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Air Around Burwell Cleared Up in Oregon : College football: Freshman’s team-high 1,539 total yards help wash away the frustration of high school transfer problems.

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

University of Oregon tailback Sean Burwell chuckled recently when he was asked about the bleakest moment of his football career--the City Section’s 1987 decision to bar him from playing at Cleveland High.

“It was really stupid,” Burwell said, “but I can laugh at it now.”

Burwell treats the incident lightly because his career turned out all right. In fact, it turned out better than all right. Burwell, a redshirt freshman, was Oregon’s leading rusher this season and he set a school record for all-purpose yards with 1,539. On Saturday, the 5-foot-11, 181-pound tailback will lead the Ducks against Colorado State in the Freedom Bowl at Anaheim Stadium.

But as a high school junior back in ‘87, Burwell’s future wasn’t so certain. He had transferred to Cleveland from Chaminade--a small, private parochial school--rather than face punishment for his role in a fight with a teammate during a summer weight-training session. But City Section red tape and rules turned Burwell into a gridiron exile at his own school.

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He could attend Cleveland, a public school only a few blocks from his Canoga Park home but was not allowed to play football for the Cavaliers. A newspaper article at the time called him “football’s version of the man in the iron face mask.”

Burwell had been projected as a starter for Cleveland. As a sophomore at Chaminade, he had gained more yards (1,211) that year than any area high school athlete, with the exception of Russell White.

He practiced with Cleveland in the fall of ‘87, but a few days before the opener, the City declared him ineligible because, basically, his mother made too much money.

The City grants eligibility to a player who changes schools but not his residence if the player proves that it would be a financial or emotional hardship to go anywhere else. Burwell first claimed financial hardship, but a City rules committee voted 6 to 0 to deny him eligibility on the grounds that his mother’s financial position was above the allowable minimum, although City officials conceded that their criteria for deciding minimums were “subjective.”

The Burwells then felt forced to change their plea to emotional hardship, but that only turned the situation ugly. Burwell, who is black, said racial tension had made it impossible for him to continue going to Chaminade.

His former teammates called him a troublemaker and a negative person. Cleveland coaches accused City Section officials of carrying on a vendetta against the Cavaliers.

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Meanwhile, “All of this is really putting the family through the wringer,” his mother, Sharon Burwell, said at the time. “Sean’s been depressed. It’s been very hard on us.”

Fortunately, reason eventually prevailed. On Oct. 9, 1987, two games into the season, a three-member City appeals panel ruled that Burwell did indeed have both emotional and financial hardship and made him eligible to play at Cleveland.

Three hours after the judgment, Burwell played in the Cavaliers’ 27-6 loss to Taft, rushing for 55 yards and one touchdown.

“I was upset” about missing the season’s first two games, Burwell said. “I didn’t understand them not letting me play. I should have been able to go to public school where I wanted and have all the privileges a regular student had.”

After the eligibility controversy, Burwell’s junior year was anticlimactic. He gained only 256 yards in 69 carries but made All-Valley 4-A League as a defensive back.

While Burwell had trouble getting on the field his junior year, Cleveland coaches couldn’t keep him off it his senior year. Burwell played all 48 minutes of every game, rushing for 1,145 yards, including a torrid five-game stretch during which he averaged 8.6 yards a carry and gained a career-high 225 yards against Canoga Park.

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But his offensive exploits went largely ignored--thanks to the presence of Russell White.

Burwell did get named West Valley League defensive most valuable player and made The Times’ All-Valley first team as a defensive back, but he was determined to play offense in college, so he made it known to recruiters that his defensive days were over.

“I like offense better,” he said.

Despite the angst of transferring schools in 1987, Burwell believes it was all worthwhile. “Switching schools helped me get recruited” by Division I teams, he said. “I know I would have done good at Chaminade, but I may have been overlooked because it was such a small school. It was a lot easier getting a ride coming out of Cleveland.”

Burwell went to Oregon expecting to play right away but was shocked to discover that the freshman class was going to be redshirted. “At first it frustrated me,” he said, “but then it didn’t bother me.”

In spring practice this year, Burwell competed with Ngalu Kelemeni for the tailback position.

The two alternated as starters in the Ducks’ first three games until Burwell won the job permanently and went on to become the fourth-leading rusher in the Pacific 10 Conference with 949 yards.

A back injury limited his playing time in the season-ending Oregon State game and probably prevented him from being the first Duck freshman to rush for 1,000 yards.

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“If you give him a little space, he’s an explosive player,” Oregon Coach Rich Brooks said.

Despite his impressive statistics in only his first year playing big-time college football, Burwell “hasn’t thought about playing in the pros,” he said. “I’m just concentrating on being a good college player.”

And he promises not to even think about transferring.

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