Hawthorne Star Lives at Mailbox

The number of colleges courting Hawthorne High School quarterback Curtis Conway continues to grow.

Conway, rated the top “athlete-quarterback” in the nation by scout Max Emfinger of Houston, says he is leaning toward USC but is far from signed, sealed and delivered.

He’s also considering UCLA, Arizona State, Miami, San Diego State, Florida and Nebraska. And the field could widen, he says.

“I’m not going to decide what I want until I take my (recruiting) trips,” Conway said. “When people send me mail, it changes my mind. I wasn’t thinking about Florida until I saw how the school looked in the post card. They have nice, sunny weather. I want to stay where it’s warm.”

The 6-1, 180-pound Conway touted USC last football season, when he passed for 1,517 yards and 18 touchdowns and rushed for 834 yards and 21 TDs on his way to being named The Times South Bay back of the year.

However, when Hawthorne track Coach Kye Courtney was passed over for an assistant coaching job on the USC track team last spring, some believed that Conway would pass over the Trojans. Not so.

“USC is still No. 1 on my list, but it’s not a definite lock,” he said. “Right now, if I had to decide, it would be a hard decision between USC and UCLA.”

Conway, who has been compared to Oklahoma’s Jamelle Holieway and USC’s Rodney Peete, rates highly with scouts because of speed and versatility. In addition to quarterback, he has played running back, wide receiver and defensive back at Hawthorne.

In June, he placed second in the 100 meters (10.85 seconds) and third in the 200 (21.30) to help Hawthorne win its second straight state track title.

Those times are impressive, but another set of numbers could become more important to Conway’s future. Courtney said Conway still needs to improve his grade-point average and his score on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) before he can meet academic requirements at some schools.

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Other South Bay gridders who made Emfinger’s list of the top prospects in the nation are Carson quarterback Perry Klein (No. 1 passer), 6-7, 275-pound offensive tackle Bob Whitfield of Banning (No. 2), 6-4, 245-pound offensive guard Morris Unutoa of Carson (No. 7) and wide receiver John Morton of South Torrance (No. 18).

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Larry Reed, Hawthorne’s head football coach in 1983-86, will return to the sidelines next season as the Cougars’ defensive coordinator.

“Sometimes you need a break,” he said. “I’ve been at this for 20 years. But it’s in the blood. You miss the Friday nights and you miss the kids.”

Reed was replaced last season by Goy Casillas, defensive coordinator under Reed. Now, with the roles reversed, Reed is looking forward to fall.

“The toughest part of being a head coach is all the administrative things you have to do,” he said. “That part wears you down. All head coaches could tell you that. This is more relaxed. I’m having fun.”

During Reed’s reign, Hawthorne became known for an aggressive 4-4 defense, which employs eight men near the line of scrimmage. The Cougars will continue that scheme, but they are better known these days for the talents of Conway, their senior quarterback.

“He’s quite an athlete,” Reed said. “Everybody knows about his speed, but he can throw the ball 50 yards on a line. He has a great arm. That’s the reason I started him (at varsity quarterback) as a sophomore.”

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Rolling Hills basketball Coach Cliff Warren was so impressed with Loyola Marymount’s fast-break offense last year that he contacted Loyola Coach Paul Westhead, a fellow resident of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, after the season.

Now the Titans are sporting a “show-time” offense of their own.

Rolling Hills’ new run-and-gun attack has led to higher scores and helped the Titans to a 26-6 record and two tournament titles (Palm Springs and West Torrance) this summer. Warren says he is still experimenting with the offense, but so far he likes what he sees.

“It opens up our 3-point shooters and it helps open up (center) John Hardy,” he said. “The players like it a lot.

“It’s a minor-league version of the offense Loyola runs. I change it all the time. But it’s basically Westhead’s format.”

Warren says Rolling Hills is averaging more than 90 points in regulation games and about 80 points in games where a running clock is kept.

Last week in the Servite Summer Tournament, Rolling Hills posted a 116-98 victory over St. Paul in a regulation, 32-minute game. Hardy scored 49 points and guard Mark Tesar, the Titans’ best 3-point shooter, had 33. In one stretch this summer, Hardy scored 40 or more points in six of eight games.

Rolling Hills took third in the Servite Tournament, which featured 16 of the top teams in the CIF Southern Section. The Titans defeated Marina, 79-76, Long Beach Poly, 77-76, and St. Paul in the third-place game. They lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Capistrano Valley, 107-89.

The win over Long Beach Poly avenged a 1-point loss to the Jackrabbits in the Carson Tournament two weeks ago. Rolling Hills trailed by 14 points before pulling out a victory on three consecutive 3-point shots and a 3-point play by guard Ron Dinnel with 10 seconds left.

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Darrin Del Conte and Todd DeAngelis, assistant coaches last season under Tom Graves, have been named co-coaches of Miraleste’s football team.

Graves, the school’s athletic director, filled in as coach last season but decided not to return. He said Del Conte coached the defensive and offensive backs and DeAngelis the interior linemen. Both are former Miraleste football players.

“I think they’ll have a competent staff,” Graves said. “They know the kids and they know the school.”

Because Miraleste was expected to be closed in June, the school now finds itself scrambling to arrange schedules in most sports.

Graves met with CIF Southern Section Commissioner Stan Thomas on Wednesday to discuss the possibility of adding Miraleste to the Santa Fe League in boys sports and to the Camino Real League in girls sports.

Graves said Miraleste will compete on a free-lance level in tennis, wrestling, water polo, swimming and possibly cross-country.

PREP NOTES--Former Hawthorne High sprinters Michael Marsh and Henry Thomas both reached the finals at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials but failed to earn a spot on the team. Marsh was one of seven runners who broke 10 seconds in the 100-meter final Saturday, placing sixth with a personal best of 9.94 seconds. Thomas took seventh in the 200 final Wednesday with a time of 20.49 . . . Scott Davison of Redondo played designated hitter and went 1 for 2 with a stolen base in his first game for the Montreal Expos’ rookie league team in Bradington, Fla. . . . Chris Burton, a former assistant coach at Rolling Hills, has been named basketball coach at Fullerton High . . . Hawthorne senior Rich Peters homered twice and knocked in all of his team’s runs in a 5-3 American Legion baseball victory over El Segundo on Saturday . . . The Kurt Rambis Basketball Camp will be held at West Torrance High on Aug. 8-12. The camp, which runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., costs $225 and is open to ages 9 through 17. For more information, call 605-4090.