COMMUNITY COLLEGES / IRENE GARCIA : Marymount Drops Basketball Program

Marymount College basketball Coach Jim Masterson received the worst news of his coaching career earlier this month when the school’s President Council informed him that the men’s basketball program would be cut.

The council said running a basketball team is too expensive and the school will replace the sport with men’s and women’s soccer and men’s tennis. The three programs together will require less money than basketball alone.

Masterson, who is also Marymount’s athletic director, said the school spent about $100,000 a year on its basketball program. The biggest chunk went to six tuition waivers that run about $10,000 apiece at the private college.

In addition, the school spent about $10,000 annually for gym rentals since there is no gym on the Palos Verdes campus. The Mariners played home games at Harbor College for about $500 a night and practiced at the San Pedro Boys’ Club.

Each of the new programs, Masterson said, would cost about $10,000 to $15,000 a year. The men’s soccer team will compete next season and men’s tennis and women’s soccer teams will get started in two years.

“I understand why it had to be done, but six years ago I built this basketball program and a good foundation,” Masterson said. “I put my whole heart and soul into it and to have the program yanked from me is disheartening. It really hurt.”

Masterson will remain as athletic director, but will search for another community college coaching job. In his final season as coach, the Mariners finished sixth in the seven-team Southern California Athletic Conference with a 4-8 record (11-18 overall).

“The hardest thing I’ve had to do as a coach is to tell them they don’t have a place to come back to,” Masterson said of his returning sophomores. “I had five out-of-state players coming back.”

With four games left in the regular season, the Harbor College baseball team is a sure bet for the state playoffs, which begin on May 11.

The Seahawks remain in first place in the SCAC at 12-2 and are 25-7 overall. Harbor’s conference losses were against East Los Angeles, 7-5, on March 21 and Compton College, 5-4, on April 11.

Pitcher Carey Lundstrom has played a huge role in the Seahawks’ success. The right-hander improved to 8-0 with last week’s 13-2 victory over East L.A. Lundstrom leads the SCAC with 80 strikeouts and his 2.12 earned-run average ranks fourth in the league.

Sophomore Ricardo Gutierrez has led Harbor in batting for most of the season. His .397 average is second in the SCAC to East L.A.’s Ted Moncibaez, who is batting .433. But Gutierrez leads the conference in hits (50), runs batted in (30), doubles (12) and runs (39).

Two former El Camino College football players were selected in last week’s NFL draft. Running back Aaron Craver and wide receiver Treamelle Taylor went in the first nine rounds. The two were teammates on El Camino’s 1987 national champion team and 1988 Pony Bowl champion team.

Craver was Miami’s third-round pick (60th overall) and Taylor was Tampa Bay’s ninth-round selection (233rd overall).

Craver was a two-time Big West selection at Fresno State. The 6-foot-1, 200-pound back ended his NCAA career second on the school’s career rushing list with 2,316 yards in 22 games. Last year he broke a school record for most rushing touchdowns (17) and also caught 59 passes for 427 yards.

Taylor, a graduate of Hawthorne High, was a two-time Big Sky Conference selection at the University of Nevada. He was the Wolf Pack’s best receiver and return specialist in 1989 and 1990. Taylor caught 121 passes for 1,926 yards and 15 touchdowns during his two-year career at Nevada. He also returned 55 punts for 662 yards and two touchdowns and 27 kickoffs for 687 yards, including a 98-yard touchdown.

Former Harbor basketball Coach Jim White has been inducted into the California Community College Basketball Coaches Assn. Hall of Fame. He joins 28 former coaches, including Norm Kettering who coached at Harbor from 1954 to 1967 and led the Seahawks to their first state basketball title.

White, a physical education teacher at Harbor, had a 257-165 record at the school from 1968 to 1981. He had 11 winning seasons and won a state title in 1975. Dennis Johnson, a star on White’s state championship team, was inducted into the Community College Players Hall of Fame last year.

After competing at Harbor, Johnson played at Pepperdine University and later in the NBA. He played for Seattle from 1976 to 1980, Phoenix from 1980 to 1983 and completed his pro career with the Boston Celtics last season.