It Will Take Time to Ease Feelings : Despite Ruling, Animosity Toward Ocean View Remains

A judge’s ruling may have temporarily restored order in the Sunset League, but rival coaches of Ocean View High School say it will take a long time to ease the hostile feelings that have surfaced over the past year.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Harmon G. Scoville Thursday denied Seahawk Coach Jim Harris’ petition to overturn sanctions imposed by the CIF Southern Section, but an uneasy atmosphere remains in the Sunset League.

Last June, Harris’ five league contemporaries sent a letter to the Southern Section’s Executive Committee asking that further sanctions be imposed on the Ocean View program. The feeling was that the original sanctions imposed by Ocean View Principal John Myers were not sufficient.

The committee agreed with the coaches and banned the Seahawks from the 1985-86 playoffs. Harris lost an appeal of the decision before the Southern Section, State CIF and, finally, in court.

“Justice was served, not only for us, but for high school programs everywhere,” said Steve Popovich, Marina coach. “Now, there are three legitimate programs from our league going to the playoffs.”

Clearly, some animosity remains in the six-team league, whose sports programs are under the jurisdiction of the Huntington Beach Union High School District. Harris acknowledged that.

“Does that mean we’re illegitimate?” he asked. “It’s not my style to go around judging people. They (other coaches) obviously feel real strong that there’s enough rationale to feel the way they do.

“I feel the opposite. It’s a shame they don’t know me well enough, and I don’t see that ever being corrected.”

Dave Brown, Fountain Valley coach, has known Harris since their playing days at Cal State Long Beach. He hired Harris as his freshman coach in 1974. Brown said that as long as Lynwood transfers Ricky Butler and Desi Hazely remain at Ocean View, there will be problems.

“The root of the problem is Ricky and Desi,” Brown said. “It starts and ends with them. Personally, I don’t accept that this situation is over as long as they are suiting up. Ocean View is taking advantage of other programs in the league through unethical means.”

Butler and Hazely arrived at Ocean View in the summer of 1983 under the care of guardian Laurant Brown. When Brown decided to move to La Crescenta in the summer of 1984, the boys remained at Ocean View and lived with Harris, who became their guardian, in his El Toro home.

“My contention is that the two boys shouldn’t be there, period,” said Roy Miller, Huntington Beach coach. “When we sent that letter to the Executive Committee, we were not on a vendetta. We were not on a witch hunt. We were trying to restore some ethics in high school athletics.”

Harris contends that all of his players were eligible to compete this season, but they are being unfairly penalized by not being allowed to compete in the playoffs.

“One coach may feel that there are now three legitimate teams in the playoffs, but it’s a shame that one of the better teams isn’t in the playoffs,” he said. “People are saying they want to be completely fair, but all I know is that all of our kids are eligible, yet we can’t go. How do they explain that?”

Myers hopes that the hostility toward Ocean View will subside now that the appeal process has ended. He also praised the players for keeping their poise during a very tense season that saw the Seahawks win the Sunset League title.

“There was a lot of hostility shown at the rival schools this year,” Myers said. “I’m proud of the way our players kept their poise. I think the other coaches should let this whole thing die.

“They’ve asked for further sanctions and now they’ve gotten them. We’ll learn to live with the decision.”

Jon Borchert, Edison coach, said the hard feelings will be difficult to overcome. He said next week’s meeting to select an all-league team could be very tense and suggested that the coaches abandon the team for 1985-86.

“It’s going to take a long time without transfers checking into Ocean View for the league to get back to normal,” Borchert said. “I think two years of their program returning to normalcy is not going to gloss over everything that has happened.

“The trust is gone, and trust and respect are sacred to me. It’s going to take a long time to overcome that feeling toward Ocean View.”

What They’re Saying

“The trust is gone, and trust and respect are sacred to me. It’s going to take a long time to overcome that feeling toward Ocean View.” --Edison’s Jon Borchert “My contention is that the two boys shouldn’t be there, period. . . . we were not on a vendetta. We were not on a witch hunt. We were trying to restore some ethics in high school athletics.” --Huntington Beach’s Roy Miller “People are saying they want to be completely fair, but all I know is that all of our kids are eligible, yet we can’t go. How do they explain that?” --Ocean View’s Jim Harris