Parents Voice Concern, Ask for Involvement

James Woods plays strong safety for the Cal State Northridge football team.

His mother, Alice, enjoys watching. Always has.

But that was not the reason she traveled to the Silver Bowl to watch the Matadors play a nonconference game against Nevada Las Vegas.

She was there to support her son.

Woods and other Northridge football players are trapped squarely in the middle of a controversy that has followed the team for more than a week.

Vincent Johnson and Gerald Ponder, fellow starters alongside Woods in the Matador secondary, missed Northridge’s 24-18 victory over the Rebels.

Johnson was suspended by Coach Bob Burt for using profanity in a verbal attack on Northridge Athletic Director Bob Hiegert in an Athletics Congress meeting on Thursday. Ponder stayed behind to protest Johnson’s suspension.

Then Woods--and other Matador players--were jeered by protesters as they boarded buses to leave for Las Vegas early Friday morning.

“He got off the bus (in Las Vegas) and said, ‘Mom, I’ve been called a sellout.’ He was hurt,” Alice Woods said. “That’s why I came here.”

Alice Woods was among a small contingent of Northridge fans in seats near one of the end zones.

About half of the group were parents.

And not only did they sit together, they repeated a similar theme: Get us involved.

“The parents need to rally around their children,” Woods said. “We as parents need to work with the staff and the president and get a good booster club going for the children. The parents need to take a stand. I don’t think it should be left up to the coach or to the president. We have a responsibility to all the players.”

Gerald Howard, whose son, Ennis, is Woods’ backup, concurred.

“I think they should get the parents involved,” he said. “I’m sure the parents of the students in the art department, the music department, science department and all the other departments are feeling the same consequences of the budget cutbacks. Football players are no different.

“If you have the money, you can do things. If you don’t, you can’t. But I do think they should get the parents involved and get the parents working with the students to alleviate some of these problems.”

The parents also shared the view that organizations such as the university’s Black Student Union and Black Student Athletic Assn. have done more harm than good with their protests aimed at the football program.

Of picket signs that took racial jabs at Burt, Hiegert and the football team two weeks ago when the Matadors played a home game against Sonoma State, Gerald Howard said: “I was embarrassed. That’s not the way to get the job done. I could go to my boss at work with a picket sign and the next thing I’m going to have on my sign is a pink slip.”

Alice Woods defended the groups’ right to protest, but added, “Do it the proper way. The athletes should not be mistreated. The coaching staff should not be mistreated. We should work as a family. The picketing is fine, but the signs shouldn’t have said what they said. We have no right to talk people down.”

Said Howard: “The educators, the administrators and the students, they should get together and resolve this. They’re the only ones who can.

“Someone from the outside representing them is not the answer. There are a lot of kids on this team caught in the middle, and they don’t know how to get out.”

Kim Diaz, mother of Matador receiver David Romines, said school officials should consider the plight of athletes in need on an individual basis.

“David, he comes home,” she said. “His case is totally different. Some of these other kids, they’re going to school all day and practicing all day. There isn’t time to get a job to supplement what they have and have some extra spending money. I can see they’re up against harder times.”

Most parents said they accepted the administration’s contention that funds are not available to establish a one-meal-per-day training table.

“Somewhere in this process the school and the students got pushed aside and other issues--which aren’t really relevant--are what’s in the newspaper,” Gerald Howard said.

“What is the school doing for the kids? It’s giving them an education, which is all you can ask for.

“Playing football is just like life. It’s like being a part of a large aerospace company. If they tell you you’re laid off, there’s nothing you can do. It’s called a cutback. You can’t afford to fund lunches and we can’t afford this and that. That’s just a sign of the times.”

Alice Woods said she has been in contact with other parents of Matador players and plans to soon begin organizing a support group.

“I feel if everybody will wait and give us time, we’ll make some changes at Cal State Northridge,” she said.

Donnie Howard, Ennis’ mother, said she is willing to help feed a few extra Matador players when she can.

“I don’t want to see any child, any young person, go without food,” Howard said. “We could work together and we could do something about it, even if it means sponsoring some of the kids and feeding them. But no one has really said, ‘Hey, parents, you’re involved.’ ”