He Didn’t Make Grade With Mom : Hernandez, Moorpark’s Three-Sport Star, Meets Higher Standard, With One Notable Exception

Richard Hernandez entered the meeting armed with the same devilish smile and boyish charm that has served him well in similar jams.

He would need all his appeal for this one.

Hernandez--a three-sport athlete at Moorpark High--violated the terms of a family agreement: He received a D on a progress report card in an algebra class as a junior.

Big mistake.

Hernandez’s parents view anything lower than a B as an act of aggression. His grade was tantamount to the declaration of war.

Hernandez remained unfazed. He knew what his mother wanted to hear.

He had been successful persuading her in the past and figured this time would be no different. A quick flash of his winning smile while saying, “You’re right, Mom, it will never happen again,” and everything would be fine.

Guess again.

The punishment? A steep one: no sports.

One personal foul would leave the Musketeer basketball team without its starting senior point guard right in the middle of the season.

Smooth talk and a grin were out. The charmer turned into a frog.

“I thought she couldn’t do it to me,” Hernandez said. “But sure enough, she did.”

It did not matter that several weeks remained in the semester . . . that he had a 3.1 grade-point average during the grading period . . . that he had a 3.0 GPA throughout high school . . . that, well, you get the idea.

No, Hernandez broke family rule No. 1. He would pay.

“Richard has a personality that makes it very hard to say no to him and I do give in a lot,” said his mother, Diane Leritz. “But I had to stay strong that time. Education is the first priority in our house and Richard knew the rules beforehand.”

Such is life for the Musketeers’ baseball, basketball and football standout. Hernandez’s focus is athletics, but his family makes sure he keeps a keen eye tuned to academics.

Hernandez is among a handful of three-sport participants at Moorpark. He is the only one to compete in baseball, basketball and football.

Getting together a pickup game--of anything ?--Call Hernandez.

He is a team leader no matter the endeavor, being named captain in each sport.

Hernandez has been selected All-Southern Section, All-Ventura County and All-Tri-Valley League in baseball, All-Ventura County and All-Frontier League in football and second-team All-Frontier League in basketball. He owns eight varsity letters (three each in baseball and football and two in basketball).

But one slip-up in the classroom and he becomes a spectator.

“We’re not allowed to get any Dsin my family and I had pushed the limit a couple of times before getting Cs,” Hernandez said. “I went too far that time.”

Last year’s parental-mandated suspension lasted almost four weeks. It left Moorpark basketball Coach Tim Bednar without his floor leader for 12 games.

The team sputtered, finishing 8-15. Understandably, Bednar was upset by the situation. Still, he respected the decision.

“It definitely disrupted our team, but I admire (Leritz) for her convictions,” he said. “Those are the rules of his particular life. Richard’s parents know what he is capable of and they want him to reach that level.”

Hernandez’s parents divorced during his freshman year at Moorpark. Richard and his younger sister Tara live with their mother and her husband in Moorpark. Their father lives a few blocks away.

Both parents expect much from their children. Neither has been disappointed.

Richard’s older brother, Robert Jr., was an honor student and also a three-sport athlete at Moorpark. He was accepted by California, UCLA and Yale. He is a junior at Cal majoring in computer science and electrical engineering.

Tara attends a private elementary school in Simi Valley. She is the family’s first four-sport performer: basketball, soccer, softball and volleyball.

Despite last year’s transgression, Hernandez, 18, is a strong student. He will graduate in June with a 3.0 grade-point average and already has been accepted by Arizona and Arizona State. He is awaiting word from Cal Lutheran before making a decision.

“Richard slipped that time but he has been real good with the grades,” said his father, Robert Sr. “When he didn’t meet the requirement, he didn’t play. He got the message.”

The suspension was lifted when Hernandez improved the grade on a subsequent report card. He finished the semester with a B in the class.

Hernandez was upset about the lost time. However, he only had one person to blame: himself.

“Everything my mom said was right,” he said. “I knew it could happen and I did it to myself. It’s hard to be mad at someone when they’re rational and right, but I still tried.”

The hardest thing about the situation was occupying time. Without practice and games, Hernandez was a fish out of water.

“That was a bad month . . . I was freaking out,” he said. “I was going home just like everyone else and watching TV. It was driving me nuts.”

Things Hernandez usually ignored grated on him. He reached his boiling point one day when a classmate directed ethnic slurs at him and his family (his father is Mexican-American and his mother is Caucasian). A fight ensued and Hernandez was suspended from school for five days.

“Normally, I would just shine something stupid like that off,” Hernandez said. “It was not a good month for me.”

Likewise for his mother.

She agonized over the decision despite believing it was correct. Moreover, she was angered by outside attempts to change her mind.

Leritz felt that Moorpark Athletic Director Richard Uphoff did not have her son’s best interests in mind.

“He called me to get me to change my mind,” she said. “I didn’t think that was his place. I didn’t think it was appropriate.

“It could have been flattering to Richard but it was not in that situation. He wasn’t thinking about what was right for Richard.”

Uphoff maintains he did nothing wrong.

“I would never try to tell a parent what to do with their child,” Uphoff said. “The parent obviously has the ultimate decision on what to do with a child, but I think there are punishments that can be given in lieu of impacting a whole team.

“If you have five kids on a basketball team and you take the best kid out, it’s going to affect the team. I don’t believe the whole team should be hurt.”

Bednar, football Coach Rob Dearborn and baseball Coach David Rhoades warned Hernandez to avoid a repeat of the incident. No problem.

After returning for the final few basketball games, Hernandez jumped right into baseball. A three-sport athlete never rests.

Hernandez, a shortstop/pitcher, hit .338 and was 4-1 with a 1.24 earned-run average last year. He was selected all-league and All-Southern Section Division V as a utility player when Moorpark was a Tri-Valley League member last year. In addition, he was named All-Ventura County in a poll of area coaches.

He kicked off his senior year by leading the Musketeer football team in rushing (488 yards) and scoring (six touchdowns). Hernandez (6-foot, 170 pounds) also led the team with two interceptions from his cornerback spot. All-Ventura County and All-Frontier League honors followed.

Hernandez did not miss a beat in transition to basketball.

Like any good point guard, Hernandez thinks “pass” first, “shoot” second. His scoring average of 8.5 points reflected his unselfishness.

He was among the Frontier League leaders in assists (3.8) and steals (2.2). For his efforts, he was picked second-team all-league.

Hernandez is a key member of Moorpark’s baseball team (13-8, 7-4 in league play). He is batting .351 with a team-high 16 stolen bases and is 5-3 with a 1.62 earned-run average.

“Football is great, being out there on Friday nights, and basketball is great playing in packed gyms, but baseball is my favorite sport,” he said. “Baseball is the sport I’m best at and I guess you like the things you’re better at.

“I really don’t excel that much above anyone else in basketball and football, so it’s kind of hard to give everyone else advice when you don’t do things right yourself. I think when I say something in baseball everyone respects it a little more because I do most things right.”

Hernandez underestimates himself, according to Dearborn.

“Richard is one of the best if not the best in each sport,” Dearborn said. “He might have been the best athlete in the school this year.”

Soon Hernandez will be finished with high school and playing three sports. He realizes he is neither big enough to play football nor talented enough to play basketball in college.

Hernandez would like to play baseball but knows he is not a Division I prospect. He is thinking about walking on at one of the Arizona schools or another college.

If his organized scholastic athletic career is over, Hernandez said, he has lots to be happy about and proud of.

“I built my standards around what my mom said I needed to do to play and I made it work,” he said. “I just enjoyed athletics and I made a lot of good friends. I had a great time.”