Marian Catholic High School junior T.J.Parham has been declared eligible by the Illinois High School Association and will play today against Lemont at the Crete-Monee Shoot-Out.
IHSA executive director Dr. Marty Hickman told The Times that Parham, who transferred from St. Francis de Sales High School, should have been ineligible during the 2011-12 school year at St. Francis de Sales and the IHSA is looking into the matter. Parham was eligible academically, but the IHSA never received the transfer papers from St. Francis de Sales when Parham transferred there in March of 2011 from Rich Central High School. He transferred to Marian in the summer of 2012.
Parham is just happy to be playing basketball.
"I am very excited," Parham said. "I worked very hard during the summer in AAU. I have been waiting for this moment all semester."
His dad, Terrone, said he is glad to see his son have the chance to play.
"First, I want to thank (Dr.) Marty Hickman for giving us the chance to show our case and listen," Terrone Parham said. "He was able to look at this as individual case."
Hickman said though this is his third school, there was a move involved, and Hickman met with Parham's parents.
"It was mitigating circumstances involving the family," Hickman said. "We figured he (Parham) should be penalized some, but not for the whole year.
"He should have not been eligible (last year) at St. Francis de Sales."
St. Francis de Sales president Ray Nedohon said he thought the concurrent papers were in place. He was not the school's president when Parham transferred to the East Side high school.
"I never heard anything that it wasn't," Nedohon said about the transfer. "I thought everything was sent to the IHSA and everything was in place."
Former St. Francis athletic director Rich Maggio, who resigned on Dec. 7, said he did not remember any transfer papers and it would have been done in the spring when he was not the athletic director. Maggio was named to the post in June of 2011.
Then-athletic director Craig Shaman said he did not see any transfer papers and it would have been done in the summer of 2011. He resigned from the position after the 2010-11 school year and his last day was in June of 2011.
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