Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 14, 1993 TAG: 9303140004
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C14 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
RULES? RULES? WHAT RULES?
Now that the high school sports season is nearly two-thirds complete, we have learned that rule books are worthless.First, Richlands kept a Group AA Division 4 state football championship after the school's coach, Dennis Vaught, admitted his team won while wearing illegal cleats.
In basketball, the Seminole District declared a player from Altavista ineligible and forced his team to forfeit a regular-season championship because of a violation of the Virginia High School League's amateur status rule. Threatened by court action from Altavista, the VHSL appeals committee upheld the original decision but compromised by reinstating the player, Sherman Pannell, for the tournament. In effect, the VHSL said it's OK in this state for professionals and amateurs to compete against one another.
And, last weekend, Roanoke City officials found a 10-year-old piece of paper that allowed William Fleming to circumvent Northwestern Region rules that say tournament games must be played in gyms seating 1,200 or more spectators.
This rule was put in for economic purposes because principals felt that regional games might attract 1,200 or more spectators.
Fleming was scheduled to play Woodbridge in the championship game, and the Colonels, as the host team, decided to play in their gym.
The VHSL handbook lists Fleming's gym as having a seating capacity of 750 - more than 400 below minimum. Woodbridge athletic director Don Brown, who once was a Patrick Henry assistant coach, asked that the game not be held at Fleming because of that.
"The Northwestern Regional handbook indicates that regional championship games be moved to alternate sites with 1,200 being mentioned as the minimum number of seats being an acceptable number," said Halifax County principal Larry Clark, who is chairman of the region.
Clark took Brown's request to Fleming on the Saturday before the game, and no one from the Roanoke school at that time indicated Woodbridge was in error in requesting to move the game, Clark said.
Alternative sites were discussed, and it was agreed to move the game to either Franklin County or one of the civic centers in the Roanoke Valley. The civic centers, though, quickly were ruled out because neither one could put down the floor in time.
Then Fleming principal Alyce Szathmary and Roanoke City school superintendent Frank Tota became involved in the discussions when it appeared the game might be moved 25 miles away to Franklin County. Clark said there was even a hint of getting an injunction.
"Mrs. Szathmary asked if the decision could be appealed [to the VHSL]. I wasn't certain. She said, `We would like to avoid getting a court order,' " recalled Clark.
The Halifax County principal checked with VHSL executive director Earl Gillespie, who said it was a regional matter and his office would not get involved.
Then Fleming officials introduced an occupancy permit that listed the capacity of the gym as 1,750.
The occupancy permit wasn't a last-second invention to keep the game at Fleming. Howard Light, Roanoke city director of health and education, knew all buildings were required to have an occupancy permit. In this case, Fleming's was dated May 31, 1983. It listed the capacity for any event, not just a basketball game. Anyone who has seen the Fleming gym realizes that if 1,750 spectators were put in the building, there would be no room for a basketball game.
"I called the fire inspector to make sure the certificate was up to date," said Light. "I told Alyce not to say the seating capacity was that much."
Clark asked Szathmary to fax him a copy of the permit and went back to the regional executive committee.
"I talked with them and I advised that we didn't have the procedure or grounds to challenge this occupancy permit and that we should permit the game to be played at Fleming," Clark said.
All of this underscores two greater problems. First, the region never has been consistent. Fleming and Patrick Henry have played regional games at Fauquier County, which lists a seating capacity of 1,400 in the VHSL book. Anyone who has seen the gym realizes that figure is true only if the stands are full of small children.
There also is the question of why Roanoke City schools, which have boasted of the progress made educationally during Tota's regime, never have provided Fleming and Patrick Henry with better gyms. The PH gym lists its capacity at 1,200, but Light says it is actually smaller than the one at Fleming.
"My feeling is that if the [Roanoke] civic center could be worked out, that would be a better solution when we have a large crowd," Tota said of the gyms at Patrick Henry and Fleming. "In our long-range plans, after we renovate the middle schools, we'll look at the high schools, which will be 40 years old. That includes the whole complex."
Playing at the civic centers is expensive and not conducive to good crowd support. While most schools in Virginia play at home, Patrick Henry and Fleming always have had to move big games. The best Patrick Henry teams - the 1988 and 1992 state championship squads - played most of their home games at one of the civic centers. The Colonels and Patriots haven't played each other at home since 1974.
Now the Northwestern Region must reach a solution about what to do in the future.
"We have to decide whether to play the game at the host team site regardless of the size or the economic consequences or move the site according to the number of people listed in the VHSL directory," said Clark.
If the latter option is picked, it's likely Fleming's gym will be listed at 1,750 in next year's VHSL guide.
And that will be a continuation of the latest example of how people trash the rule books and play by whatever set of standards is most convenient.