Rally at Ocean View : Crowd Puts On Press for Ousted Coach

Jim Harris formally appealed his dismissal as Ocean View High School basketball coach Tuesday, hours before hundreds of his supporters petitioned the Huntington Beach Union High School District board to reinstate him.

Speaker after speaker praised Harris and denounced his ouster as coach, including parents, teachers, USC basketball coach Stan Morrison and Wayne Carlander, a four-year starter at USC and an Ocean View graduate. Harris, who remains employed as a physical education teacher, was relieved of his duties as coach after Ocean View Principal John Myers said an investigation found that he had used “undue influence” to keep two key players at the school.

Title Forfeited

Harris has also appealed the forfeiture of games won by the boys’ varsity team to the Southern Section Division of the California Interscholastic Federation. In announcing Harris’ ouster, Myers also said the Seahawks would forfeit their Sunset League championship and the school would relinquish its runner-up plaque “if the CIF deems it appropriate.”

Harris met with Marie Otto, acting superintendent of the Huntington Beach Union High School District, on Tuesday morning, after which Otto said she would wait for a CIF ruling before making a decision on whether to reinstate the coach. Otto said that if she upholds the dismissal, Harris would be able to appeal her decision to the district board.

CIF Southern Section Commissioner Ray Plutko said the forfeiture appeal has been received and the federation has asked Harris for additional information. A decision on the appeal will be made by the 15-member CIF executive committee, “probably within a month or less,” Plutko said.

Before the forfeiture, Ocean View had compiled a 24-4 record and reached the championship game of the Southern Section 5-A division playoffs.

One Harris supporter at Tuesday night’s meeting at the school was William Straight, whose son is a varsity starter. He said he was filing a formal appeal on behalf of Ocean View parents and presented the trustees with petitions bearing the signatures of 600 registered voters supporting Harris.

Parents ‘Outraged’

The parents, he said, are “astounded and outraged” by the action taken against Harris. Straight said that the parents have not been told the exact nature of the accusations leveled against Harris.

“Our children, many for several years, have been intimately involved with Jim and his family. What affidavits, declarations or statements have been made that so besmirch this man that (they) require his dismissal?” he said.

Two sophomores--starting center Ricky Butler and reserve player Desi Hazely--were instrumental in the Seahawks’ excellent showing. However, the two transfers from Lynwood High School were found ineligible in a district investigation of the Seahawks’ basketball recruitment program.

An investigation report said Harris had used “undue influence” to keep the two key players at Ocean View. Butler and Hazely have lived with Harris and his family in El Toro for the past seven months.

“The circumstances of the boys’ living with Harris were well known, or should have been known, by the district last August,” Straight said. “They were, after all, admitted to the school . . . . What was the purpose or motive of delaying the decision until after the basketball season?”

All-County Player

With a 12.4 scoring average and 11.5 rebounds per game, Butler became the fourth sophomore ever to earn All-Orange County honors from The Times.

Lois Berresford, an Ocean View English teacher in whose class Hazely was enrolled, strongly urged the board to reinstate Harris. She said that while Hazely was in her class, “Coach Harris kept weekly contact with me” to check on the boy’s progress, “the only coach who has ever contacted me personally.”

USC basketball coach Morrison summed up the feelings of many in attendance when he said, “Historically, highly visible and successful programs have attracted the best students. Outstanding chemistry programs have attracted fine chemists; superior musical programs have attracted outstanding musicians and, likewise with athletics, successful athletic programs have attracted outstanding athletes.”

Morrison then named several local high school coaches who have built strong athletic programs through active recruitment.

“It has been my contention that athletics are a byproduct of the educational process,” he said. “I find it paradoxical that Coach Harris has been released from his coaching duties and yet retained for even more important duties, those of a teacher.”

Student Protest

Carlander, this season’s Pacific-10 player of the year, said the choice to attend Ocean View was made by Butler and Hazely and their parents. “It shouldn’t have been approved previously and then brought up later against Coach Harris,” said the 1981 Ocean View graduate.

The day after Harris was relieved of his coaching duties, between 500 and 1,000 of Ocean View’s 2,300-member student body staged a half-hour protest demonstration outside Myers’ office. When Myers told the students that his decision to fire Harris was final, many of the students booed the principal.

Scott Kufus, a 1982 Ocean View graduate, told the board that as a student he looked up to Harris. “He represented the father I wanted to have . . . . There’s one thing you can never take away from Jim Harris, and that’s his love. I needed Coach Harris then, but more importantly, Ocean View High School needs Coach Harris now.”