Harkness Brought Semblance of Order : Outgoing Athletics Commissioner Deftly Handled Series of Crises During 8-Year City Section Tenure

The disarray in which Hal Harkness found City Section athletics when he became commissioner in 1986 was evident just by the names of the leagues.

Athletes competed in leagues named Crosstown, Freeway and Sunset, a constant reminder that they often spent more time riding buses than playing games. It was not uncommon for a school such as Poly, which competed in the Pac 8 League, to travel nearly 35 miles to play a football game at Venice one week and at Westchester the next.

In basketball, Valley schools were shuffled into other leagues and teams such as El Camino Real had to play home and away games with Westside schools such as Hamilton and Fairfax. Other City teams were driving back and forth from East L.A. to San Pedro.

It was great business for the busing companies. But for an aspiring basketball coach like Jeff Davis, those days were one endless road trip.

“It was a debacle,” said Davis, an assistant at El Camino Real at the time. “It was a travesty. Nobody came to the games. The worst thing was that 99% of the games were during the day. Think about it. You leave pretty early in the afternoon and you come back during the height of traffic.”

It was that sort of scheduling nightmare that Harkness confronted when he took over as commissioner, replacing Jim Cheffers. In 1988, he initiated the realignment of the 49 Los Angeles Unified School District high schools into two divisions with six geographically compatible conferences. It was one of his major accomplishments.

Harkness, who will turn 55 in September, announced his retirement as commissioner in June. He will be replaced Oct. 11 by Barbara Fiege, Belmont High’s athletic director.

During his tenure, Harkness reorganized and created a more cost-effective and time-efficient sports program for the nation’s second-largest school district. He served as an executive secretary for the Interscholastic Athletics Committee, helping shape rules and creating a more effective policy-making group.

“The City Section was headed in the wrong direction in a lot of areas,” Granada Hills baseball and football coach Darryl Stroh said. “We needed someone like Hal to sit down and work things out rather than shove rules down our throats.”

Harkness also made the commissioner’s office more accessible and supportive of coaches and school administrators.

“I think the one thing you could say about Hal Harkness was that he was fair,” Davis said. “You could pick up the phone and talk about your problems with him. It didn’t mean he gave you what you wanted. But he knew how to treat people fairly. He never let power get to his head.”

Harkness, however, did not let coaches take advantage of him. Once a rule became policy, Harkness enforced it and punished those who challenged him.

“He was a no-nonsense type of guy with strong ethical standards, which he lived by and expected others to live by,” Belmont principal Augustine Herrera said. “He believes in doing things by the book. He had high standards for athletics and he expected people to follow those rules.”

But Harkness also had detractors.

Controversies over recruiting and eligibility requirements have generated headlines during his tenure, and his relationship with school district officials was almost nonexistent--a situation that has tinged his departure with some bitterness.

As commissioner, Harkness said he never had an official meeting with the district superintendent or stood before the school board. Major decisions by district officials regarding the athletics program were made without his input, he said.

“I think my biggest challenge was the district’s lack of understanding of the athletic programs,” Harkness said. “I believe, after working day and night with the schools, I have expert advice and counseling to give as part of the decision-making process and that it is not being utilized. I was never asked or consulted by the school board or any superintendent that I’ve worked under.

“I’m a front man as far as I’m concerned. I knew that when I came in. But enough is enough. I’m no longer comfortable with that position.”

Dan Isaacs, the district’s assistant superintendent for school operations, said Harkness had the attention of school district officials.

“Hal Harkness had direct access to me and (director of senior high schools division) Richard Browning on a regular basis,” Isaacs said. “Information that needed to be shared with the office of superintendent was appropriately shared.

“I felt Hal Harkness did an outstanding job working to support the athletic program and on behalf of students, coaches and appropriate administrative staff.”

The City Section is one of 10 state sections governed by the California Interscholastic Federation. The City Section not only is a governing body, but also is part of the L.A. Unified School District. The athletics office not only governs member schools, but also provides financing. Coaches’ salaries and transportation costs are its biggest expenses. Although the Southern Section office contains more member schools, it is not tied to one school district and is not involved with financing individual athletic programs.

