Northridge Lines Up a Family Deal : Signings to Reunite the McCulloughs

Cal State Northridge needs to fill two problem positions by the time the basketball signings are complete and it will take at least two steps in that direction today when it signs two junior college transfers from the same family.

Leroy McCullough and Bob McCullough, cousins living about 3,000 miles apart, have verbally accepted scholarship offers from Northridge. Today is the first day they can sign, according to NCAA rules.

Leroy McCullough, a 6-4 forward from Pasadena City College, was recruited to fill the void left by Pat Bolden, CSUN’s top scorer last season. McCullough, who averaged 14 points and seven rebounds a game for Pasadena, chose Northridge over Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State Los Angeles and Cal Lutheran. In tow, will come Bob, Leroy’s boyhood playmate on the streets of New York. The McCulloughs grew up together but split when Leroy’s family moved west five years ago.

They will be reunited later this year thanks to a sales pitch Leroy used on Northridge coaches.

“He told them he thought I had better ability than a couple of the guards they already had,” Bob said in a telephone interview from his home Tuesday. “So they said, ‘Sure. Bring him in and we’ll give him a look.’ ”

Bob McCullough, 6-1, visited Northridge last week and the admiration was mutual. Northridge coaches liked his looks on the basketball floor and McCullough liked what he saw of Southern California.

Guard play--scoring in particular--was a problem for Northridge most of last season as the Matadors finished 15-12 after being the early favorite to win the California Collegiate Athletic Assn.

Among other signings involving local colleges, Cal Lutheran has received a verbal commitment from Darryl Clark of Chabot College.

Clark, a 6-6, 210-pound forward, was sixth man on a Chabot team that won a Golden Gate Conference championship and finished with a 30-3 record. He averaged eight points and six rebounds.

Occidental College got an early commitment from John Willsie, a 6-8 center from Foothill High in Orange County.

Butch Mettinger, who averaged 19.6 points for College of the Canyons last season, is expected to sign with Idaho State.

Dametra Johnson, a 5-10 sophomore forward who averaged 25.2 points to lead Valley College in scoring, has made a verbal commitment to play for Colorado State.

Valley’s Bernadette Tillis is being recruited by UC Riverside, San Jose State and West Texas but has not made a verbal commitment.

The Cal Lutheran baseball team has received verbal commitments from Jeff Brouelette, an infielder from Orange Coast College, pitcher Craig Anderson of Golden West College and Rob Hiner, a transfer from the University of Minnesota.

Brouelette was drafted by the Seattle Mariners last year after batting .350 as a freshman.