A new twist has emerged in the case of the city basketball all-star fighting to take the court his senior year at Towson Catholic.
According to athletic officials who govern private schools, Wayne Dorsey Jr. would be playing right now, if he hadn?t made a costly mistake.
He enrolled for his senior year at Towson Catholic on time.
“We changed our rules Sept. 1 of this year, but he was already enrolled,” said Rick Diggs, director of the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association.
“There?s nothing I can do; my hands are tied,” he said.
Dorsey enrolled in Towson Catholic on Aug. 24 ? the week before a rule was changed that would have allowed him to play.
The city has said Dorsey has been a senior twice, despite the fact that he?s only played basketball for three years in high school.
The MIAA used to bar students from playing the same year twice, a rule that was changed effective Sept. 1, a week before Dorsey enrolled.
Now Dorsey?s father, Wayne Dorsey Sr., said he is doubly frustrated by a system that seems to be working against his son.
“If I?d known I would have waited to enroll him,” he said, adding that losing the senior year is costing his 6-foot-9 son the opportunity to play for college scouts.
The MIAA?s admission adds to the saga of one of the city?s top basketball players whose career has been waylaid by technicalities and an insensitive bureaucracy, his father said.
“My son was forced to skip 10th grade, which has caused all of these problems,” he said.
State Delegate Jill Carter filed a temporary restraining order last week on behalf of Dorsey, asking the court to change Dorsey?s city transcript to reflect his true academic standing.
Dorsey Sr. said he never wanted his son moved forward a grade, and has been trying to get his son?s status changed for several years.
“They move kids forward that they think can make it to boast graduation rates,” he said. “But it?s costing my son.”
Vanessa Pyatt, spokeswoman for the Baltimore City Public School System, said that while she cannot comment on Dorsey?s case specifically, students are promoted in accordance with city school policy.
“If students meet the minimum requirement to be promoted a grade, they are promoted,” she said.
But Dorsey Sr. said he has been asking school officials to change his son?s status for years.
“They just want this to go away,” he said. Carter hopes the court will rule in Dorsey Jr.?s favor at a hearing today in Baltimore City Circuit Court before Judge Wanda Heard.
“This is about fairness trying to help a young man succeed,” Carter said.
