UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Ken Smotrys is refereeing high school football games again this fall, but he hasn’t forgotten the punch he received last year that put him in the national spotlight.

During a game between Compton Centennial and Beverly Hills at Beverly Hills High on Oct. 20, 1995, Smotrys was punched by Centennial player Kumasi Simmons shortly after the second-half kickoff. Smotrys fell, his left eye bleeding and the incident captured on videotape.

What the video camera failed to reveal was what provoked Simmons. He claimed Smotrys uttered a racial epithet at him.

Smotrys, who is white, claimed it didn’t happen.

The punch and subsequent claims of provocation turned the incident into national news.

“This thing is never far from the front of my mind,� Smotrys said. “It’s a hard thing to forget, and it hurts.�

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With Compton Centennial scheduled to play at Beverly Hills on Friday afternoon, there has been considerable discussion about last year’s game, which was stopped after the incident.

A private firm hired by the California Interscholastic Federation to investigate the matter found no use of racial epithets by Smotrys, but administrators realized it was time to review race relations.

Subsequently, Dean Crowley, commissioner of the CIF Southern Section, formed the Human Relations Committee. The 30-member committee has spent many hours working on ways to ease racial tensions.

“We want to bring racial tolerance into the 20th century,� said Fred Kennedy, the committee’s chairman and a former superintendent of the Compton Unified School District.

Kennedy said the committee is planning sensitivity training, initially targeting referees, coaches and student body leaders.

“I think the Centennial-Beverly Hills game made us realize things aren’t as fixed as we might have thought and that we need to do some updating,� Kennedy said. “Race relations is an ongoing thing and something we have to constantly work on.�

Administrators at the two schools say nothing special is planned for Friday’s game.

“We’re approaching this just like we would any other game,� said Ben Bushman, Beverly Hills’ principal. “There won’t be extra security or anything like that. We’ve always had a good relationship with Centennial. I don’t expect any trouble.�

Said Centennial Principal Carrie Allen: “I will discuss the incident with the team sometime this week. But this was an isolated incident and not a common occurrence at this school.�

Beverly Hills Coach Carter Paysinger, who is African American, also said he’s downplaying the rematch.

“My team is well aware of what happened last year, but we’re not spending a lot of time talking about it,� he said. “Every year I discuss things that are proper and improper to say on the football field, so it’s not like we’re suddenly going to be conscious about it.�

Many of those who were connected to last year’s incident will not be at Friday’s game.

Smotrys, 35, who was suspended by the CIF while the case was reviewed, has been reinstated but requested not to work any Centennial or Beverly Hills games this season.

Simmons, 17, is enrolled at the University of San Diego and not playing football, according to his attorney, Leo Terrell. He was expelled from Compton Centennial shortly after the Beverly Hills game when school administrators discovered he was improperly enrolled. He transferred to Chino Hills Ayala and graduated last spring.

Vincent Brooks, 18, another Centennial player who claimed Smotrys pushed him and called him a racial epithet during the same game, graduated and is playing football at Compton College.

Centennial’s coach last year, Omar Bradley, who is also the mayor of Compton, is now the coach at Compton College. He backed up Simmons’ and Brooks’ statements, saying several of his players told him they heard Smotrys use the racial epithet against them during the game. Bradley was replaced by Steve Jefferson, the school’s sophomore-level coach last year.

Simmons, Brooks and Bradley didn’t respond to requests for interviews.

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Although the principal parties have moved on, the case is far from over. Lawsuits have been filed on the behalf of Simmons, Brooks and Smotrys. The legal wrangling could take years.

Simmons is the plaintiff in two lawsuits, one against the city of Beverly Hills, the Beverly Hills Police Dept. and Los Angeles County, the other against the CIF and the Compton Unified School District.

In the first lawsuit, Simmons contends he was treated differently than other minors after his arrest for assaulting Smotrys. Terrell, his attorney, said Simmons’ case dragged on and wasn’t consistent with others in similar situations. In the second lawsuit, Simmons is holding the CIF and school district responsible for allegedly allowing a racist referee on the field.

Brooks is also suing the CIF and Compton Unified School District for the same reason.

None of the three lawsuits are expected to be settled soon.

The CIF and Compton Unified School District deny any wrongdoing.

“The real issue is what happened between Mr. Smotrys and Mr. Simmons,� said Melanie Lomax, an attorney representing the Compton Unified School District. “There is no way we could have predicted this incident would occur.�

Smotrys is the plaintiff in a lawsuit against Simmons, Brooks, Bradley, the city of Compton and the Compton Unified School District. Simmons is cited for assault and battery and Bradley and Brooks are each cited for false arrest and slander. Compton and its school district are also named in the suit since Bradley used both venues to hold several unofficial news conferences on the matter.

A trial date has been set by Sept. 8, 1997, in Superior Court in Santa Monica, but Smotrys’ attorney, David DeJulio, said all parties have agreed to voluntary mediation in the next couple of months. The suit seeks $250,000 in economic damages and up to $5 million in punitive damages.

“I don’t think we had any choice in pursuing legal action,� Smotrys said. “They put the financial security of my family at risk because their allegations threatened my career.

“This has never really been about money, though. If someone decided to do the right thing and tell the truth, that would really help ease my pain. That’s all I ever looked for.