LR CENTRAL LOSES TITLE, GETS PROBATION

Little Rock Central was stripped of its Class AAAAA state boys' basketball title and the opportunity to compete for next season's championship on Wednesday.  The Arkansas Activities Association's double dose of sanctions includes Central forfeiting 14 victories in which it used an ineligible player.
Central High School's boys basketball team also was placed on probation, making it ineligible to compete in postseason play next season because it
already had been warned twice this season by the association, the state's governing body for high school sports, for other rules violations.  

The forfeitures include the 63-59 state title victory over Little Rock Hall on March 10, leaving Central's final record at 11-19 and costing the Tigers their AAAAA state championship and AAAAA-Central conference title.  "I don't think the purpose of this punishment is to send a strong message," said Jimmy Coats, executive director of the association. "The purpose is to follow the handbook. As a director, I have to do what the schools lay out in our handbook for punishment."  Central will have 10 working days to appeal the punishment to the association's 19-member board of directors, and then the trophy likely will be given to Hall, Coats said.

Oliver Fitzpatrick, Central's boys basketball coach, was stunned by the news when contacted in his office.  "Are you sure?" Fitzpatrick asked.  He sat in silence for three or four minutes as he read a copy of the letter from Coats to Central Principal Rudolph Howard detailing the penalties.  "What can I say?" said Fitzpatrick, who was previously suspended for nine games next season for a recruiting violation committed earlier this year. "I don't have any further comment."  

Coats said he slept little Tuesday night while considering what disciplinary action to take against Central.  The Arkansas Activities Association was put in a position to discipline Central when the Little Rock School Board voted unanimously Tuesday to hold on to Central's trophy and let the association decide on punishment for the team.  Coats met with his five assistant executive directors Wednesday morning and concluded that he had no choice but to hand down the stiffest penalty. "This is one of the toughest things we have to do," Coats said. "I am disappointed. I think we all are disappointed. But if we would have issued [Central] a third warning, it would have set a new precedent." While the association directors were meeting, the Little Rock School Board also was busy. Board President Katherine Mitchell began calling and e-mailing the other board members at 10:15 a.m. to see if they were having second thoughts about their Tuesday decision.  Mitchell, who thought the association was meeting in the afternoon, said the board members agreed that turning over the trophy would have been the right thing to do. She instructed Junious Babbs, assistant superintendent, and Howard to do so immediately.

"The administration and the board decided to adopt as their position the position that Howard had taken originally -- that is, that they should turn over the trophy with the self-report, not wait for [the association] to make its ruling," Babbs said.  Howard was glad for the opportunity.  "I had acknowledged last week that this was something we would be willing to do," Howard said after dropping the trophy off at the Arkansas Activities Association office at 11:20 a.m. "We came to the conclusion this morning that this was the right thing to do."  The association had already met and issued its punishment.  "We had just completed our letter when they arrived with the trophy," Coats said. "Our letter might have been written differently, but I don't know if that would have changed our penalty."  

Dedrick Poole, one of eight key players from the 2000-2001 team who could return next season, remains the Most Valuable Player of the Class AAAAA state tournament.  "That's his trophy. He earned it," said Lance Taylor, the association's assistant executive director in charge of basketball.  Poole said he does not want it anymore.  "They can have the MVP trophy," Poole said. "What is the use of me even having it? So I can tell my grandchildren 30 years down the line that I won this trophy, but the team had its state championship taken away?"  If Hall is declared the winner, the team will have the option of naming its own MVP.  "If they choose to do that, the players would officially be co-MVPs," Taylor said.  Poole said despite talking with Fitzpatrick at school, he was first informed of the association's decision when he got home from school, and he was not happy.  "I didn't expect them to put us on probation," Poole said. "That doesn't really make sense. They are punishing the kids. I'm p***** off. They act like we are the ones who have done the stuff. We are 16- and 17-year-olds. We aren't working for the school. We are just playing for the school."  Junior guard Ron Hendrix also wasn't aware of the association's decision until late in the afternoon.  "It shocks me," Hendrix said. "It seems that our dreams are being taken away. To have someone take away our state championship and not be able to compete next year is like taking your mother away."  Taylor said he understands that Central's players might be upset.  "I feel sorry for those kids at Central, but we have to look out for all the state's kids," Taylor said. "We have to make sure everyone is playing fair."  

This article was published on Thursday, May 31, 2001

DARREN IVY
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE