Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 4, 1992 TAG: 9203040026
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Patrick Henry High is 22-1, ranked first in the state Group AAA poll, hasn't lost to a Virginia team, and won its eight district games by an average of 14 points with five players scoring in double figures. Nobody else played above .500 in the five-team league. And yet no Patriots made the five-player first team announced last week.
"If they don't have any first-teamers and accomplished what they did, Woody Deans should be the coach of the universe, much less district coach of the year," said Franklin County principal Bennie Gibson, the RVD chairman.
Deans wasn't. The issue, however, is not PH. If any of the other RVD schools had performed as the Patriots have and the lack of honors was as glaring, it would be similarly abhorrent.
However, the issue is coaches - not who did or didn't get an honor, but how their profession as teachers and example-setters for youth is dishonored by pettiness, childishness and jealousy.
The process and the results served a few, but sadly were a disservice to deserving players. The root of the problem is inside the Roanoke city limits, where a feud between Deans and William Fleming coach Burrall Paye has been festering for four years, even landing on the doorstep of Frank Tota, superintendent of Roanoke schools.
"What I've been taught is that you're an example to your players and you should control yourself as an adult," said Cave Spring coach Rick Crotts, among the many people disgusted by what appears to be politicking by his peers. "That's what I've been taught by [former boss] Joe Davis and what [Roanoke County Schools superintendent] Bayes Wilson wants from me. . . . This [vote] doesn't show it."
Not only was some of the balloting flawed, but so was the process. The Roanoke Valley District handbook permits a coach to nominate players from his own team, but not vote for them. The handbook calls for a coach to vote for eight players. However, they voted for 10, with 10 points for a first-place vote down to one point for a 10th-place mention.
Retired Fleming athletic director Ken French coordinated the nominations and balloting for the RVD, following procedure used in recent years. Pulaski County coach Pat Burns has been pushing for a coaches' meeting to discuss and vote for the All-RVD team, as is done in football, girls' basketball and selected other sports.
So, Fleming athletic director Jim Easthom scheduled a meeting for Sunday, Feb. 23, at Fleming. "The biggest problem is we need to get together, as coaches, to talk about the players and pick the best team," Franklin County coach Calvin Preston said.
Easthom then notified the coaches that the meeting was called off, several days before it was to be held. Paye confirmed that he canceled the meeting.
"You know the problems we [Fleming] have had with Patrick Henry," said Paye, who not long before had been involved in a confrontation with PH guard Troy Manns after accusing Manns of making offensive remarks during a PH-Fleming game. "I just didn't think things would go well. I thought it could really present a problem."
If Paye didn't want to meet - Deans said he did, and would have - why didn't Fleming send an assistant coach? "That's probably the way we should have went," Easthom said Tuesday.
Easthom said the RVD administrators "had become a little complacent, because this system has worked until now. I don't think there's any doubt it's going to change."
Crotts said he voted for all four PH nominees, three on the first team; Burns said he voted for all four PH players in his top five. Both said they listed Manns at the top of their ballots. Preston said he voted for PH's Timmy Basham on the first five and Curtis Staples in the second five, and selected Pulaski's Chris Burns as his top player.
Paye would not reveal his vote, although another source said Burns was Paye's top player. Asked if he voted for any PH players, Paye would not comment. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that if the above revelations are accurate, then Paye likely had no Patriots on his ballot.
However, as Paye said after Saturday night's district tournament final loss to PH, "No single coach could keep all of them off the team. No single coach could have that kind of impact."
If Paye is right, then either a coach isn't telling the truth about his vote, or, just as disgustingly, there may have been a conspiracy to damage the candidacy of the PH players. The Fleming-PH tiff didn't touch Deans' objectivity. He said he voted two Colonels on the first five - including Carlos Rhodes at No. 1 - and another to the second five.
Pulaski's Kevin Alexander was chosen player of the year. Unfortunately and unfairly, he was booed by a handful of PH and Fleming fans when he was introduced after the district title game. Although the RVD had a player of the year who didn't average 10 points per game, the fans' wrath should have been directed at the voters.
"I hope the principals and athletic directors don't have to take the vote from the coaches," Gibson said Saturday night, when the complaints just started to reach his ears. "In my view, I think there's a distinct possibility of that happening now.
"There were some glaring inequities and obvious injustices. As an educator, I was very disappointed and highly embarrassed when I heard what had occurred. We can't change the past, but I sure can have an effect on the future. Things have to change."
It also would help if some teacher/coaches - and not all are guilty here - showed the maturity of their students and players.
by CNB