COLLEGES / IRENE GARCIA : Former Players Made It a Super Sunday for Coach

Southwest College football Coach Henry Washington felt as if he was fulfilling a dream on Sunday when he attended Super Bowl XXVII at the Rose Bowl.

Washington, who is also Southwest’s athletic director, watched two of his former players reach the pinnacle of their careers in helping the Dallas Cowboys defeat the Buffalo Bills, 52-17. Safety James Washington and cornerback Larry Brown were coached by Washington early in their careers.

Not only did Washington (no relation to the player) and his wife, Andrenetta, attend the game, they celebrated with the champions afterward.

“It was a great experience to have two players out there that I had hands-on contact with,” Washington said. “The whole thing was just incredible. It’s hard for me to even explain it.”

Washington says the game seemed overwhelming until the postgame festivities started.

“It was an awesome celebration,” Washington said. “After the game, James asked if we wanted to go to the celebration, so we met him in the lobby of his hotel in Santa Monica. It was a mess! There were hundreds of people there!”

The Santa Monica Civic Center Auditorium was site of the postgame party, and Washington says he had never seen so many rowdy people in one location.

“It was great,” he said. “We ate and watched people celebrate. Then we listened to (Dallas Coach) Jimmy (Johnson) give a talk. It was a wonderful thing to be a part of.”

The 5-foot-11, 182-pound Brown completed his second season with Dallas. He was the Cowboys’ 12th-round draft choice and 320th pick overall in 1991.

The 23-year-old played at Southwest in 1987 and 1988 and earned a scholarship to Texas Christian University, where he was a two-year starter.

“When he played for me he wasn’t what you would call a great player,” Washington said. “But he always got the job done. . . . I’m not real surprised that he has done so well because he’s a real hard worker and he had everything in the right perspective.”

The 6-1, 197-pound James Washington played for Washington at Jordan High in 1981. He was a standout wide receiver and defensive back who became a four-year starter at UCLA.

The 28-year-old player signed with Dallas five years ago as a Plan B free agent. Before joining the Cowboys, he played for the Rams.

Washington had an interception against the Bills, which turned out to be an emotional moment for his former coach and good friend.

“James always looked at me as his father,” Washington said. “Early in school I could see that his ability would take him a long way. He is a great player.”

Both players are still close to their former coach. James Washington, who has a home in Whittier, often helps with Southwest football practice.

The El Camino College centipede set a course record of 31 minutes 46 seconds in winning the Redondo Beach Super Bowl Sunday 10-K.

El Camino, which has won every Redondo Beach centipede title, was pushed by the Davis, Calif., Reebok Aggies, who finished second (31:55).

“It was neck and neck from start to finish,” said El Camino cross-country Coach Dean Lofgren, who has run in 10 of the last 14 championship centipedes. “We didn’t break away until the last half-mile.”

Lofgren organized the centipede and watched the race from the sidelines because he didn’t make the cut.

“It was disappointing not being part of it,” he said. “But I was about two minutes slower than those guys.”

Members of the El Camino centipede were Israel Pose, Jeff Delahanty, Mel Andrade, Joe Reinisch, Richard Reya, Jerry Hernandez, Bob Leetch, Ryan Winn, Matt Ebiner and Troy Rowtham.

Runners are connected by a blue and white stretch of polyester parachute material. It’s about 100 feet long and two feet wide with a hole for each runner’s head about eight feet apart.

Notes

El Camino quarterback Jerry Singleton will play at Colorado State in the fall. In two seasons as a starter, Singleton led the Warriors to a 14-3 record. As a sophomore in 1992, he passed for 2,348 yards and 13 touchdowns. . . . The Harbor College baseball team is ranked second to Blinn College of Texas in a preseason poll by Baseball America. Seahawk sophomore third baseman Tristan Paul was named a top 25 player by the magazine. . . . Former Harbor College nose tackle Kevin Johnson was named most valuable defensive player of the Senior Bowl. Johnson played for the Seahawks in 1989 and 1990 and earned a scholarship to the University of Houston.

El Camino is only winless basketball team in the six-member South Coast Conference. The Warriors are 10-6 and 0-5 in the SCC. Warrior sophomore guard Mark Johnson leads the SCC in scoring with a 22.3-point average. . . . Harbor has the only undefeated women’s basketball team in the SCC. The Seahawks’ (22-2, 8-0) are led by sophomore guard Bridgete Williams, who leads the state in scoring with a 39-point average.