What does hurt Oliver is the loss of one of his top players, Jenice Johnson. Oliver found out on December 2 Johnson was found to be ineligible by the District of Columbia’s high school athletic association and would not be allowed to play this season. “It’s hurting her, and it’s hurting us. I think if we had Jenice we would probably be the number 1 team in the country,” Oliver stated.
“We found out just before our first game,” added Oliver, who explained that in the District of Columbia there is no appeal in place for players to regain their eligibility.
According to Oliver, Jenice was skipped ahead two grades by the public school system when she was in fifth grade because she was so tall (already over six feet). This happened long before Jenice walked the halls of H. D. Woodson High School and long before head coach Frank Oliver, Junior, ever met her.
In 2004, Johnson, then two years ahead of her regular grade, first enrolled in H. D. Woodson High School. At the time, she did not even play basketball. According to Oliver, this was a tough time in Johnson’s life. “Her mother just had both legs amputated to her knee and her brother dropped out of school.”
During that first year at H. D. Woodson High School, before she had received a single high-school credit, Jenice Johnson was expelled from school. The following year, in 2005, Johnson re-enrolled at Woodson and was categorized as a freshman because she had not received any prior high school credit.
After getting her grades in order, Johnson began playing basketball in the 2006-2007 season for Oliver. By the end of her junior year of high school, Johnson had over twenty scholarship offers from schools around the country and was ranked nationally by several publications. In 2008, Johnson verbally committed to Kay Yow and North Carolina State University to play basketball, but did not sign a letter of intent this winter.
Johnson lost something much more this fall then her senior season of high school basketball when the DC athletic association declared her ineligible, according to Oliver. This October, just before Jenice's 18th birthday, which fell on October 15, her mother passed away of diabetes. Jenice now lives with her brother who was able to get a job in Washington, DC, after receiving his GED. “Jenice’s mom wanted to be there to fight for her but could not because of her medical condition and disability,” said Oliver.
“All she wants to do is play for Woodson,” said Oliver, who now plans to be in contact with the Mayor of Washington, DC, to regain Johnson’s eligibility. “If we need to make this a legal matter we can, but Jenice needs to play for her, and for her mother.” According to Oliver, just last year a fifth year senior was made eligible to play high school football in Washington, DC, without any type of hardship involved.
Woodson is now 5-3 after recent losses to two strong contenders--Oak Ridge (TN) and Chaminade Julienne (OH) at the Nike Tournament of Champions. But much more important to Oliver than national recognition for his team is getting Jenice Johnson back on the court for the benefits it will bring to his young player. “Jenice is a kid without any parent and she can not fight for herself, so I have to fight for her. Jenice made the honor roll (at Woodson) for the first time ever and is a positive influence on the school,” said Oliver.
H. D. Woodson takes the court in Phoenix again today without a piece of their team whose life they have completely turned around. For Jenice Johnson, Coach Frank Oliver, Junior, hopes that even though Jenice Johnson’s family cannot be put back together, his family at H. D. Woodson can be.