COLLEGE BASKETBALL ‘86-87 : Chana Perry: For Now, School, Not Basketball

Anguish has been replaced by anticipation for Chana Perry, the basketball player who many will remember as the center of a storm that led to the first NCAA sanctions against a women’s athletic program for illegal recruiting.

These days, after being prohibited from playing for Northeast Louisiana University, her former school, Perry is piecing together her life at San Diego State. For now, it’s a life without basketball.

Perry is redshirting this year, putting off basketball in favor of improving her grades. She has not played a full season since 1984-85.

“I think I have something to prove,” Perry said in a phone interview from San Diego. “The last time anyone saw me play was in my freshman year. I want to show everybody that I have made gains, that I have improved.

“In school (at Northeast Louisiana), I don’t think I applied myself. I’m much more mature now.”

Perry was put on academic probation three times at Northeast Louisiana. She attended summer school at San Diego to raise her grade-point average and is carrying a full load of classes this semester.

Earnest Riggins, women’s basketball coach at San Diego State, said the decision to have Perry sit out the year was a joint one.

“We just thought it would be better for her and everyone,” Riggins said. “I’d like to have her on the basketball floor, the boosters would like it, the team would like it. I could have played her, but I’m not sure she’d have a good year in the classroom. This way, she’ll get her confidence back.”

Perry is working out on her own, attending study hall three times a week with the team. She also commutes as often as possible to Los Angeles to visit her father.

The 6-foot 4-inch Perry was contacted by more than 100 colleges as a prep star in Brookhaven, Miss. A high school All-American, Perry was also in the NCAA’s Operation Intercept--a program that identifies and closely monitors the recruiting of blue-chip high school athletes.

After intense recruiting by major schools, among them USC, Perry eventually chose to play at Northeast Louisiana. In her freshman year, she helped the Lady Indians get to the Final Four.

The next year was not so successful, however. After an 18-month investigation, the NCAA announced that it had found six violations in the recruiting of Perry. The violations were unethical conduct, automobile transportation, lodging, a recruiting inducement, an improper recruiting contact and an illegal tryout.

The women’s basketball program at Northeast Louisiana was placed on probation for a year and was barred from postseason play last season, and Coach Linda Harper was prohibited from recruiting off campus for a year. The NCAA also ruled Perry ineligible to represent the university.

An appeal by the school was denied, making Perry a basketball player without a place to play.

Until she chose San Diego State.

“I love it here,” she said. “The weather is just great, and the people are so nice. I’m keeping in shape. I wanted to come in here and help the team as much as possible. But I know I can do that next year. It’s like starting over for me. It’s a new beginning.”