Evergreen Park standouts arrested

All-Area basketball player Anthony Welch and his younger brother, Darius, key members of last season's surprising Evergreen Park High School team, are scheduled to appear in court next month on aggravated assault charges.

News of their June 25 arrests, trickling out after a long holiday weekend, stunned at least two people who know the players and their parents.

"We've only got great things to say about Anthony and his family," said John Redmond, basketball coach at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Mo., where Anthony Welch had been set to play in the fall.

"That's one of the reasons we brought him in here. ... We're looking for very productive people who want to be great citizens." "I just talked to Darius yesterday," Sean Fitzpatrick, coach of Darius' AAU team, said Tuesday. "I haven't heard anything of this. (Anthony and Darius are) in Detroit at a basketball camp."

According to Chicago police, 17-year-old Darius, 18-year-old Anthony and 17-year-old Jermaine Stanton were in an alley behind the 9900 block of Artesian Avenue at 1:46 p.m. June 25, looking into back yards.

According to the police report, an officer noticed the trio, stopped his squad car, identified himself and asked what they were doing. As the trio approached with fists clenched, the report said, Stanton told the officer, "If you get out of the car, we will (mess) you up."

When the officer got out of his car, the trio fled westbound on foot on 100th Street. They were apprehended in the 9900 block of Maplewood Avenue and charged with aggravated assault, police said. They have an Aug. 12 court date.

Fitzpatrick, who coaches the Future of Youth Association Phoenix, spoke in glowing terms of the Welch brothers.

"I've never had a problem with them, never had a situation with them on or off the court," he said. "It doesn't really fit with the character they display 99.9 percent of the time."

Anthony Welch, a 6-foot-7 forward, averaged 16.7 points, 7.3 rebounds, 2.6 blocks and 1.6 steals per game last season for the Mustangs. Darius, a 6-2 point guard, averaged 10.1 points and 3.5 assists per game as a junior.

Their father, Anthony Sr., was a 6-foot-9 forward at Illinois and was selected in the third round of the 1986 NBA draft by Dallas. The Mustangs beat then-No. 1 Richards, the then-defending Class 4A state champion, 70-66 in overtime on Jan. 30 in Oak Lawn, and two weeks later would peak at No. 2 in the SouthtownStar's weekly Top 10 ranking.

Evergreen Park lost in the semifinals of its own Class 3A regional, 56-55 to Carver, and finished the season with a 22-6 record. Anthony Welch scored 13 points in his final game for the Mustangs.

Evergreen Park coach Bruce Scaduto, who was named the SouthtownStar's 2009 Boys Basketball Coach of the Year, did not return calls seeking comment Tuesday.

When the elder Welch was named to the All-Area Team in March, he said, "Anthony is an up-and-coming future college player and has the potential to be very successful."

Redmond, a first-year head coach at Lincoln, a Division II school, agreed. He noted Anthony Welch received what amounts to a full ride to Lincoln based on the player's combination of partial athletic and academic scholarships, adding he would contact the family before deciding whether any of that money is in jeopardy.

"We do not tolerate any negative behavior ... (and) I wonder what he was doing out at that time, but I'm one of those firm believers in 'wrong place, wrong time,' " he said. "It's unbelievable that that kid would be causing any problems."

Contributing: Steve Metsch