ORANGE COUNTY ALL-STAR BASKETBALL GAME : Western’s Barraza Hoping to Make Friends, Influence the Result

Saturday’s Orange County All-Star boys’ basketball game is the perfect setting for Western High School guard Tom Barraza.

Barraza, a 6-foot-2 guard, will be able to showcase his talents in the 26th annual charity game, but he said the opportunity to meet and play with some of the county’s best players is the game’s biggest attraction.

“I like getting to know the other players, guys that I played against for the past four years who are now my teammates,” Barraza said. “I’m a people-minded guy. I like talking to people and getting to know them. You never know who might be able to help you someday.”

Greg Hoffman, Western’s basketball coach, says Barraza is one of the most popular students on campus. The senior is enrolled in honors classes and has nine varsity letters in basketball, baseball and cross-country.

“Tom Barraza is a lot like (former Western football star) Bobby Acosta was on this campus in the 1970s,” Hoffman said. “He knows everybody. He can talk to the honor students, the athletes or the barrio kids. You’ll never meet a more personable guy.”

Barraza, Western’s only four-year varsity player, holds most of the school’s career scoring and assist records. He opened his freshman season on the junior varsity team, but it took only two days before Hoffman promoted him to the varsity.

Barraza’s adjustment as a 15-year-old playing with teammates three years older than he was went smoothly. He has played with athletes who were two to three years older since the second grade, when he started competing in the Buena Park Recreation League and later as a sixth-grader for Chuck Thomas’ Orange Crush traveling all-star team.

“I have two older brothers (Mike and Ed) and an older sister (Josie) who played sports at Western,” Barraza said. “It was an advantage having older brothers and a sister. I think I matured a lot sooner than most of the kids my age.”

Western fans got an early glimpse of Barraza on the basketball court in 1977. He was routinely the halftime entertainment at home games, shooting baskets with a miniature ball or dancing to the delight of the partisan crowd.

Barraza, who was always taller than most of his friends, began playing organized basketball in the second grade and became a point guard for his traveling team in the sixth grade, where he played with seventh and eighth graders.

Barraza’s constant companion was former Western guard Sam Sabbara, who started last season at Cypress College. Sabbara played the point and Barraza became an off guard when he enrolled at Western.

“I like playing the wing,” he said. “I’d rather catch the ball and shoot than dribble the ball up the court. I got used to playing on the wing with Sam at the point and then with Steve Siefkin this year.”

Barraza averaged 17.3 points in leading Western to its second consecutive Orange League title. He is undecided about his plans next season.

“I think Coach Hoffman gets a call every day from someone asking, ‘What’s Tom going to do? What sport is he going to play?’ ” Barraza said. “If I go to a community college, I’ll play basketball and baseball and see what happens. But right now, I really don’t know which direction I’m heading toward.”

Barraza is 0-7 as a starting pitcher for a young baseball team under a first-year coach. But he has maintained an optimistic outlook despite the poor record.

“We’re young and make mistakes,” he said. “It seems like we lose our concentration in one inning of every game and it ends up costing us. But I think I’m pitching pretty well.”

Barraza is anticipating playing in the same all-star backcourt with Loara’s high-scoring guard, Tes Whitlock, who led the county with a 33.5 scoring average. Barraza’s three-man team finished as the runner-up in the Fast Action three-on-three tournament Friday at the Los Angeles Sports Arena.

“I’m really enjoying the all-star game experience,” he said. “Playing with so many good players picks up your game. The practices are intense and bring out the pride in each player.”

All-Star Notes Mustapha Abdi, a two-time Times’ all-county player from Huntington Beach High School, has quit the South team. Abdi, a senior guard, averaged 24.1 points and 12.1 rebounds for the Oilers. He attended the South’s first practice last week, but was overweight and sluggish during the workout. Abdi also failed to attend the game banquet Sunday night. “I haven’t seen or heard from him since the first day of practice,” said South Coach Tom McCluskey of Tustin High. . . . Coach John Mayberry of Kennedy announced the scholar-athlete award winners at Sunday’s banquet. The girls’ winners were Tracy Heiser (El Toro, 4.29 grade-point average) and Leslie Ferguson (La Habra, 4.3). The boys’ winners were David Beilstein (Tustin, 4.2) and Brian Hakala (Los Alamitos, 4.0).