Coach Hangs Tough at Plate

A disabled Anaheim high school coach prevailed Wednesday in his quest to use his wheelchair on the baseball field.

The California Interscholastic Federation and its Southern Section, which temporarily banned coach Victor Barrios, 27, from the field last year, also will pay the coach $10,000 for excluding him from eight games.

Barrios, now a coach at Magnolia High School, had coached the Westminster High School freshman team for four years before umpires banned him from the field, citing concerns about his ability to move quickly in his wheelchair.

During Wednesday’s game against the Brea Olinda Wildcats, Barrios was both elated and irate. His freshman team was getting pummeled early in the game, so while he talked about his sense of victory he pounded on his wheelchair shouting at the boys.

“I’m just so glad that now I can go out and coach without being afraid someone’s going to pull my wheelchair back off the field,” Barrios said.

His players called him a capable, inspiring coach.

Slacking off in any way, not giving 100% each game and every practice, is sure to bring down his wrath and probably a one-mile run around the field, they said.

“He’s also taught us self-respect and to stand up for yourself,” catcher Bubba Garcia, 16, said.

After Barrios sued the federation in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles last May, he and the CIF reached a temporary agreement allowing him to finish coaching the rest of the season.

Wednesday’s agreement makes that arrangement permanent--although it is specific to Barrios.

The two sides see the settlement somewhat differently. Barrios’ attorney at the Center for Law in the Public Interest, Laura Diamond, touted the settlement as a change in CIF policy. The federation also rescinded a rule forbidding umpires from using wheelchairs on the field, she said.

A federation spokesman, however, says that no rules were changed because of the settlement and that the organization would have accommodated Barrios without a lawsuit.

“Our policy has always been to make an assessment of the situation where we have a disabled person and make a reasonable accommodation wherever we can,” said Andrew Patterson, attorney for the federation.

Safety concerns regarding Barrios and players on the field were legitimate and not an effort to deny him any rights, Patterson said.

“When you have a disabled person in a wheelchair you have to ask questions such as: Can they manipulate it so they’re not a direct threat to the safety of others?” Patterson said. “Once it was determined he wasn’t a threat--well, we would grant those rules variances to any disabled person, not just Mr. Barrios.”

Barrios’ attorneys at the Center for Law in the Public Interest said he was never in danger. “We don’t dispute safety is a proper concern, but the law is very clear: You cannot assume somebody’s a risk because they use a wheelchair,” Diamond said.

Ironically, Barrios’ wheelchair is partly responsible for his coaching aspirations. Nine years ago, before a rival gang member shot him and severed his spinal chord, Barrios lived to guard and respect a few square blocks of Anaheim.

Forced to change direction, Barrios, who was always athletic, decided to focus his intellectual and career interests on school.

He recently graduated from Cal State Fullerton with a bachelor’s degree and has applied for an emergency teaching credential. His long-term goal is to become a full-time varsity baseball coach.

“This last year had been hard; I started to wonder whether I was going into the wrong field, and maybe I’d be better off behind a desk the way people assume disabled people should be,” Barrios said. “But so many people told me to keep fighting, and when you don’t come from the best environment, the way I didn’t, you learn you have to fight twice as hard for everything.”