They’ve Traveled Long and Far to Be Valencia’s Guards

There’s no question that Valencia High School seniors Jason Bae and Richard Tibbie have come a long way in their quest to become one of the more effective guard combinations in the Orange League.

A long way.

Tibbie, a point guard with a slender build, a slashing style of play and a 20-point scoring average, was born in the Philippines. He moved to the United States five years ago.

Bae, a muscular, long-range shooter with a 16-point average, was born in South Korea. He moved to the United States when he was 4 years old.

Despite their team’s record (8-14, 2-5 in league play), Tibbie and Bae have been steady performers this season. Tibbie has scored in double figures every game this season; Bae has been in double figures for all but two games.

“They’ve been very consistent this season,” Valencia Coach Ray Rodriguez said.

Opponents have been impressed, too. In a 52-48 loss to Brea-Olinda Jan. 12, Bae and Tibbie combined to hold Keith Walker, the county’s leading scorer, to 20 points, 14 below his season average.

“They played us like they were in the CIF championships and they were all-CIF (against us),” Brea-Olinda Coach Rick Jones said.

“That was one of the hardest games we’ve had all year,” Jones said. “They (Bae and Tibbie) looked like all-world against us.”

Bae said the team is better than its record and more cohesive than last year’s squad.

“Sometimes it gets discouraging,” Bae said. “You just try to forget about the past and go on. You can’t get depressed about it.

“I think our record can be a little deceiving. We’ve had some iffy losses,” he said.

Bae says he doesn’t remember much about his native country. But he does remember how, at first, Americans seemed to speak too rapidly.

“Everything seemed to be going 100 miles an hour,” Bae said. “At that time, I was just trying to adapt to a new environment. But because I was younger, it really didn’t bother me that much.”

Tibbie moved to Southern California in 1985.

“Life was just getting too hard over there,” Tibbie said. Tibbie has plenty of memories from those early days in the United States.

“I was standing out in front of Kraemer (Junior High) on the first day of school, and I didn’t know if I should go in or not because I was late,” he said. “Then all of a sudden, the first period announcements started and it scared me. I just ran in (to the school) because I thought he (the public address announcer) was talking to me.”

Bae, too, easily recalls those times. “I used to have a tough time,” he said. “I thought it was negative (to be Korean) because of the language barrier. The first year was real hard, but now it’s no big deal. I just accept things.”

That Bae and Tibbie wound up on the same basketball court is especially interesting.

“I think it shows how you can come together as a team, from four corners of the earth, and cooperate to get things done,” Bae said. “It’s symbolic for the rest of the world to see that it can be done. You can come together and be successful at it, but the key is patience.”