Holcomb’s Wards, Son Ineligible : Academic Troubles Sideline 3 Athletes

Two athletes from Pacoima and the son of the man who took them into his Westlake Village home have been ruled academically ineligible for the fall semester at Westlake High, according to school and Southern Section officials.

In accordance with Southern Section regulations, Westlake has denied athletic eligibility to Brian Brison, Mukasa Crowe and Erik Holcomb, who have enrolled in school as freshmen for the fall semester. They may regain their eligibility by the start of the second semester in January if they complete 20 credits of course work with at least a 2.0 grade-point average.

The ruling does not affect Leonice Brown, who also moved from Pacoima to the Holcomb household. Brown has enrolled as a sophomore at Crespi High, an all-boys parochial school in Encino. Also unaffected is Nicholas Tehrani, who moved in with the Holcombs this summer after his Westlake Village parents divorced.

Buzz Holcomb, who has assumed legal guardianship of the three boys from Pacoima, said he will appeal the ruling to Southern Section Commissioner Stan Thomas. Thomas is on vacation and was unavailable for comment Tuesday. Due process allows Holcomb to appeal to the Southern Section’s executive committee and to the California Interscholastic Federation office.

The three boys lost their eligibility, according to Southern Section rules, when Holcomb withdrew them from First Baptist Academy in Thousand Oaks in February and sent them to a private tutor. All three, who previously had completed the eighth grade, were repeating that grade at First Baptist Academy.

Southern Section regulation 205 states that in order to maintain eligibility students must have passed at least 20 hours of work at the completion of the last regular grading period. Because they were not enrolled in school, they failed to meet that requirement, Southern Section administrator Bill Clark said Tuesday.

“Westlake declared them ineligible after discussion with us,” he said. “We reviewed the case and agreed that the boys were academically ineligible.”

Holcomb will base his appeal on the claim that the boys received an adequate education from their private tutor. He removed them from school only when their primary instructor left to take a teaching job in Palmdale, he said.

“Basically, they went to school every day from 8:30 in the morning to 2:30 in the afternoon until June 15, and we can document it,” Holcomb said. “I will do whatever I can to make them eligible.”

But if the appeal fails, the boys will accept the decision, Holcomb said. Regardless of the outcome, the boys will remain at his home and attend Westlake, he said.

“You bet they’re staying. Sports is a secondary item. It’s a sad deal, but I have no regrets about pulling the boys out of school. My only regret is that I didn’t research this enough so they could have their eligibility,” he said.

Shirley Crowe, Mukasa’s mother, said the ruling was only a minor disappointment. She and the other Pacoima parents sent their boys to Westlake for educational reasons, not for athletics, she said.

Brison, Brown, Crowe and Erik Holcomb played football and ran track on the same San Fernando Valley youth teams last year. After a friendship developed between the Holcombs and the Pacoima parents, the boys moved to Westlake Village to escape a crime-ridden neighborhood in Pacoima. Their parents insist they gladly signed over legal guardianship to Holcomb.

“Basically, everything’s the same,” Shirley Crowe said. “The main purpose of sending them to school in Westlake was for the education. As long as they’re in school, that’s fine. Mukasa is a little disappointed because he was looking forward to football. But if they have to wait we have no problem with that.”

Left unresolved after Monday’s ruling was the issue of recruiting. Southern Section and state rules forbid the use of “undue influence” in a student-athlete’s decision to attend a school outside his attendance area. Some Valley-area coaches have accused Holcomb of recruiting the Pacoima boys to Westlake, a charge he and the boys’ parents deny.

“I don’t know where this recruiting part came up,” Shirley Crowe said. “This was our choice and we’re happy with the arrangement.”

Southern Section officials have not ruled on the issue and did not address it when ruling on the the boys’ academic eligibility.

Clark declined further comment, referring the matter to Thomas, who returns to work today. Holcomb fears that after the boys retain their eligibility for the second semester, the Southern Section will declare them ineligible for another year because of violation of the undue-influence regulation.

“The boys have done everything they’ve been asked to do,” Holcomb said. “Their release is sports. To take that away from these guys is a real injustice. But I teach my boys that you’ve got to go by the law. Sometimes you don’t like it or you don’t understand it, but you have to accept it. This could be a tough lesson to learn.”