Correction: K.J. Hill and Kahlil Gulley were listed on both the North Little Rock High School football and boys' basketball rosters for the 2013-2014 academic year. This article incorrectly reported the number of players listed on both rosters.
North Little Rock High School forfeited more than 30 games and a boys basketball state championship Thursday because of an ineligible player on its football and basketball teams in the 2013-2014 academic year, the Arkansas Activities Association announced.
The association provided few details about the violation, saying only that North Little Rock School District self-reported it.
"We are grateful to North Little Rock High School for its integrity and honesty while dealing with a sensitive issue," AAA Executive Director Lance Taylor said in a statement.
The announcement did not identify the ineligible player, but K.J. Hill, a junior during 2013-2014, was the only player listed on both the football and boys' basketball rosters that season. Hill, who was heavily recruited by major-college football programs, signed a national letter of intent Wednesday to play football at Ohio State University.
Multiple attempts to reach Hill's stepfather Montez Peterson and Johnny Rice, North Little Rock's boys basketball coach, were unsuccessful Thursday.
The forfeiture announcement came the same day that an attorney for the high school's head football coach Brad Bolding confirmed that the district had listed a potential AAA violation in the coach's termination letter and that the allegation involved Hill.
Attorney David Couch said he did not know what violation the school district self-reported or whether the potential violation listed in Bolding's termination letter led to the forfeiture of games. Couch said Bolding was not aware of any ineligible players participating in games he coached.
"I don't know what North Little Rock said to the AAA," Couch said. "The allegation in this [termination] letter in our view is not true, but even if it were true, I don't believe it justifies what North Little Rock has done."
The North Little Rock School District did not specify the violation in a statement released an hour after the AAA's announcement. The statement said the district was committed to following the regulations in all of its athletic programs.
"As soon as we discovered a violation had occurred, we determined the only right thing to do was to report it to the AAA," Superintendent Kelly Rodgers said in a statement. "We know our student-athletes will be disappointed with the forfeits, but we hope they understand that the most important thing is playing with integrity and ethics."
Rodgers told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Thursday that the investigation had taken place over the past two weeks, but discussions with the AAA had picked up in the past couple of days.
The forfeit includes 10 victories from the 2013 football season and at least 24 victories by the basketball team, which finished the 2013-2014 season 26-2 and won the Class 7A state championship.
The basketball team was without Hill in its first two victories of that season -- Nov. 28 against Wynne and Nov. 29 against Lee High School of Huntsville, Ala., in a tournament at Forrest City -- because he was still playing with the football team.
North Little Rock's boys basketball team beat Springdale 89-81 in the Class 7A state championship game March 13, 2014, in Hot Springs. It was the program's second consecutive state championship under Rice, who is in his third year as North Little Rock's head coach.
Thursday's forfeiture of the state title is the first since Little Rock Central was stripped of its Class AAAAA boys basketball state title in 2001 because of an ineligible player.
The North Little Rock football team finished 10-3 in 2013, losing at Cabot 43-42 in two overtimes in the Class 7A semifinals.
North Little Rock's boys basketball team is 15-5 this season heading into tonight's game against Cabot. The football team finished 10-2 and lost to Bentonville in the semifinals of the Class 7A playoffs in December.
Hill is considered one of the nation's top receivers in the 2015 signing class. He was the Democrat-Gazette's All-Arkansas Preps offensive player of the year as a junior and a member of the All-Arkansas Preps team this season.
He attended Bryant High School as a sophomore, but transferred to North Little Rock and played for the football and basketball teams the past two seasons.
The four-star receiver by Rivals.com chose to sign with Ohio State over Alabama and Arkansas, where he had orally committed in August.
The announcement of the forfeiture comes a day after Bolding's attorney disclosed that the district intends to fire the 45-year-old football coach.
According to the district's contract data for 2014-2015, Bolding's annual salary is $79,393.13 and he is signed as a teacher at North Little Rock High School-West Campus.
Couch declined Thursday to provide details of the potential AAA violation listed in Bolding's termination letter because he's "accumulating the evidence so that everybody will know that it's false."
But Couch provided further details about the NLR Athletic Foundation, which was mentioned in two allegations of policy and procedure violations the district made against Bolding in the letter. Couch, who represents the foundation as well as Bolding, said it was set up by a "group of boosters" to support the school's athletic program.
"It's a foundation set up by private individuals to support North Little Rock athletic department, and they solicit private donations and contributions [to purchase equipment]," Couch said, comparing it to the Razorback Foundation, which supports the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville.
Couch said the district has accused Bolding of not following proper procedures related to six equipment purchases made by the NLR Athletic Foundation between November 2013 and April 2014.
The district also accused Bolding of violating school equipment policy by trading in used headsets when new headsets were purchased by the NLR Athletic Foundation. The letter also cited one of Bolding's Facebook posts as "disparaging" among the reasons for firing him.
Bolding plans to appeal the termination and request a public hearing before the North Little Rock School Board, Couch said.
School Board President Scott Miller said Thursday that once the board receives a notice of appeal, it will likely call a special meeting. Miller said the board usually honors requests for such appeal hearings to be public.
"That is up to the person," Miller said. "That's his choice."
Miller said the board sits as jury during appeal hearings. Employees are allowed to call witnesses, present evidence and be represented by an attorney. The district is also represented by an attorney.
Miller said the board can ask questions during the hearing, and once all evidence is presented, the board deliberates in a closed session and renders a decision.
Miller said that Bolding can release his personnel records but the district can't at this time. Miller said he couldn't provide further information Thursday.
"We have obligations under the law for confidentiality," Miller said. "We certainly don't want the district to be involved in any other issues."
Information for this article was contributed by Tim Cooper of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Sports on 02/06/2015