Louisville Cancels Basketball Game With Kennedy, Citing Fear of Fights

It was to be, Kennedy High Coach Craig Raub said with no attempt at understatement, the “biggest game in Valley girls basketball history.”

It was to be Louisville, 3-0 and ranked second in the Southern Section 3-A, against Kennedy, 3-1 and defending City 4-A champion.

It was to be Friday at Kennedy in a loud and overflowing gym. Power against power. Rematch and revenge.

But it won’t be. Louisville administrators, fearing fights, have canceled the game.

Sister Bridget Ehlert, Louisville’s principal, made the decision Tuesday morning after meeting with Athletic Director Ron DelMonte and Coach Brian O’Hara.

“I don’t feel anyone is in danger,” Ehlert said. “I just feel emotions are too high right now. It’s because of what happened the other night.”

Ehlert referred to Saturday night in the San Gabriel tournament final, which was ruled a forfeit after Raub disputed his third technical foul and refused to comply with official Ed Palmquist’s order to leave the gymnasium. Louisville led, 35-24, with 4:15 left in the third period.

After the game, O’Hara claims, “definite altercations” occurred. Among them:

Diane DeCree of Kennedy argued with a 10-year-old female Louisville fan, O’Hara said.

DeCree said Tuesday that the girl spat on her arm and that a man, who claimed to be the girl’s father, yelled at her.

“That’s disgusting,” DeCree said. “I didn’t even want to talk to the girl because I didn’t even want her apology. That’s how everything got started.”

O’Hara said Raub yelled at a Louisville parent who was talking angrily with a Kennedy player.

Raub confirmed the incident, but said: “If you’re going to talk to my kids, talk to me. You don’t talk to a 16-year-old girl.”

O’Hara said Kennedy players threatened to “take care” of Louisville players in Friday’s game.

DeCree said none of the harsh words exchanged Saturday involved Louisville players.

“It was the fans, the refs and us that got out of hand,” she said. “I don’t understand why they’re not coming. I’m really upset.”

Raub said that while he argued with Palmquist on Saturday, he heard fans yell “nigger” to his predominantly black team.

“That I didn’t care for,” Raub said. “We don’t ever hear that anywhere we go.”

O’Hara said that although Friday’s game would not present “life or death” situations, it still should be canceled.

“Nothing really happened; it’s just the potential,” O’Hara said. “We let their threats roll off like water off a duck. There’s a whole different image for a Catholic girls school.”

Referring to the Ehlert decision, he said, “It wasn’t a hard decision to make when she sees that much conflict.”

Still, Raub said he does not understand what all the fuss is about. He called it “some strange paranoia.”

“The principal overreacted,” Raub said. “If she had checked with schools we’ve played--including Alemany, which is in the same league--she’d know everybody who’s played in our gym has had a positive response. I don’t know why someone would cancel a game of this magnitude before they check it out.”

Said O’Hara: “We want to play them. If there’s anybody out there who thinks we’re afraid to play Kennedy, then they should look at who we played. We’ve played all the good teams in Southern California.”