TULLY TALK
Brace yourselves, John Hazelton could be coming to a high school
football field near you.
For those familiar with the infamous former Burbank High coach,
you can stop screaming and reaching for the Valium.
The good news is -- for the immediate future any way -- Hazelton
has not landed a coaching job in Burbank, or in the San Fernando
Valley.
However, the coach with a checkered past has gotten a head
coaching job at a Southern California school. Hazelton was promoted
and now heads the program at Carpinteria High, a school in Ventura
County.
So why should the hiring of a former local coach at a high school
a county away be of interest to people in Burbank?
The answer is simple: With Hazelton's propensity to find his way
into the good graces of schools and football programs, there is a
good chance he will land at a nearby school, or one of his teams will
eventually play against one of the area's squads.
Like Jason from the "Halloween" movies, or athlete's foot, just
when you think you have Hazelton down for the count, he has
resurrected himself to infect another program.
Although it's been eight years since Hazelton polluted the Burbank
program and played a part in one of the largest and most sordid
scandals to ever hit the area, many in the community still talk about
the horrible things the coach did to the people of the city.
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In spring 1994, Hazelton descended on the Bulldog program. When he
departed in December 1995, the coach had managed to decimate a
school, ruin players' high school careers and help make national
headlines as part of a sex scandal.
Those close to the Bulldog program should have known something was
amiss during Hazelton's first season at the helm in 1994.
Maybe they should have gotten the hint after seeing a long line of
cars dropping players off in the school's parking lot prior to
practices.
Maybe a red flag should have gone up after players who had gone by
a particular name during the preseason, magically were identified by
a different name in Burbank's game program.
Maybe they should have taken notice a group of players listed the
same Providencia Avenue apartment building as their home address.
However, people either didn't notice -- or looked the other way --
as Hazelton soiled the integrity of the Burbank program and carried
out his unique brand of mayhem.
In late 1995, a report commissioned by the Burbank Unified School
District and the CIF Southern Section brought to light some of the
