Fellow Post Register reporter Bryan Clark and I broke the story about a lawsuit filed against Idaho State University.

Idaho Falls native Orin Duffin alleged anti-Mormon discrimination by his ISU tennis coaches and teammates. Some unnamed teammates of Duffin’s backed up many of his claims, as did an investigation by ISU’s Office of Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action and Diversity.

Here is the full story:

A Mormon tennis player from Idaho Falls is suing Idaho State University, claiming he was discriminated against because of his faith.

Former Hillcrest High School tennis standout Orin Duffin filed suit against the school Friday, alleging he was subject to severe harassment while playing for the men’s tennis team because of his membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Stuart Summers, ISU’s associate vice president for Marketing and Communications, said Monday that school officials would not comment on the pending litigation.

The suit comes almost a year after ISU’s Office of Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action and Diversity completed an investigation into allegations that Duffin was subjected to religious harassment.

That investigation found corroboration for allegations that assistant coach Nate Gross and some team members sent women, possibly prostitutes or strippers, to Duffin’s hotel room while the team was at a tournament in Las Vegas. The investigation also found that then-head coach Bobby Goeltz permitted a culture of hostility toward Duffin on the team and failed to investigate allegations of Gross’ misconduct.

“The interviews conducted collectively paint a clear picture that (Duffin) was subjected to severe, persistent and pervasive harassment and bullying,” investigators found. “In particular, they establish that (Duffin’s) religion was a contributing factor (to) that treatment.”

The report recommended that Goeltz, a popular longtime coach, be fired and that Gross, who had already resigned, not be rehired.

Goeltz announced his “retirement” in late July, a month after the internal investigation concluded. But a letter from the Office of Equal Opportunity notes that Goeltz “submitted his notice of retirement in lieu of termination.”

Goeltz spent 25 years as ISU’s head coach of the men’s and women’s programs. Prior to coming to ISU, he was the head coach of the Maryland tennis program for 10 years. He recorded more than 500 career wins.

Gross, who played for ISU before becoming an assistant coach, was announced as the new men’s and women’s tennis coach at the University of Hawaii-Hilo on July 30. In September, however, Tina McDermott was announced as Gross’ replacement.

Reached by phone Monday, UH-Hilo’s athletic secretary Audrey Hirayama said Gross’ hiring never went through. A September article in the Hawaii Tribune-Herald said Gross resigned, per a university spokesperson.

Duffin attended Hillcrest from 2011 to 2014 and made the state tennis tournament his final three seasons. As a senior, Duffin won the 5A boys singles championship, the first such title by a District 6 boys singles player since 2009. He was also named the Post Register’s All-Area Boys Tennis Player of the Year in 2013 and 2014.

After Duffin’s stellar high school career, he was offered several college scholarships, according to the complaint. He chose to play for ISU, fulfilling a childhood dream.

Duffin joined the ISU men’s team for the 2014-15 season. He played 10 singles matches and five doubles matches in 2015, per ISU’s archives. He went 5-5 in singles play and 4-1 in doubles.

But ISU’s investigation showed that shortly after joining the squad Duffin, the only Mormon on the team, began to experience harassment.

The investigation found corroboration that Gross badgered Duffin with questions about sex and his religious beliefs. It also found corroboration that Gross would attempt to hit Duffin with tennis balls during a practice drill, something other players were also encouraged to do.

One team member told investigators: “If I were being treated by (Gross) the way (Duffin) is being treated, I would have left in the second week of school. All of the kids on the team including (Gross) are bullying (Duffin).”

Another player, identified as an upperclassman, told investigators that what was happening to Duffin differed from hazing that freshmen typically undergo and that he was worried Duffin would “just lose it some day.”

The report did not find that Goeltz directly participated in religious harassment against Duffin, but it found that he had “demonstrated negligence in the management and oversight of his team.”

When investigators asked if Goeltz had investigated allegations that prostitutes or strippers were sent to Duffin’s room by Gross and a group of players in order to test his religious convictions, Goeltz responded: “I seriously doubt any of the kids would have enough money to hire a prostitute in Vegas,” according to the report.

“The failure to intervene on (Duffin’s) behalf signaled to the team that its treatment of (Duffin) was appropriate, allowed the treatment to continue and worsen over time,” the investigation found.

Ultimately Duffin, who is now serving a LDS mission, left the team.

“(Duffin) ultimately chose to sever his relationship with the tennis program rather than consider returning to the team after he serves his mission,” the report states. “Thus, (Duffin) has also been deprived of his ability to participate in inter-collegiate athletics.”

Duffin is suing ISU, President Arthur Vailas, Athletic Director Jeff Tingey, Goeltz, Gross and 10 as-yet unnamed individuals over the treatment he received while playing on the men’s tennis team.

Duffin is seeking an unspecified amount of punitive damages for religious discrimination, deprivation of due process, deprivation of free speech, conspiracy, negligent supervision and training, negligence, gross negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent infliction of emotional distress.

Rexburg, Idaho was recently named the safest town in Idaho by an online public records aggregator. Few Rexburg residents have been gang members, been to prison or even been arrested.

