It’s an Old Message With New Meaning : Preps: Original ideals of the Los Angeles Watts Summer Games are rekindled after recent rioting.

The Los Angeles Watts Summer Games, organized originally to facilitate the healing process after the 1965 Watts riots, must deliver a repeat performance in 1992.

More than 12,000 high school athletes are expected to compete in the 25th annual sports festival that starts Saturday at various Southern California locations.

Despite its idealistic origins, in later years the L.A. Watts Summer Games have served mainly as a forum for athletic display. But in light of the recent riots in Los Angeles, many people are urging a recall of the original ideals.

Organizers have dubbed this year’s festival with the theme, “We Are United By Our Differences.”

“All that will be tested--the relevance, the significance, whether or not it brings people together,” said Morningside boys’ basketball Coach Carl Franklin, whose defending State Division III champion Monarchs are seeded second in the games.

“We’ll have to wait until it’s over to see if we’ve benefited and grown from it, but it’s my guess it will be a positive experience for everyone who’s involved.”

Almost two dozen South Bay teams are scheduled to participate in opening-round competition this weekend. The championship rounds will be contested on June 27-28, with most of the finals slated for Compton College.

Athletes will compete in 14 events, including bicycling and cheerleading, new events this year.

Normally much of the focus would be on Morningside’s talented Stais Boseman, the Peninsula and Bishop Montgomery girls’ basketball teams and perennial football powerhouse Banning, which has a new coach in Ed Paculba.

Instead, much of the attention concerns the venues, such as Locke, Dorsey, Washington and Jordan high schools, which are located in areas hardest hit by the recent riots. Royal High in Simi Valley--the city where the Rodney G. King beating trial was held--and Thousand Oaks High decided not to participate this year.

“I’ve heard rumors that the riots have caused some schools to drop out,” Bishop Montgomery girls’ basketball Coach Cedric Hurt said. “I don’t have any details, but it’s unfortunate if they do drop out. It does the tournament an injustice. I heard people saying they were worried about getting from the parking lot to the gym, and that’s ridiculous.

“That’s sad and it makes the tournament look bad.”

Paculba is optimistic the games can help the rebuilding process.

“I believe they can be used to establish better rapport to make things better for everybody,” he said. “It’s a good chance to get all the ethnic groups together and develop some unity.

“Athletics has always helped bring people together.”

Paculba replaced Joe Dominguez, who ignited a controversy last season by forfeiting a game against Dorsey at Jackie Robinson Stadium in South-Central Los Angeles. Dominguez cited a fear of gang violence and retaliation for an earlier incident as reasons for not playing there.

The 128-team boys’ basketball segment of the games will again garner the lion’s share of attention.

Defending champion Westchester returns but is seeded 30th.

Morningside, which was 25-6 last season, is expected to be a force behind Boseman, a 6-foot-3 guard who was the Southern Section Division III and The Times’ South Bay Player of the Year as a junior. The Monarchs also return guard Donminic Ellison, who averaged 17.7 points a game last season.

Boseman, who was also the Southern Section Division VIII football player of the year, will miss the opening rounds of the basketball competition to attend a college-preparatory class. The two-sport standout--he plays quarterback and defensive back on the football team--has not made a decision as to what sport he will play in college.

“I really haven’t decided because I want to keep my options open,” he said. “I don’t want to put any pressure on myself, but I will say that I’m looking forward to playing both seasons.”

Boseman believes the games can have a positive effect.

“I look at them as a way of bringing the community together in a peaceful way,” he said.

Other highly seeded South Bay boys’ basketball teams include Serra (12), Carson (14) and South Torrance (25).

Defending State Division I girls’ champion Peninsula (33-0) received byes in the first two rounds, as did Bishop Montgomery, which lost in the Division III state championship game in double overtime.