Decision to Surrender Scholarship Puts Strain on Family Relationship : Football: Richard Washington left the University of Washington to play for Long Beach City College. The price was that he had to leave his parents’ house as well.

LONG BEACH — The relationship between Richard Washington and his father reached a boiling point in August.

Richard Washington Sr. did not approve of his son’s decision to forgo a football scholarship at the University of Washington to play at Long Beach City College this fall.

The elder Washington issued an ultimatum: Either his son would return to Washington or move out of the house.

Washington, 20, chose the later and has no regrets.

“Right now, I’m having the happiest times of my life,” he said.

Two years earlier, the prospect of playing football at all was slim for Washington.

The former Long Beach Poly defensive back suffered a broken jaw, a broken pelvis, facial lacerations and a fractured ankle as a passenger in a van that was involved in a head-on collision on the morning of Sept. 19, 1991 near Medford, Ore.

Washington, who had been seated in the front passenger seat, suffered the most serious injuries. Washington and former Long Beach Wilson cornerback Michael Steward, who broke his right thighbone and every bone in his right arm, had to be cut from the van. Both were unconscious.

Washington underwent emergency surgery in Medford and was airlifted to Long Beach Community Hospital, where he had two more operations. The 5-foot-11 Washington lost 40 pounds from his 200-pound frame during the ordeal.

A titanium plate was bolted to his chin in one operation and a steel plate was screwed to his pelvis and three screws placed in his hip in another.

His jaw was wired shut, forcing him to eat strained food. His foot was placed in a cast for 2 1/2 months.

Doctors told Washington he might never walk without a limp and it was doubtful he would play football again.

“I made a vow and promised myself I was going to play again,” Washington said.

Washington spent the winter recuperating at home. It was two months before he could walk.

He gained medical clearance to participate in spring drills, but redshirted during the 1992 season. This spring, Washington said he was faster than ever, dropping his 40-yard dash time to 4.63 seconds.

Washington was moved from strong safety to free safety and placed third on the Huskies’ depth chart. Uncomfortable with the position change and the opportunity for playing time, Washington decided to transfer to Long Beach this past summer.

He and his father “argued a lot, and it got real bad at times,” Washington said. “He thought I was throwing away a scholarship, but I was serious about not going back to Washington.”

Washington lives in an apartment with a married couple in Signal Hill, supporting himself with a part-time job on campus. The relationship between father and son has improved. Washington now visits for weekly dinners on Sunday.

Neither, however, has changed his stand.

“He has to realize the importance of the decision and has to live up to it,” the elder Washington said. “I know what’s best for him and I’ll be the first one to tell him, ‘I told you so.’ If he was capable of making a lamebrained decision and messing up his own life, he was man enough to move out.”

Washington said impending NCAA sanctions against the Washington football program had no bearing upon his decision to leave.

The addition of Washington has helped Long Beach (8-0) to its best start in 28 years.

Washington is playing his first full season since his junior year in high school in 1990. An All-Southern Section Division I selection in 1991, Washington missed half of his senior season because of a shoulder injury.

Washington, who was granted a redshirt year as a freshman because of medical reasons, will have three seasons of eligibility remaining after this season.