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What became of Jack Michael Martinez after eligibility scandal,[url=http://monclerwesteoutletbillig.albirank.net/][b]http://monclerwesteoutletbillig.albirank.net/[/b][/url]
This was the first time Martinez and I had met, but it was not the first time we had spoken. That conversation came over the phone more than 12 years ago, and it was part of a history we shared, one that surely changed his life and still resonates in mine.
I had never had a conversation like the one I had with Martinez, when we spoke for about 30 minutes late one night. Sports reporters chase stories, push sources to tell them more than they want and don mind ruffling feathers. But most of the time this is bread and circus fare, such as whether to vilify or deify LeBron James.
But by the time I hung up the phone, I knew this was going to be different. For nearly six months, I had worked with a colleague at the Long Beach Press-Telegram, Steve Irvine, to confirm a not-so-secret assumption: The four foreign players on the Lakewood (Calif.) Artesia High School basketball team, briefly ranked No. 1 in the nation by USA Today, might be older than the school coach, Wayne Merino, said they were.
Steve and I followed leads as far as the Dominican Republic and Iceland, the players' homelands, and got a big break copies of two players visa applications, which had listed false information. We confirmed with a nun who operated a private school in the Dominican that Martinez had taken ninth grade twice before enrolling at Artesia as a 16-year-old freshman.
As far as unimpeachable sources go, it difficult to do better than a nun.
When I spelled this out to Martinez over the phone, he confirmed in halting English nearly every detail we had, much to my surprise. He was vulnerable and yet aware.
career is over,[url=http://duveticapiuminiitalia.webmium.com/][b]Duvetica Piumini Italia Outlet Shop Duvetica Down Jackets Uomo[/b][/url], he said. going to go back to the Dominican with my mom. I going to feel bad because (others will say) everything going to be my fault. It going to be hard. the first story was published after a week of vetting by editors and attorneys and a threatened lawsuit by the coach lawyer the ramifications were real. A source had a brick thrown through his living room window, a photographer and I were threatened with a crowbar when we went to the airport to talk with one of the players,[url=http://peutereyjackenherrenoutlet.albirank.net/][b]Peuterey Jacken Herren Outlet Peuterey Jacke Damen Sale Online[/b][/url], Jon Stefansson,[url=http://woolricharcticparkauomooutlet.olimx.com/][b]Woolrich Arctic Parka Uomo Outlet Woolrich Parka Italy Outlet[/b][/url], who was returning to Iceland.
In the weeks ahead, the school district, which had stonewalled previous requests for investigations, convened a panel to look into the allegations and confirmed them. The local Immigration and Naturalization Service branch began its own investigation. The high school governing body stripped Artesia of three sectional titles, and Merino was fired as coach and resigned his teaching post, beginning a housecleaning of the school administration.
It was hugely gratifying to see your work have such a tangible impact. And yet the one thing that nagged at us was our inability to follow the players. Stefansson was clearly not interested in speaking with us, and the others who were from the Dominican Martinez, Amaury Fernandez and Franklin Matos had vanished. One day they were at school, the next they were gone. There were rumors about prep schools, moves to New Jersey, or maybe Miami.
Within a few months, I left for another newspaper job, and Steve did the same within a year. Over the years, we had heard a few details but never much of the whole story,[url=http://2013rogerviviershoessaks.blogspot.com/][b]Roger Vivier Boots Outlet[/b][/url], which is what I was interested in hearing from Martinez.
So,[url=http://woolrichoutletdeutschland.olimx.com/][b]http://woolrichoutletdeutschland.olimx.com/[/b][/url], in the MGM Grand lobby, I reintroduced myself and asked if he wanted to talk, not sure if he wanted to share his story or utter a few choice words.
The dark sunglasses hid his eyes, and his expression betrayed no emotion as the pause was this him processing? grew longer and longer . . . and longer.
Merino, who declined comment recently when reached by phone, had a sometimes stormy relationship with Martinez. The coach kept a tight rein on all his players, rarely allowing them to speak with reporters and never without a coach present. But Merino was especially concerned about what Martinez might say. Their relationship had improved in his third season, according to Martinez, because he had played well enough to garner interest from schools such as Arizona and UCLA. Martinez said Merino rarely threatened to send him home as he had in his first two seasons and began to take him to movies and UCLA games.
