Dorsey Players Trying to Forget All but Baseball

With their coach sitting in Los Angeles County Jail, the Dorsey High baseball team decided Monday to continue the season.

The 17-member squad, which was not allowed to discuss the arrest of Coach Derrel Thomas last Friday for suspicion of possessing drugs for sale, took the field against Harbor City Narbonne Monday.

Although displaying plenty of optimism beforehand, the Dons lost the game, 6-0, dropping their record to 0-13.

In Thomas’ absence, three former Dorsey players have said they will coach the team as long as necessary. David Arnold and Markus Smith have worked as assistants all season. Leroy Cooper, who played with Thomas at Dorsey in 1970, worked his first day as a coach

Monday.

“It’s time for some positive things to start happening in the community,” Cooper said. “I wanted to help Derrel out earlier this season, but now I know I can’t put it off any longer. Something has to be done.”

Thomas, 41, a former Dodger and Angel who played in the major leagues from 1970-85, was hired as the Dorsey coach in December. But his second high school coaching job appears over.

Hours after canceling practice last Friday, Thomas was arrested along with Rickey Ross, a former Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department narcotics investigator, in a narcotics sting operation.

According to investigators, Thomas and Ross showed up at an Inglewood restaurant parking lot with $140,000 to buy 22 pounds of cocaine from undercover agents. Bail was set at $1 million Monday, and Thomas and Ross each was charged with one count of conspiracy to possess and sell cocaine, one count of possession of cocaine for sale and possession of more than $100,000 in narcotics related money, Deputy District Atty. Michael Grosbard said.

School officials expressed shock over Thomas’ arrest.

“We all believe Derrel’s heart was in the right place and that he wanted to share his baseball knowledge with the team,” said Dana Perryman, a Dorsey assistant principal who accompanied the team to Narbonne on Monday.

“There’s no anger about what happened,” she said. “At this point, we’re all just very surprised. No one can believe it. But it’s not for me to judge what he did. Plenty of other people will be responsible for doing that.”

Arnold, the assistant coach, said he had spoken with Thomas on Friday about buying some new equipment and that he was excited about building the program.

“But what happened to him is life,” Arnold said. “I’m not surprised. Things like this happen every day. We live in a very corrupt society.”

Arnold kept his players away from reporters and told the team before Monday’s game not to think about anything else but baseball.

“Forget what has happened, forget your homework, and just go out there and play baseball,” he said.

Thomas’ arrest is the second trauma for the baseball team in the last month. On March 24, senior shortstop Wilfred Wright III died after shooting himself in the head in the back of the team bus after a game at Gardena. Thomas called paramedics moments after the shooting.

Grace Wright, Wilfred’s mother, is the official “team mom,” traveling with the boys from game to game and lending moral support. She said Thomas was very supportive after Wilfred’s death.

“At the funeral, he even told the kids not to do drugs,” said Wright, who was reached at home. “So, I’m a little angry about what has happened. He took the trust that was given to him and destroyed it. And he actually may have destroyed the team in the process. This is all too, too much.”

Wright said she attended last Wednesday’s game against Crenshaw, her first since her son’s death.

Wright said that several people at the school were surprised when Thomas was hired. She said his troubles as coach at Lawndale Leuzinger High and rumors of drug-related problems made many believe he was a risk.

“But I took the attitude that if this man had cleaned up his act and could be beneficial to the kids, then he should be given another chance,” Wright said. “He seemed to have a lot of good skills and the kids responded well to him.”

Thomas managed the Boise Hawks in the Northwest League in 1987, but was fired after winning nine of 38 games.

He was hired at Leuzinger in 1988, but resigned during his second season after most of the players turned in their uniforms to protest Thomas’ forfeiting of a game because only six players were on the team bus. The others had traveled by car to the game, but Thomas wouldn’t let them play. Leuzinger was 25-29-1 under Thomas.