Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Pasco star plans to transfer

Dominic Brown says he is moving to Georgia, but eligibility rules there likely would keep him off football, baseball fields.

By IZZY GOULD and FRANK PASTOR
Published July 27, 2005

DADE CITY - One week before the start of football practice, Pasco standout Dominic Brown told his mother, coaches and friends he intends to leave Pasco and enroll in a Georgia public school.

But such a move could cost the rising senior his remaining high school eligibility.

Brown, one of the bay area's top football and baseball players, plans to stay with his father, Robert Walker, near Atlanta, where Brown has spent the past few weeks. He intends to enroll at Redan High in Stone Mountain, Ga.

But Brown likely will not be eligible for athletics under Georgia's clearly defined requirements for transfer students.

"In a scenario where a student is living with a parent who has custody and chooses to move to the other parent who does not have custody, that student is not eligible for one calendar year," said Ralph Swearngin, executive director for the Georgia High School Association.

Brown's mother, Rosemary, has custody of Brown and sued Walker in 1995 to prove paternity, court records show. Though Brown turns 18 on Sept. 3, age is not a factor in determining eligibility, Swearngin said.

"Eighteenth birthday means nothing in Georgia," Swearngin said. "We do not have an emancipation rule. That is not one of the exceptions we allow."

The GHSA grants appeals through a three-phase process ending with a hearing before an appeal board of about 50 members that meets twice a year.

Any appeal likely could not be filed in time for the Aug. 29 meeting and would have to wait until March, Swearngin said. Schools have the option to pay for the appeal board to meet between those dates at a cost of roughly $3,000 to vote on eligibility, he said.

Brown, a 6-foot-5, 185-pound wide receiver/defensive back with scholarship offers from Florida State, Nebraska, Ole Miss, Iowa, North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina and South Florida, is the 23rd-ranked senior in the state, according to recruiting site rivals100.com. He had 38 receptions for 718 yards and nine touchdowns last season.

A left-handed pitcher, Brown received all-state honorable mention after compiling a 9-3 record and 2.25 ERA while striking out 97 and walking 38 this past baseball season. He is expected to be a high-round pick in next year's first-year player draft.

Pasco baseball coach Ricky Giles said he believed Brown was as good as gone after speaking with his mother by phone Tuesday morning.

"I'm figuring that he will be there for quite some time," said Giles, who is coaching in the Southeastern Wood Bat Classic in Dandridge, Tenn. "You can almost bank (Redan) is probably where he'll be at."

But Pasco football coach Dale Caparaso believes there is a chance Brown could return, possibly in time for the opening of practice.

"If Dominic comes to Pasco High School, great," Caparaso said. "If Dominic does not come to Pasco High School, it does not appear to bother any of our players. I met with our team (Monday), and not a single kid batted an eye."

Brown's cell phone is temporarily out of service. No one answered the phone at Walker's residence in Lithonia, Ga.

Brown's mother called Dade City Police on Monday to file a complaint, but "there was no reason for us to investigate anything," Sgt. Tim Harrelson said.

Calls to Brown's last known residence, his grandmother Leola Adams' home in Dade City, also were unanswered.

Giles said the baseball team will move on without Brown, as it did when star infielder Sonny Glover missed the first half of the 2004 season after he was arrested for criminal mischief after he was accused of punching in a car window in a late-night altercation in Ybor City (charges later were dropped).

"When somebody is down, somebody else picks up and we go from there," Giles said. "So we're in good shape. I hope this wasn't happening, but we've got to go on."

Times researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this story.

[Last modified July 27, 2005, 01:04:17]