news-record.com

“(King) is sought by a number of the nation's top colleges as a football recruit."
While he's out, he can work on his studies. Colleges can be academically challenging.

m

I guess I can see both sides here. The NCHSAA wants its rules followed and they should be and it seems that Mr. King was trying to stay at Page to be able to play. I am wondering why the family was moving around so much? I am also wondering if they fully knew the rules regarding legal guadianship as it applies to sports participation and residency. Is that a rule that is clearly in the minds of all parents who want to move from district to district and leave their child behind to finish out the year? But if he works out on his own he should be fine especially if he is as good as I read that he is suppose to be. He will not have any problem being recruited. Does anyone know what type of student he is academically? I agree this would be a great time to get those grades up academically and to register himself with the NCAA Clearing House. Now the issue is what will happen next week if they rule against him? I will say more about his options then but in the mean time I wish him well.

Fisher and ToThePoint, I have absolutely no first-hand knowledge of Gabe King or his academic capabilities, but you both seem to assume that he is academically challeged. There's a reasonable chance that his academics are up to par and that his love of football is what's driving his passion for a football scholarship. As the parent of two student athletes, a college freshman playing basketball on a full scholarship and a high school junior who plays football, I have a pretty clear perspective. Both of my sons are quality students; however, for my oldest son, there was no greater recognition of all his hard work on the court than to be offered a D-1 basketball scholarship. Don't get me wrong, he understood the importance of academics, but his take on it was that his basketball skills would get him into a great D-1 basketball program and the good grades would help keep him there. What I'm saying is give the kid a break. Let's don't presume to know that he needs to "get those grades up", as ToThePoint put it. Maybe his goal should be to maintain his grades.

And yes, everyday that a student-athlete is off the proverbial radar, (s)he is losing ground with recruiters. However, I personally don't think Gabe should be allowed to participate in his sport until issues of his eligibility are resolved. Unfortunately, some truths were not told, whether by parents or coaches, and now this promising student-athlete is paying the price.

MommaOf2, generally I agree with what you are saying. We don't know what kind of student King is, although using the time to focus on academics is not bad advice either way.

I am sure the issue is hurting his chances with recruiters. I can see a recruit say, "Where is this King kid I've been told so much about? Not here? Why? Because he is ineligible? Oh . . . ." Why should a recruiter waste his time if it's uncertain King will ever play again?

While that is sad, I don't feel sorry for King. This kid had to know the rules were being broken, and he went along with it instead of going to Winston-Salem with his parents. And if he truly didn't know, well, it's still too bad for him. A price has to be paid, and he will be the one to pay it. The NCHSAA has GOT to make an example to discourage other parents from gaming the system. If there are no consequences, then there is no incentive to follow the rules.

Judge Angela Foster should not have ruled on this case without lawyers from the NCHSAA being present. Seems like this was an end-run just to get this student back on the field. Wonder what Judge Foster would have done had this issue been about a white boy?

OMG are you kidding me with the "race card" again?!! I am so sick and tired of people using this excuss in life to blame someone else for their own failings. Get over it already!! It is unfortunate for the rest of the black population when a few of us cannot seem to find another argument when issues such as this come up. Grow up

Sometimes, they can't accept the fact they caught caught cheating, so they pull out the good ol' "out to get the black boy" excuse. That really is a lame duck excuse. Besides, if this guy is all that good, the college scouts have been eyeing him for the last couple of years! Buzzman, if that's all you can bring to the table, maybe you should stay away from the table!! Playing the race card is SOOOO SAD!!!

"The NCHSAA argues that King's parents did not transfer legal guardianship of their son to their daughter, making him ineligible to attend Page."

Obviously the NCHSAA officials played too many games without their helmets.

I've followed this story for months and commented many times. My frustration all along has been that only a tiny fraction of the story has reached the light of day. There are people who post here...a lot...and those folks make it sound as though they have an inside edge on the story for one side or the other. Seems to me that what we really have are different agendas....defend the kid, blame the parents, protect the coaches, uphold the sanctity of NCHSAA, decry the low standards GCS sometimes applies to its hirings of coaches/teachers, etc.

