Moses Loses Appeal to Play Basketball on Varsity at Serra

The junior varsity basketball team at Serra High in Gardena has been given an unexpected boost--but it comes at the considerable expense of the varsity.

James Moses, a former Alemany swingman who transferred to Serra last month, has been ruled ineligible for varsity basketball competition this season by Ray Plutko, commissioner of the Southern Section of the California Interscholastic Federation.

CIF rules stipulate that a student who transfers without a change of residence is ineligible for varsity competition for one calendar year in the sport in which he participated at his previous school.

Moses, who lives in Carson, about 40 miles from Alemany’s Mission Hills campus, filed for a hardship waiver, claiming he had no viable means of transportation between his home and Alemany.

Assistant coach John Carr drove Moses to school last year, but Carr has since taken a position at Pius X High in Downey.

But Plutko declined to waive the rule in Moses’ case.

“I didn’t feel it was a hardship based on other cases we’ve had,” Plutko said. “It did not fit in the area of a hardship.”

Plutko said he would not comment further because Moses and Serra have appealed the commissioner’s decision to the Southern Section’s Executive Board.

“We’re not going to sit here and accept this,” said Moses’ father, James Sr. “This whole thing is not completely settled, as far as I’m concerned.”

Moses’ father is hopeful that Plutko will be overruled on the appeal.

“I think it would be a bit premature to try to second-guess (Plutko),” Moses Sr. said. “I know the commissioner has a lot of authority, but I think there’s a due process here and I think the student and parents have rights. . . .

“We don’t have a situation where James didn’t want to go to Alemany. It was very, very hard to convince him that he had to go to another school. There was no way we could get him back and forth to Alemany.

“So, you don’t have a situation where a kid says, ‘I don’t want to go to this school. I want to go to another school.’ That’s not the situation. If he had his choice, he would be at Alemany. . . .

“Maybe it wouldn’t be impossible, but it’s totally unreasonable to expect that we could take him back and forth. I would have to make two round trips a day, and that’s 160 miles.”

Moses, who averaged 17 points a game for the Alemany varsity last season, is considered one of the best 16-year-old players in the nation.

Rich Goldberg, who coached him last summer in the Las Vegas Invitational National High School Championships, said Moses has rare talents.

“James will be the No. 1 sophomore in the country,” Goldberg said in August. “There is no question about it. The best players in the nation were in the Las Vegas tournament and James was the class of his class, so to speak.”

When Moses, 6-5, decided in August to enroll at Serra, Cavalier Coach George McDaniel said he was “elated” with the decision.

“James could be the catalyst we need to get back to the (Long Beach) Arena,” he said, referring to the site of the Southern Section championships. Serra was eliminated in the semi-finals last season.

Unless he wins his appeal, however, Moses will play for Serra’s junior varsity this season.

And the only trip he’ll make to the Long Beach Arena will be as a spectator.

“Talk about a happy JV coach,” said Alemany Coach Joe Anlauf, who seemed surprised and confused with Plutko’s decision.

“I honestly don’t understand,” Anlauf said. “He doesn’t have a ride up here anymore. How’s he going to get here? I hate to see that. It’s too bad.”

Moses Sr. said his son will be “cheated” if he is forced to play for the junior varsity.

“At his level of development,” he said, “it would have some negative impact because his level of development, obviously, is way above junior varsity. . . .

“You should be able to have a choice if you can arrange to go to an area that might be best for your kid. And if something happens and you can’t continue that, it should be given some strong consideration. And if it’s not given strong consideration, then you’re making a rule to punish a kid. . . . “I’m not sure what they’re trying to accomplish with this.”

Plutko said he did not know when the executive board would hear Moses’ appeal, and Moses Sr. said he had been given no indication by the commissioner about when to expect a final decision on the matter.

Added Moses Sr.: “I never anticipated anything like this.”