L.A. BAPTIST COLLEGE : 35 Miles and 1 Light Year From L.A.Is a School That Rarely Cuts a Player and Rarely Has a Winning Season

‘It would be nice if . . . we were noted for something, either academically or athletically. Unfortunately, we’ve had trouble latching onto some area of expertise.’

--PETE REESE So you say you’ve never heard of Los Angeles Baptist College? And you live in the San Fernando Valley?

Well, there’s no reason to be embarrassed.

There are a number of folks who live or work within shouting distance of the college who haven’t heard of it either.

Go ahead. Stop at a local gas station and ask the attendant directions to the college. You’ll probably receive a blank stare and: “L.A. Baptist? Isn’t that in L.A.?”

No, Baptist College, a Christian liberal arts school, is tucked away in Newhall in the foothills of Placerita Canyon about 35 miles north of Los Angeles and a light year or two from the hustle and bustle of a large college campus.

Students don’t smile and say hello to each other at Baptist College, they stop and have conversations. Since there are only 300 students, most are on a first name basis. Many are also neighbors, since more than 70% of the students enrolled at the college live in two dormitories on campus.

It’s small-time college life at its best. The campus is pretty, quiet and clean. The classes are small and the atmosphere is relaxed.

There’s only one problem: Away from the campus, the college lacks identity. More people have heard about L.A. Baptist High School, which is in Sepulveda, than the college.

Pete Reese is familiar with the problem. In his 20 years as basketball coach and athletic director, he has tried to recruit many athletes who had never heard of Baptist College.

“This college in general has an identity crisis,” Reese said. “It would be nice if, even though we’re small, we were noted for something, either academically or athletically. Unfortunately, we’ve had trouble latching onto some area of expertise.”

Naturally, being a coach, Reese says he would not mind if the college chose to pump a few thousand dollars into its athletic programs in an effort to gain exposure. Baptist College fields men’s sports teams in basketball, soccer and baseball, and women’s teams in basketball, volleyball and softball.

Reese cites Biola University in La Mirada as an example of a small college gaining national publicity through one of its sports programs.

“Biola is a larger school, with a larger curriculum, but it benefited most by having a basketball team that was ranked No. 1 (in the NAIA) a couple years ago,” Reese said. “They had a good team and a 7-foot-8 center (George Bell). As a result, they got nation-wide publicity. Now the college is well known.”

Reese would settle for a little regional publicity.

“We’re concerned that people in the state, and in some cases this immediate area, don’t know we’re here and what this college has to offer,” Reese said. “People like your gas station attendant.”

Reese knows from experience that things could be worse, though. He remembers a time when the college’s athletic program was hardly worth advertising.

Pete Reese quit his job at a junior high school in Flint, Mich., to come to Baptist College. He did so after a phone conversation, without seeing the campus.

“It was a most interesting situation,” Reese said. “As a believer in the Lord I came to take this job without looking into it. Michigan was the farthest west we’d ever been, but something told me that this was what I was put here to do.”

So, Reese piled his wife, his two small children and the family’s belongings into a U-Haul truck and headed for California.

What he found upon arrival was certainly nothing to write home about.

“There was nothing,” he said. “Where the gym and field are now there were tumbleweeds and sagebrush. The college president looks at me and says, ‘There’s the spot for the gym and there’s the athletic field. Good luck.’ ”

For three years, Reese’s basketball teams practiced and played at the San Fernando Recreation Center gym.

“We only played five home games the first year,” Reese said. “We got the recreation center for practice two hours a day, three times a week. The rest of the time we practiced on a concrete slab out near the back of the school.”

The road trips weren’t much better.

“We had this VW bus that would barely make it over a hill,” Reese said. “I remember one time when the windshield wipers broke I had one of the guys hang out and wipe the window off with a towel.”

Reese’s first team went 2-11, but he credits the athletes for keeping the program afloat.

“The first few years here we had kids who would have walked to the games,” Reese said. “They weren’t much talent-wise--I had junior high teams in Michigan that could have probably beaten us--but they did have heart.”

The quality of athlete that Baptist College recruits has improved some since those first few years, but professional scouts still haven’t worn a path through the hills to the Mustangs’ gym.

“We rarely cut a player. We think that anyone with any kind of talent who wants to play at the college level can play here,” Reese said. “Marginal players can receive experience here that they couldn’t get at a larger college level.

“Most of our players aren’t interested in being pro players. They’re young men who want to take advantage of the education and atmosphere of a good small Christian college.”

On this season’s basketball team there are two players whose fathers are pastors and another whose father is a missionary. There is also one theology major and one biblical studies major.

Not the makeup of your average college basketball team.

Only three of the team’s players are from out of state. Starting guard Virgil Harraway is from Arizona, reserve guard Paul Hill is from Washington and reserve forward Dwayne Lawrence is from the Bronx, N.Y.

So how did a guy from the Bronx wide up at Baptist College?

Purely by coincidence.

Lawrence was visiting friends in the San Fernando Valley last summer when he was spotted by a friend of Reese while shooting baskets at a park. He had recently graduated from El Reno Community College in Oklahoma City and had planned to attend Lehman College in the Bronx in the fall.

That all changed when Reese saw him play and offered him a spot on the basketball team.

“The atmosphere was so relaxed,” Lawrence said. “It was much different than playing in the city, and believe me, I wanted out of the city. Where I live back home is nothing like Newhall. Transients, subways, noise. Here, there’s none of that. It was big-time culture shock.”

Playing high school basketball in New York, Lawrence had also become accustomed to playing before big crowds. The Mustangs average between 400 and 500 fans a game at home.

“In the late ‘60s and early ‘70s we drew larger crowds,” Reese said. “Back then we had some pretty good teams. I think if the team is good, the people will come out, just like anywhere else.”

It’s been 12 seasons since the Baptist College men’s basketball team had its last winning record, which may explain the drop in attendance. If Reese’s thinking is correct, however, the crowds should soon be on the increase.

The Mustangs are 12-8 so far this season, 1-3 in the NAIA District III. “I think we’re making progress in rising to the top again,” Reese said. “We’re tired of being everyone’s doormat.”

One would think that after 12 consecutive losing seasons Reese’s job might depend on that progress. Not so, he says.

“Our object and intent is to win, but not at any costs,” Reese said. “If winning wasn’t my goal, I shouldn’t be a coach, but our priorities are a little different at this level. We’re more concerned about the individual than we are the athlete. We’re interested in their teaching and training as young men and women with solid Christian backgrounds.

“I would hope that none of our former athletes would say that we got four years of athletics our of them and that was it. We want our people to be assets to society.”

Because of the college’s commitment to moral and academic standards over the league standings, Reese says none of the coaches at Baptist feel any pressure to win.

“Sometimes I wish there was a lot of pressure,” Reese said. “That way we could say ‘OK, how about some more funding for sports?’ ”

As it is, sports is pretty far down the list for funding. Last year, Baptist College spent $17,000 on athletics. That includes costs for recruiting, travel, uniforms, equipment and other miscellaneous expenses for its six sports teams.

If that sounds like a lot of money, consider this: USC spent more than $200,000 on its women’s basketball team last year.

Do you think the gas station attendant has heard of Cheryl Miller?