All Ferry Wants for Hustling Is His Two Front Teeth

If Santa Margarita ever decides to present an award for the player who shows the most hustle, it probably should be named after senior forward Hayes Ferry.

Earlier this season, in a home game against Loyola, Ferry dived for a loose ball and hit the court face first, knocking out his front teeth. It was not a sight for the squeamish.

“His teeth were just lying there on the floor,” Eagle Coach Roger Holmes said. “They didn’t just chip--they were totally knocked out.”

Ferry was taken to an oral surgeon, who replaced the teeth. Holmes said Loyola Coach Bill Thomason told him all the Loyola players wore protective mouthpieces to practice the next day.

As for Ferry, who had to sit out the rest of the season so his mouth could heal, he can point to the deep chip in the gym floor as a monument to his tenacity.

But a Mr. Hustle award would do, too.

Servite Coach Richard Smith has been credited with turning the Friar basketball program around since becoming head coach two years ago. But not everyone agrees with his strategies.

Servite fan Joey Sanberg of Villa Park had this assessment of Smith last week:

“I think he’s OK. But I don’t think he should run the four-corner offense. I think their players have the talent to run. I think Adam Anderson would really thrive in an up-tempo game. . . . “

Sanberg is 11 years old.

Her father might own the popular Little Pickle sandwich shop just down the street from school, but Costa Mesa basketball star Olivia DiCamilli will pass on pastrami on rye, ham and cheese or any other deli concoction.

“She rarely eats here,” her father, Jim DiCamilli, said. “She’s not a junk-fooder.”

So how does the 5-foot-11 sophomore with the straight-A average maintain her mental and physical stamina?

Seaweed.

“It’s her No. 1 favorite,” her mother, Margie, said. “Olivia’s always looking for new ways to cook it.”

That’s not exactly Chicken of the Sea.

Now that Bill Mulligan has resigned as the UC Irvine men’s basketball coach, might he go the Ralph Miller route?

The former Oregon State coach played assistant coach to his daughter, Newport Harbor girls’ basketball Coach Shannon Jakosky, while Jakosky was preparing to give birth.

Mulligan’s daughter-in-law, Mary Mulligan, is the girls’ coach at San Clemente. Mary Mulligan says she and her husband are considering having their second child next year.

“We haven’t really talked about it,” Mary Mulligan said of her father-in-law possibly helping out. “(But) if he’s available, you never know.”