The Rec Leagues Aren’t Letter Perfect, Just Fun : A to D, These Players Are Still Giving it the Old College Try

It’s sad in a way to see someone like Brad Holland wearing a department store basketball jersey and playing in an empty high school gym for a team called Second Row.

After all, the former Crescenta Valley High, UCLA and NBA guard has pumped in 25-foot jump shots in some of the finest basketball arenas in the country, for some of the finest teams. He should be performing before packed houses, for big bucks, surrounded by a cast of guys named Abdul-Jabbar, Wilkes and Nixon. Not Ramljak, Lippert and Anderson.

But like so many other talented players, Holland didn’t quite have the tools--or the knees--to cut it in the NBA. Two knee operations and a diet of top- caliber competition took its toll on the former Lakers, Bullets and Bucks bench warmer.

Many former college standouts don’t even make it that far. But like Holland, that doesn’t stop them from playing basketball. Old basketball players never die; They just join recreation leagues.

Holland is one of over 900 throughout the San Fernando Valley participating in the L.A. City Department of Recreation and Parks Municipal Sports basketball program. The nearly 20-year-old program comprises four divisions rated according to players’ abilities.

Holland and his Second Row team compete in the A division, the highest level of the program. That division is made up of primarily former college and professional basketball players. One of Holland’s teammates on Second Row is ex-Laker Ron Carter. Also among the ex-professionals in the top division is former Detroit Piston, Sam High.

The A division also contains a number of ex-college players who, like the former pros, need a place to display their skills and compete now that their collegiate and professional careers are over.

Said veteran referee John Starkins: “You’re talking about ex-pro and -college players out to save face. They still have a lot to prove. There might be a little dropoff (in skill), but they can still play. They’re out to win.” Starkins, 33, should know. He has officiated everything from rec league basketball to California Collegiate Athletic Assn. games.

While the A division can lay claim to having the best players, the bulk of the program’s participants compete in the B, C and D divisions. The caliber of play drops with each letter.

Each division consists of a dominating group of players says Senior Municipal Sports Director, John Pierce.

The A division is composed of former college and pro players, the B bracket is primarily ex-college and -varsity high school players, C leagues feature former high school and recreation-type players, and the D division is made up recreation-type players of limited ability.

Starkins, who has officiated games in all four, explains:

D division--”That’s your slower group of guys just out to have a good time. There’s not a great amount of defensive play. They’re really not in good enough shape to play hard. They’re not as coordinated. Their mind tells them to do something, but their body can’t catch up with their mind.”

C division--”A little more defense, but not pressure defense, mostly zone. One or two guys can win that division for you if you have an outside shooter.”

B division--”Now you’re starting to get guys playing man-to-man defense, starting to press a little bit. You have to have a big man, somebody who can get on the boards. It’s a smarter type of player who has played a lot.”

A division--”The big boys. Pressure defense--whether man or zone--even some matchup zone, they’re that smart. Outstanding outside shooters and unbelievable fast breaks--they get it up the court. You have to have a center, a guy who can dominate the middle. Their pride is still at stake; nobody likes to get shown up.”

But some do anyway.

George Robnett, a former Cal State Northridge star, once dominated ex-Crespi High center Paul Mokeski so completely in a game, that the present-day Milwaukee Bucks center was talking to himself. Rec league timer and scorer Mike Reiner is still talking.

“It was just when Mokeski was coming out of high school and one team slipped him in for a playoff game,” Reiner said. “I saw Robnett get 55 (points) off of Mokeski, just destroyed him. Robnett almost fouled him out by halftime.”

Robnett was also a one-time member of the Panthers, a team that is somewhat legendary in recreation league circles. Comprised mainly of former San Fernando High players, the Panthers have won three division A titles in the last five years.

Robnett hasn’t played in the league for a few years and is apparently retired. But the Panthers retain some talented players, including former San Fernando High star Jesse Boyd, who Starkins says almost caught on with the Portland Trail Blazers in the late ‘70s.

