A standout basketball player finished as a two-time champion at Kountze - but only after he was barred from playing at another school
08:04 PM CDT on Monday, May 16, 2005
Editor's note: Each year, the University Interscholastic League's
state executive committee hears eligibility appeals for a dozen or more
high school athletes. The Dallas Morning News monitored hearings
for the 2004-05 school year to provide an inside look at the process. No
case had a more direct impact on a state championship than the one
involving Kountze basketball player Ashton Hall.
One of the few things Kountze senior Ashton Hall doesn't do well during
a basketball game is smile.
Hall remained expressionless even amid the frenzy after he turned an
alley-oop pass off the backboard into a dunk during the Class 2A boys
final in March.
He finally gave in to emotion in the final seconds when Kountze's lead
over Tuscola Jim Ned was insurmountable. He grabbed senior teammate
Phillip Coffey by the jersey as if demonstrating a flagrant foul, and
they screamed and hugged as the final horn sounded at the University of
Texas' Erwin Center.
Kountze won, 77-64, following up its victory in last year's Class 3A
tournament. Hall, a 6-5 center who signed last fall to play at Tulsa,
was named the game's most valuable player.
Afterward, Hall said, "I never dreamed that I'd be winning two state
championships back to back."
At least not for Kountze. At least not six months earlier.
Hall and his parents made the long drive from the Big Thicket area north
of Beaumont to Austin for a much different reason in early September.
They hoped to persuade the University Interscholastic League's state
executive committee to allow him to play for neighboring Silsbee High
School.
Hall enrolled at Class 3A Silsbee last August but was ruled ineligible
for varsity athletics. The District 22-3A executive committee determined
that the move was made for athletic purposes, a UIL violation.
The state committee agreed with the district decision. Over the next two
months, Hall and his family considered his staying at Silsbee and
sitting out his senior season or playing for a private school beyond the
UIL's jurisdiction. But just weeks before the season began, Hall
re-enrolled at Kountze.
The Kountze Lions team that first took the court last November was far
different from the one that won the Class 3A title the previous March.
The athletic program was reclassified into Class 2A. Coach Todd
Sutherland left the school after leading Kountze to three state finals
in four years to take over nearby Sour Lake Hardin-Jefferson. He was
replaced by Duane Joubert, who played on Hardin-Jefferson's 1991 state
champion.
And Ashton Hall, a constant in the middle for Kountze since his freshman
year, wasn't on the roster – or even enrolled.
Hall and his parents had decided last summer that he would leave the
Kountze school system, which he had attended since third grade, to spend
his senior year at Silsbee. The family had lived in Silsbee, about 10
miles east of Kountze, since Hall's freshman year.
Kountze administrators heard that Hall might transfer and met with his
mother, Gwen, a Kountze graduate who coaches volleyball at West
Orange-Stark. They say she told them that she was concerned about the
coaching change and also questioned the racial atmosphere at the school
and a lack of black teachers. Hall is black, as is about 15 percent of
the school's enrollment.
"It was the first we had heard there was any kind of racial issue,
because Ashton is well liked by white and black students, black
teachers, white teachers," superintendent Diane Daniels said.
"She said something to the effect that we did not have enough black
teachers to suit her. But we have since looked at Silsbee's [faculty],
and we have about the same amount. So I really don't know where that was
coming from."
Ashton gave another reason for the transfer, according to one former
teammate.
Keithan Hancock, Kountze's senior point guard in 2003-04, said Hall told
him last summer that he wasn't sure he wanted to stay at Kountze because
he'd have to play center. With Silsbee, he could play out on the wing –
his likely position in college.
Silsbee's program was dropping from Class 4A to 3A. Its basketball coach
is Travis Williams, who was a Kountze assistant when Hall was a freshman.
"He told the coach [Silsbee's Williams] he was thinking about coming to
Silsbee if he could play the 3 guard," said Hancock, a freshman at
Northwestern State in Louisiana.
When Kountze personnel filled out routine UIL paperwork, they stated
their opinion that Hall was changing schools for athletic purposes.
Athletic director James Stevenson said he asked Gwen Hall during their
summer meeting whether they would be discussing Ashton's departure if
Sutherland were still Kountze's coach. "And she said 'no,' " Stevenson
said.
According to the transcript of the District 22-3A executive committee
meeting on Aug. 25, the Halls never cited racial issues. They disputed
that the transfer was made for athletic purposes. Gwen and Dennis Hall,
Ashton's father, both said commuting convenience and the price of gas
prompted the switch.
Under UIL rules, Hall normally would have been allowed to keep playing
for Kountze even after moving to Silsbee as a freshman. Because he had
lived in the Kountze district for a year, he would have become a
transfer student paying tuition.
But a technicality came into play. Kountze's records for Hall still
listed a Kountze address, which turned out to be the home of Gwen Hall's
mother. According to the transcript, when Gwen Hall was asked why that
address was listed, she said, "So he could continue to play there."
The district committee also cited inaccuracies in the paperwork Gwen
Hall filled out. For instance, she checked that Ashton didn't
participate in athletics at Kountze. She didn't answer whether Silsbee
officials had verified his residence. She checked both yes and no to the
question of whether he would be a transfer.
She told the district committee that she had never discussed her son's
eligibility with Silsbee administrators. Later in the hearing, Silsbee
principal Michael Day said he had discussed eligibility issues with her.
He also confirmed making a home visit to verify residence.
