Canoga Park’s Ellison Ineligible

Canoga Park High basketball players David Redmond and Jeff Turner were granted waivers to compete this season by the City Section Rules Committee on Thursday, but teammate Anthony Ellison was ruled ineligible.

Ellison, who entered high school at Birmingham in 1992, and his mother Eula failed to convince the 12 members of the Rules Committee that Ellison should be granted an additional semester of eligibility.

Rule 202 of the City Section rules and regulations mandates that a student’s athletic eligibility may not exceed eight consecutive semesters following initial enrollment in ninth grade, unless a hardship can be proved.

Ellison’s hardship request was based on the fact that, because of poor attendance, he struggled through his first two years of high school and was academically ineligible to play basketball. Ellison plans to appeal the committee’s decision.

Although Canoga Park Coach Ralph Turner was disappointed by the ruling, he wasn’t surprised.

“We knew it was a long shot,” Turner said. “I just hope [Ellison] can accept this and not disappear.”

Ellison, a 6-foot-3 swingman, averaged 17.8 points, 11 rebounds and 3.7 steals in his only season of organized basketball last year, helping Canoga Park reach the 3-A Division final.

“Hopefully he can stick it out the rest of this year and start anew with a [junior college],” Coach Turner said.

Jeff Turner, with support from his aunt and uncle--his legal guardians of five years--requested a waiver of the same rule.

Turner, who is no relation to Coach Turner, enrolled at Canoga Park in 1992. He was displaced by the 1994 earthquake and attended Birmingham for about two months. He then moved with his aunt and uncle to Atlanta, but did not attend high school there until the middle of the ’94 fall semester. Last March, Turner moved back to California and re-enrolled at Canoga Park.

In effect, the committee restored Turner’s eligibility for the time he lost as a result of the earthquake and his move to Atlanta, granting him an additional semester of eligibility, which in this case is the current fall semester.

“It has always been our practice that if it’s a winter sport, they are allowed to finish the season, provided they stay in school,” said City Section Commissioner Barbara Fiege.

Although Turner has never played organized basketball, Coach Turner predicts a big season from the 6-4 senior guard.

“I’m extremely happy,” Coach Turner said. “I can’t tell you how happy I am. When he first came to Canoga, he was a street-ball player and now he’s really learning how to play.”

Each Canoga Park player spoke to the committee on his own behalf. Redmond was accompanied only by Coach Turner because Redmond’s mother, Carmen Morris, had given birth Tuesday and was unable to attend.

Redmond, a highly regarded 6-8 forward who transferred from Birmingham to Canoga Park in the spring, requested a waiver to Rule 214 regarding transfer eligibility.

To be eligible, a transferring student must move into the new school’s attendance area with a parent or legal guardian with whom the student was living when residency was in the ninth grade.

Redmond previously lived with his grandmother in Reseda. He attended Birmingham on open enrollment. In the spring, he moved in with his mother, who lives in the Canoga Park attendance area.

Redmond had to prove it would be a hardship to continue attending Birmingham and/or continue living with his grandmother.

“In their presentation, they did prove to this committee that there was a substantial hardship to substantiate a waiver of the rule,” Fiege said.

Canoga Park, which played its first game with Redmond and Turner on Thursday night in a Fresno tournament, is ranked No. 2 in the region by The Times. The Hunters have moved up to the 4-A Division this season.