THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 14, 1994 TAG: 9409140618
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARC DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 103 lines
Lorenzo Thompson will return to more comfortable turf Friday night - a high school football field, instead of a federal courtroom - thanks to a judge's ruling Tuesday.
After a 7 1/2-hour trial, District Judge Robert G. Doumar ruled that the Virginia High School Football League unfairly denied Thompson an age waiver to play with his Granby High football team.
Thompson is 19. The league bans students who turn 19 before Oct. 1. Thompson turned 19 in May.
Doumar did not declare the league's age rule unconstitutional, as Thompson had asked, but he said the league applied its rule arbitrarily by granting 12 exemptions in 10 years for a variety of reasons.
``I find there is a rational basis for a 19-year-old rule,'' Doumar said. ``But what's happened over time is the rationality is disappearing. . . . When waivers become prevalent, then the waiver becomes the rule.''
Doumar ordered the league to grant Thompson a waiver, and a league committee did so immediately after.
Thompson, wearing a dark-blue suit, attended the trial with his mother, older brother and three attorneys. ``I feel great,'' he said after the judge's ruling. ``I feel like I'm part of the team now.''
Doumar's ruling applies only to Thompson, but the league's executive director, Ken Tilley, said it ``certainly could have'' implications beyond this case.
The league's executive committee will meet next week in Charlottesville, Tilley said, and ``I've already thought about what steps will be necessary in the future.''
Tilley would not elaborate, but the judge said that he would have no trouble if the league had adopted
a hard no-exemptions rule.
Thompson's lead attorney, Thomas B. Shuttleworth, said he expects one change immediately. ``Hopefully,'' he said, ``kids who live in the state of Virginia won't be subjected to Kafkaesque hearings in the basement of a school building in Charlottesville.''
The case raised two main issues: Could the league offer a reasonable explanation for the age limit? Could it offer any concrete standards for granting waivers?
League officials said they need an age limit to ensure safety and equity among teams.
But since 1984, 41 students have requested age waivers for activities such as football, baseball, girls softball and cheerleading. The league granted 12 and denied 29.
In court, Shuttleworth made Tilley explain why each waiver was granted, and why others were not.
Tilley said the successful requests fell into three categories: Students who had repeated grades or missed school because of learning disabilities, physical disabilities or were foreign immigrants.
But as Tilley testified, it became apparent that some very similar cases had very different results.
For example, Thompson - Granby's leading scorer last season - is over-age because he repeated first and third grades to improve his reading and math skills.
But in another case this year in Pound, Va., near Kentucky, a student who was repeated kindergarten and second grade got an age waiver. The student had a speech impediment in elementary school.
Tilley said Thompson's case was different. ``There's no speech impediment. There's no learning disability,'' he said.
In another two cases, students who had immigrated from Japan and Vietnam got waivers. They had fallen behind in school because of language problems, Tilley said.
``So if he (Thompson) had been born in Japan, he would have been all right, right?'' Doumar asked.
``No, sir,'' replied the league's attorney, John Dezio.
``Vietnam?''
``No, sir.''
Later, as the judge ticked off the cases again, he remarked, ``I'm having trouble trying to determine what is the criteria for creating exemptions.'' Doumar ruled that the league has no standards for granting waivers, only the arbitrary judgments of appeals panels.
As a result, Doumar said, ``This young gentleman did not receive equal treatment.''
Dezio said he did not know if the league will appeal.
After the ruling, Thompson's mother, Rhonda Thompson, expressed relief. ``I'm just happy that they finally made the right decision,'' she said. ``It's been a long struggle.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
IAN MARTIN/Staff
Attorney Larry Woodward, left, congratulates Lorenzo Thompson as
they leave a federal courtroom. The 19-year-old can suit up
Friday.
by CNB