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GREENSBORO — The mother of a former Page High football player says school officials knew her son was ineligible to play sports there — and even let him live with an assistant coach last summer — before they reported him to the N.C. High School Athletic Association last month.

Que Tucker, deputy executive director of the NCHSAA, confirmed Friday that officials from Page reported using an ineligible player during the 2008 season.

Page reported the violation on March 12, Tucker said. It was unclear Friday why school officials waited to report the violation to the NCHSAA.

Tucker would not identify the student.

Patricia Hughes said the student is Gabe King, her son.

King transferred to Northern Guilford earlier this week. Hughes said Page football coach Kevin Gillespie and athletics director Rusty Lee let King play nearly half the season before dismissing him.

Hughes said she was told by Gillespie that King was being dropped for disciplinary reasons: an outburst in a class. Hughes said Page officials actually kicked him off the team to avoid being caught with an ineligible player in the postseason.

“They used my son and then attacked him when they were finished with him,” she said.  “It’s disgraceful that grown folks who are supposed to look out for young people have done everything but that.”

Page faces a to-be-determined punishment from the NCHSAA. Tucker said Friday options include a verbal reprimand, a fine or coaches being placed on probation.

She also said the ineligible student could be barred from playing at any public high school in the state next year.

School system officials did not return phone calls Friday, nor did Page principal Marilyn Foley and athletics director Rusty Lee. Gillespie declined to comment until the school system announces the violation.

Hughes said her family lived in the Page school district two years ago before moving to Winston-Salem in June 2008.

She said Gillespie and Lee led her to believe King was still eligible to attend Page this school year. While the family had moved, King was still living in Greensboro with his older sister, who lives in the Page district, on weekdays during the summer. Hughes said her son spent his weekends living at the home of Norman Weeks, a history teacher and assistant football coach at Page.

In Guilford County, a student’s high school is based on where his legal guardians live. King should have attended a school in Forsyth County.

Asked Hughes: “Maybe as parents we should have known better, but when your own coaches tell you not to worry, that your son is fine where he is and he’s even living with another coach, why shouldn’t you?”

She said she was hoping her son could  play at Page next year, but she said Gillespie began making negative comments about him to college recruiters. King is considered one of the best defensive lineman in the state and is being recruited by several Division I colleges.

Hughes said the family moved into Northern’s school district earlier this week. King started school on Tuesday.

Hughes said she’s worried that if her son does not get to play football at Northern or any other school, he might lose out on a college scholarship.

She said she and her husband will meet on Monday with Guilford County Schools athletics director Leigh Hebbard.

King is the second major football college prospect to transfer to Northern this year. Grimsley cornerback James Scales transferred in January.

Page’s disclosure Friday almost overshadowed the latest news out of Northern: Early Friday morning, Guilford County’s school board voted 9-1 to fire Louis Lawson, the Northern custodian who resigned two weeks ago along with the school’s principal and athletics director amid an investigation into the athletics department.

Lawson rescinded his resignation last week, saying he had done nothing wrong.

School board members fired him after a private meeting and would not discuss the vote.

Sources have told the News & Record the investigation centers on Northern’s football, baseball and boys basketball programs.

Northern principal Joe Yeager and athletics director Derrell Force resigned on April 10, the same day as Lawson.

Lawson said he believes his job became an issue because his son, Jacob Lawson, was the starting center for Northern’s 3-A state championship basketball team this season.

In August, Jacob Lawson transferred to Northern while his family still lived in Caswell County. Two weeks before school started, Yeager hired Louis Lawson as head custodian, which enabled his son to attend Northern.

On Friday, interim principal Pat Spicer said she heard rumors students were planning to protest the investigation, but it didn’t materialize.

“We spent all day making sure everything was taken under control,” she said. “You can be very well assured of that.”
 

Staff writers J. Brian Ewing and Tom Keller contributed to this report.
 

Contact Robert Bell at 373-7055 or robert.bell@news-record.com