Courtney Takes Last Lap As Hawthorne Track Coach

Hawthorne Coach Kye Courtney would have preferred to wait until the end of the track season to announce his resignation.

But Courtney, who is also the school’s athletic director, wanted to allow the school adequate time to find a replacement.

Courtney, 54, will remain as athletic director and plans to stay involved with fund-raising for the track program.

The official announcement of the opening will not be made until later this week, but the school has already received inquiries from nearly 15 applicants. The appointment will also include a teaching position and cross-country coaching duties.

“I can’t say who, but there are some respected people who have been in the business for several years who have applied,” Courtney said.

There haven’t been many who have earned more respect than Courtney, who took over the Hawthorne program in 1979.

Courtney has guided the Cougars to seven state titles and 11 Southern Section championships. He was inducted into the Arcadia Invitational Hall of Fame this month.

His athletes, who have included Mike Marsh, the Barcelona Olympic 200-meter champion and member of the world-recording setting 400-meter relay team, Henry Thomas, the state 100 and 400-meter record holder, and Travis Hannah and Curtis Conway, have set four national records and eight state records.

Courtney was a major proponent in the Southern Section’s move to increase the maximum of number of dual meets or invitationals an athlete may compete in a season from nine to 13. Hawthorne also became the state’s first high school to compete in the Penn and Texas relays under Courtney.

At the 1985 Texas Relays, Marsh, Thomas, Michael Graham and Sean Kelley set a national-record of 3 minutes 7.40 seconds in the 1,600-meter relay.

No other school in the nation has come within two seconds of the mark and only one team has broken 3:10 since.

“I predicted 3:07.8 and it was said it was couldn’t be done,” Courtney said. “When we broke the record, 40,000 people saluted the kids. That was the afternoon I remember the most.”

Courtney, a Vietnam veteran who served 10 years in the Marines, is remembered as stern, but caring by his former athletes. He has been known to have his athletes march single file from shortest tallest to track practices.

“The kids call me the Commandant,” Courtney said.

Courtney attended a military academy in New York City, where his former classmates included former Bush administration chief of staff John H. Sununu and Dodger owner Peter O’Malley.

During meets, Courtney’s customary wardrobe includes a warm-up suit and red baseball cap with gold leaf on the bill. He wears two gold bars on the cap given to him by the team along with a patch from his unit in Vietnam.

“Being in the military, he instilled a lot of discipline,” said Kelly, 25, who ran at the University of Texas and now competes for the Santa Monica-based Track West club. “We’re actually pretty good friends now, but it was hard as coach-athlete. He taught me a lot of things about track and education that helps when you go on to college. He bends over backward to help his athletes.”

Courtney coached football and track at Hawthorne, but turned to track when the workload became too great. Athletes run for club teams during the summer and the cross-country team in the fall. Between cross-country and track seasons, the runners compete in all-comer meets.

“It’s quite a load,” Courtney said. “I never taken a year off and I never had a Christmas or Easter vacation. Me and my wife bought a nice home in Florida that we’ve never seen. It gets to the point where all the things you do wears you down.”

Courtney had been planning to step down as early as four years ago. He remained because of told several athletes he would coach them through their senior season.

This season was different.

“I knew this time around this would be it,” Courtney said. “When you’re a couple generations older than the kids, you lose contact with the athletes. When you talk about Henry Thomas or Mike Marsh and they can’t relate, it’s time to give the program over to a young fellow.”

Fright night: Redondo held its prom Saturday night, but softball Coach Paul Collette was in anything but a celebratory mood after his team lost to Mary Star, 3-2, and Santa Monica, 6-1, in the El Segundo tournament.

“I should have known not to try to schedule anything against the prom,” Collette said.

The tournament was to begin on April 17, but first-round games were postponed until Saturday because of the announcement of the verdicts in the Rodney G. King trial.

