Indiana High School Athletic Ass'n, Inc. v. Reyes

• Decision Date: 11 December 1995
• Docket Number: No. 79A02-9504-CV-175,79A02-9504-CV-175
• Citation: 659 N.E.2d 158
• Parties: 105 Ed. Law Rep. 1200 INDIANA HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION, INC., and Robert B. Gardner, in his capacity as Commissioner of the Indiana High School Athletic Association, Inc., Appellants-Defendants, v. Freddy REYES, Lafayette Jefferson High School and Dennis C. Blind in his capacity as Principal of Lafayette Jefferson High School, Appellees-Plaintiffs.
• Court: Indiana Appellate Court

Page 158

659 N.E.2d 158

105 Ed. Law Rep. 1200

INDIANA HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION, INC., and Robert B. Gardner, in his capacity as Commissioner of the Indiana High School Athletic Association, Inc., Appellants-Defendants, v. Freddy REYES, Lafayette Jefferson High School and Dennis C Blind in his capacity as Principal of Lafayette Jefferson High School, Appellees-Plaintiffs.

No. 79A02-9504-CV-175.

Court of Appeals of Indiana.

Dec. 11, 1995.

Transfer Granted May 15, 1996.

Robert M. Baker, III, Johnson, Smith, Pence, Densborn, Wright & Heath, Indianapolis, for appellants.

Jay T. Seeger, Gambs, Mucker, Bauman & Seeger, Lafayette, for appellee, Freddy Reyes.

E. Kent Moore, Laszynski & Moore, Lafayette, for appellees, Lafayette Jefferson

High School and Dennis C. Blind, in his capacity as Principal of Lafayette Jefferson High School

OPINION

FRIEDLANDER, Judge.

The Indiana High School Athletic Association and Robert B. Gardner, Commissioner of the Indiana High School Athletic Association (hereinafter collectively referred to as "the IHSAA"), appeal from an order of the Tippecanoe Superior Court enjoining the IHSAA from enforcing its "Eight-Semester Rule" against Lafayette Jefferson High School student Freddy Reyes and preventing Reyes from participating in IHSAA-sponsored sports during his senior year at that high school. The IHSAA presents the following restated issues for review:

I. Did the trial court err in concluding that the actions of the IHSAA, a voluntary association, are subject to judicial review?

II. Did the trial court err in concluding that the IHSAA engaged in state action subjecting its decision to constitutional scrutiny?

III. Did the IHSAA decision violate Reyes's right of equal protection as guaranteed by the Indiana Constitution?

IV. Did the trial court err in prohibiting the IHSAA from enforcing the Restitution Rule?

We reverse.

The facts favorable to the judgment are that Reyes was first enrolled in the ninth grade at Academia Del Espiritu Santo (the Academia) in Levittown Station, Puerto Rico during the 1990-91 school year. During that year, Reyes suffered from depression and related psychological problems which affected his academic performance. His transcript reflects that Reyes received ten F's, two D's, and two B's for courses taken during the year. Reyes's condition improved as a result of professional psychological counseling he received during and after the 1990-91 school year. However, as a result of his poor academic performance, Reyes was required to re-enroll in the ninth grade at the Academia for the 1991-92 school year. Reyes repeated all of the classes he had taken the previous year, receiving five D's, five C's, three B's, and one A.

During the spring and summer of both 1991 and 1992, Reyes was selected to participate on an all-star baseball team which participated in regular season contests and a national tournament. After completing the 1991-92 school year, Reyes traveled with his baseball team to Lafayette to participate in the Colt League World Series. Upon returning to Puerto Rico, Reyes asked his parents to allow him to move to Lafayette to attend high school the next year. His parents agreed and arrangements were made for Reyes to live with a family in Lafayette and to attend Lafayette Jefferson High School (the School) as a sophomore during the 1992-93 school year. Reyes was a member of the Lafayette Jefferson baseball team in the spring of 1993. In the spring of 1994, as a junior, Reyes again played on the high school baseball team, and was named to the all-state team at the conclusion of the season.

At the beginning of the 1994-95 school year, the IHSAA learned that Reyes had first enrolled in ninth grade in the fall of 1990, and informed the School that according to Rule 12-3 (the Eight-Semester Rule) of the IHSAA General Eligibility Rules, Reyes was ineligible to compete in interscholastic sports. According to the version of the Eight-Semester Rule which was applicable to Reyes's case, after enrollment in the ninth grade, students had a maximum of four fall semesters and four spring semesters of athletic eligibility. Reyes asked the IHSAA to grant him an extra year of eligibility pursuant to Rule 17-8 (the Hardship Rule), which states:

"The Commissioner or his designee or the Committee shall have the authority to set aside the effect of any Rule when, in the opinion of the Commissioner or his designee or the Committee:

a. Strict enforcement of the Rule in the particular case will not serve to accomplish the purpose of the Rule;

b. The spirit of the Rule has not been violated; and c. There exists in the particular case circumstances showing an undue hardship which would result from enforcement of the Rule." Rule 17-8.1.

