Conformity Triumphs in the Aftermath of a Colorful Dispute

Shocking pink had him seeing red. But it’s all black and white now for Al Bennett.

Power is the issue to the Birmingham High basketball coach who would not allow sophomore Adam Kopulsky to play with his close-cropped hair dyed as bright as bubble gum.

After weeks of remaining defiantly pink, Kopulsky was the first to blink. The junior varsity center de-colored his hair Thursday and is back on the team, blending in like a beige home in a suburban tract.

“What are the powers of the coach?” asked Bennett, who also coaches the junior varsity team. “That’s what this is about. A coach should be free to impose his own set of values.”

The L.A. school board bolstered Bennett’s belief by issuing a policy statement allowing the coach to bench Kopulsky.

“We want the players to bond, and looking the same is a way of doing that,” Bennett said. “It gives kids a chance to be a part of something, which is what we all remember about being on a team.

“The sacrifices and the bonding, that’s what is so special.”

Bennett concedes that the values of coaches vary. What if a coach decided to bond his team by insisting that every player dye his hair pink?

“If kids went with it, it would be appropriate,” he said. “At Santa Clara High they all shave their heads. That’s a wonderful thing to carry on a tradition like that.”

Conforming is the key for Bennett, a view shared by most coaches who once upon a time had long-haired kids in their cross-hairs. Would Bennett allow a player to wear something as old-fashioned as a ponytail?

“I don’t know,” he said. “I’d have to think about it.”

For teenagers, expressing individuality through hairstyle is as old as Ringo Starr. But in an era when gang members are apt to wear crew cuts and the term skinhead does not evoke images of a model citizen, dyeing locks with bright colors is the latest form of rebellion.

Of course, most so-called rebellious hairstyles merely reflect popular culture icons. Members of Green Day, a mild punk band that sold five million albums in 1994, dye their hair. So does Dennis Rodman, Chicago Bull forward and punk personified in the NBA.

Predictably, Rodman spoke out in Kopulsky’s behalf, telling the Chicago Sun-Times that the coach should leave the kid alone. Rodman added that he had no idea his own hair color would cause kids to emulate it.

“Dennis Rodman sells tickets, he’s an entertainer,” Bennett said. “High school basketball is a volunteer, extracurricular activity. It is not a fashion game.”

At the Westlake tournament two weeks ago, Birmingham played San Marcos, which had a player wearing an exaggerated bouffant hairstyle similar to that worn by Jim Carrey in “Ace Ventura.”

“The San Marcos coach came to me before the game and explained that the kid wore it that way for religious reasons,” Bennett said.

That a coach felt the need to explain this to Bennett indicates Kopulsky’s situation had become larger than big hair, short hair, pink or purple.

Bennett believes he has struck a victory for all coaches, who can take comfort that their authority beyond X’s and O’s has been validated.

“Every newspaper and TV station in California called me,” he said. “I asked myself, ‘What has this touched in the American people?

“I think it comes down to this: When can we say no to someone? When is enough enough?”

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Another Birmingham player temporarily banished by Bennett is on schedule to return for this week’s Northwest Valley Conference opener against Cleveland.

David Redmond, a 6-foot-6 junior center and the team’s best player, quit a month ago but then regretted the move. He attended Westlake and Birmingham tournament games with the team and followed a strict practice regimen Bennett set up for him.

“He’s done the things I’ve asked him to so far,” Bennett said. “I think he’s ready.”

Redmond played a key role in Birmingham’s surge to the City Section 3-A Division final last season, and he is considered a college prospect. The time away gave him a stronger appreciation of the game.

“I missed it a lot and I can’t wait to play,” he said.

Bennett said Redmond won’t start right away but will make an immediate impact.

“He’s going to have to work his way back in but he will play a lot,” Bennett said. “He hasn’t played in a while. He’s got to get game savvy again.”

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Kicking is the key to success two-thirds of the school year for three-sport athlete Jack Wilson. But when spring rolls around, booting anything becomes a disaster.

Wilson, a Thousand Oaks High senior, is the leading scorer on the soccer team.

During football season, Wilson’s soaring kickoffs and punts had college recruiters paying attention. He also kicked five field goals, including one of 51 yards.

Baseball is Wilson’s first love, and he led the region with a .581 batting average and set a school record with 43 hits last season. As an infielder, he knows the kicking must end the moment he takes his first ground ball.

That’s why on weekends Wilson can be found at a batting cage or on the field playing for the Westlake Senators, an 18-and-under club team. Putting in extra time on an off-season sport is a given for multisport athletes.