“It came down to Jesse and Dave Twardzik,” Starkins said. “Jesse was the last player to get cut. I think he should have been picked over Twardzik.”

Reiner, who has scored and timed recreation league games for 15 years, agrees.

“I’ve never seen anybody stop him. When he and Robnett were on the Panthers, nobody could beat them,” Reiner said. “The breaks just didn’t go his way. I’ve seen a lot of guys who should have made it somewhere but didn’t.”

Another Panther, guard Chuck Smith, once scored 68 points in a recreation league game--no mean feat when you consider the games consist of two 20-minute halves of running time. The clock only stops for timeouts and for any whistle in the final two minutes of the second half.

As good as the Panthers are, they were supplanted as Valley A division champions last year by Dream Team, managed by photographer Ron Vogel, a regular contributor to men’s magazines, including Playboy. Vogel also manages a B division club, Newest Dream Team, which won that bracket last year.

His A division club is led by Terry Miller, 1977-78 CCAA Player of the Year from Cal State Northridge. Several other former Matadors are on the roster including Ben Balke and All-CCAA pick Guy Garner. Lou Cohen, a former El Camino Real High standout, also plays for Dream Team. Cohen was a one-time draftee of the Phoenix Suns, but didn’t make the team.

Both Dream Team and the Panthers were upstaged in the just-completed A league this year by Shwartzer Business Systems, led by a number of former USC players. Jacque Hill and Cedric Bailey are most prominent. Playoffs for the B, C and D divisions start Wednesday at various Valley-area gyms.

Reiner has worked games where Dream Team scored over 100 points. While scoring D league games, he has been subjected to the other end of the scoring spectrum. Some of his worst memories came while working games at the old gym at Birmingham High.

Said Reiner: “That’s the worst gym known to man. There’s a post right in front of the scorer’s table with nails sticking out of it. They put the worst teams in there, teams that couldn’t spell the word play . I had some 21-20 finals.”

Unusual team names show up in all divisions. Some teams assume basketball-related monikers such as Run ‘n Gun, Rimrunners, or Turnovers R Us. Others simply bear the name of a company sponsor. The significance of some names--the Rampaging Hormones, Addicts, Lots of Luck Express, etc.--can only be explained by the team’s players.

And how do you explain someone like Holland’s presence in the league? Because of his court prowess, some opposing players feel he doesn’t belong in the recreation leagues? Second Row Manager Mark Ramljak says the explanation is simple.

“A lot of guys come out and see Brad Holland and say ‘The guy is a pro. What’s he doing here?’ ” Ramljak said. “Hell, he’s only 28 years old. Why shouldn’t he still play basketball? What’s he supposed to do, take up lawn bowling?”

Not while he still has that sweet jump shot. Holland is the most recognizable basketball figure in the Valley recreation leagues, but hardly the only name player the program has ever had.

Before Tom Selleck was chasing down hoods in “Magnum P.I.,” he was leading Sports Emporium to the B division title in 1979. And L.A. Raiders defensive back Otis McKinney was a key figure on Newest Dream Team for several years.

Colorful referees are also part of rec leagues. Starkins, who played varsity basketball at BYU and CSUN, is respected througout the program for his laid-back style. The late Ray Arnold was also a character.

One night, Arnold was having trouble getting a team out of its pregame huddle for the opening tipoff. He finally threatened to call a technical foul, but they would not budge. So Arnold called a technical and threatened to forfeit the game if they didn’t break it up in five seconds.

“The team still didn’t move, so Ray said, ‘OK, it’s a forfeit,’ and he started to leave the gym,” said Montclair Prep basketball Coach Howard Abrams, a veteran timer/scorer who was working the game that night. “At that point I had to tell him that they were a deaf team.”

Deaf team or Dream Team, it’s all part of the recreation league program, replete with its own brand of basketball and its own kind of heroes.

And if one of those heroes is Brad Holland, maybe that isn’t so sad after all.