Watkins Plays On, but Not Everyone Is Happy

Nearly a year after Quintin Watkins used his fourth year of athletic eligibility to play basketball for Palm Desert High, he returned to the Aztecs’ gymnasium Tuesday night ... as a senior at La Quinta.

He was booed during pregame introductions and whenever he stepped to the free-throw line in the first half, but he scored 14 points and helped the Blackhawks to a 55-46 Desert Valley League victory over his former team. Watkins, who fell behind in meeting his graduation requirements while shuffling between the Coachella Valley and the East Coast during his first 2 1/2 years of high school, was granted an extra semester of eligibility by the Southern Section last spring.

However, Palm Desert Coach Don Brady wasn’t willing to let him play for only the first half of this season, so Watkins decided to switch schools.

He chose La Quinta, but because he had played basketball for Palm Desert in the previous calendar year, section rules required him either to move with his parents or guardians into La Quinta’s attendance area or sit out the upcoming varsity season.

A hardship request filed by La Quinta Coach Bill Ciancio on Watkins’ behalf was initially denied by section Commissioner Jim Staunton in December.

But on Jan. 7, the section’s appeals board, saying that Watkins had suffered “significant hardship in his life,” reversed Staunton’s ruling and granted him eligibility for the remainder of the basketball season.

Watkins, a 6-foot-4, 190-pound forward who said his immediate goals are to graduate from high school and attend college, said the ruling was truly a gift.

“I’ve been trying to survive for so long, I knew in my heart this was supposed to happen,” he said.

Watkins’ presence also seems to have lifted La Quinta (13-8, 4-2 in league play), which is 4-2 since he joined the team. After a slow start this season, he averaged 16 points in victories over Desert Hot Springs and Palm Springs and in a one-point loss to Cathedral City, ranked fourth in Division II-AA, last week. But the appeal board’s ruling hasn’t been seen in a favorable light by everybody in the seven-team Desert Valley League.

Several coaches have complained about Watkins’ physical advantage, likening his physique to that of a junior college player; the fact that he played in a Desert Valley League All-Star game for seniors last summer, and how his situation is not all that different from that of other disadvantaged students in the area.

“I think it just sets a real bad precedent,” said Coach Rob Diaz of Thermal Coachella Valley. Brady sees it as a learning opportunity.

“If the kid can learn from this, then, hopefully, something good will come out of it,” he said. “For him it worked out well; for others in our league, it’s a tough situation to have to deal with.”

Watkins, 18, has been without immediate family for most of the last four years. He said his father died when he was 11 and, according to Ciancio, the mother was unable to take care of Watkins.

Watkins left his hometown of Jersey City, N.J., in the fall of 1999 and went to Palm Desert with an aunt. He played briefly as a freshman for the Aztecs that season before returning with his aunt to Jersey City, where he enrolled at Henry Snyder High -- for one day -- in the fall.

Returning to Palm Desert in January 2001, he began living with a series of guardians. After not playing basketball his sophomore year, as a junior he helped the Aztecs reach the Division III-AA title game.

He started the 2002-03 school year at Clara Barton High in Brooklyn, N.Y., but returned to Palm Desert before the start of the basketball season.

He figured last season would be the end of his high school eligibility, though he would be short of the necessary units to graduate with his class.

During Watkins’ first semester at La Quinta this fall, he moved in with Doris Wilson, the superintendent of the Desert Sands Unified School District -- of which Palm Desert and La Quinta are members -- and her husband.

“We didn’t care about basketball,” said Wilson, who has played host to about a dozen foreign exchange students.

“We found he wanted to graduate and get a diploma. Why wouldn’t I want to help a kid who wants to do that?”