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The decision by Wayne Blackshear, one of the nation's leading sophomore basketball players, to transfer from Curie to Morgan Park has been a source of conversation in the court of public debate in recent days. In my view, it shouldn't have been permitted.
There have been some notable transfers in the past...Fred Riddle from Madison to Collinsville, Bumpy Nixon from Quincy to Galesburg and Nick Anderson from Prosser to Simeon. Each stirred up considerable controversy at the time. But the moves, for one reason or another, were approved.
I remember the Anderson case very well. He was an All-Chicago Area player at Prosser as a freshman and sophomore. Then he chose to transfer to Simeon because he wanted to play with Ben Wilson. At the request of Prosser coach Gene Ideno, I went to the Anderson home on the West Side to meet with Nick and his family.
I didn't think it was a wise decision. In those days, the Illinois High School Association actually had a rule that stated boys and girls weren't permitted to transfer to another school for the sole purpose of playing sports. Later, of course, the IHSA was pressured into changing its position and now transfers are as plentiful as flip-flops.
Call me naive but I have always thought, like some educators who refuse to buy into the idea that high school is a developmental league for the NBA and NFL, that the purpose of high school was to educate students and prepare them for college, that sports was a privilege and not a right, that the job of coaches was to teach fundamentals and not produce scholarship athletes.
I guess I was wrong. In 50 years of covering high school sports, I've seen just about everything you can imagine...changing grades to allow athletes to remain eligible or qualify for college, firing coaches because they didn't qualify for the state playoff or produce enough scholarship athletes and schools recruiting athletes so they can win a state championship. Remember when coaches who exercised "undue influence" were penalized? Now the term "undue influence" is an obsolete as a Corona typewriter.
Now people don't want to play by the rules. In fact, they don't want rules at all. And it's almost coming to that. The IHSA seemingly has become powerless. How will the Chicago Public Schools deal with the Blackshear case? Who's next? Will everybody be satisfied if five McDonald's All-Americans transfer to the same school?
Blackshear, like Anderson, should have stayed at home. Mike Oliver is a good man and a good coach and he has developed a good program at Curie. Blackshear, like Anderson, doesn't need exposure in another program to attract college recruiters. His academics need polishing, not his jump shot. Somebody should be thinking about that priority. He has two years to decide where to go to college.
Contrary to some opinions, Blackshear and anyone else with good hops doesn't have a constitutional right to play basketball at any school of his choice. He will have a year to think about that as he watches other kids play the game he says he loves from the bleachers. Is it worth the sacrifice? I don't think so. A year from now, I hope he agrees with me.
Cell Phone Alerts
Mr. Bell,
I couldn't agree more!
As people who are paying taxes for these athletes (not "Student-athletes"), it is about time that Chicagoans and the Chicago media 'put the heat on' the CPS and the IHSA to ENFORCE THE RULES.
Please do not let up on this topic no matter how "old" it seems to get.
Hopefully, the pressure gets too great to bear and someone finally develops the intestinal fortitude to do their job and turn the "athletes" back into "student-athletes"
Taylor,
Not sure if you frown upon complements from fellow bloggers, but we had to say that your latest blog was beautifully stated.
Thanks for your note on the constitutional rights issue. We were hoping that we understood that issue right. Why do CPS standards, as much as they may be improving slightly over the past few years, still lag behind? Because a long time ago, the student in "student-athlete" was taken out of the equation and replaced by a different mentality---a training camp for future scholarship players and NBA stars. We couldn't agree with you more!
Illinois Prep Bulls-eye
For once Taylor you and I are in agreement. It's gotten out of control. This was purely a transfer to play with his AAU coach. If they cared so much about the kid then why have him transfer in the middle of the season if at all. Look out for Shaw possibly transferring to Morgan Park and possibly Sam Thompson and Tracy Abrams as well. Don't be surprised to see those moves.
As an educator I am discouraged at the amount of transfers going on all over high school sports. Sure Blackshear is notable, but what about other programs. Currently Crete-Monee basketball, and a few years ago with Walker at Bremen and Pazin at Br. Rice, they're all questionable transfers. This is more than a CPS problem. For Blackshear to leave mid-year is ridiculous, and an injustice to his academic career. These coaches should be considering the education of these players first and foremost, not turning their AAU teams into year round teams. What about the players who started at these schools freshmen year to only find out in their junior or even senior year, that their spot is taken by a transfer? If all these so called students ARE going to transfer to Morgan Park; what message does that send to the neighborhood kids hoping to play at THEIR local high school? I guess they'll have to change the school mascot to the Fire.
Just days ago my best friend and I were discussing this very issue.
I stated that there is nothing like the "goings on" in Chicago Public League basketball. I stated how "disturbed" I was by this transfer and instead of agreeing with me, he brought up all the transfers that Seton received this past summer.
Now this man whom I call my best friend is one of the more "principled" men that I know. He is the godfather of my oldest child. However, these things have been so commonplace in CPS high school basketball, my friend has become immune to basic impropriety of all of these children changeing schools to improve their basketball prospects.
Now in this case, one could argue that a transfer from Curie to Morgan Park would be an academic "step up." However, there is little if no evidence that the young man decision to transfer was academically based. Just last week in his journal, he was praising the teachers at Curie and how helpful they were. A week later he's out of there like the building was on fire.
This is a continued embarrassing situation for CPS sports and in my opinion, the entire city of Chicago. College coaches coming to Chicago to recruit players just assume that the coaches and the families of the students are "crooked" based upon the history of transfers and alleged "shakedowns" from high school coaches and the student-athlete's families.
I yearn for the day when I can again feel proud of CPS sports. I still watch with enjoyment, but not with very much pride.