THE HIGH SCHOOLS : Davis Erases Ugly Baseball Memories on Basketball Court

When Sean Davis walks through El Camino Real High these days, he doesn’t worry if people start whispering.

Perhaps they are talking about the way Davis, a 16-year-old junior, played this past basketball season. Or maybe, they are still asking, “Is that the Sean Davis?”

A year ago, Davis had a hard time making it from one class to another without being reminded that he was the one who caused the uproar surrounding the City Section baseball playoffs.

Davis had played on a senior division Little League team while he was a member of the El Camino Real varsity. That violated state rules and when school officials discovered it, they forfeited five West Valley League games.

Because of the forfeits, El Camino failed to qualify for the playoffs, or so it seemed. Two days before the start of postseason play, Sid Thompson, an associate superintendent for the school district, overturned the forfeits. After a day of wrestling with the issue, El Camino officials decided to play and suddenly the Conquistadores were back in the playoffs.

They didn’t last long. After all the off-the-field maneuvering, El Camino lost, 9-4, to Granada Hills in the first round of the playoffs.

It was an agonizing time for El Camino baseball Coach Mike Maio, who considered quitting over the matter.

“Nobody knows the hell I was put through,” Maio said.

Davis might understand. He experienced his own nightmare.

“It was terrible,” Davis said. “Sometimes, I just didn’t feel like coming to school. It felt like the world was coming to an end.”

The first day in school after the news of the forfeits broke was a rough one for Davis.

“As soon as I walked into school, everybody was looking at me, whispering and stuff,” he said.

A few days later, Davis was in a gym class when a fellow student taunted him.

“He called me a loser. I just hit him,” Davis said.

The school hit back--Davis was given a one-day suspension from school.

“People would be joking, and I didn’t feel like joking,” he said. “I made a mistake, but if I kept hearing about it, I was going to self-destruct.”

But Davis got through the school year. He had thoughts of transferring but decided to return to the Woodland Hills campus in September.

“By coming back, he was showing everybody that he was not a quitter,” said Mike McNulty, the Conquistadores’ basketball coach. “Everybody makes mistakes, gets into bad situations. I think he did the right thing staying here.”

Davis ran into problems last year, he said, by not reading the fine print.

City school athletes and their parents must sign an eligibility form that forbids an athlete from playing in an outside league in that sport in the same season.

“I didn’t read the card,” he said. “I just gave it to my mom and told her to sign it. It was my fault on that.”

So while he was pitching and playing right field for the Conquistadores, he was also playing for the Little League team in Culver City on weekends. Davis lives in West Los Angeles.

Davis found out he was in trouble when he excitedly told a friend that he had hit a home run in one of the Little League games.

“He told me, ‘Man, you can get in trouble.’ ” I said, ‘Are you serious?’ ”

Davis, who said he played in only three games in the league, decided to keep quiet about it.

But about a week later a letter arrived at the City’s athletic office, stating that Davis and several players from other high schools were participating in the league.

After an investigation by El Camino Real officials, the ax fell on Davis.

“When I went home that day,” Davis said. “I cried.”

Eventually, the pain went away, but Davis didn’t. McNulty was a big reason he stayed.

“He told me that I couldn’t check out,” Davis said. “He said, ‘You’ve got to hang in there. It’s not going to stay on your head for all of your life.’ ”

Davis helped lead the Conquistadores into the City basketball playoffs this season by averaging 16.7 points a game. The 6-4, 183-pound forward also led the team in rebounding. He earned a spot on The Times’ All-Valley second team.

“He has the potential to be a very good off-guard in college,” McNulty said. “He’s by far one of the best juniors in the Valley. I don’t get many players of his natural ability.”

Basketball has become his favorite sport, Davis said. He is currently playing for El Camino in a spring league and for the Rockfish team in the Slam-N-Jam League.

Davis is not playing baseball this season. Davis’ grades were hovering near the 2.0 mark, a necessity to maintain eligibility. Maio suggested he work on academics.

“When I discussed it with him,” Maio said, “I said, ‘I think you should concentrate on your grades if you want to go somewhere in basketball.’ ”

What happened last year has no bearing on Davis not being on the team this season, Maio said.

“I don’t operate under that principle,” he said. “If I had wanted to, I would have just told him not to come out. We have the same rule for everybody. The rule is if you’re in baseball, you’re not in some other sport at the same time. When it’s basketball season, we don’t make them play winter league baseball.”

Unfortunately for Davis, he once played in two baseball leagues, only to end up with one big mess.