Cal’s White Steadfast in Criticism of Crespi High : Academics: Running back says his “piece of meat” comment was taken out of context, but he still blames his alma mater for not adequately preparing him for college.

California running back Russell White said this week that he would talk about his alma mater one last time because he wants the Crespi High community to understand why he has caused it anger and hurt.

White ranks as one of the most famous alums in Crespi’s 32-year history, but after White’s comments about the Encino parochial school appeared in a national magazine, Crespi officials probably wish he had enrolled elsewhere. In the Oct. 14 issue of Sports Illustrated, White said he was exploited at Crespi and that the school used him “like a piece of meat.”

Those comments incensed the Crespi community, according to Athletic Director Paul Muff. Muff’s phone has been ringing off the hook with calls from alumni who have defended Crespi and criticized White.

“Our alumni are up in arms,” Muff said. “I’ve heard from more alumni in the past week or so than I have in the past five years. They’re upset at Russell’s statements and they know them to be false. They take them as a slap in the face. We’re upset by his statements and disappointed, but it’s not our style to go and say negative things about a former student.”

Joe Carrabino, a 1980 Crespi graduate who played basketball at Harvard University and now works on Wall Street as an investment banker, has written a letter to Sports Illustrated in support of Crespi. Although Carrabino has never met White and attended Crespi long before White’s era, he has trouble recognizing the Crespi of White’s experience.

“A lot of the same people there now were there when I attended Crespi, and his comments seem out context with my experience,” Carrabino said. “My older brother went to Yale and I thought I was well prepared when I went to the Ivy League. Crespi was a very supportive place to do things. I can’t imagine them using Russell.”

Joel Wilker, a vice principal and assistant football coach at Crespi, worked closely with White. He even squeezed tutoring sessions in between summer workouts when White was a member of the Shrine Game all-star team in 1989. Like Muff, he feels torn between his loyalties to Crespi and his affection for White.

“I’m hurt, but there’s a part of me that wants to understand,” he said. “It bothers me, but I’d like to understand why he’s saying this stuff.”

White, a junior All-American candidate at Cal and a 1989 Crespi graduate, said Wednesday that his “piece of meat” comment was taken out of context and he shied away from the use of the term “exploited.” But he refused to retreat from his criticism of his high school, saying Crespi officials failed him academically by giving him better grades than he deserved. In his four years at Crespi, White always was academically eligible for athletics (A 2.0 grade-point average is required to compete in interscholastic sports.)

White reserved his harshest comments for the school’s failure to discover his learning disability. White learned in his freshman year at Cal that he had dyslexia, a condition that White said was attributable to his failure to score at least 700 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test in five attempts.

“How come no one ever detected my learning disability?” he said. “That’s the question I have for them. If they were doing me such a good service, how come no one detected my problem? I never heard the words “learning disability” the whole time I was there.”

After a three-year varsity career at Crespi in which he set state records for rushing (5,998 yards, since broken) and touchdowns (94), White lost his first year of eligibility at Cal because he failed to meet Proposition 48 requirements. White used the year off from football to improve his academic standing and now boasts a 3.2 grade-point average as a social welfare major.

But his first semester at Berkeley shocked him. He felt woefully prepared to compete with his classmates and laid 50% of the blame at Crespi’s doorstep. He said Wednesday that he did not remember being forced to do so much as one homework assignment his senior year.

“I got grades I didn’t feel I deserved and I was tickled to death to get them,” he said. “I admit I should have taken more initiative as a student. I can take the blame for my part but I want them to take blame for their part.”

Crespi officials regret that White’s dyslexia was not discovered in high school but strenuously object to charges that they failed to prepare him for college. White received tutoring sessions before and after school, and officials strained to keep White’s experience as normal as possible.

“I saw an awful lot of counselors and teachers put in time with him,” Muff said. “Maybe we were too nice, but we made an effort to help him out and not just to keep him eligible.”

“Too nice” is precisely how White describes his experience at Crespi. He faults the school for not challenging him academically and not forcing him to improve his skills.

“I’m totally sorry for hurting their feelings, but maybe the reason they’re hurt is because they think they helped me. But did they really?” he said. “They thought they were doing something for me but they really weren’t. When I left Crespi, my writing was bad, really bad. I still had to go out in the world without knowing the basics.”

Greg Gunn, the former Crespi principal who now is principal of a middle school outside Sacramento, has maintained contact with White and considers their relationship a good one. He hopes that time will temper White’s assessment of his high school years.

“I’m disappointed that Russell would make those statements,” he said. “I don’t feel that Crespi exploited him. In fact, Crespi was the best thing in the world for him and I hope someday he is mature enough to recognize that.”

Still, White said he will steer clear of Crespi alumni functions and is still upset that he missed his graduation at Crespi.

The ceremony coincided with White’s appearance in the state track championships, and Crespi’s failure to reschedule the ceremony embittered him.

“I know it’s the majority over the individual, but that bothered me,” he said. “They couldn’t find it in their hearts to move the graduation. That was important to me and they couldn’t accommodate me.”

Still, White said he roots for the Celts and harbors no grudge against individuals at the school. In fact, he said that if he had to repeat his high school career, he would attend Crespi again--with a twist.

“I wouldn’t play sports until my senior year,” he said. “If they didn’t know I was a football player of that magnitude, I wonder if they would treat me differently.”