Harkness was an athlete himself at North Hollywood High, winning the City cross-country title in 1955 and finishing fourth in the state in the mile in 1956. After attending Occidental College, he spent most of his teaching career at at Wilson, South Gate, Carson, University and Franklin highs.

From 1972 to 1976, Harkness was an assistant track coach under Jim Bush at UCLA and head coach of the Bruins’ cross-country team. He coached boys’ track and was an administrator at Franklin from 1982 to 1986 before he became commissioner.

During his tenure, Harkness had to deal with a 1989 teachers’ strike and a threatened walkout this year. His athletics budget was reduced from a high of $4 million in 1991 to $3.5 million in 1992. Three assistants and a secretary were eliminated from his staff and reassigned to other positions within the district.

Aside from those monetary concerns, Harkness’ agenda included smoothing out scheduling problems with year-round schools, overseeing transportation problems, fielding complaints about referees, mediating individual disputes between schools and monitoring athletic eligibility.

Several matters during Harkness’ career as commissioner drew media attention. Among them:

* In 1986, Franklin was stripped of its 3-A Division football championship because one of its players was discovered to have received an unauthorized grade change. Harkness knew the teachers involved, but still made the decision against his former colleagues.

“The fact that he made a decision against his old school shows how fair he was,” Davis said.

* In 1988, Harkness initiated a sweeping realignment of leagues for all 49 City schools. The proposal reduced travel time and expenses and kept schools in the same leagues for most sports.

* The 1989 teachers’ strike threatened the 4-A and 3-A baseball playoffs. Harkness and San Fernando Coach Steve Marden developed a contingency plan before the strike was settled that saved the 16-team tournament, which was completed in five school days. The finals were played at Dodger Stadium.

“I remember Hal accepting my phone call at midnight and we talked about the playoffs for nearly two hours,” Marden said. “He was very supportive in getting the playoffs rolling again. If he wasn’t fast-acting, we would have lost the chance to play at Dodger Stadium and that’s what we wanted to preserve.”

* Later in the spring of 1989, All-City quarterback Perry Klein was permitted to transfer from Palisades to powerhouse Carson. After Klein helped the Colts win the 4-A title, he transferred to Santa Monica, his third school in less than a year.

It was an embarrassing situation for Harkness, who admitted that he did not sufficiently monitor Klein’s residency.

* In 1990, a Dorsey-Banning semifinal football game ended with 15 seconds to play when a group of Dorsey players and supporters had a heated verbal exchange and several scuffles with Banning supporters. The Dons were upset about the officiating and lost, 21-20. Bitterness between the two schools remains.

In 1991, Banning, which cited gang-related problems near Dorsey, forfeited a game rather than play at Jackie Robinson Stadium, Dorsey’s home field.

The teams met later that year for the 4-A championship and Dorsey won, 33-30. Last season, the teams agreed to play at El Camino College, a neutral site.

“I had a great sense of frustration, trying to solve the problems between Banning and Dorsey,” Harkness said. “Our office spent a month trying to mediate the situation, but we weren’t able to do it.”

The most controversial story appeared this year, when a Los Angeles Times investigation questioned whether Crenshaw used four ineligible players to win its City and State basketball titles. Harkness completed his own investigation and cleared Crenshaw of any wrongdoing.

Fiege, who worked on the Interscholastic Athletics Committee panel which investigated the case, supported Harkness’ decision.

“As far as the Crenshaw case is concerned, the IAC must have facts and not allegations. The L.A. Times brought allegations before the rules committee which were found insufficient,” he said.

Speaking generally about recruiting allegations, Harkness said: “People say we’re unresponsive and don’t care about recruiting, (that) nothing is done about it. Well, that’s as far from the truth as you can get. We can’t deal with accusations and innuendoes. We need hard evidence and that has been lacking.”

Although he is retiring from the school district, Harkness will work with the CIF office, coordinating state tournaments for cross-country, track and field, girls’ volleyball, wrestling and boys’ and girls’ basketball.

“Hal provided a great deal of leadership and inspiration to City coaches,” Marden said. “I’m really indebted to Hal Harkness.

“He is a quality individual, someone L.A. Unified will miss tremendously.”