Gonzaga reinstates players after drug case

Almost from the day Josh Heytvelt and Theo Davis were arrested on drug charges last February, the thrust by Gonzaga University was to work toward their reinstatement.

That happened Friday. But it didn't necessarily come easily.

"To be honest with you, I was initially against it," Gonzaga basketball coach Mark Few said on a teleconference announcing the return of the players to the program.

But Heytvelt and Davis fulfilled their legal responsibilities, as well as those to the school, to Few, and as Few said, referring to the Gonzaga team in attendance at Friday's announcement, "this special group of guys over here."

The action returns Heytvelt and Davis to the team in good standing. They have remained in school since the arrests.

Heytvelt was averaging 15 points and 7.7 rebounds last year as a sophomore when he and Davis, a freshman sitting out the season, were stopped by police in Cheney late on the night of Feb. 9. Heytvelt was charged with felony possession of hallucinogenic mushrooms and Davis with marijuana possession.

Both players entered diversion programs. Heytvelt was required to perform 240 hours of community service, which he has exceeded. Davis was sentenced to 10 hours of community service and ordered to take life-skills classes.

Heytvelt said his community service included working at a Ronald McDonald House and at Second Harvest, a food bank in Spokane. Heytvelt cited the former as the work that had the most impact on him — "seeing little children with sicknesses that are terminal, seeing how they don't even have the chance to do many of the things everyone else is blessed with."

Both players expressed apologies. Davis, at one time a top-40 recruit nationally, said, "I've been working very hard to make things right. Fortunately, I'm at a place that gives second chances."

Heytvelt, in particular, also had some serious fence-mending to do with teammates, because he was such a key part of the 2006-07 team. He and Davis were arrested just before midnight the night before a late-afternoon game.

Shortly after the arrests and Heytvelt's suspension, Gonzaga saw its 50-game home-court winning streak ended by Santa Clara. But the Zags rallied to win the West Coast Conference tournament before bowing out in the first round of the NCAA tournament against Indiana.

"They were basically ostracized for a while, you have to understand that," Few said pointedly. "And they needed to be."

Heytvelt said the process of regaining his teammates' trust is ongoing.

"It's going to continue until my time is over at Gonzaga," he said. "You can't trust a person until he's proven himself, and I have an uphill battle with that."

Gonzaga officials hinted soon after the arrests that the school would try to bring about a reinstatement process.

"Gonzaga is a Jesuit, Catholic, humanistic institution," athletic director Mike Roth said Friday. "We're here to educate, and we feel this process has done so. That's what we're about as an institution."

Heytvelt is considered a likely first-round NBA draft choice if he redeems himself. However, he is expected to miss at least the first week of Gonzaga practices, which began Friday night, with a foot problem.

Bud Withers: 206-464-8281 or bwithers@seattletimes.com