Fans of the Medicine Hat Rattler’s college basketball team might have been mistaken for cursing a bad play while cheering on their star player, Gui Carabagiale Fuck, who proudly sported his last name on his jersey during the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) national championships in March.
Fuck decided he was tired of going by his mother’s last name, Carabagiale, on his jersey and team roster, and that it was time for the public to accept his father’s German last name as it is.
The Rattlers’ head coach Craig Price said he was highly supportive of Fuck’s decision.
“We preach acceptance here in North America, especially in Canada, of all kinds of different cultures, habits, and religious beliefs, and here’s a guy who just wants to use his last name,” Price said. “I’m standing up for him within our organization and community to say, ‘This is a person we brought here and he’s proud of his name—we should accept that.’”
Fuck’s decision to use his last name has reached international and national headlines, but Price argued the story might be overlooking the accomplishments of the Medicine Hat Rattler’s team this basketball season. It was the first time the college team had ever made it to the national championship—finishing in seventh place—but this record in the team’s history appears unnoticed by the public.
“That’s the frustrating part for us,” Price said. “This is overshadowing the national championship appearance. I think it should be more focused on him being a member of our program and the things he’s accomplished here, and the things he can continue to help us do. I’m more about celebrating us as a team and not celebrating us as an individual.”
Fuck, a 26-year-old business administration student at Medicine Hat College, is also highly involved with the school as a selected student council advisor.
“I’m famous and it’s not because of anything I’ve done that awesome, it’s about my last name,” he said. “It’s good to be known, but I wish that it was because of basketball or something else that I did.”
If a future opportunity arose for Fuck to play for a better CCAA team, he said he is unlikely to take the offer.
“I want to stay here and graduate. I know I’ll make a difference here. I know a lot of students here and people look up to me,” he said. “I have an important role here—I’m a leader.”
Fuck said his motto for achieving his goals on the court and in the classroom is to “try to be positive no matter the situation, because there is always something to learn.”
“I try not to focus on the negative. I always look for the positive,” he said.
“I see the positive thing about my name. I have fun with it. I believe it depends on the age of the person,” Fuck said. “Older people kind of think its offensive, but younger people think it’s awesome.”
