http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.d.../SPT/307250041
Huggins' lawyer helps Walker
BY TOM GROESCHEN | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER
<!--ARTICLE BODY TEXT-->The attorney for former North College Hill basketball star Bill Walker believes the player can win an appeal to regain his eligiblity for the 2006-07 season, Walker’s would-be senior year.
Cincinnati lawyer Richard Katz, whose clients include former University of Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins (now Kansas State coach), will represent Walker in an appeal hearing Aug. 10 before the Ohio High School Athletic Association Board of Control in Columbus.
“We expect to be successful,” Katz said Tuesday. “We think there are some serious issues in our favor.”
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Katz declined to be specific, but said there is paperwork that shows Walker should have two semesters of eligibility remaining at North College Hill.
Bob Goldring, an assistant OHSAA comissioner, said appeals in such cases usually are unsuccessful.
“Generally, the OHSAA board will not overturn a ruling by the staff,” Goldring said.
The OHSAA board is not authorized to waive the requirements of the bylaws, Goldring said. At the hearing, the board must decide if there was a mistake made in interpreting the bylaw by the OHSAA staff, if another bylaw could have been used that overrides the bylaw that was applied, or new information may be introduced – which was not available when the staff made its ruling – that may change the decision.
Walker’s family, represented by Katz, has sent a letter to the OHSAA announcing the appeal.
Walker and family members did not return calls seeking comment Tuesday. Katz said the family, for now, will not comment.
The OHSAA limits athletic eligibility to eight semesters. An OHSAA investigation, conducted following the 2005-06 basketball season, determined Walker had played two ninth-grade semesters at Rose Hill Christian (Ashland, Ky.) in the 2002-03 season, followed by six semesters of enrollment at North College Hill (2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons).
Walker, rated the nation’s No. 2 would-be senior by Rivals.com, was listed as a freshman by Rose Hill for the 2002-03 season. He transferred in February 2003 to NCH and was put back in the eighth grade.
At the time, the NCH administration believed its records showed that Walker – who has attended several schools since he was a youngster in Huntington, W. Va. – had not yet finished eighth grade. Katz said he has obtained documents that will prove NCH was correct in that belief.
Walker is a 6-foot-6 forward who was listed by NCH as a junior this past season, when he averaged 21.7 points and 10.1 rebounds a game in helping lead NCH to its second consecutive Ohio Division III championship.
NCH principal Kelly Hughes has indicated that the school itself would not appeal the Walker ruling, which was announced July 10. OHSAA appeals procedures state that students, parents of the student, school administrators, coaches, contest officials or “any other person having a vested interest in the issue” can make such appeals.
E-mail tgroeschen@enquirer.com
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