Impact of Brawl Still Is Felt : Football: Appeal of Dorsey player’s year-long ban for hitting fan will be decided this week.

When Dorsey High football player Robert Beard saw a teammate held in a chokehold in the waning seconds of a playoff game against Banning last season, he reacted by throwing a forearm at the unknown assailant.

With Banning on its way to a 21-20 victory in a City 4-A Division semifinal at Gardena High, a near riot broke out between the teams. Coaches, players and fans poured onto the field. Several punches were thrown.

Beard, an all-league outside linebacker, saw that the neck of teammate Kirsten Brown was in the grasp of a large man dressed in street clothes. Beard worked his way through the crowd and threw a forearm at the man’s neck. The blow did not knock down the man or even cause him to lose his balance.

Police on the scene quickly got things under control and there were no serious injuries.

City Section athletic administrators were outraged by the incident. Because much of it was captured on videotape--including Beard’s action--officials reviewed the incident and punished four Dorsey players. No Banning player was punished.

Beard, 17, received the most severe penalty, a one-year suspension from all City Section athletics. He will regain his eligibility Nov. 9, one week before the regular season ends.

“I’m torn over the whole incident,” Beard said, “because I feel what I did was wrong but also that it was justified. I saw a teammate who looked like he was being hurt and I tried to help him.

“In this case, I don’t think the punishment fits the crime,” he said. “I was looking forward to my senior season.”

Said Dorsey Coach Paul Knox: “Robert is a very intense young man who always plays 100% when he is on the field. He gets a little excited sometimes, but he keeps his composure and has never been a discipline problem.”

Hal Harkness, City athletic commissioner, and Banning officials said the penalties were justified. They claim the incident was severe and could have escalated into something much worse.

Banning Athletic Director John Newton said he was assaulted several times after the game and was appalled by other acts of violence he saw.

“Certainly having the videotape made it possible for us to make positive identifications of those involved,” Harkness said. “I’ve watched that tape dozens of times, and every player we could identify who did something wrong was punished. The whole thing is very unfortunate, but we cannot condone this kind of behavior.

“The potential for a full-fledged riot was there. Once we lose control of our athletes, then we’ve lost control of our whole program. We have to make examples here.”

Building a competitive team at Dorsey has been frustrating for its coaches and players. Banning and Carson have been the established powers for the past two decades.

In recent years, Dorsey has gained ground. In 1988, the Dons lost a close game to Carson in the 4-A semifinals. Knox was upset by several calls in that game, and a fight nearly broke out afterward.

Dorsey defeated Carson, 26-15, for the title in 1989 and was hoping for a repeat last year.

Last season, Banning defeated Dorsey, 21-0, in league play. The semifinal game was a different story, however. With the Dons ahead, 20-14, in the final minutes, the Pilots mounted a late drive and went ahead, 21-20, with 1:28 remaining. On Banning’s winning drive, Dorsey was penalized 45 yards.

Angered by the penalties, Dorsey assistant coach Darryl Holmes confronted the referees at midfield with 15 seconds to play. At that point, players and fans began to pour onto the field. The referees let the clock wind down, and that is when things got ugly.

“Our players and fans were very upset because they felt they had been (cheated) by the officials,” said Holmes, now the offensive coordinator at West Los Angeles College. “Most of the calls obviously went in Banning’s favor. We were tired of it.”

Banning Coach Joe Dominguez said after the game: “We kept our composure and I don’t think they kept theirs.”

Dorsey Principal Jerelene Wells took immediate action by suspending several players. Beard was suspended for three days. Offensive lineman Rudy Paris was transferred to Crenshaw.

After his suspension, Beard was put under a contract by which school administrators monitored his behavior. He thought that was the extent of the punishment.

On Jan. 15, 1991, the City Section’s Special Rules Committee met to review the incident. After watching the videotape and hearing testimony from Wells and Beverly Clarkson, an assistant principal at Dorsey, the 11-member committee unanimously voted to take action against four players.

Seniors Ronald Peebles, a quarterback, Renaldo Spaulding, a defensive back, and Paris were suspended from all athletics for the remainder of the school year. Beard, a junior, was suspended from athletics for one year.

The penalties were based on the City Section’s bench-clearing bylaw that requires a player be suspended for one year if he or she leaves the bench during a game and engages in a fight.

All of the Dorsey players were on the field at the time of the incident.

None of the players were notified of the January hearing, and Harkness said it is not his office’s policy to invite athletes to such meetings.

“This is the rule I inherited when I took the job five years ago and I’ve maintained it,” he said. “There’s no particular reason for the rule, but that’s the way it is. The players were represented by Dorsey administrators.”

Upset that he and his son were not notified of the hearing, Beard’s father, Zernail Hardy, filed an appeal with the City Section. The appeal took place Feb. 5, and Hardy, Beard and Knox all were present.

The three-member appeals panel, headed by district senior high administrator Dick Browning, heard testimony but did not watch the videotape at the hearing. The appeal was denied.

Hardy next filed an appeal with CIF State Commissioner Thomas Byrnes, but that also was denied. Byrnes said the State office does not hear appeals based on rulings from playoff events.

“Right now I’m just fighting for the right decisions to be made for my son,” Hardy said. “I’m very frustrated by everything. I do not condone violence and I think my son should have been punished for what he did. But I think the penalty was far too severe.”

Beard attended Maple High in Cleveland, where he lived with his grandmother, for two years. He returned to Los Angeles last summer to live with his father and his mother, Cherryl Hardy.

When he decided to go out for the Dorsey football team, Beard had not played organized football for 10 years. He quickly worked his way into the starting lineup, and looked forward to a promising senior season. The 6-foot-1, 185-pound player had received several letters from college coaches and was hoping for a scholarship.

“My parents don’t have a lot of money, so I was hoping a scholarship would help me further my education,” said Beard, who has a 3.0 grade-point average. “I just really want to get back on the football field and see if I can make the all-state team.”

Late last week, Dan Isaacs, district assistant superintendent, reopened the case and held a special appeals meeting with Hardy, Beard and Knox on Friday afternoon. Harkness and Browning also attended. Isaacs would not comment on the case and the media was not allowed to attend the meeting. Isaacs is expected to make a decision on the case this week.

Even if Isaacs does not reverse the decision, Beard said he will stay in shape and try to rejoin the team in November.

“I want the college coaches to know I’m still alive,” he said.