Art Morales is not one of those residents.

The baseball coach for Rexburg’s high school baseball team had a rough upbringing in Ventura, Calif., and that lifestyle followed him to Idaho.

But after his second prison stint, Morales reached a slowdown in Rexburg. Here’s my profile of the Madison High School coach:

Luke Mecham approached Art Morales four years ago with a job offer. Madison High School’s then-varsity baseball coach wanted Morales to join his staff as an assistant.

Mecham was surprised to hear Morales say, “I don’t know.”

“What do you mean?” Mecham asked.

“I just have to check on some things,” Morales responded.

“Is it work?” Mecham said.

“No, my work supports me,” Morales said.

Mecham walked away for a second, then returned.

“Is it your record?” Mecham said.

“Yeah,” Morales said.

Morales had lived in Idaho for 15 years at that point. He had been to prison twice, which he figured would complicate his chances of becoming a Madison coach, but Mecham reassured him. The district superintendent had already signed off.

“I was like, ‘Then I’ll take the job,’ ” Morales said with a laugh.

Morales, 38, replaced Mecham as the head coach last summer and has helped the Bobcats reach the 5A state tournament, which starts Thursday. The tattoos that coat Morales’ arms hint at his turbulent past, but they also obscure his transformation into a cherished baseball coach.

“He’s doing a 180-degree turnaround,” Morales’ father, Art Sr., said.

Morales moved to Idaho in 1997 at the age of 19. He served about three years total in prison due to marijuana possession. His most recent prison term ended in 2006.

“I wasn’t living the right lifestyle,” Morales said. “(When you’re) not living the right lifestyle, problems find you or you find problems.”

Those problems stemmed from a rough childhood in Ventura, Calif. Baseball was Morales’ greatest passion, but drugs, alcohol and gangs pervaded his life.

Morales, a catcher, made Ventura High School’s varsity baseball team as a freshman, but he was booted from the team as a junior after he beat up a man who heckled one of his teammates.

Morales ended up at Santa Barbara High School as a senior and graduated. He even planned to play baseball at Cerritos Junior College. But one life-threatening incident altered his path.

One night in 1997, members from a rival gang jumped Morales and a fellow gang member. Morales ran away, but a lone rival followed him. Morales fought without realizing the man had a knife. He stabbed Morales in the back and the neck.

Morales’ neck was gushing blood, which he subdued by tying a shirt around the wound. He ran to a nearby friend’s house and was rushed to the hospital.

Morales’ parents were living in Pocatello at the time. When they heard the news, they immediately drove to Ventura. They brought their son back to Idaho after he recovered.

It took two prison terms for Morales to turn his life around. He abandoned drugs and alcohol. He started a family. He moved to Rexburg seven years ago and became a member of the LDS church last summer.

It took time, however, for Morales to adjust to Rexburg.

“I wanted to slow down in life, and we hit Jake brakes,” Morales said.

The city’s culture felt foreign to Morales, and he looked out of place to many of the residents.

During his first year in Rexburg, parents took their children out of his baseball academy because they were uncomfortable with his appearance. Other parents refused to let their children hang out with his four children.

“At least once a month, we wanted to move,” Morales said.

Life drastically improved after that first year. In fact, parents began to ask him to accept their children into his baseball academy.

Despite an inconsistent regular season, Madison won the 5A District 5-6 title and reached their first state tournament in two years. The Bobcats play Lewiston at 4:30 p.m. Thursday.

Morales’ tattoos used to stand out for negative reasons. Now, they symbolize how much he’s changed.

“We just changed playgrounds,” Morales said. “We surrounded ourselves with really good people, and in return really good things have been happening.”

You don’t hear about many major league pitchers who go through two Tommy John surgeries in their careers. You almost never hear about MLB pitchers who go through the surgery twice in two years.

So I was stunned when I heard Anthony Brady.

Brady pitched for Idaho Falls High School and earned a scholarship at Division III Puget Sound in 2012. During his freshman season, the right-hander tore his ulnar collateral ligament and needed Tommy John surgery. He returned in time for his sophomore season. Three appearances in, he tore his UCL again.

Brady’s story would be amazing if it ended there. Instead, Brady received Tommy John surgery again, returned in time for his senior season and finished the year healthy for the first time since high school. As you can imagine, Brady’s rehab process was the most fascinating part of this story.

Here’s my profile of Brady that appeared in the May 3 edition of the Post Register:

Anthony Brady feared his ulnar collateral ligament had torn for the second time in two years, but he held his emotions in check until the MRI report arrived.

Brady was a sophomore pitcher for the University of Puget Sound baseball team. As a freshman, Brady tore the UCL in his right elbow and needed Tommy John surgery, but the right-hander returned for the start of the 2014 season.

In his third appearance that year, Brady threw a fastball and felt a pop in his right elbow. Eight days later, Puget Sound’s head athletic trainer Craig Bennett confirmed Brady’s fear — the UCL was torn again.

Brady buried his head in his hands with tears streaming from his eyes.