But soon after the story was published, Martinez said Merino moved him and his girlfriend, a former Artesia student who was pregnant with their child, to different hotels. The reason, according to Martinez, was so he would not speak with immigration officials.
that moment, we were really mad at everybody for what happened, Martinez said. were just crying and saying we didn do nothing wrong at the school. We never fight, we never beat people up, we was doing great and then when that came out it was oh, s***, we going back home now. What are we going to do? At that time, we needed help and didn get it.
was just scared. I was believing what (Merino) was saying, that everything was going to be all right, but (his girlfriend) knew the situation was bad. I knew we weren coming back. I told Amaury we not coming back (to Artesia), that immigration wants to talk to us. Maybe we can go to a junior college. We were going to keep playing. were rumors about junior college or prep schools on the East Coast. Eventually, Merino arranged for someone to drive the three Dominicans to Miami, where they stayed with acquaintances before returning home, according to Martinez.
was going to send us back home because we knew it would be tough for us to come back, Martinez said. very thankful to have those three years in the States. I got the chance to learn the language. When I first got there, I didn speak no English. I only know how to count 1 through 10, 'thank you' and 'you welcome,' and 'I hungry.' Over there,[url=http://woolrichjacketstore.blogspot.com/][b]http://woolrichjacketstore.blogspot.com/[/b][/url], I learned the language in like six or seven months. I thank the coach for that. But the way we got treated and the way it was, go home,[url=http://monclerwesteherrendaunenjackebillig.albirank.net/][b]Moncler Jacken Online Shop österreich Moncler Weste Herren Daunenjacke Billig[/b][/url], f*** it,[url=http://duveticajacketsoutlet.olimx.com/][b]http://duveticajacketsoutlet.olimx.com/[/b][/url], and I going to save my own ass we didn like that. four players returned home to basketball. Stefansson was with the NBA's Dallas Mavericks briefly and has carved out a career in Russia, Italy and Spain,[url=http://parajumpersjacketsstores.blogspot.com/][b]parajumpers jackets store[/b][/url], where he played this season. Martinez survived a severe car accident that left him with a compressed disk in his back and has forged a solid career mostly in South America. Fernandez and Matos played in the Dominican Fernandez with the national team but are retired now, Martinez said.
The consequences of the falsified visas were severe for Martinez, who was denied a visa for five years. It prohibited him from traveling to the United States to see his son, to play in an Olympic qualifying tournament and, he said, from accepting offers from the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Lakers and Portland Trail Blazers to attend training camp.
Those opportunities are probably gone for Martinez, who maintains he is 30. (Age is often a question mark with Dominican athletes, and Martinez says Matos and Fernandez were born two years before he was,[url=http://merrellshoesusaonline.blogspot.com/][b]http://merrellshoesusaonline.blogspot.com/[/b][/url], making them 20 during their last season at Artesia.)
There are also questions about whether a 6-foot-8, 245-pound power forward who can jump or shoot might have ever found a place on an NBA roster, but as Martinez has bounced around Venezuela,[url=http://woolricharcticparkauomooutlet.olimx.com/][b]http://woolricharcticparkauomooutlet.olimx.com/[/b][/url], Chile, Italy, Argentina, France and the Dominican Republic,[url=http://duveticaoutletcanada.albirank.net/][b]Duvetica Outlet Canada duvetica Down Jackets Mens Sale 2014 Online[/b][/url], he claims to have always led every league in rebounding.
6-8 and can jump, but look at the numbers, Martinez said. me to a camp and we see. we talked, and the conversation neared an hour, it became clear that he was happy for two reasons: He could play basketball and he could get paid for it, enough to buy a house in Santa Domingo for himself and his mother, and also an apartment for himself.
That all he ever wanted to do, so when he was approached by a stranger 15 years ago after a youth tournament in the Dominican Republic, asking if he wanted to go to the United States to play basketball and attend school, Martinez was incredulous.
didn even believe it, he said. said you want to go to the States? Hell, yeah. of the last questions I asked was how the whole experience, coming to the United States,[url=http://duveticapiumini.olimx.com/][b]Duvetica piumini italy online piumini duvetica outlet duvetica jackets shop[/b][/url], then having to leave, had changed his life.
he said. a big one. For me,[url=http://2013rogerviviershoessaks.blogspot.com/][b]http://2013rogerviviershoessaks.blogspot.com/[/b][/url], it helped a lot. I learned a lot about life from that. When stuff happens, you just have to move on. I left a lot of good people, a lot of people who loved us. I know they worried about us, what happened to us. We still play, we still good, we make money. We somebody in our country. paused.
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