‘87 Glittered for Westside Teams and Individual Stars

A film showing highlights of Westside sports in 1987 would be filled with team championships and some remarkable individual performances and would probably rival “Gone With the Wind” in length. Following are just some of the bright moments such a film would have to include.

In the prep football season, Westchester High School won the Los Angeles City 2-A championship, and there were star performances by senior tailback Glyn Milburn of Santa Monica High School and Palisades junior quarterback Perry Klein.

Milburn set two CIF-Southern Section records, rushing for 2,713 yards and scoring 39 touchdowns, the third-best mark in Southern Section history. He gained more than 200 yards in nine consecutive games.

In leading Palisades to the 3-A City final, Klein set a state record for completions with 323 and a national mark by averaging 325 yards a game by passing. He also established a national record for completions in one game with 46 and a state mark with 562 yards gained by passing in one game. For the season he completed 323 of 483 passes for 3,899 yards and 36 touchdowns.

Jack Epstein, Klein’s coach at Palisades, was named the Times Westside coach of the year, Milburn was named back of the year, and Willie Crawford, Beverly Hills linebacker-running back, lineman of the year.

UCLA won three NCAA championships. In men’s volleyball, Coach Al Scates won a 12th national title. In men’s gymnastics, Coach Art Shurlock’s performers took a second NCAA championship for him. In men’s track and field, Coach Bob Larsen won his first national team title.

Individual NCAA championships went to the following Bruins: gymnast David Moriel with a 9.95 on the high bar, Kim Hamilton of the women’s gymnastics team with a 9.80 in floor exercise (a meet record), Jim Connolly in track with 8,121 points in the decathlon and Kevin Young with a 48.90 in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles. Larsen’s 1,600-meter relay team of Young, Anthony Washington, Henry Thomas and Danny Everett set a college record of 3:00.55 in winning at the NCAA meet.

Bruin teams that were NCAA runners-up included Coach Sharron Backus’s women’s softball squad, which lost the title to Texas A & M, and Coach Glenn Bassett’s men’s tennis team, which finished second to Georgia.

In women’s track, UCLA won the Pacific 10 Conference championship, but the Bruins might not have done so if Gail Devers didn’t have an incredible day. Devers took firsts in the 100 meters (11.17), the 200 (22.71), the 100 hurdles (13.28) and the long jump (21-10) and ran the anchor legs on winning Bruin relay teams at 400 and 1,600 meters. At the NCAA meet, she was not used as often but finished second in the 100.

Coach Jim Harrick’s Pepperdine men’s basketball team, which usually wins the West Coast Athletic Conference championship, had an off-year last season, finishing with a 12-18 overall record. But the Waves caught fire in the first WCAC conference tournament, knocking off second-place Gonzaga in an opener and upsetting regular-season leader San Diego in the semifinals before losing in the title game to Santa Clara.

Other notable achievements by Pepperdine teams included a fourth straight WCAC title for Coach Dave Gorrie’s baseball team (including a share of the title with Loyola Marymount in 1985), a conference championship with a 14-0 record for Coach Nina Matthies’ women’s volleyball team and a 10th straight appearance in the NCAAs by Coach Allen Fox’s men’s tennis team, which lost to eventual champion Georgia in the semifinals.

In high school baseball, Crossroads Coach Chuck Ice’s nine won the Southern Section Small Schools (Large Division) championship, but Coach Jeff Shimizu and his Venice High team lost their bid for a fourth straight City 3-A championship.

In prep basketball, there were strong teams and top individuals. Crossroads and first-year Coach David Benezra won the state Division III championship, and the Roadrunners made their sixth straight appearance in a Southern Section title game. Fairfax and Coach Harvey Kitani won the City 4-A championship and lost their only game of the season to Mater Dei, the eventual state Division I titlist, in the Southern California Regional final. Santa Monica and Coach Cliff Hunter won the Southern Section 4-A championship. St. Monica High and Coach Leo Klemm lost the Southern Section 4-A final by one point to Mater Dei.

Benezra was named The Times boys coach of the year and cage star Chris Mills of Fairfax player of the year. In girls basketball, Jean Edwards of Venice High was Times coach of the year, and Nina Revoyr of Culver City player of the year. Mills also was selected as the 4-A City player of the year. Chris Brown of Crossroads was named the Southern Section 1-A player of the year by the First Interstate Bank Board of Sportswriters.