The district committee unanimously rejected Hall's eligibility at
Silsbee.
Some at the hearing suggested that Silsbee's district opponents simply
didn't want to face Ashton.
Mike McGowan, Silsbee superintendent, said recently he didn't think that
was the case.
"... Had I been on the other end, I probably would have questioned it
also," McGowan said. "I felt we had a strong case for him playing with
us."
The Halls' appeal to the state executive committee was heard two weeks
later, almost a month after Hall began attending Silsbee. The district
committee chairman, Kirbyville superintendent Joseph Burns, summarized
his group's decision by saying that the committee suspected the Halls
didn't reveal all the reasons for the transfer.
Gwen Hall, who played on two volleyball state champions and a basketball
state finalist at Kountze, told the state committee and UIL staff that
she feared for her son's safety because of the racial climate at
Kountze. She also said the Kountze athletic director had
mischaracterized their summer conversation, that she had said she
"didn't know" if they'd be discussing Ashton's departure if Sutherland
had remained as coach.
Daniels, the Kountze superintendent, told the committee that Kountze
administrators gained no satisfaction in challenging Hall's eligibility.
"He's a good kid. He's a great athlete," she said.
During the parents' closing remarks, Dennis Hall said it was Kountze
personnel who were interested in Ashton for athletic reasons: "My son is
a great student. He is a good basketball player."
Ashton Hall sat quietly near the back of the conference room,
occasionally fiddling with his Class 3A championship ring.
After the state committee upheld the district ruling, UIL director Bill
Farney stressed the importance of the rule.
"The reason we have these things is because there is a gap in what
people feel like their kids ought to be able to do – go where they want
to go and play with whom they want to play with – and the reality of
trying to keep some sort of check and balance and competitive athletics
within schools," Farney said.
The mayor of Kountze is Fred Williams, who was a renowned basketball
coach at numerous high schools in southeast Texas. He is also the father
of Silsbee coach Travis Williams. Fred Williams said the majority of
Kountze's African-American population was upset that Hall wasn't allowed
to play for Silsbee.
"I never denied the chance for a student to go home if it was for the
good of the kid," Fred Williams said. "I'll never understand why they
didn't let him go."
After the state hearing, Ashton Hall considered staying at Silsbee and
not playing basketball. Two of the college head coaches recruiting him
at the time, Lamar's Billy Tubbs and Tulsa's John Phillips, said that
wouldn't have affected his college prospects.
The Halls also considered private school. During that time, Coffey,
Hall's teammate and also his cousin, said he called Hall daily.
"I think truly he wanted to come back," Coffey said.
Silsbee's coach said Hall liked school there but got itchy about playing
as the season grew near. On Nov. 1, Gwen Hall called her old school and
asked how to re-enroll him. He returned the next day.
Hall signed with Tulsa the next week. Said Tulsa's Phillips shortly
afterward: "I'm just glad all the adults figured out a way for him to
play his senior year."
Hall said his teammates gladly accepted him back. "The only thing they
said was, 'You shouldn't have left,' but they left it at that," Hall
said.
UIL rules require a 15-day waiting period, so Hall couldn't play in the
Nov. 16 opener at Lumberton. But at the Lions' home opener three nights
later, Hall sat in the stands during the junior varsity game and joked
with friends. He scored 36 points in the 108-68 victory over Goodrich.
Afterward, he accepted hugs from relatives and well-wishers.
"There was hoopla in the newspapers and hoopla on TV and even with some
adults," Kountze AD Stevenson said, "but I never heard the kids ever
mention it."
Kountze was ranked No. 1 in Class 2A by the Texas Association of
Basketball Coaches before the season and never budged. Joubert won over
his new charges with a frenetic style similar to what they played under
Sutherland.
In Spinal Tap terms, they played basketball turned up to 11. They
pressed opponents from baseline to baseline, almost from buzzer to
buzzer, from November to March. Hall and Coffey frustrated opponents
with their inside-outside scoring threats.
The Lions rumbled through the regular season at 30-2 and averaged more
than 90 points a game. They opened the playoffs by breaking 100 for the
18th time.
Salado tried to prepare for Kountze in the state semifinals by having
its starters practice against eight defenders. Kountze won, 69-53, and
the Salado coach called Hall the difference.
Kountze led most of the way in the final against Jim Ned but was up by
only one midway through the fourth quarter. Hall keyed a defensive
stand; afterward, he said he used "all my will, all my might."
Throughout the postgame ceremony, Hall couldn't turn around without
bumping into the governor. Got his championship medal from Rick Perry,
then the most valuable player award, and finally the team trophy.
Silsbee's Tigers nearly joined Kountze at the state tournament. They
reached the regional final, led by a point in the final minute but lost
by three.
"Had we had him," Silsbee superintendent McGowan said, "no telling how
far we could have gone."
Ashton and his mother said there haven't been any incidents at school
this year. He's scheduled to graduate next week, then head to Tulsa in
June.
The Lions were honored in April with a parade through town, right up
U.S. Highway 69. Said Mayor Williams: "I think everybody's happy the way
it turned out."
Not Gwen Hall. She said she still believes Kountze personnel wanted
Ashton to remain there for his basketball prowess. And she still would
have preferred that Ashton had attended Silsbee.
"Because that's what he wanted," she said.
Could Hall have won a Class 3A title with Silsbee, which came close
without him?
"I can't say," Hall said.
Then he gave way to another smile.
"But I hope so."
E-mail jmiller@dallasnews.com