Wrestling Dual Meet Titles On Line

Watching Weather A Full-time Job 
Whether Teaching 
At Psu Hazleton Or 
Working As A Television 
Forecaster, Jon Nese 
Can't Get Enough 
Of Mother Nature

By DOUG PAPE; Times Leader Staff Writer
 Friday, February 06, 1998 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Page: 1A 





Responding to the furor about the Gus Felder eligibility case, the
Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association unveiled a proprosal
Saturday that would limit students to six consecutive years of athletics after
the sixth grade. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The new rule passed its first reading during Saturday's PIAA Board of
Control Meeting, and must pass twice more before becoming law for the state's
governing body for high school athletics. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The current guidelines give students eight semesters of eligibility after
eighth grade. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Those semesters don't have to be consecutive, and that loophole allowed
Felder to play football at Berwick High School the past two seasons, even
though his original class had graduated. This case made the organization take
a hard look at the rule, said Dr. Robert A. Lombardi, the associate executive
director of the PIAA. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "I don't know if it's going to pass," Lombardi said. "I think it's the
castigations that came out of the Felder case (that prompted the change)." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Felder, an All-American lineman at Berwick who is headed to Penn State on a
football scholarship, originally enrolled in high school at Dobbins Tech in
Philadelphia at the start of the 1992-93 school year. His eligibility came
into question last season, and he was ruled ineligible by District 2. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Berwick appealed the ruling and the PIAA overturned it. The majority
opinion behind the 3-2 vote was that Felder was in only his eighth semester of
high school. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 He missed 1995-96, when he was enrolled at the Red Rock Job Corps, which
didn't count against his high school eligibility. Felder and Berwick officials
managed to convince enough PIAA officials that he had dropped out of high
school around Thanksgiving of 1994. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Even so, there was an uproar because Felder was still playing because of
the loophole Berwick found in the rules. Once the 6-foot-5, 300-pound lineman
was reinstated, the Dawgs went on to win their fourth consecutive PIAA Class
AAA state championship. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Under the new rule, Felder would not have been eligible to play at Berwick
last season or in 1996, when he transferred to the school. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The Felder case and other decisions have prompt

Berwick Football Flap Sparks Plan For Reform 
Under A Rule Change 
Given Preliminary Approval 
By The Piaa, Lineman Gus 
Felder Would Not Have 
Been Allowed To Play The 
Last Two Years

Berwick Football Flap Sparks Plan For Reform Under A Rule Change Given Preliminary Approval By The Piaa, Lineman Gus Felder Would Not Have Been Allowed To Play The Last Two Years