Clark Takes Memories Into Retirement

A tumultuous season and, perhaps, a memorable basketball coaching career ended for Saugus High basketball Coach John Clark last Friday.

Clark entered the season still dealing with the pain of a personal tragedy: His 22-year-old son Jackson, a former Saugus player, died of cancer in October. Nonetheless, Clark led Saugus to a 18-9 record despite the fact that he dismissed senior forward Chris Hernandez late in the season.

Clark, who announced at the beginning of the season that this would be his last at Saugus, endured his final game in good humor, even if it was a 93-77 loss at Buena in the first round of the Southern Section Division I-A playoffs.

After the game, he leaned against a gymnasium wall and patiently fielded questions from reporters.

Clark also reflected on a nine-year varsity coaching career at Saugus that produced a 3-A Division championship team in 1987 and last season’s unheralded squad that reached the semifinals of the I-A Division playoffs.

“I’ve been very lucky to have the kids who have played for me,” he said. “I won a hell of a lot more games than I ever hoped for. How many coaches can say they won a (Southern Section) championship? Hell, how many can say they even reached the semifinals, like we did last season? Most coaches would give their right arm for that.

“If I can say one thing about my career, it’s this: In nine years of coaching, I wouldn’t have done one single thing differently. I maintained standards, and there’s a whole lot of folks out there who don’t even know what standards are.”

Clark said he will not accept another high school coaching job. But he might serve as a volunteer assistant to Coach Lee Smelser at College of the Canyons next season.

A SHORT MEETING

Ryan Connors, meet Doug Flutie.

The quarterbacks could come face to face this weekend when Connors, one of the most prolific passers in state history, makes a recruiting visit to Northeastern University in Boston.

Flutie, the 1984 Heisman Trophy winner from Boston College, is expected to visit the school to meet Connors, who passed for 6,959 yards in two seasons at Hart.

According to Connors, Northeastern Coach Barry Gallup, who served as a Boston College assistant during Flutie’s career there, arranged the meeting.

“They told me they thought I looked just like Doug Flutie when he was in high school,” Connors said.

Last season, Connors became the first player in Southern Section history to pass for more than 4,000 yards (4,144) but he has yet to land a college scholarship, most likely because of his height, Hart Coach Mike Herrington has said. Connors stands 6 feet tall, and now his list of options is growing short too.

“They want me to talk to him about all his trials and tribulations,” Connors said of the 5-9 Flutie. “I guess I’ll find out this weekend who’s taller.”

ON A ROLL

Newbury Park (14-10), which finished fourth in the Marmonte League basketball race despite having the league’s lowest enrollment, has found the going somewhat easier in the Southern Section III-AA playoffs.

But not by much.

Newbury Park finished 7-6 in a league that consists of schools that compete in larger Southern Section divisions than the Panthers.

Thus, few are surprised that Newbury Park has reached the quarterfinal round. They will meet Estancia (21-6) tonight at Corona del Mar.

But the Panthers, who long have struggled to compete in the league, are somewhat new to this playoff scene.

Before a 67-58 win over Culver City last Friday, Newbury Park got caught in a traffic jam, didn’t get out of a restaurant until an hour before game time, then had difficulty finding the gymnasium.

Tuesday against Foothill, Newbury Park outscored the visitors, 21-4, in the final seven minutes to win its first playoff game in its gymnasium since at least 1979, according to Coach Greg Ropes.

“Our kids were extremely nervous because of that,” Ropes said.

CARDINAL RULES

Although Don Cardinal has hinted at retirement the past two years, he will be back for his 26th season as Channel Islands baseball coach this spring. Cardinal, 58, has seen some signs on the Raiders’ roster that remind him of his longevity.

Two, in fact.

Sophomore second baseman Ysidro Alfaro and junior infielder Robert Peterson are sons of former Raiders who played for Cardinal. Alfaro’s father, Ysidro Sr., played for Cardinal in 1973 and Peterson’s father, Jerry, played in 1968.

SAFE CRACKER

How long was the City Section’s semester break? Eight weeks to be exact, but for some, it seemed even longer.

The spring semester began last week and some teachers soon found that students enrolled in courses such as Spanish and mathematics had forgotten what they were taught in the fall. And that isn’t all that apparently slipped students’ minds.

“I’ll tell you how long the vacation was,” Reseda football Coach Joel Schaeffer said. “Eighty percent of the kids forgot their (P.E.) locker combinations.”

LAYING A FOUNDATION

St. Genevieve’s basketball season ended Tuesday when the Valiants (9-14) lost to heavily favored Crossroads, 59-54, in a Southern Section Division IV-A game. But the Valiants made it interesting, much as they have all season.

This was a team that had only two players from last season’s roster, a team that was 1-9 in San Fernando League play. And neither of those two--seniors Edwin Morales and Jon Hoffman--had much experience. It was a team that practiced outdoors and played its “home games” at another school.

During the season, three players were suspended for disciplinary reasons. But the team never gave in.

The Valiants’ tallest player, 6-3 Ryan McGinnis, battled a Crossroads front line that included 6-9 Austin Croshere and 6-4 Bakir Allen.

McGinnis, who did not play last season, continued his torrid scoring pace with 23 points. He also had 16 rebounds.

He and five of the Valiants’ top seven players will be back, giving first-year Coach Dan Donovan reason to look ahead to next season.

Vince Kowalick and staff writers Steve Elling, T.C. Porter and Jeff Riley contributed to this notebook.