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Football recruit charges detailed
American Samoan kids' residency faked, prep probe finds.
By Quwan Spears - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PDT Wednesday, September 26, 2007
The governing body that oversees high school sports in the Sacramento region accused a Stockton school Tuesday of illegally recruiting up to 10 teenagers from American Samoa to play football, including paying for parents to stay in town just long enough to register their sons at the school.
The teenagers all brought size and power to Franklin High School, which last week defeated regional force Elk Grove and narrowly lost to state powerhouse Grant of Del Paso Heights on Sept. 7.
Calling it the "most extensive investigation" of high school sports in the region, the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section made the following accusations against Franklin:
• Parents of the teenagers "were put up in local Stockton motels for about a week" during which time assistant coaches took them to local utility companies "to establish accounts at homes that they had no intention of living in, but was used to register their (sons) at (Franklin)."
• All of the teenagers "lived with one of the assistant coaches or a brother of the assistant coach."
• A relative of one of the assistant coaches lives in American Samoa and actively recruited football players for Franklin since at least 2004, promising the teenagers and their parents that their room and board would be paid for by the coaches.
The section did not identify the assistant coaches and said Franklin had at least three teenagers from American Samoa on the team this season.
Franklin football coach Tom Verner denied the accusations. "They're dreaming," he said of the section. "And I'm not worried about their findings because we didn't violate any rules. You don't worry about things when you have not done anything."
Joe Martin, who oversees high school sports for the Stockton Unified School District, said his office had received the section's report and supports Franklin's coaches and administrators.
"As far as enrollment violations, I remember personally escorting the parents and the students to our office and they all had the necessary documentation to enroll at the school," he said. "Now, if we find that we received false documentation, we will address that situation later."
The section has given the school until Oct. 5 to formally respond to its accusations. Once the school responds, the section will determine what action it will take, which could range from having the football team forfeit its games to banning the team from the playoffs for one to two years.
"In my 15 years as section commissioner, this is the most extensive investigation we've ever done," said Pete Saco, who noted that in March the section hired a Sacramento attorney, Scott Donald, and a consultant, Chuck Smrt, who has investigated cases for the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
Saco sent the two to American Samoa in June, and the pair taped interviews with parents and educators of teenagers who enrolled at Franklin, as well as other parents and teenagers who said they had been recruited to play at Franklin but chose to remain in American Samoa.
"I can't comment on our investigation," Donald said. "But we have collected substantial documentation though conversations and receipts to support our allegations."
Concerns about Franklin's football program began in 2004, when rival schools contacted the section office and asserted that the school had American Samoan players on the varsity roster who had not been at the school the previous year.
Saco said he hired Donald and Smrt shortly after receiving a phone call on March 26 from a high school football coach in American Samoa who asserted that two of his student-athletes had been recruited to play for Franklin and were "paid money for whole trips" to Stockton.
One longtime observer of high school sports said he had never heard of such a large investigation involving a California high school team.
"I would say this is an unprecedented number of players" allegedly being recruited, said Mark Tennis, who as editor for CalHi Sports has covered high school sports for more than 20 years. "This is not a new standard nationally. But it may be for California."
After first hearing complaints from rival schools about Franklin's American Samoan players, Saco said he met with Martin and that he assured Saco that all the students had made a legitimate change of address with their parents. American Samoa is a U.S. territory, and its residents are free to move to the United States.
http://www.sacbee.com/100/story/399514.html
American Samoan kids' residency faked, prep probe finds.
By Quwan Spears - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PDT Wednesday, September 26, 2007
The governing body that oversees high school sports in the Sacramento region accused a Stockton school Tuesday of illegally recruiting up to 10 teenagers from American Samoa to play football, including paying for parents to stay in town just long enough to register their sons at the school.
The teenagers all brought size and power to Franklin High School, which last week defeated regional force Elk Grove and narrowly lost to state powerhouse Grant of Del Paso Heights on Sept. 7.
Calling it the "most extensive investigation" of high school sports in the region, the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section made the following accusations against Franklin:
• Parents of the teenagers "were put up in local Stockton motels for about a week" during which time assistant coaches took them to local utility companies "to establish accounts at homes that they had no intention of living in, but was used to register their (sons) at (Franklin)."
• All of the teenagers "lived with one of the assistant coaches or a brother of the assistant coach."
• A relative of one of the assistant coaches lives in American Samoa and actively recruited football players for Franklin since at least 2004, promising the teenagers and their parents that their room and board would be paid for by the coaches.
The section did not identify the assistant coaches and said Franklin had at least three teenagers from American Samoa on the team this season.
Franklin football coach Tom Verner denied the accusations. "They're dreaming," he said of the section. "And I'm not worried about their findings because we didn't violate any rules. You don't worry about things when you have not done anything."
Joe Martin, who oversees high school sports for the Stockton Unified School District, said his office had received the section's report and supports Franklin's coaches and administrators.
"As far as enrollment violations, I remember personally escorting the parents and the students to our office and they all had the necessary documentation to enroll at the school," he said. "Now, if we find that we received false documentation, we will address that situation later."
The section has given the school until Oct. 5 to formally respond to its accusations. Once the school responds, the section will determine what action it will take, which could range from having the football team forfeit its games to banning the team from the playoffs for one to two years.
"In my 15 years as section commissioner, this is the most extensive investigation we've ever done," said Pete Saco, who noted that in March the section hired a Sacramento attorney, Scott Donald, and a consultant, Chuck Smrt, who has investigated cases for the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
Saco sent the two to American Samoa in June, and the pair taped interviews with parents and educators of teenagers who enrolled at Franklin, as well as other parents and teenagers who said they had been recruited to play at Franklin but chose to remain in American Samoa.
"I can't comment on our investigation," Donald said. "But we have collected substantial documentation though conversations and receipts to support our allegations."
Concerns about Franklin's football program began in 2004, when rival schools contacted the section office and asserted that the school had American Samoan players on the varsity roster who had not been at the school the previous year.
Saco said he hired Donald and Smrt shortly after receiving a phone call on March 26 from a high school football coach in American Samoa who asserted that two of his student-athletes had been recruited to play for Franklin and were "paid money for whole trips" to Stockton.
One longtime observer of high school sports said he had never heard of such a large investigation involving a California high school team.
"I would say this is an unprecedented number of players" allegedly being recruited, said Mark Tennis, who as editor for CalHi Sports has covered high school sports for more than 20 years. "This is not a new standard nationally. But it may be for California."
After first hearing complaints from rival schools about Franklin's American Samoan players, Saco said he met with Martin and that he assured Saco that all the students had made a legitimate change of address with their parents. American Samoa is a U.S. territory, and its residents are free to move to the United States.
http://www.sacbee.com/100/story/399514.html
