Wednesday, October 27, 1999
Sports eligibility lawsuit may have national impact
BY BEN L. KAUFMAN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Attention shifted Tuesday from senior Ryan C. Dixon's desire to play wide receiver for Hamilton High School to the seismic impact his interscholastic eligibility suit could have.
The immediate target is Rule 434, which limits Ohio high school athletes to eight semesters.
The larger issue is whether the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act trumps eligibility rules and elevates interscholastic sports to a right rather than a privilege.
That's why it would have national implications if 18-year-old Mr. Dixon wins a ninth semester, warned William M. Deters II, attorney for Hamilton City Schools. “This is big.”
Steven L. Craig, attorney for the Ohio State High School Athletic Association, said Mr. Dixon's challenge is unique.
Mr. Dixon repeated ninth grade at Winton Woods High School because serious learning and behavior problems dragged him down.
As a result, his eligibility — under the association's Rule 434 — ended in June.
In his sophomore year, he transferred to Hamilton High, where he wants to play wide receiver again, then basketball, baseball and possibly participate in track and field events in this, his senior year.
When the association rejected his appeals, his parents, Inga and David Dixon, sued the association and Hamilton city schools.
On Oct. 14, U.S. District Judge Sandra S. Beckwith in Cincinnati granted a 10-day restraining order, temporarily making him eligible to play. Tuesday, she extended the order through Nov. 3, well past Hamilton High's last football game.
That will give her time to decide whether to issue a preliminary injunction extending Mr. Dixon's eligibility until his case comes to trial.
On Monday and Tuesday, both sides presented witnesses to help her decide whether to enjoin enforcement of the eight-semester rule.
None doubted Mr. Dixon's learning and emotional disabilities, his athletic talent or his claim that interscholastic sports help him study and control his anger and suicidal urges.
Attorney Robert A. Klingler said Mr. Dixon's Individualized Education Program (IEP) identifies interscholastic sports as “essential” to his education and behavior control, and requires the association to extend his eligibility.
Mr. Dixon, Mr. Klingler said, is barred solely and illegally because of his disability.
Defense witnesses conceded that Mr. Dixon's IEP recognizes that interscholastic sports are “essential” but they denied it requires them to grant a ninth semester of eligibility, regardless of whether his disabilities cost him a year when he repeated ninth grade.
If Judge Beckwith allows Mr. Dixon to compete, association attorney Mr. Craig predicted “far-reaching effects” not limited to Ohio:
• Making interscholastic sports a requirement in an IEP would elevate participation to a right.
• Any IEP that required interscholastic sports would invite a similar federal suit if a state association tried to maintain its eligibility rules.
• Coaches would have to play disabled students, regardless of skills, if IEPs required participation in interscholastic sports.
• It wouldn't be long before someone sued to block associations from enforcing academic eligibility rules for IEP students who don't make the grade.
“Sports are very important to me,” Mr. Dixon said when it was his turn to testify on Tuesday. “I can let off some steam rather than do it in school and get in trouble ... It makes me feel better.”
Moreover, he said, tutors available to athletes and coaches help him cope with his Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder and control his anger.
They have affirmed his hope of graduating and winning a college scholarship, he said. “My coaches, they drill it into my head: "This is your chance, and you have to do good.'”
His parents testified that Mr. Dixon becomes suicidal when he thinks his playing days are over, and Mr. Dixon's psychiatrist testified that 15 percent to 20 percent of the people who share Mr. Dixon's second disability — bipolar/manic-depressive condition — kill themselves.
Mr. Dixon's smile flashed brightly when he talked about last Friday's game but it vanished when he was asked whether neighborhood “community” leagues would suffice if he were barred from interscholastic sports.
“It's not really the same type of competition,” he said. “When you play in school, it means something more. You represent your school, your community.”
Coaches would not ignore him if he were ineligible, Mr. Dixon conceded, but their first concerns would be current players.
Duane H. Warns, assistant commissioner for the Ohio State High School Athletic Association and Rule 434 enforcer, said no student ever has won a ninth semester.
Appeals have gained some students with interrupted educations additional eligibility, but not beyond eight semesters, he said. That promotes “competitive equity” and “serves the best interests of all students.”
The Dixons sued when their son's appeals failed.
A federal court victory for Mr. Dixon would exempt every physically able IEP student “from all of our eligibility requirements,” Mr. Warns said. “It would have a tremendous effect ... To do so would be precedent setting and weaken the eligibility requirements.”
On the other hand, Mr. Warns conceded, coaches would not be overwhelmed with IEP students seeking places on their teams. He suggested that not more than 100 Ohio high school students would be able to take advantage of the same argument if Mr. Dixon wins.
ELIGIBILITY EXTENDED
U.S. District Judge Sandra S. Beckwith extended her restraining order on Tuesday, temporarily making Ryan Dixon eligible to play through Nov. 3, well past Hamilton High's last football game.
She also told attorneys for Ryan, Hamilton City Schools and the Ohio High School Athletic Association to file written closing arguments by 5 p.m. Friday.
Only then will she decide whether to issue a preliminary injunction extending Ryan's eligibility until his case comes to trial. Given normal scheduling in federal court, that would be after he is to graduate next June.
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