Chapman Finds Another Ineligible Football Player

Chapman University officials discovered Thursday, only two days after declaring their star running back ineligible, they have been using a second ineligible football player.

Malcolm King, a starting defensive back, has played this season despite having already used his four years of football eligibility under NCAA rules, school officials said.

King, a three-year starter at Chapman, played one season at Saddleback College and another at Cal State Fullerton, according to records at those schools. He has been held out of practice this week and will not play in the Panthers’ game against La Verne on Saturday, Chapman Athletic Director Dave Currey said.

Currey also said he has contacted NCAA officials about the violation.

Earlier this week, standout tailback Darnell Morgan was ruled ineligible after Chapman officials were informed he was playing in his fifth year.

“We’ve gone back over eligibility of all our transfers since we learned about Darnell,” Currey said. “We have found some inconsistencies.”

Those “inconsistencies” center on King’s year at Cal State Fullerton, Currey said.

King said in an interview last week that he injured his Achilles’ tendon early in the 1992 season and was granted a hardship waiver, giving him another year of eligibility. Currey said Chapman had a letter from Fullerton on file stating that King “did not participate” in the 1992 season.

But Fullerton records show King played in seven of the Titans’ 11 games that season. An athlete cannot receive a hardship waiver if he plays beyond the season’s half-way point, NCAA spokeswoman Kathryn Reith said.

King has said he is 13 units from a degree in criminal justice. He graduated from Buena Park High in 1990 and spent the next football season as a redshirt player at Cal State Fullerton.

He returned to Fullerton for the 1992 season. The university eliminated the football program after that season, and King played at Saddleback College in 1993.

Chapman officials were already reeling from the revelation this week that Morgan had exhausted his eligibility last season. Morgan played two seasons at Cerritos College and was in his third season at Chapman.

Chapman, which has won 13 consecutive games, is 5-0 and ranked fourth in the NCAA Division III West Region. But those victories, and that ranking, could be in jeopardy. NCAA officials are expected to rule on the Morgan case within the next two weeks, according to Currey.

The Panthers could be forced to forfeit all or some of their victories.

Currey said Morgan filled out eligibility cards the last three seasons, stating he used only one year of eligibility at Cerritos. But university officials never checked with Cerritos for verification.

In an effort to prevent further player eligibility problems, Currey said Chapman officials are investigating all their transfer athletes. So far, they have not found any more eligibility problems, according to Currey.

“We are checking and double-checking everyone at this point,” he said.