Taft Basketball Player Enrolls at Cleveland

Kenny Collins, the junior varsity most valuable player of the North Valley League last season, has transferred to Cleveland High from Taft, leaving behind a disappointed basketball coach in Jim Woodard.

Collins averaged 17.5 points and eight assists for the Toreadors as a sophomore point guard on the junior varsity and is a potential Division I player at the collegiate level, Woodard said. Woodard promoted him to the varsity at the end of the regular season.

“Kenny is quick, shoots the ball well and handles the ball well,” Woodard said. “This changes our whole team. But I’m doubly disappointed because he was a good kid. He is hard-working, a good student and a good practice kid.”

The news came as a surprise to Woodard, who learned of the transfer Wednesday. Collins, 5-foot-11, played for Taft over the weekend in the L. A. Games.

The move might help to strengthen Cleveland’s status as the Valley-area’s top program. The Cavaliers were The Times’ top-rated team in the area last season and sent four players to Division I schools on scholarship.

Collins’ transfer follows Coach Bob Braswell’s resignation to become an assistant coach at Cal State Long Beach.

Agoura assistant Gary Gray has been promoted to head coach of the baseball team, replacing John Crow, the school’s new athletic director. Crow’s teams won two Frontier League titles in four years, including the 1989 championship with a 9-1 record (14-8 overall).

Gray assisted Crow for three seasons after coaching at Calabasas for 10 years, eight as baseball coach. Calabasas advanced to the playoffs three times but never won a Frontier title under Gray.

Agoura lost five players to graduation this spring, including Zac Miller and David Aronowitz, who shared the league’s MVP award. But all-league players Brian Smith and Josh Smaler will be third-year starters on next season’s team.

Bob Lofrano, Chatsworth High baseball coach, has landed a summer job as a technical adviser to a TV production company that is filming baseball scenes at the Chatsworth field. “Hardball” deals with policemen who spend their spare time playing baseball. The show will air in the fall.

After Lofrano noticed numerous “errors” in the baseball sequences during a recent shooting, he approached a production official who then offered him a job.

Chris Lohman of Notre Dame High, the co-most valuable player in the San Fernando Valley League, signed a baseball letter of intent with UCLA on Saturday.

Lohman, an outfielder, batted .472 and drove in 35 runs for the league-champion Knights (25-6) this spring. He also had four triples, four home runs and 15 stolen bases.