NOTEBOOK : Santa Monica College Names 1st Female Athletic Director

Santa Monica College women’s basketball Coach Avie Bridges was recently given the added duties of athletic director, becoming the first woman to hold the position at the school.

Former athletic director Jeff Shimizu has been promoted to administrative dean of special programs.

“I’m very honored to be given the responsibility of athletic director,” Bridges said. “I’m looking forward to the opportunity to be working with both men’s and women’s sports.

“The school has a great group of coaches, and the transition should be fairly easy since I’ve worked with them for six years.”

Bridges served as women’s athletic director at Livingston University in Alabama from 1978 to 1980. She held positions as women’s basketball coach and assistant athletic director to former UCLA basketball coach Gene Bartow at Alabama-Birmingham before coming to Santa Monica in 1986.

As women’s basketball coach, Bridges has a 130-50 record, including 22-8 last season when the Corsairs made their fourth consecutive appearance in the California Community College state tournament. Her 1990-91 team won the Western State Conference championship.

Bridges became the eighth women’s athletic director among the approximate 100 California community colleges that compete athletically.

Bridges said her first goal will be to promote the sports program not only in the community but throughout the campus. She also will need to hire a replacement for John Joseph, who retired in May after coaching the men’s and women’s swimming teams for 42 years.

Bridges also addressed the longstanding problem of finding a permanent field for the baseball program, which uses Marine Park.

“I’ll be the first one to say that it’s not an ideal situation for a college baseball program,” Bridges said. “Unfortunately, the school does not have field space on campus. We just have to continue working with the Parks and Recreation Department and use the facility at Marine Park. . . I need to do a little research before I can start discussing alternatives.”

South-West prevails--Quarterbacks Damon Williams of Dorsey and Rahim Muhammad of Fairfax passed for second-half touchdowns as the South-West team rallied to beat the North-East, 20-13, in the 16th annual Los Angeles Prep Senior Bowl at El Camino College on Saturday.

The scoring drive was set up by a 36-yard punt return by Los Angeles High’s Charles Towns to the North-East’s 21. Williams threw a 21-yard scoring pass to Gerald Lacey of Crenshaw on the next play to give the South-West a 20-13 lead.

Trailing, 7-0, at halftime, the South-West tied the score on its first possession of the second half when Muhammad passed to wide receiver David Saraf for a 36-yard touchdown. Saraf, who will be a walk-on at UCLA, caught 90 passes for 1,724 yards and 22 touchdowns last season at Beverly Hills.

After the North-East reclaimed the lead, 13-7, the South-West tied the score on a one-yard run by Dorsey’s Maurice Collins-Speaks. South-West’s two-point-conversion attempt failed.

Muhammad, who will attend Oregon State in the fall, completed three of four passes for 61 yards and led South-West runners with 32 yards on three carries. Muhammad, who was selected to the game as a running back, was a late replacement for quarterback Chris Keldorf (St. Bernard). Keldorf, who will attend Utah, jammed the thumb on his left (throwing) hand in practice. Santa Monica quarterback Zack Nishimura also did not play because of personal reasons.

New Waves--The 1992 NCAA champion Pepperdine baseball team has added three more recruits.

Catcher Sam Voita of Granada Hills High, utility player Robert Reid of Valhalla High in El Cajon and pitcher Eric Brubaker of Stadium High in Tacoma, Wash., will join the Waves as non-scholarship players.