In April, NYCHoops.net wrote an article about an up and coming sophomore by the name of Steele Davis, who currently plays for Our Savior New American.
According to Davis, during his first interview with NYCHoops.net, he claimed that he is currently a 16 year old sophomore, but allegations have surfaced that would appear to not only contradict that claim but more.
NYCHoops.net was contacted by AAU Coach, Nate Cadogan, who said he coached Davis in 2005. "His name isn't Steele Davis, it's Neville Davis and he played for me on the Lamar Odom All-Stars," said Cadogan. The Lamar Odom All-stars a/k/a Team Odom is an AAU team sponsored by and named after the LA Lakers NBA star. Cadogan provided NYCHoops.net with a team photograph, including Neville Davis, and a copy of the Davis' signed 2005 team application which Neville Davis lists his date of birth as May 5th 1988 and his high school as Pacific High School.
Cadogan said that he recently ran into Neville Davis in March, after reading the NYCHoops.net article, at the CYP Tournament in Port Chester, NY where he was playing with a team called Frenji Sports under the name, Steele Davis. Cadogan says he confronted Davis regarding his correct age. "He (Davis) told me he was 19, but I know even that's not true if he was sixteen back in '05," says Cadogan.
Ken Coard is listed as Davis' High School Coach at a Pacific High School on the 2005 Team Odom application but Coard said that he didn't coach Davis in high school. Coard said, "I met him at the Berkshire School, where I coached in 2005. He just came for a visit." Coard said that Sean Arnold, who coached Team Roc, originally told him about Davis. "Sean told me that he saw Neville (recently) playing with Our Savior New American at a tournament," said Coard.
NYCHoops.net contacted Steele Davis' current school, Our Savior New American (OSNA) in Centereach, NY where he listed his date of birth as May the 5th but 1992, according to OSNA Head Master and Coach Bob Bass. Coach Bass said that according to the transcripts received on 'Steele Davis', he was a freshman at RISE Academy and transferred to Scotlandville Magnet High School in Baton Rouge, LA. The reason sited by Davis for leaving RISE, according to Bass, was because RISE did not meet NCAA standards.
NYCHoops.net contacted Sam Rimes who runs RISE Academy school in North Hills, PA. Rimes said, "First off, RISE Academy is not a high school. It's a basketball academy so I don't why he'd list us. He came to me in June of 2007 and said he was 17 and wanted to be a repeat sophomore. I put him in Northeast Prep but he had no transcripts. "When asked why he had no transcripts, Rimes says, "He said he lost them in (Hurricane) Katrina."
Joyce Kall, the executive administrative assistant at Northeast Prep, in North East, PA confirmed that a Steele Davis was, in fact, enrolled at Northeast Prep from February 2008 until 3/25/08 to take 2 ninth grade courses. "We asked him (Davis) to produce a birth certificate and he never came back," said Kall, when asked why the stay was so short.
When asked, did Northeast Prep send a transcript to Scotlandville Magnet, Kall replied, "Yes, on April 12, 2008 but it listed him as receiving two failures because he did not complete the courses."
Ms. Askins, from the guidance department of Scotlandville Magnet High, said that they have no record of the Northeast Prep transcript but did not know why. When asked about Davis' enrollment, Askins said, "It looks like Steele was enrolled from 4/10/08 until 5/22/08 and has 4.5 credits."
As far as which school Davis attended in Louisiana, Rimes says, "He (Steele Davis) told me he went to Booker T. Washington High School in New Orleans, LA but I found out from another player, who was from New Orleans, that Booker T. is actually a Middle school and that it had closed before the hurricane (Katrina)."
Rimes added that Davis disappeared from his academy in early April when he couldn't produce his transcripts and birth certificate. "He left all his clothes here and just left," says Rimes.
The pattern that seems to have emerged is, that Steele/Neville Davis has gotten through the high school system without actually producing a birth certificate. When ask to produce one, he flees to another school.
When NYCHoops.net tried to contact Steele Davis directly by telephone, a voice message said that his message box was not set up. Shortly thereafter, a response came via text message from a person who claimed to be his aunt, who said Steele left his cell phone at her house. All additional attempts to reach Steele Davis since then have received no replies.
Amazingly, NYCHoops.net has determined that high schools don't, as standard procedure, require transfer students to submit birth certificates or any form of official identification (ie. social security card, passport etc.). They determine grade and age only through previous transcripts.
In the case of Neville/Steele Davis, he appears to have been able to generate a 9th grade transcript, even though it reflects that he failed or didn't attend or complete courses based on the assumption that his transcripts were somehow lost during Hurricane Katrina.
When the schools or institutions that Davis attempted to attend or was attending confronted him and asked for a more definitive forms of identification, like a birth certificate, Steele/Neville Davis fled, according to reports.
The allegations of the false representation of age and identity with regard to Steele/Neville Davis raise questions and concerns as to how easy it is for a student-athlete to slip through the cracks and garner college attention based on the belief that a player is younger and more developed then he actually is.
This allegation of perhaps a 20 year old man claiming to be a 16 years old boy is particularly disturbing in that a legal adult could theoretically be interacting with minors while at school or in other social settings.
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