Gorman graduate expelled

Tuesday, Dec. 3, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

OREM, Utah -- David Sawyer, who helped guide the Bishop Gorman High School basketball team to last year's state championship game, was expelled from Utah Valley State College after being accused of stealing four magazines from the Utah campus library.

Sawyer, a 6-foot-7 forward who averaged 12 points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots as a senior for the Gaels, was dismissed from UVSC after he was cited in a retail theft at the library on Nov. 19. At the time of the citation, Sawyer was on probation for allegedly stealing electronic equipment from a campus media center just weeks earlier.

He will be allowed to remain on campus until the semester ends but will not play basketball said Gil Cook, vice president for college relations.

"It was my understanding he was on probation as a result of the previous incident," UVSC sports information director D.J. Smith said. "The situation with the library was relatively minor, but the fact that he was on probation is why the school went ahead with (the expulsion)."

According to a UVSC police report, Sawyer was cited after trying to walk out of the library with three Hot Rod and one Car and Driver magazines when the alarm sounded. A court hearing has been scheduled for Dec. 12.

Sawyer and Darius Beard, a freshman from Bonneville (Utah) High School, also were recently disciplined by the Campus Appeals Board for the alleged theft of two VCRs and a television from the school's Learning Enrichment Center about a month ago.

The two were suspended from the basketball team for fall semester and required to write a letter of apology to the students through the campus newspaper.

In addition, they were re quired to perform community service at a minimum of six high school athletic departments by discussing their mistake and what they learned from it, said Val Peterson, UVSC spokesman.

No criminal charges were filed in that incident.

Sawyer was one of three Las Vegas players on the UVSC roster. Durango graduate Jared Call is the team's starting point guard. Cimarron-Memorial product LeLand Osborne, who transferred from South Alabama over the off-season, is the team's shooting guard.

Sawyer was projected as a starter, but Smith considered him a key backup for USVC, which is off to a 9-0 record as a member of the Scenic West Athletic Conference.

Some faculty and staff at the Learning Resource Center have complained that basketball players receive preferential treatment over other students.

"If a faculty member or any other student had done that, they would have been fired or expelled," said Darci Hemsley-Brown, an assistant professor in the Learning Resource Center.

"Basketball is the game here."