$50,000 Bail Ordered for Former Grid Star Gittens

A former Fountain Valley High School football star who fled Indio authorities after pleading guilty to smuggling 120 pounds of marijuana into California was ordered held in Orange County Jail on $50,000 bail Monday.

Willie Ellis Gittens, 29, considered by many as one of the best high school running backs ever to emerge from Orange County, appeared at an Orange County Municipal Court hearing in Santa Ana and was ordered held to await transport back to Riverside County.

Gittens was taken into custody by Orange County sheriff’s deputies Sept. 21 on a warrant charging that he failed to appear in Indio Superior Court for sentencing on drug-related charges.

Guilty Plea

Gittens, a resident of Tempe, Ariz., in July had pleaded guilty in Indio to charges that he transported 120 pounds of marijuana with a street value estimated at nearly $372,000 into California from Arizona. He was released on his own recognizance but failed to appear for a Sept. 7 sentencing date, according to Riverside County Deputy Dist. Atty. Tom Eckhardt.

Eckhardt said Gittens was arrested with two other men near Blythe in September, 1988, by the California Highway Patrol on a tip from Arizona authorities and federal drug officials.

Gittens told authorities that he was coming to visit friends and relatives in California, but a return airline ticket in the name of one of the alleged suppliers of the marijuana was found in his possession, Eckhardt said.

“We speculate that he was traveling as a guard with the intent to bring back drug money,” Eckhardt said.

Gittens, whose promise as a high school player in the late 1970s dissolved following a serious knee injury while he was attending Arizona State University in Tempe, has had previous brushes with the law.

At the time of the arrest near Blythe, he had been on probation in Arizona on drug-related charges and for possession of stolen property, Eckhardt said.

Gittens was born in the Bronx, New York, but was reared in Fountain Valley. He was named CIF player of the year in 1977, scored 53 touchdowns and rushed for nearly 5,700 yards while at Fountain Valley. But his career after high school was marked by disappointment and tragedy.

Best Friend Killed

His best friend and teammate in high school, quarterback Doug Thompson, was killed in an automobile accident while the two were driving to Arizona to report for football practice at the university. Gittens was driving at the time but escaped with minor injuries.

Ironically, the accident occurred near Blythe, where, years later, Gittens would be arrested.

His time with the Sun Devils, while often brilliant, was marked with more injuries, including a college career-ending 1983 Fiesta Bowl appearance in which he tore ligaments in his right knee.

Gittens signed a free agent contract with the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League in 1983, but was released in training camp. When no other NFL teams offered to pick up his contract, he played briefly for the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League.