Two stories will publish in Thursday’s paper regarding an incident with the San Gabriel High School girls basketball program, which I reported about in Tuesday’s paper. Thursday’s reports focus on allegations of a cover-up, which fired San Gabriel varsity girls basketball coach Manny Flores vehemently denied in a series of e-mail exchanges with the Star-News. Flores did not dispute allegations that Jannie Han, 21, played during a nonleague junior varsity road game Dec. 9 against El Monte, but he did take issue that there was an attempt to cover it up, which led to the firing of Flores, Han and JV girls basketball coach Mark Ho. “I did not try to cover it up,” Flores wrote. “Maybe I handled it the wrong way by waiting a day, but I was trying to find out why they did what they did, but I got no response. … to say I tried to cover it up, no way. I do not stand for things like that.”
San Gabriel Valley athletic directors and coaches also react to the San Gabriel incident in the second story:
“I was shocked to hear what happened and feel for the girls in the program. I hope that the girls come together and push through this incident and find a way to move forward.”
— Keppel girls basketball coach Ib Belou
“I guess my question is ‘Was winning that important that you would sacrifice the program? To me there’s no valid reason, period. I don’t want to pass any judgment, but who would benefit from that?”
— Alhambra girls basketball coach Therese Berner
“If a situation were to happen here I would act swiftly to remedy the issue.”
— Maranatha athletic director and baseball coach Brian DeHaan
“What we’re trying to teach the kids is ethics. The CIF motto is sportsmanship and ethics. What they (the administrator’s swift action) did is exactly what they need to do — uphold the CIF standards and school standards.”
— La Caada athletic director and girls basketball coach Tamar Hill
“I would have never imagined someone actually doing it. I’m still in shock hearing that it actually happened.”
— Diamond Ranch athletic director Jason Fox
“It’s hard for me to understand why they would have done that and what was the thought process behind it. … to think an opposing coach would treat his own players that way is disappointing.”
— El Monte girls basketball coach Brian Tabatabi
