If you want the real story, look inside for the motive

ROGER CARLSON

With the prep basketball in the early stages of nonleague and

tournament games, two items in the arena have always bothered me --

the motive-driven transfer and the overzealous parent, masquerading

as a “booster.”

Both are destructive to the system and the game.

It’s just human nature, of course, for one to support and

encourage one’s own within limits.

Fortunately you don’t come across the super-zealot often, but when

it does, he or she is not hard to spot.

It’s an old- fashioned idea, but nevertheless seems to have merit.

An athlete answers to his or her coach, the coach answers to the

athletic director, and the athletic director answers to the

principal.

A true “booster” is in another class and isn’t in the mix.

“Booster” equates to “support.”

Thankfully, the vast majority of boosters are overwhelming

supportive and realize their roles. Once in a great while, there is

an exception.

Once in a great while, a coach doesn’t measure up, as well. That’s

when the athletic director does his or her job and takes appropriate

steps.

Every once in a while, an overzealous parent, parading himself or

herself as a “booster,” will squeeze into the mix and, combined with

a weak administration, the system cracks. We’ve seen it happen again

recently, and unfortunately, we’ll probably see it again.

A couple of several events of this nature that have stuck over the

years comes to mind.

One was when Edison High School lost one of the most respected

coaches you can imagine in Don Leavey, a coach acknowledged in every

direction as one of the most prepared, dedicated and knowledgeable

around.

Unfortunately, he had a sixth man who was a junior point guard,

and his dad was certain he was destined for the pros, or big-time

college at worst.

As a senior, he was a starter for the Chargers, but, despite being

a good kid, he created little interest in college scouts, other

coaches or the press, and was hardly an all-league candidate, let

alone an all-league selection.

Dad, who had been livid since his son’s time as a junior on a

nightly basis, dedicated himself to one thought: Get rid of the

coach, no matter the expense. And to my amazement, one day Leavey

called me to announce he was retiring from the game.

“I just can’t take it any longer,” he explained of the

insurmountable pressure which had been applied as the parent hounded

him and the administration on a day-in and day-out basis.

Making it an even more memorable circumstance was that I had once

known this parent on an entirely different basis. He and I were

co-workers, our wives knew one another, we played poker and baby-sat

our firstborns while doing it, and enjoyed each other’s company.

But that was a long time ago, we went our separate ways and junior

grew up to become a point guard at the Huntington Beach-based high

school.

We talked a couple of times on the phone after junior joined

Edison’s basketball program, but there were no more poker games. I

saw his son play three or four times, but never quite saw a rainbow.

When it was over and done, the coach packed it in and junior

failed to catch on with an appropriate college, dad called me and

said some of the blame was mine, that I had failed to promote his son

properly, had not contacted any schools to his knowledge to let them

know what they were missing and had generally failed his son in every

way.

I never got a chance to congratulate him on successfully getting

the coach at Edison to resign. That was in 1978.

Another that still resonates was the time in the early ‘90s when

Newport Harbor High failed its responsibilities to a very strong and

dedicated coach named Bob Serven, who in my opinion, has always put

teams on the floor which played above expectations.

Serven had the misfortune of having the son of a standout former

player from our area who went on to considerable glory.

In this case junior was a starter, had been since he was a

sophomore, was the team’s leading scorer and clearly the Sailors’

game seemed to live or die on his shooting prowess. Unfortunately,

the Sailors died, a lot. When the kid clicked, occasionally, all was

wonderful. And if not? Serven was doing something which interfered

with the rhythm, or something, according to dad. I never could really

figure it out. Perhaps no one else was supposed to take any shots, at

all.

Even at a 30% shooting rate, he’d still be casting off.

At any rate, dad was certain his son’s future was being wrecked by

the coach, and eventually the administration failed its coach,

succumbing to the parent’s pressure, and Serven became a former

Newport Harbor coach who went on to assist at Santa Margarita High’s

ultra successful program and is presently the firebrand at Costa

Mesa.

When it was over at Newport Harbor I wrote a column, very

sympathetic to Serven and the circumstances, which brought dad to the

phone, demanding a meeting with me.

So, myself, my editor, Bill Lobdell, and dad, sat down and the

latter proceeded to lay out a list of complaints.

Finally, I said, “Well, you’ve got him fired. Just exactly what

else do you want?”

And he said, “I don’t want you writing anything good about him.”

He was also put out that he had been “identified” in a story. I

wrote of an “upset parent,” with no identification given.

“Everybody knows who you’re talking about. You’re talking about

me,” he said.

To my knowledge, junior did not play any collegiate basketball, at

all.

Fortunately, Serven was able to bounce back and continue a

respected career.

Dale Hagey, a former Newport Harbor High basketball coach, offered

this advice when he finished his tour as a coach for the Sailors in

1975:

“Always,” said Hagey, “make sure your boosters club president is

the father of your best player.”

It’s not necessarily a guarantee, but, certainly, a step in the

right direction.

*

Add Newport Harbor-St. Paul, circa 1978:

Further, and corrected, information on that night of upsets when

the Sailors knocked off No. 1 St. Paul in the first round of the CIF

Big Five Conference football playoffs.

It was St. Paul, 7-3, at halftime, not 7-7 as I, and Coach Bill

Pizzica, had recalled.

Bob DaSilva kicked the first-half field goal and with 20 seconds

left in the fourth quarter quarterback Dave Hitzel ran for the

winning touchdown with no timeouts left after a long, time-consuming

drive.

Hitzel’s description of the famous St. Paul “intimidation” and the

Sailors’ response to such tactics: “The only way to and from the

locker room was walking by the St. Paul stands. We were yelled at,

spit on and had sodas dumped on our heads. This made the game even

better for us.”

Hitzel and his family reside in the Palos Verdes area.

Hey! See you next Sunday!

* ROGER CARLSON is the former sports editor for the Daily Pilot.

His column appears on Sundays. He can be reached by e-mail at

[email protected].