In the end, in my heart of hearts I think that EVERYONE involved in this saga bears some part of the responsibility for what has happened. Gabe King and his family are culpable because they didn't follow the rules concerning residency, but the rules don't seem to be evenly enforced, and they're somewhat convoluted. For example, if what has been reported is true, that a "form" that is a main character in this play states "custodian" as opposed to "guardian," that could be significant. One little word, and I don't think they are entirely synonymous. I've also put into print before that rules have come out during this recent investigation about legal residency that I never knew existed.

Though I've asked it many times, I've never gotten a clear answer about WHEN Page coaches and administrators realized that Gabe King had been living with someone other than his parents for the purpose of attending the school and playing sports. From where I stand, it seems like there is a significant time lag from when that occurred to when Page reported things. And I've heard all sorts of reasons why they delayed. They may be legitimate reasons in someone's mind, but I'd feel a lot better if they'd found out one day and reported it the next.

I also don't understand the coaches treating a "troublemaker" with such kid gloves. For heavens sake, if Gabe King got into fights during games, was a disruption in the locker room, etc., he should have been canned immediately. In fairness to the team and the Page community, if this kid's behavior was such a cancer, it needed to be cut out far earlier. The fact that he is a top football prospect is irrelevant. The fact that he's a smart kid who listens to the wrong people is irrelevant.

Finally, the Guilford County Schools need to demonstrate a consistent standard of school attendance policy. For heavens sakes, I suspect that nearly every one of us is aware of one or more children who attend a school to which they are not assigned...or that live with someone other than their "legal guardian" for the purpose of attending a particular school. I realize that this isn't exactly apples and apples, because the athletic participation standards are somewhat different (or so I've found out). But I don't think they should be. I think the school system and board of education are on a slippery slope when they grant waivers for school attendance or basically turn a blind eye for kids who attend where they oughtn't. The GCS has arduously pursued this residency issue for one school in the system as it pertains to athletics, and that school is now the scapegoat. But I see little evidence that they have conducted such thorough investigations elsewhere. I contend that investigations equivalent to Northern Guilford conducted at other schools will yield similar eligibility infractions. Just on the basis of a kid living with a separated parent in a domicile not recognized as the "legal residence" is bound to exist all over this county. Family demographics would defy any other conclusion. Is that a crime? Yes it is, I have learned...a punishable crime. And I'm not talking about the families at NG that recently came to light that rented houses and never moved into them. That's flatly deceptive and flatly wrong. I'm thinking of an abused mother who moves out of her home (legal residence) with children in tow. If that mother moves into an apartment in another school district, and one of her children happens to be a participating athlete on the high school level and registers into a school in the district where he now lives, unless that mother takes care of crossing and dotting the legal "i's" and "t's," they are in violation for sports participation.

The bottom line is this: anyone who believes this is a matter of black and white or right or wrong is simply, well, WRONG. The truth is that there have been a lot of mistakes made, and if any long-term fixes are going to be made, it will take a multifaceted approach. Sadly, one of the things that probably needs to happen first will never occur. That would be for everyone to step up to the plate (to use a sports cliche) and admit what he did wrong. People these days don't like to admit that they're wrong. It is perceived as a sign of weakness or ineptitude. Sadly, admitting mistakes is often the best pathway to healing.

A long, philosophical preamble, and now here's my prediction for Gabe King. Gabe King will NEVER play high school football in the public school realm again. There will continue to be legal wrangling that will extend so far into the current season that by the time any resolution is reached, his time on the field will be a moot point. So long as there are judges whose ears can be bent and brains persuaded to make rulings on matters about which they have little knowledge, this will be a ping pong game played out in courtrooms and back rooms. And in the end, it will come down to "he said/she said" with nobody really knowing what went on.

This game will not end in a tie and nobody is going to come out a winner. In the end, we'll only have losers.