“I told Craig, ‘I’m not going to quit,’ ” Brady said. “At the time, I said it like that with such confidence, but during the rehab process it was a completely different story.”

Brady is now a senior at Puget Sound. He pitched for the Loggers all spring, finishing a baseball season for the first time since he played for the Idaho Falls Bandits after his senior year at Idaho Falls High School. The previous three years were mired in fear and self-doubt, which Brady overcame with persistence.

Eerily similar injuries

On Feb. 16, 2013, Brady made his third bullpen appearance for the Loggers. Down 16-0 to Corban in the eighth inning, Brady recorded the first two outs and reached a 3-2 count on the third hitter. Brady decided to throw a fastball. He set, wound up and threw the pitch into the dirt. Brady crouched on the mound in pain, prompting a visit from head coach Brian Billings. Brady told Billings he slipped on the mound and tweaked his hamstring. It was a lie. On that 3-2 fastball, Brady felt a pop in his right arm.

“That was probably the most pain I’ve felt throughout the process,” Brady said. “My whole arm had searing pain up and down and kind of went numb. I knew at that point that whatever had happened was pretty bad.”Brady and Billings decided to gauge his health with some practice pitches. He threw the first one softly and felt fine. He threw the second with a normal arm action.

Brady underwent an MRI days later, and it revealed a torn UCL. The second practice pitch was ill-advised, but the UCL had already been shredded on the 3-2 fastball.

Dr. Elias Khlafayan, the orthopedic surgeon for the Seattle Mariners and Seahawks, performed Brady’s Tommy John surgery. Brady’s right arm was in a brace for the first two months after the procedure. After that, he worked on regaining range of motion in the arm. He lifted light weights (one or two pounds) after the brace came off to regain muscle mass in his bicep and tricep. He also rehabilitated his left leg because the tendon graft in his hamstring was used to replace his torn UCL (in Tommy John surgery, a tendon from another part of the body replaces the torn UCL).

The final half of the 12-month recovery process involved throwing, first with a tennis ball from a short distance.

Brady didn’t suffer any major setbacks and was cleared to play before the 2014 season began. He was even slotted as a starting pitcher.

In his third start of the season, Brady carried a shutout into the fourth inning against Whitman. With one out, the count swelled to 3-2. Brady chose fastball. He set, wound up and the pitch plummeted into the dirt. He felt a pop in his right elbow.

This time, Brady knew something was wrong and immediately left the game, but he wasn’t sure of the severity.

“I had seen a lot of stories that during the throwing process when you come back from Tommy John, it’s pretty common to feel pops, feel a snapping, because you have a lot of scar tissue that builds up over the surgery area,” Brady said. “My thought was, ‘Maybe it’s just scar tissue.’ ”

The fear of another torn UCL, however, crept into Brady’s mind. Sure enough, eight days after the Whitman game, the MRI report revealed another torn UCL.

“(My wife and I) both thought he was done,” Brady’s father, Cliff, said. “‘Nobody would go through this twice.’”

‘Is it really worth it?’

Tommy John recovery lasts about 18 months the second time, so Brady knew he’d miss the rest of his sophomore season and all of his junior season. Plus, the surgery is far less successful on second-time recipients than on first-timers, according to Jeff Passan’s book “The Arm.”

“I was looking at it saying, ‘Is it really worth it?,’ ” Brady said. ”’Do I really want to put in all of this work just to come back and play Division III baseball for one more year?’ I was ready to quit every day.”

So why didn’t he quit?

Part of the answer stems from his experience at the Logger Youth Baseball Camp, where he coached 7- to 13-year-olds at Puget Sound during the summers of 2013 and 2014. Those players reminded Brady of a younger him. They rekindled his love for baseball.

Brady’s girlfriend at the time also helped keep him going. So did his parents, who he felt he’d let down if he quit baseball. He also credits his I.F. roots.

“Growing up in southeast Idaho, you, especially the baseball player, gain a chip on your shoulder,” Brady said. “You hate being told no, and you can’t stand being underrated.”

The return

The grind of Brady’s 18-month recovery felt easy compared to his first games as a senior this spring. Brady allowed a combined 11 runs on 10 hits and five walks in his second, third and fourth appearances.

“I was honestly ready to quit,” Brady said. “I couldn’t deal with the fact that I had put in all of this work the last three years to come back and literally just suck.”

Brady also had trouble trusting his twice-repaired arm, so Bennett suggested he see a sports psychologist. Brady agreed.

The psychologist gave Brady strategies to improve his focus and confidence, but more than anything, she served as an outlet for Brady to express his tormented thoughts.

In Saturday’s season finale, Brady struck out six Whitman batters in 2.2 scoreless innings. His final ERA was 3.86.

“He’s the hardest working, most determined athlete I’ve ever seen,” Puget Sound head baseball coach Jeff Halstead said.

Brady will attend graduate school at Northern Colorado this fall with plans to study biomechanics. He also has a spot on the baseball team. Until mid-March, he didn’t know if he’d be physically or mentally capable enough to continue pitching.

“Any day that I have the ability to go out and play catch and even throw a baseball at this point, I don’t take it for granted,” Brady said.