Nothing Is Settled On This Court

The letter is neatly typed, properly spelled, a piece of work that would make any college junior proud.

Dear Corey, I’m very sorry for my actions on the day of Nov. 3, 1996. I know that my actions got carried away. . . . Corey, this will never happen again, to you or any of my teammates.”

With that, and a one-game regular-season suspension, forward Marcus Johnson returned to the basketball court for Long Beach State on Saturday against USC.

Twenty-seven days after savagely beating teammate Corey Saffold during a practice, sending him to the hospital with bruises and lacerations.

Ten months after verbally attacking his head coach in a locker room altercation during which Johnson punched a wall.

Fifteen months after spending two days in a Long Beach jail for allegedly firing a handgun at a fleeing man who had burglarized his apartment, although charges were later dropped.

Marcus Johnson took the floor against USC as a 6-foot-9 leaper and best inside man on the defending Big West champions.

He left it as a walking debate.

When should a fence be built around troubled youth and the sports they play?

When does a university’s responsibility for the future of its students become secondary to the student’s responsibility for the future of the university?

When is enough enough?

The questions are simple.

The answers only seem that way.

One thing is for certain.

“We all recognize there is a risk involved,” Long Beach State Athletic Director Bill Shumard said.

*

As far as Otis Saffold is concerned, the Marcus Johnson situation is as plain as black and blue.

That was the color of the right side of his son Corey’s face when Saffold saw him one day after the mugging.

“If I had beaten somebody like that, I would be in jail,” said Saffold, a minister from Los Angeles.

Long Beach State players have been forbidden by first-year Coach Wayne Morgan to discuss the incident. But an account that Saffold received from his son, a 6-7 junior reserve, matched that of several witnesses.

It was Sunday, Nov. 3, a week before the 49ers’ first exhibition game. Corey Saffold and Johnson had been arguing about Saffold’s hustle.

“He was yelling at my son that he should have dunked the ball when he had a chance to dunk it,” Otis said.

Saffold uttered a profanity toward Johnson, then walked off the floor.

Johnson sucker punched him from behind, knocked him to the floor, then leaped on him and punched him twice more.

The players were separated. Saffold was taken to the hospital by guard James Cotton. Johnson remained on the floor.

After a post-practice investigation, Morgan suspended Johnson indefinitely. Saffold, meanwhile, needed five stitches to close a cut while suffering bruises that are still there.

In the ensuing three weeks, Johnson visited doctors for his anger problem and apologized to everyone involved. He was not allowed to practice, not allowed to share team meals afterward.

He sat out two exhibition games and the season opener, a victory against overmatched Wyoming.

By then, the team voted unanimously--including Saffold--that Johnson be allowed to return.

And Morgan relented.

And Saffold’s father raged.

“They are sending the wrong message, to win at any costs,” Saffold said. “All this kid has done. . . . and he hasn’t paid for any of it. You commit a crime, you pay for it.”

But at what price?

Nobody, even Saffold, believes that Johnson’s scholarship should be revoked.

“You don’t put him on the streets, you don’t put him in jail,” he said. “But you remove him from basketball and work with him on his problems.”

Long Beach State officials gave some consideration to that alternative. But they ultimately felt the only way to work with Johnson--a kid from the San Diego streets--was to keep him in basketball.

With a couple of addendums.

He is still receiving counseling.

And he has been told that one more mistake will cost him his Long Beach State career.

“Playing basketball is very much an anchor in this kid’s life,” Shumard said. “With him getting another chance here, with basketball keeping him focused, we figure he’ll work harder across the board.”

Is that just adminstrator-speak for, “We have a chance to be a great team soon, and we can’t afford to lose our best post player, so he’s not in jail, he’s on our bench?”

Maybe.

Or is this a sincere recognition of the role of basketball in a student’s future? Are the 49ers giving Johnson a second chance, much like a Long Beach chemistry professor would give a second chance to a prodigy who has just blown up the lab?

Maybe.

Whatever, Johnson has already received sort of a second chance, from then-coach Seth Greenberg last January when Johnson nearly attacked him in the shower room after a lecture.

Greenberg suspended him for two days, leading to initial reports that Johnson slammed Greenberg into a locker.

“He never touched me, or he would be out of the game forever,” Greenberg said Monday from his office at the University of South Florida. “He slammed his fist into a wall, that was it.”

How will Long Beach State explain things next time, if Johnson’s fists make contact with something other than a student or school property?

He is known as one of the most demonstrative members of the team, frequently inciting the crowd and the opponents with gestures. What happens if somebody in the crowd curses him as Saffold did?

Morgan, a longtime Syracuse assistant who would not comment for this column, is known for supporting and protecting his players.

In turn, most of his players are known for hard work that helped carry the Orangemen to two Final Four appearances in his 12 years with Coach Jim Boeheim there.

Several months into his first head coaching job, he has climbed out on a limb for one he hardly knows.

If Marcus Johnson eventually leaves school to become a dependable member of society, Morgan and Long Beach State will be heroes.

If he doesn’t, well, they are obviously willing to take that chance.

Should the rest of us have to take that chance with them?