Pt. Loma Faces Undue Influence Probe From Section

Point Loma High School is facing an investigation by the San Diego Section because its girls’ basketball coach, Lee Trepanier, possibly used “undue influence” in getting 6-foot 2-inch senior Terri Mann to attend the school.

The investigation appears certain because of statements made by Terri’s mother, Willie Mann, in an interview for a story in today’s Times.

Mrs. Mann said Trepanier visited their home when Terri had just finished the eighth grade and was deciding where to go to high school.

Then, during Terri’s freshman year at Point Loma, Trepanier, according to Mrs. Mann, helped the Mann family locate a home in the Point Loma area.

Cipre Powell, Point Loma vice principal in charge of athletics, said Wednesday: “I was obviously not aware that any of this transpired. If it, in fact, did . . . I’m shocked. Obviously, we do not condone it, if it indeed happened. I have talked to our principal (Barbara Brooks), and I’ve been advised to wait and let Mr. (Kendall) Webb (commissioner of San Diego Section) initiate the investigation, which we’re sure he’s going to do. I’m just sure he will.”

Webb said Trepanier possibly violated Article 5, Rule 510 of the Section bylaws, which states:

“The use of undue influence by any person or persons to secure or retain a student or to secure or retain one or both parents or guardians of a student as residents may cause the student to be ineligible for high school athletics for a period of one year and shall jeopardize the standing of the high school in the California Interscholastic Federation.”

Mann, considered one of the country’s best high school players, has helped Point Loma win three straight state championships.

Should the investigation disclose a violation, Webb is unsure whether the school would be stripped of any titles.

“How any penalty would be enforced on a retroactive basis, I’m not sure,” Webb said. “Does it mean they have to forfeit all their games way back when? Their state championships? I don’t know.

“I’ve never had anything that went back that far that’s been documented. All I can do is say we’d have to pursue the matter as it applies to Rule 510 and then decide if any retroactive or present penalties should be enacted. We’re working on completely untrod ground. There’s no precedent here.”

According to Mrs. Mann, Trepanier visited Mann’s home after Terri’s eighth-grade year. Mrs. Mann says her family was living in the Hoover High School area, but after the meeting with Trepanier she said she gave Terri the choice of attending either Hoover or Point Loma.

Terri chose Point Loma. But she could go there only if she joined Point Loma’s Naval Junior ROTC program, which was not offered at Hoover. Mrs. Mann said Terri joined the NJROTC but later grew tired of the program and wanted to quit. However, if she quit, she would not have been allowed to continue to attend Point Loma.

So, according to Mrs. Mann, Trepanier visited the Mann household and, using their telephone, began talking to a person whom she believed to be a real estate agent.

“Are you moving, Coach T?” Mrs. Mann says she asked him.

“No, you are,” she says he answered.

Mrs. Mann said Trepanier then helped them locate a home in the Point Loma area. At the time, Terri was just finishing her freshman year.

Webb said: “I can tell you unequivocally that it would be the opinion of my office that a visit to an eighth-grader’s home by a coach--especially out of his school’s attendance area--would be a breach of coaching ethics and, in my opinion, a violation that would invite further investigation. . . . So, on the surface anyway, I’d say that’s a violation we’d have to look into.”

As for the alleged phone call to the real estate agent, Webb said: “That would indicate he’s trying to get them to stay or to move, one of the two. Certainly, it would be a violation if that were the case, if the coach is trying to get someone into his area.”

Trepanier said Thursday that Mrs. Mann “was just talking and didn’t know what she was saying. I’m refuting what she’s said.”

He said he never told the family to move. Instead, he said he merely gave them the addresses of four places that were for rent in the Point Loma area.

Powell, the vice principal, said school records show that Mann was able to attend Point Loma as a freshman because of the NJROTC program. But she also said she remembers Mann expressing displeasure with the program.

“We told her she could not attend Point Loma any other way, and that it was her choice,” Powell said. “We left it up to Terri to make that decision. Then, all of a sudden, she said to me, ‘I don’t have to worry about it because I am now going to move to the Point Loma area.’ And I said, ‘Terri, that’s fine. But if you’re living in the area, we want to make absolute sure everything is legal, because I don’t want anybody criticizing us.’

“I had to take her word. I had no reason to doubt she was telling the truth. She’s always been honest and up front.”