ELIGIBILITY ISSUES
OLSM players ineligible, parents sue CHSL, Archdiocese of Detroit
Basketball practice started across the state of Michigan this week, but the fortunes of MHSAA power Orchard Lake St. Mary’s may be determined inside a courtroom, as the Eaglets are currently without the services of two of their top players.
Sophomores Jayden Savoury and Isaiah “Zip” Hines, transfers from Detroit Renaissance and Macomb Dakota, respectively, were recently ruled ineligible by the Catholic League for the entire 2022-2023 campaign.
Last week, the players’ parents filed a lawsuit in Wayne County Circuit Court alleging racial discrimination against the CHSL and Archdiocese of Detroit in how it deals with issues related to boarding students. The rule, which states a school must have a boarding enrollment that equals at least 10 percent of its total student body for a transfer to retain immediate eligibility, specifically refers to transfers coming from the Detroit and Lansing areas. Since both areas have large minority populations, the lawsuit alleges the rule is discriminatory in intent towards students of color, under the state’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act.
“All they want to do is to have the chance to play their sport at their new school like any other student would be able to but because they come from one of those areas they’re being blocked? Under the state guidelines, they’re eligible, but under this rule (by the league), they can’t explore those same opportunities that any other transfer student would be able to? That isn’t right,” said local attorney Jon Marko, representing the two basketball players and another football player at the school, in an interview. “This rule is clearly targeting certain areas where you know minorities are. You are basically meaning African-American kids. That’s what the rule screams to anyone paying attention.”
The lawsuit is asking for an injunction to be granted to freeze the ruling, in order to allow the athletes to play while the dispute is under consideration.
Per the MHSAA guidelines, the transfers in this situation would be eligible. The MHSAA tells The Oakland Press it has never been asked to weigh in on the issue at hand and deferred to the school for vetting the eligibility of its athletes. St. Mary’s cites a decision by the Fair Housing Center of Michigan to not enforce the rule due to a violation of fair-housing policy linked to practice of discrimination, both in correspondence sent from the department to the school’s headmaster back in the spring and correspondence the school sent to the CHSL in August informing it of the reason why it didn’t apply in the case of the current St. Mary’s transfers. The CHSL and Archdiocese of Detroit released a joint statement last week categorically denying the accusation that the rule in question had any racerelated intent.
The 6-foot-6 Savoury averaged 15 points and six rebounds per game playing on the wing at Renaissance as a freshman, earning All-PSL honors last winter. Hines, a crafty 5-foot-11 point guard, broke out in the backcourt at Dakota last season, dotting the stat sheet for 12 points and four assists per game in the Macomb Athletic Conference. Both moved into the dorms on St. Mary’s campus in August.
The St. Mary’s basketball program has been nationally ranked the past three years. The Eaglets were the No. 1 overall team in
the state in the 2020 season when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the
state tournament during districts. They’ve lost in heartbreaking fashion to eventual state champions Grand Blanc and Warren De La Salle in the Division 1 quarterfinals the last two seasons
This year, the star-studded Eaglets will be led by Blue Chip sophomore Trey McKenney, the No. 1 overall player in the state, according to college scouts. McKenney (6-5) holds offers from Michigan, Michigan
State, Ohio State, Indiana, Iowa, Illinois, Texas, Alabama and Arizona State, among others, and helped take St. Mary’s to a Catholic League Central crown in 2022.