Another Twist Is Added to Charges of Illegal Recruiting

Here we go again.

Two weeks after Hawthorne and Leuzinger brought charges against Inglewood for illegal recruiting and using ineligible athletes last season, a former Leuzinger football coach has accused Leuzinger of similar offenses.

Chris White, who coached Leuzinger’s sophomore team last season, says he will produce evidence to support his allegations that Leuzinger coaches and administrators either condoned or took part in illegal recruiting and grade changing for the purpose of allowing ineligible athletes to play football.

White met with Leuzinger Principal Derek Harrison on Monday to detail his allegations that former Leuzinger varsity coach Tom Jessee ordered White to recruit football players in Inglewood and that Athletic Director Steve Carnes was aware of ineligible athletes who played varsity football for Leuzinger.

White also accused a Leuzinger physical education teacher of changing the grade of a sophomore football player to allow him to play.

Harrison said Leuzinger will not investigate the charges until White files a written complaint with the school.

“I told him we need that in writing,” Harrison said. “We need specifics. We need dates and times. Without them, they are just statements.”

White said he will file a written complaint, perhaps as early as Friday.

“When the time comes, the evidence and the people involved will be produced,” White said. “I stand behind what I said.”

Carnes, who was Leuzinger’s football coach for seven seasons before resigning after the 1990 season, said White’s allegations are without substance and could be motivated by the charges Leuzinger and Hawthorne recently brought against Inglewood.

White is an Inglewood resident and was accompanied at Monday’s meeting at Leuzinger by Lionel Broussard, a known supporter of Inglewood Principal Ken Crowe and co-founder of a community group that has filed complaints accusing the Centinela Valley district of discrimination against blacks. White was fired by Jessee in December.

“We expected this . . . I take it with a grain of salt,” Carnes said. “I would hope that people who know me, know me better than that. I’m not going to sit around and defend myself against those kind of accusations. I don’t feel I need to.”

White said he represents only himself. He said some of the things he witnessed and was asked to do while he coached at Leuzinger “went against my coaching ethics.” He said the illegal practices of the Leuzinger coaches may have sent the wrong message to the school’s football players, several of whom have run afoul of the law in recent months.

“I don’t hope to gain anything by this,” White said. “I just want the situation to get rectified. It’s not just about me. It’s about the kids too . . . It makes me sick. These (coaches) made me a part of their wrongdoing by changing grades and sending off the wrong message. What I’m talking about is accountability.”

White said he was ordered by Jessee to visit the homes of several players in Inglewood, some of whom had transferred from Leuzinger, and try to talk them into enrolling at Leuzinger. White said he talked with at least four players before the start of last season, all of whom remained at Inglewood or Morningside.

Asked why he participated in illegal recruiting, White said: “I did as I was told. I was threatened that I would be fired on more than one occasion.”

Jessee, who was forced to resign after last season, said he never ordered White to recruit players.

“It’s unfounded lies,” Jessee said. “I can’t believe you can print something because somebody says it. That was my first thought. I’m just flabbergasted, aghast. Why is he acting like this?

“None of us had to resort to recruiting. No matter what people believe, it didn’t happen.”

Jessee was also dumbfounded by White’s charge that a teacher changed the grade of a player.

“Why would anybody arrange a sophomore’s grade?” Jessee said. “Nothing is that vital. Who is that great as a sophomore?”

There are also differing opinions concerning White’s allegation that Carnes had knowledge of ineligible athletes playing varsity football for Leuzinger.

“I can tell you right now, the kids who were out there were eligible,” Carnes said. “There were a lot of kids who were removed from teams. There were about three or four (players) from each team that had been out there practicing who were removed before the first game.

“I don’t know what (White) is talking about. He’s been making a lot of accusations. If I were him, I’d come up with some proof.”

You would think that John Stevenson, in his 33rd season as El Segundo’s baseball coach, had seen it all by now.

But St. Genevieve provided Stevenson with a new experience last week.

El Segundo was scheduled to play two San Fernando Valley League games against St. Genevieve on consecutive days. But after El Segundo’s 21-0 victory on April 14, St. Genevieve called the next afternoon to inform Stevenson that it was forfeiting its game that night in El Segundo.

“It highly upset me,” Stevenson said. “It’s the first time I’ve ever encountered that in any sport on the varsity level. They said they had some discipline problems, but I had a couple of points on that. You don’t make your problems somebody else’s problems. It’s not a professional way to do it. They could have brought somebody up from the (junior varsity) team.”

Stevenson said he noticed that St. Genevieve was participating in the St. Paul tournament this week, so the discipline problems must be cleared up.

“I guess they just didn’t have a team the night they were supposed to play El Segundo,” he said.

