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South Oak Cliff Golden Bears players hold up their 2005-2006 basketball championship trophy.

DALLAS - The former South Oak Cliff High School English teacher at the center of a News 8 Investigation is speaking out.

In an open letter to Dallas Independent School District officials and to News 8, the teacher wrote about how he was forced to change a student's grades so the student could play on a state championship basketball team.

It was March 2006 when Kendrake Johnigan helped lead the South Oak Cliff Golden Bears to their second straight state basketball championship.

At that same time, according to student records, Johnigan was being dropped from his English class and placed into a "reconnection" class for students who were failing. According to state officials, strict eligibility rules prohibit failing students from participating in athletics. 

"A student who is participating while ineligible causes the entire team to forfeit,” said Charles Breithaupt, University Interscholastic League Director of Athletics. “There is no exception to no pass, no play because it's state law."

According to student records, Johnigan had not been attending the class at all and had been assigned a grade of “50."

South Oak Cliff Head Basketball Coach James Mayes II signed off on the transfer from the failing class. Mays told News 8 he was just doing what he was instructed to do by Johnigan’s school counselor.

Johnigan's English III teacher, John Yourse, said community criticism compelled him to go public with his story.

In an open letter to DISD officials, Yourse said when he learned that Johnigan was playing basketball but not attending classes, he "visited with head coach Mays and told him."

Yourse said a week later "school principal Donald Moten told me that this kid had to receive a passing grade for the sake of the school." 

Yourse said Moten told him he should, "fix [Johnigan’s] failing grade immediately."

Yourse also said Moten "insisted that I put some grades in the grade book to reflect the new grade."

Records obtained by News 8 showed grades that Yourse said he was forced to give to the student, who never showed up for class.

Also visible in the book was a slash mark through each of those grades.

"[I] immediately crossed out and initialed every grade [to] call attention to anyone who cared to question what happened that day," Yourse said in the statement.

Yourse now teaches at another DISD high school and confirmed to News 8 that everything in the open letter is true. He also said he looks forward to cooperating with DISD Superintendent Michael Hinojosa in his investigation into the matter.

Mays called the allegations a fabrication.

Donald Moten, who is now an assistant principal at another DISD school, has not responded to repeated requests for comment.