Coach Admits Taking Money for Field Use : High schools: Scyphers’ acceptance of check violates policy.

Simi Valley High baseball Coach Mike Scyphers and the brother of Royal High baseball Coach Dan Maye acknowledged Thursday they accepted money from an adult baseball league last summer in exchange for use of fields, a violation of school district policy.

In accordance with state law, the Simi Valley Unified School District, which includes both schools, prohibits employees from accepting money for use of a facility, said Susan Parks, assistant superintendent.

Scyphers, who was coach at Simi Valley for 16 years before being removed Tuesday pending a police investigation into alleged financial and disciplinary improprieties, said he accepted a cashier’s check for $700 last May from Ted Severns, then president of the Thousand Oaks chapter of the National Adult Baseball Assn. Severns is no longer an NABA official.

“It was a cashier’s check made out to me,” Scyphers said. “I cashed it and in turn paid it to my assistant coaches. Darin Furlong got $500 and Shaun Murphy got $300, of which $100 came out of my pocket.”

Because he paid the coaches without the knowledge of the school district, Scyphers also violated Southern Section regulations.

Steve Maye, a Royal assistant last season and a minor league pitcher this year, was given $250 by the NABA, Severns said. Maye admitted he accepted the money, but said it was less than $125.

“How much (Severns) paid and where it went to is not exactly clear, but I know I got some of it,” he said.

Dan Maye, who said he did not receive any money, knew about the payment to his brother.

“(Severns) told me, ‘I paid your brother,’ ” Dan Maye said. “I said, ‘The school district should have received the money.’ ”

Roger Grady, director of planning and facilities for the Simi Valley school district, said the district has never given permission to an adult baseball league to use the baseball fields at either Simi Valley or Royal high schools.

Royal Principal Mike McConahy said he is investigating Dan and Steve Maye’s involvement with the NABA.

In March, the NABA gave Scyphers two additional checks, totaling $1,300, made out to “Simi Valley Baseball,” an account from which team expenses are paid. The checks, dated March 18, were for field usage this summer and the 1993-94 winter season. Scyphers said the $1,300 remains in the team’s account.

Scyphers said he instructed Russ Stephans, a Simi Valley assistant who plays in the NABA, to connect the league with the school district office. Jeff Richardson, new president of the Thousand Oaks chapter of the NABA, said he followed Stephans’ instructions.

“There is an adult baseball group which is in the process of filling out the necessary paperwork,” Grady said.

Police would not confirm that payments by the NABA are the subject of the investigation of Scyphers. Severns, Richardson and Mike Micheli, national director of the NABA, said they have not been contacted by the police.

Micheli said it is standard practice for the organization to pay baseball programs, rather than school districts, for field usage. He estimated that the NABA uses 500 high school fields nationwide and in 90% of the cases fees go directly to the baseball programs.

“We want to help out the programs because most programs are underfunded,” he said. “If the money goes to the district, it might not go directly to the baseball kids.”

The NABA also has provided equipment in exchange for field use, which happened last year at Newbury Park High. The league gave 10 dozen baseballs, batting helmets, bats and a home plate to the Newbury Park program without the knowledge of the Conejo Valley Unified School District.

“I was skeptical of taking a check but I didn’t think there was a problem taking equipment,” Newbury Park Coach Gary Fabricius said. “I never thought I was renting the field.”

Fabricius pointed out that many of the players on the NABA team that used the Newbury Park field were his former players.

“It’s hard to say no to a bunch of guys who played for you,” he said. “I wanted to help them out. They are alumni.”

This year, Richardson contacted the Conejo school district and is arranging to rent the field for $320.

In the league’s first year in the area in ‘93, officials organized the season on the fly and scrambled to line up fields. When Severns sought use of the Simi Valley field, he said, Scyphers instructed him to complete the necessary paperwork through the district office. But Severns apparently did not follow through.

Severns said that Scyphers wanted the money before the NABA used the field, and the league’s national office could not release the funds in time for the first scheduled game.

“So I got a cashier’s check for $700 and took it over to him personally,” Severns said. “He said to make it out to Mike Scyphers. It was going to go to his coaching staff.”

Last year, Steve Maye was an unpaid assistant at Royal who was friendly with Severns because Maye played in the NABA.

“Originally we were to pay $500 for the season (to use the Royal junior varsity field),” Severns said. A second installment of $250 was not paid because the league stopped using the field, Severns said.

Steve Maye, insisting he received no more than $125, said that with the money from the first installment he bought “two or three dozen baseballs” and gave them to Dan Maye. “If anyone screwed up, it was me,” Steve Maye said.

Dan Maye said that Severns didn’t follow through on his request to apply for a field permit through the district office.

“They used the field for one week, then the second week they jumped the fence to the varsity field, broke into the dugouts and stole the mound rubber,” Dan Maye said. “So I left the sprinklers on to make sure they couldn’t use the fields again.”

Steve Maye attributed much of the confusion about field usage and the NABA to the fact that it was the league’s first year in the area.

“It was pretty screwed up.”