TAC Suspends 12 Athletes, Coaches : Decision Based on Participation in South Africa Meets

Saying it wanted to send a message to the world, The Athletics Congress, which governs track and field in the United States, Wednesday suspended 12 athletes and coaches because they participated in a series of meets in South Africa. The suspensions range from 2 to 12 years.

The 3-man panel, holding hearings at a hotel here, said the precedent-setting sanctions were required not only under TAC and international rules but were necessary to show that participation in a South Africa tour was a serious offense.

“We didn’t want to jeopardize the United States’ place in the world community by being soft and ultimately overlooking this,” said Richard Hollander, chairman of the review panel. “We can’t afford that.”

Members of the International Amateur Athletic Federation, which governs the sport worldwide, are prohibited from competing in South Africa because that country was suspended from the IAAF for its policy of racial separation, or apartheid.

In defying the international bans last October, the touring athletes became the first Americans to compete in South Africa since 1962. The suspensions prohibit the athletes and coaches from participating in most domestic and international competition, including the Olympic Games. Hollander said, however, that the suspensions will not affect collegiate eligibility.

Suspended for 12 years were Dick Tomlinson of Live Oak, Calif., the tour organizer, and Ted Banks, the track coach at Riverside City College.

Suspended for 6 years was javelin thrower Tom Petranoff of Oceanside.

Suspended for 4 years were pole vaulter Tom Hintnaus of El Segundo; long jumper Tyrus Jefferson of Tyler, Tex.; shotputter Dave Laut of Oxnard; hurdler Milan Stewart of West Covina, and distance runner Ray Wicksell, a U.S. citizen who lives in Willowdale, Canada.

Suspended for 2 years were long jumper Kevin Atkins, sprinters James Andrews and Cedric Gilder, and hurdler Keith Thibodeaux, all of Riverside Community College.

The suspensions date back to the first day each athlete competed in South Africa.

Hollander said that the variance in length of penalties was determined by the culpability of the individuals.

For example, the panel believed that the Riverside students were not fully aware of the ramifications of participating in South Africa, so they were not as severely punished as Banks, their coach, who was given the 12-year sanction for his role in organizing and recruiting the athletes.

The sanctions of five other participants remain to be meted out. Four athletes present at Wednesday’s hearing had their cases continued until Feb. 3 at New York City.

Those athletes, discus throwers John Powell and Carol Cady, middle-distance runner Ruth Wysocki and 800-meter runner James Robinson, attended the hearing and all but Robinson testified. A decision was postponed, however, because Clark Leslie, an attorney for Powell and Cady, was allowed 10 days in which to gather additional materials from the IAAF.

The case of Skip Robinson, track coach at Pasadena City College, will also be heard Feb. 3. Wednesday’s was the third hearing for the participants of the tour. All had first been suspended indefinitely by TAC, before the specific penalties were announced here.

Wednesday’s sanctions are the first ever taken by any track and field federation against athletes competing against South Africans or in that country.

The IAAF recommended to British track officials that Zola Budd be suspended for 2 years for watching races in South Africa, but before authorities could act, Budd returned to South Africa.

Wednesday’s sanctions are also among the strongest ever levied in the sport.

By comparison, Canada’s Ben Johnson, who tested positive for anabolic steroids in Seoul, was suspended for 2 years.

At least one athlete was not shocked by the TAC decision.

“I’m surprised we didn’t get a lifetime ban, to tell you the truth,” said Laut, contacted at his home in Oxnard Wednesday evening.

Laut said he was not interested in appealing the sanctions. Appeals may be heard at a March 12 meeting of the TAC board of directors at Indianapolis.

Others involved indicated they would pursue the matter, even into the civil courts.

The panel’s decision was announced at the end of a long day of hearings and deliberations. Other panel members were Frank Greenberg, of Philadelphia, who was recently elected president of TAC and Rich Nichols, of San Francisco, who is vice chairman of TAC’s Athletes Advisory Committee.

Hollander read the findings slowly to a court reporter.

“I’ve held a great number of hearings and this is the saddest thing I’ve ever had to do,” Hollander said later.

Wysocki, of Canyon Lake, read a prepared statement to the panel in which she addressed some of the criticisms leveled at the tour participants.

“We have been accused of supporting apartheid by going to South Africa,” she said. “I feel that this argument is shallow because we are able to compete in the USSR, China, East Germany, Hungary, Poland and elsewhere without being accused of supporting Communism. I do not support apartheid, nor do I see how any person could support such policies.”

Panel member Nichols responded to that argument by pointing out that those countries Wysocki mentioned at least “practiced equal oppression” against everyone in society and did not single out racial groups.

Wysocki said that she will honor a commitment to participate in another South African tour, scheduled for April. She said there would be a few warmup meets and three major meets, one of them the South African national championships. Laut also said he was considering a second tour.

Alvin Chriss, an attorney representing the TAC, closely questioned the athletes to determine if they had signed contracts to compete and if the contracts contained a clause that stated the athletes recognized the potential for future sanctions.

Wysocki and Jefferson acknowledged they had signed contracts but would not specify any terms.

None of the athletes would discuss the amounts they were paid, however it has been reported that the participants were paid a minimum of $10,000 per meet. In an earlier hearing, Petranoff said he had been paid $35,000 for 4 meets.