Dorsey May Have More Problems

On the day that administrators at Dorsey High lost an appeal to lift sanctions against the boys’ basketball program for using an ineligible athlete, The Times learned Thursday that the eligibility of two other Dorsey players is being investigated.

Administrators at Dorsey are trying to determine whether senior Jason Patton, a forward highly recruited by college teams, has violated a statewide rule by not having lived with a legal guardian since moving from Louisiana to the Carson area.

Sources have also confirmed that junior Derrick Robinson, who transferred to Dorsey from Baldwin Park High, was academically ineligible when he left Baldwin Park last month--which would make him ineligible at Dorsey as well--but was allowed to play in several games for the Dons.

Dorsey Principal Jerelene Wells and Assistant Principal James Alther did not return phone calls from The Times.

In Patton’s case, City rules say that if an athlete moves into an area, he must be living with the same family unit he lived with before the move to be eligible to compete, or there must be written proof that custody of the athlete has been transferred. Sources close to the school said there was no custody transfer on file at Dorsey.

Consequences are not clear if the allegations are found to be true. Dick Browning, the City Section’s superintendent of the Senior High Division, said that any new charges against Dorsey would go to the rules committee.

Last month, that rules committee found that violations were committed when a Dorsey player’s grades were changed after the deadline for grade changes had passed. Because Dorsey was on probation, the committee banned the Dons from this season’s playoffs, from two tournaments next season, and made them forfeit eight games.

In the only modification to the sanctions, the panel on Thursday reduced Dorsey’s probation period by 16 months. It will end March 1, 1998, instead of June 30, 1999.

Representatives of the Interscholastic Athletic Committee listened to arguments by Wells, parents of the athletes and their attorney, Tyron Sheppard. They said that the sanctions were too severe and unfairly punished innocent athletes.

“The panel felt that the school was put on probation and warned,” Browning said. “There was a repetition of problems and the penalty inevitably falls on the players.”

Sheppard said that he and his clients would consider further action.

“We might appeal to the CIF [state office] or we might take court action,” he said.