Bailey Shows Great Drive as Kennedy Coach

Two years ago a group of Kennedy High students was traveling north on Interstate 5 before sunrise on a Monday morning--rushing to get to school after a weekend in Tijuana--when it got a blurry glimpse of Coach Dorias Bailey’s other life.

This one exists more than 150 miles from her students.

The students spotted Bailey’s Izusu Impulse on that long stretch of blacktop between the border and the Valley. They pulled up alongside. But before they could get her attention, their teacher disappeared into the pre-dawn horizon.

Later that day, they learned Bailey, Kennedy’s girls’ basketball coach and an L.A. Unified School District teacher since 1974, lives in San Diego.

Five years ago, Bailey sold her house in the Valley and bought a condominium near Mission Bay. She executes lesson plans in class, drills her girls on the court and sleeps in a rented apartment in the Valley during the week. On weekends, she drives back to San Diego to lay out on the beach or attend Charger football games.

“I just love San Diego,” Bailey said. “But, of course, I have to leave at 3:30 (a.m. to return Monday). If you don’t get to L.A. by 6:30, you’re in trouble.”

Kennedy has no complaints about Bailey’s life in the fast lane. The Golden Cougars are 11-5, 5-0 in North Valley League play. Their latest victory was an 80-21 rout of Reseda on Wednesday. Bailey cuts no corners. She received a certificate for perfect attendance last year.

Said Bailey: “The other faculty members think I’m wacko.”

HARD LESSONS

Coach Rich Allen said he knew nothing about basketball when North Hollywood dropped the girls’ program in his lap 10 years ago. He was a student-store employee. But he said he’d take the team for one season if the school found a coach to replace him the next season.

A campus accountant, said Allen, was not the answer for a team that had not won more than two games in a season.

A decade later, Allen is still balancing books at the student store and coaching. Why? His teams have a 148-38 record. How? He watched basketball games. Good games played by good players, coached by good coaches. And he took his players to the games. And he was a generous accountant. He paid for everyone.

After last week’s victory at Grant, the Huskies bused back to school, then jumped into cars and headed to Pauley Pavilion for UCLA’s 7:30 p.m. women’s game against USC. They sat in the front row, right behind the Bruin bench, wearing their game warm-ups and soaking up the action.

Allen said watching UCLA games has become a North Hollywood tradition. Friday was the Huskies’ fourth trip to Pauley this season.

“The players relate to their positions better,” Allen said. “They begin to understand what I mean when I say, ‘Play hard defense’--especially when they see (Bruin guard) Nicole Anderson. Plus it’s fun. They always want to know who we’re watching next.”

LONDON CALLING

Steve Berk, co-coach of the Chatsworth girls’ soccer team, was not at the Birmingham field last week to enjoy the Chancellors’ fifth consecutive City Section title.

In fact, Berk wasn’t in the country.

The playoffs were originally scheduled for an earlier date, and Berk purchased a non-refundable plane ticket to London, where he planned to visit his son.

But the City playoffs were pushed back slightly, and the championship match was scheduled the day Berk was winging across the Atlantic Ocean.

“He was pretty distraught,” co-Coach Jack Sidwell said. “But he called his son here in the Valley first thing Saturday morning to find out the score.”

GIVE ‘EM THE BOOT

When Sidwell says this school year “has been a dream come true,” he isn’t simply talking about Chatsworth’s City Section championship.

Sidwell’s son, Doug Sidwell, was a huge success last fall as the kicker on the school’s football team, which advanced to the 3-A Division semifinals. That Doug was on the football team is part of his dad’s dreamscape.

According to Jack, Doug played soccer in youth leagues, but long ago gave up the sport for baseball. Last spring, though, Chatsworth was in dire need of a kicker for the 1992 football season.

Doug, a junior at the time, was working out with the baseball team when football assistant Ron Martinez wandered over and asked him to try his hand, so to speak, at kicking. And why not? The previous year, another converted baseball player, Eddie Ramos, handled the kicking duties.

Doug agreed to give it a shot. He promptly drilled a 45-yard field goal while wearing his baseball spikes.

“Ron told him, ‘You’re it,’ ” Jack said, laughing.

Doug, who had never played football, made 34 of 39 point-after attempts and five of 10 field-goal tries. He also handled the punting chores and averaged 40 yards, which included a 67-yard effort against Granada Hills.

LARGER VICTORY

Monroe forward Wilson Lopez was a sophomore reserve for boys’ soccer City champion Garfield last season, and this season he started for the Vikings, who advanced to the City title match last week against Fremont. “I’m very surprised,” Lopez said before the match. “Two years in a row.”

Lopez was one of several frustrated Vikings who couldn’t score against the Pathfinders in a 1-0 defeat. In the second half, a close-range shot by teammate Nicolas Duran went by Fremont’s goalie and hit Lopez, standing directly in front of the open net. The ball ricocheted off his leg and barely wide of the left post.

Lopez was dejected after the loss, but happy that he now wears a Monroe jersey--mainly because his family has moved from East Los Angeles to Sepulveda.

“It’s quiet, and not too much gangs,” Lopez said. “Here it’s quiet, you can relax. I always wanted to live in a place like this--a very good place.”

HISTORY LESSON

San Fernando’s 60-50 victory over Taft last week was the school’s first win over the Toreadors in boys’ basketball since Taft opened in 1960.

Taft, to be sure, missed starting forward Ricky Steele, who was sidelined with flu. But there were plenty of reasons for the Toreadors to hang their heads.

Taft made 10 of 27 free throws. One of Steele’s replacements was zero for seven from the line.

“That’s ridiculous,” Taft Coach Jim Woodard said. “Even Ray Charles could make one free throw.”

IN YOUR FACE

Say this about Notre Dame’s Monte Marcaccini. He definitely isn’t shy.

Marcaccini, an Indiana-bound senior who is arguably the region’s best player, was attending the UCLA-USC game at the Sports Arena last week when he ran into Loyola’s Ryan Bailey and his family.

Bailey reportedly was sporting a shiner where Notre Dame’s Glen Carson slugged him during an on-court fracas between the two last month. Carson, accompanying Marcaccini, wisely didn’t say a word upon spotting the Baileys.

Marcaccini, though, took a straight-faced verbal jab.

“Monte goes, ‘Hey, what’s the deal with that big bruise on your face?’ ” Carson said, recapping the exchange with Bailey. “Right there in front of (Bailey’s) dad and everything. I could hardly keep from laughing.”

HIGH PRAISE

Best offensive player among City Section teams in the San Fernando Valley? The envelope, please.

And the winner is? According to Woodard, the honor should go to junior guard Charles Adams of El Camino Real.

Adams scored 34 points last week against Taft, and used every trick in his offensive arsenal. Fall-away jump shots over Taft’s 6-7 center and shot-blocker Johnny Williams. A follow dunk inside. Three-point bombs from long range. You name it.

Playing with four players who possess double-digit scoring averages, Adams is averaging 18.1 points entering this week’s games. With teammate and leading scorer Markee Brown (22.3 average) benched much of last week because of disciplinary reasons, Adams scored 54 in two games.

“Charles Adams is big-time good,” Woodard said. “I think his stats are a little submerged because he has to share the ball. . . . But offensively, I don’t think there’s anybody more talented in the Valley.”

Said El Camino Real Coach Neils Ludlow: “He’s very polished. The best word to describe him is that he’s a natural .”

Kennedy Cosgrove and staff writers Steve Elling and Dana Haddad contributed to this notebook.