United States: Case Win for High School Student/Athlete Unfairly Denied Athletic Eligibility

Fred Emhardt, assisted by George Plews, recently secured a temporary restraining order and a preliminary and permanent injunction for Arlington High School senior Ryan Gold, allowing him to play high school basketball in 2003.

Ryan and his family had lived in the Northwest High School district for all of Ryan’s life. In early 2002, Ryan’s older brother passed away after a long illness. He and his family were overcome with grief. Their grief counselor suggested that the family move. Ryan and his family moved to the Arlington school district, where Ryan enrolled in school. Northwest administrators contested the move. Ryan had been the starting point guard at Northwest since the middle of his freshman season. The Northwest basketball coach resigned shortly after the passing of Ryan’s brother. Northwest administrators alleged that Ryan had been recruited by Arlington, that he was transferring "primarily for athletic reasons" to get away from the new coach, and that his family had not made "a bona fide change of residence."

Northwest delayed processing the athletic transfer report and requested that the IHSAA further investigate the transfer. The IHSAA Commissioner denied eligibility. His decision was upheld by a panel of the Executive Committee of the IHSAA. The Golds were not at that time represented by counsel.

The Golds appealed to the Case Review Panel of the IHSAA and a hearing was set for January 10, 2003. The Case Review Panel is a special panel paid for by the IHSAA and appointed by the Superintendent of Education for the State of Indiana. A family friend contacted George Plews days before the Case Review Panel hearing and requested legal help. Fred and George took on the case. After an all-day hearing, the Case Review Panel upheld the formerly unanimous IHSAA decision by a vote of 5-2. In the written opinion issued a week later, the panel was very critical of the baseless allegations of Northwest and Northwest’s delay, but upheld the decision of the IHSAA on the basis that the family had not made a "bona fide" move.

Plews Shadley Racher & Braun then immediately filed suit on Ryan’s behalf. The firm secured a temporary restraining order to let Ryan play after a two-hour hearing before Special Judge Gerald S. Zore. Three days later, Judge Theodore M. Sosin held a hearing on the motion for preliminary injunction, and the firm won a preliminary injunction. Trial was held on February 14. After trial, on March 4, Judge Sosin entered a permanent injunction in favor of Ryan, holding that the IHSAA had not established grounds for denying eligibility either for lack of bonafide move or for athletic motivation. The court held that the Case Review Panel’s factual findings did not support the IHSAA’s finding of a primary athletic motivation for the move, and that the Panel misconstruedthe elements of a "bona fide" move.  

As a result, after unfairly being declared ineligible to play, Ryan returned to his preferred court in time for the City tourney in mid-January, and got to play the rest of the year. In the City tourney finals, in one of his first games back, he hit a three-pointer to send the game into overtime. Ryan is currently looking at colleges, including Wabash College, Fred Emhardt’s alma mater, with the hope of playing college basketball next season.