OCC’s Gillis to Enter Coaches’ Hall of Fame

Tandy Gillis, one of five coaches to lead Orange County teams to the men’s State basketball title, will be inducted into California Community College Basketball Coaches’ Hall of Fame on Thursday.

The ceremony will take place at a luncheon before the start of the State tournament at the University of San Francisco.

Gillis, 54, had a record of 244-228 in his 16 seasons at OCC before being reassigned last spring to be the men’s tennis coach.

“It’s really nice to be honored by your peers, guys who know what coaching basketball is all about,” Gillis said. “I hope it doesn’t get too emotional, but I have a feeling it might.”

Gillis’ best season was in 1978-79, when the Pirates went 27-5 and beat Saddleback to win the State title.

Other coaches to take Orange County teams to State titles were: Fullerton’s Alex Omalev (1954) and Bill Mann (1961), Cypress’ Don Johnson (1977 and ‘80), and Rancho Santiago’s Dana Pagett (1990 and ‘91).

Baseball: Orange Coast, under first-year Coach John Altobelli, have taken the early lead in the Orange Empire Conference race.

The Pirates (9-5) are 3-0 in conference and travel to second-place Golden West (7-6, 2-1) today at 2 p.m. Altobelli and Golden West Coach Bert Villarreal were once teammates at Golden West.

Rancho Santiago (11-3), Saddleback (10-3), Fullerton (9-7) all are 2-2. Riverside is 1-2, and Cypress (11-6) is 1-3.

Softball: Many of the top teams from Southern California and Arizona are entered in the 16-team Golden West Softball Invitational, which starts at noon Friday.

Among the teams taking part are Central Arizona, the four-time national Junior College Athletic Assn. champions, as well as Palomar and Cypress, the top two teams in Southern California.

In Friday’s first round: Central Arizona plays Mt. San Antonio and Rancho Santiago goes against Pasadena at noon. Golden West takes on Arizona Western and West Valley battles Cypress at 1:45 p.m.

Palomar meets El Camino and Cosumnes River plays Orange Coast at 3:30 p.m. Long Beach takes on San Diego Mesa and Arizona Glendale plays Fullerton in 5:15 p.m. games.

The winners advance to play at 7 and 8:45 p.m. Friday. The tournament continues Saturday and the title game is Sunday at 1 p.m.

Women’s basketball: Time for a quick review of the State tournament last weekend in Ventura.

--There was a moment of nearly total alignment in the first game. Orange Coast’s Colleen Hatch, who wears No. 34, made a short jumper to tie it, 34-34, with 34 seconds left in the half. The only break in the chain was that the Hancock player guarding Hatch was wearing No. 44.

Hatch, from Marina High School, finished her OCC career with 962 points, the second-best total in the college’s history. Lisa Shumaker (1985-87) had 1,130.

Hatch was also the third all-time leading rebounder with 505. Erika Manning (1989-91) had 561 and Shumaker had 517.

--The best fake of the tournament didn’t take place on the court but along the Golden West bench.

A few minutes before the Rustlers’ game with Hancock Friday in one semifinal, the public-address announcer was reviewing the previous tournament games.

For Golden West, he highlighted the 20-point performance of Melanie Iwamasa in the 68-55 victory over Fresno City Thursday.

Iwamasa was unsure if the notice was supposed to serve as her introduction, but some not-so-helpful teammates, told her that it was.

She returned, with her head down suffering minor embarrassment, to a bench full of grins when the announcer next said “Now, let’s meet the starting lineups.”

--In case you missed it, Lassen beat Hancock, 72-67, for its second consecutive title. Hancock had eliminated Orange Coast and Golden West.