After playing the last two seasons in the San Fernando Valley League, Stevenson said he is looking forward to next season when El Segundo moves to the Pioneer League with the four Torrance schools and Centennial.

“I don’t think we could take another year in this league,” he said.

Among the bad points are long bus rides to away games and an overall lack of competition. El Segundo’s two-year record in the league is 14-0 (4-0 this season), with most victories coming by comfortable margins.

The Eagles (14-2) have also had to play at some shoddy facilities.

Last week’s game with St. Genevieve was played at Branford Park in Arleta, located in the east San Fernando Valley. Stevenson said the infield was all dirt, the bases were not anchored in the ground and there was no pitcher’s mound. And, because it is a public park, there were games being played at adjacent fields and people kept wandering through the outfield.

“It was incredible,” Stevenson said.

El Segundo catcher Jeff Poor signed a letter of intent with Texas last week, Stevenson said. The 6-foot-2, 210-pound senior is batting .420 for the Eagles, who are ranked No. 1 in the Southern Section 3-A Division.

Poor is expected to be selected in the June amateur draft, which brings up the question: Does he want to attend college or go directly into professional baseball?

“Jeff wants to play baseball,” Stevenson said. “That’s the important thing. The decisions on where he will play will work themselves out.”

With no league games this week, El Segundo will keep busy with two tournament games. The Eagles play host to Edison of Huntington Beach at 7 p.m. Friday in the third-place game of the El Segundo tournament, and will face either Culver City or La Serna of Whittier in the semifinals of the Redondo tournament at 7 p.m. Saturday at Redondo.

In the other semifinal, Mira Costa plays Westchester at 4 p.m. Saturday at Redondo. Culver City and La Serna play at 11 a.m. at Redondo for the right to meet El Segundo.

El Segundo won two of three games last week to finish second out of eight teams in the San Luis Obispo tournament, but Stevenson was not overly pleased. The Eagles beat Santa Monica, 9-5, and San Luis Obispo, 8-7, before losing to Hueneme of Oxnard in the final, 7-6.

Although El Segundo’s offense is thriving with a .380 team batting average--first baseman Tracy McAndrews leads the team at .521--Stevenson said the Eagles are giving up too many runs.

“Before we’re a real contender, we have to stop giving up runs,” he said. “It’s mostly defense. The pitching has been good.”

Senior right-hander Matt Gangawere leads El Segundo’s staff with a 7-0 record and 0.72 earned-run average. He has given up 14 runs, but only four have been earned.

“The other 10 runs were because the defense was inadequate at that point,” Stevenson said. “We’re looking at all possible (defensive) combinations.”

Wendell Yoshida, who on Wednesday was named national coach of the year by USA Today, and the Peninsula High girls’ basketball team will be honored Sunday at a banquet at the Velvet Turtle in Torrance.

“The year to remember” is the theme of the event hosted by the Peninsula girls’ basketball boosters. A highlight film will be shown and available for purchase, and all the awards the Lady Panthers won during their 33-0, national championship season will be on display.

Tickets are $19. Reservations are required and can be made by calling Vicki Gausepohl at (310) 377-7007.

Notes

Mike Hayes and Al Watson each collected four hits to lead Westchester’s baseball team to its 12th consecutive victory Tuesday, a 15-3 triumph over Venice in a Coastal Conference game at Venice. Hayes drove in four runs and Watson had a run batted in as the Comets (12-4) improved to 9-0 in conference play to remain tied for first place with University. Westchester plays host to Venice (8-1 in conference) at 3 p.m. today.

The Torrance Volleyball Club will hold open tryouts for boys in grades 9-12 for the upcoming United States Volleyball Assn. season the next two Sundays at Torrance High. The sessions are 2:30-6 p.m. Sunday and 3-6 p.m. May 3. The fee is $5 per player. Information: Tim Ittner at (310) 429-0905. . . . Banning’s Michelle Campbell, a 6-4 All-City Section center, signed a letter of intent last week to play basketball for USC. Campbell announced early last season that she would attend USC. . . . Cary Beeson, a 5-8 outside hitter from Chadwick, has signed to play women’s volleyball for South Carolina. A four-year varsity starter, Beeson was twice selected to All-Southern Section teams.

South Bay’s Baseball Top 10 Selected by Times Sportswriters (Through Tuesday’s Games)

Rank School, League Record 1 El Segundo (San Fernando) 14-2 2 San Pedro (Pacific) 12-2 3 Westchester (Western) 12-4 4 West Torrance (Pioneer) 12-5 5 Redondo (Ocean) 10-6 6 Mira Costa (Ocean) 11-4 7 Torrance (Pioneer) 8-7 8 Peninsula (Bay) 11-6 9 Banning (Pacific) 9-5 10 St. Bernard (Mission) 10-7-1