One Last Coach, One Last Chance for Woolridge to Show Off

The weather outside was frightful, and things inside were almost as bleak, as the Santa Ana boys’ basketball team played Orange Lutheran Friday afternoon in the Irvine High School gym.

As one of many consolation-round matchups in the Irvine World News tournament, Santa Ana-Orange Lutheran had all the attraction of diced tofu.

In the bleachers, yawns (plenty) outnumbered fans (few). Other than an occasional cheer, the loudest noise came from the ceiling lights, buzzing overhead like a never-ending test of the Emergency Broadcast System.

None of this bothered Santa Ana’s Chauncey Woolridge. But after being told he had scored a game-high 28 points in his team’s 77-64 victory, he said:

“What?! That’s horrible!”

Woolridge, a 6-foot-6, 200-pound senior guard/forward with only a bull’s-eye of hair atop his shaved head, takes all his games--big time or not--quite seriously. He has to. There is only so much time left in his high school career to make up for the past.

In his three years as a starter at Santa Ana, Woolridge has had three coaches with three very different game plans. One of his former assistant coaches, Greg Katz, said all of the changes have made Woolridge “a schizo on the court.”

Woolridge didn’t use that term, but basically agreed. “It’s been one big strain, mentally,” he said. “We’re only teen-agers, you know?”

The first coach, Greg Coombs, and his assistant, Katz, left after Woolridge’s sophomore season (19-7) to start the program at newly opened Century. The second, Nash Rivera, resigned last year after one season (10-14) for personal reasons.

The latest, Todd Morse, was an assistant at Air Academy High in Colorado Springs, Colo., the school that produced 6-9 All-American center Rodney Zimmerman, now a freshman at UCLA.

Where Coombs stressed defense and Rivera a controlled but steady free-for-all, Morse’s philosophy is somewhere in between. And that is where Woolridge likes it.

“With Coach Coombs, it was a lot of defense, and it worked well,” Woolridge said. “Coach Nash’s system? It’s hard to say because I sort of forgot what it was. He let us push the ball up, but I sort of felt limited. Coach Morse isn’t putting so many clamps down on me.”

The result has been one happy Chauncey.

“You could say about 100% happier,” said Woolridge, who’s averaging 26 points and 15 rebounds for the Saints. “Everything’s great now.”

Coaching changes aside, it wasn’t always so great for Woolridge. He was uncoordinated as a youngster; kids called him “Goofy,” but that made him work harder.

A few years ago some friends made fun of his dancing ability. Now Woolridge is a two-year member of Santa Ana’s senior dance troupe, which incorporates street and modern dance with jazz and ballet.

Not only has the dancing helped his basketball, Woolridge has performed in public--from the Crystal Cathedral to the Anaheim Car Show. On Dec. 29, he and several friends will perform at the Underground Club in Santa Ana.

Like dancing, basketball didn’t come easily. Woolridge was a poor shooter, though he had good leaping ability. As a freshman, he says, he once hit his head on the rim while jumping to block a shot.

His father, Lawrence T. Scott, chuckled at that story, saying his son might have a tendency to exaggerate.

“You have to watch him, because he’ll woo you,” Scott said.

Which brings us to Chauncey Woolridge’s favorite story.

Last summer, he and traveling team pals Reggie Geary of Mater Dei and John Molle of Irvine were driving home from a night out when they started arguing over who was the better player. After sharing a dozen donuts, they decided to settle the argument on a court.

At 3 a.m., under the light of a full moon and Molle’s headlights, they were still battling at a nearby junior high.

“I can’t reveal who won,” Woolridge said. “But between you and me . . . I did.”

Who knows? Maybe he’s just pulling the Woolridge over our eyes.