swimmers dead and several others in intensive care. "If you can dive into a pool with no water, imagine what you can do with a pool that has water," the 72-year-old Spencer said as he was led to a police car, adding that the "old-school" practice was meant to weed out those who want to be divers from those who aren't serious about the sport. "Those kids who are still breathing? They'll thank me in a couple years when they're wearing gold medals around their mostly healed necks." During his arraignment Saturday, dozens of Spencer's former divers, many of whom were confined to wheelchairs and unable to breathe without a ventilator, showed up to the courthouse to support their coach and thank him for molding them into the men they are today.
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