The IHSAA Executive Committee denied Reyes's request for an extra year of eligibility, issuing the following relevant findings of fact and conclusions of law:

"2. When [Reyes] was in 8th grade, he was emotionally affected by his older brother's failure to be taken in the baseball draft and his schoolwork suffered; [Reyes] was referred to Dr. Victor L. Lleras for counseling.

* * * * * *

9. [Reyes] is an excellent baseball player, and would be the best player on the Jefferson High School varsity team this spring. [Reyes]'s coach believes that [Reyes] will have an impact on the team although not as great an impact as if he were a pitcher. He is an excellent batter but they anticipate opposing teams will pitch around him as they did last year. If [Reyes] does not play on the team this year there will be other Jefferson High School students who will take his place.

10. Based upon last year's performance, [Reyes] has been heavily recruited by many colleges (including Purdue, I.U., I.S.U., B.S.U., University of Minnesota, Florida State and Middle Tennessee State), and has been scouted by many professional baseball scouts. His guardian believes that, had he been in the June 1994 professional baseball draft, he would have been drafted and potentially high enough to go on directly into professional baseball; he would have finished his schooling either at Jefferson High School or through a GED program.

* * * * * *

12. [Reyes] did not participate in high school baseball in Puerto Rico because his school did not have an organized baseball program. However, [Reyes] initially came to the United States on a highly trained, skilled, and organized baseball team and, based upon his skill level, and in light of his brother's involvement in baseball, there is little doubt that [Reyes] had extensive baseball participation and training prior to arriving in Lafayette in the summer of 1992.

CONCLUSIONS

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b. Granting [Reyes] a 5th year of eligibility is contrary to the goals of placing academics first and athletics second, of discouraging all decisions which subordinate academic decisions to athletic decisions, of refusing to permit athletics to take a dominant role, and of encouraging progress through high school toward graduation and a diploma. Here, it appears that [Reyes] is in high school for athletics, not academics; [Reyes]'s guardian even suggested that, had he known his eligibility was in question, [Reyes] would have gone into the draft prior to completing his senior year at Jefferson High School. [Reyes]'s parents and his psychiatrist believe that, without athletic eligibility, [Reyes]'s schoolwork will suffer; for [Reyes] to react as suggested, it is apparent that athletics has assumed a dominant position in [Reyes]'s high school career and that decisions relative to academics have been, and are being, subordinated.

* * * * * *

6. [Reyes] has failed to establish that there is, in his particular case, circumstances [sic] showing that an undue hardship would result from enforcement of the IHSAA Eight-Semester Rule. [Reyes]'s case does not present a case of ordinary hardship, much less undue hardship. [Reyes] places significant emphasis on the fact that, because of circumstances beyond his control (his emotional state) he underwent academic difficulties which necessitated repeating 9th grade. It is not necessary to determine whether those factors constitute a hardship since they did not create a situation in which [Reyes] has been denied an opportunity to be eligible for four years of athletics; indeed, the fact that [Reyes] was held back has not adversely affected his ability to be eligible and to participate in four full years of athletic competition, had all the schools he attended offered athletic competition. [Reyes]'s repeating 9th grade only created the opportunity to obtain something beyond that which the IHSAA Rule permits all other students, four years of eligibility. Since [Reyes] has already had eight semesters of eligibility, there exists no hardship. Permitting a fifth year of eligibility would be neither fair nor equitable to the other student athletes who may only be eligible for four years of interschool sports. It should also be noted that it was [Reyes]'s decision (to remain in Lafayette) that has created this situation; had [Reyes] remained in Puerto Rico he would have had no athletic eligibility (since there is [sic] no interschool sports) ¹ and by now he would have likely already have [sic] graduated from high school (because of his enrollment in the Commercial Institute of Puerto Rico). The Executive Committee commends [Reyes] and his family for taking action which may have advanced [Reyes] academically, it is nonetheless restrained from granting [Reyes] opportunities beyond those enjoyed by other students of member high schools of the IHSAA.

7. The Executive Committee does not believe that a hardship exists if [Reyes] does not play baseball this spring; moreover, whether [Reyes]'s participation has any impact on his scholarship potential is simply too speculative and the Executive Committee will not base a hardship on such evidence. However, even if that were a consideration, it is evident that...