Collette planned to withdraw from the tournament because of the prom when Redondo was scheduled to play 3 and 7 p.m. games. But he decided to remain after tournament director Howard Williams agreed to change the games to 9 and 11 a.m.

The rescheduling, however, did little to help matters.

Two starters and a scorekeeper did not show up and because of hair appointments. Shortstop Yvette Sanchez and another scorekeeper left after the first game to have their hair done, leaving Collette with only 10 players for the second game.

Freshman pitcher Kerry Martin was one of only four players on the 15-member team who did not attend the prom. However, Martin, who pitched 30 scoreless innings earlier this season, was forced to leave because of dehydration in the second inning of a scoreless game against Santa Monica.

Jessica Plancich, who combined with Martin on a no-hitter in a 20-0 Ocean League victory over Morningside on Thursday, loaded the bases on three consecutive walks before making way for second baseman Mandy Chavez, who gave up five runs on three consecutive hits.

“We only use Mandy in emergency situations because she can throw strikes,” Collette said. “The prom was the only thing on their minds. It was like they just wanted to play the games and get it over with. Everybody was gone the instant after the game was over.”

Despite Saturday’s losses, Redondo (14-4) remains in contention for its first league softball title in school history. The Sea Hawks, who have outscored their opponents, 158-31, are 7-0 in Ocean League play.

Redondo will visit defending champion Culver City on Wednesday.

Redondo beat Culver City, 3-0, to hand the Centaurs’ only loss in league and break a 15-game league winning streak dating to 1992.

Bucking tradition: The Carson baseball team has a chance to win its first league title in 16 seasons going into a two-game series against defending City 4-A Division champion San Pedro this week.

The Colts will travel to San Pedro on Tuesday and play host to the Pirates on Thursday in Pacific League game. Next week they play Banning twice.

Carson (13-8, 8-2 in league) holds a one-game lead over San Pedro (9-7) and Banning (9-6), who are tied for second at 7-3.

“We should do OK against San Pedro and Banning,” Colt Coach Mike Kline said. “It’s more than a rivalry, they’re going to play us tough no matter what. On paper, I think we’re possibly better, but I don’t want to stick in my foot in my mouth yet.”

Carson, which has not won a league title since the Colts’ City 4-A finalist team in 1977, has already defeated Southern Section schools Mira Costa and Redondo.

The Colts beat Gardena, 8-0 and 17-0, on Tuesday and Thursday. Edgar Lopez and Kendrick Wallace combined for a one-hitter in Thursday’s victory.

Senior right-hander Jason Cole, who missed most of his junior season with a broken wrist, struck out eight on Tuesday to improve to 8-0 and lower his earned-run average to 2.73.

Senior shortstop Ben Padilla was six for eight against Gardena. Padilla went four for four on Thursday to raise his average to .468.

“We’ve been known as a football school, but the baseball team is coming up,” Carson Coach Kline said. “We’re starting to turn the corner.”

Notes

The El Segundo and West Torrance baseball teams will play Wednesday and Friday at Recreation Park in a battle for first place in the Pioneer League. On Friday, El Segundo (13-5-1, 8-1) lost its first league game to South, 10-5. Derek Nicholson hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning to lift West to a 7-1 victory over North Torrance. The Warriors improved to 13-5-1 and 7-1-1 to move within a half game of El Segundo. El Segundo defeated West, 6-4, in March. . . . Mira Costa senior Nikki Lawson broke her school record in the long jump for the third time this season, leaping 19-feet-1 in an Ocean League meet against Culver City. Lawson also won the triple jump (36-6) and 100 hurdles (16.3 seconds) in the 113-14 victory at Mira Costa. The Mustangs improved to 3-0 to clinch a share of its first girls’ league track title in school history Thursday. . . . Annetra Washington of Torrance set a school 100-meter record of 12.0 in the Tartars’ 115-10 Pioneer League victory over host El Segundo on Thursday. . . . The Carson softball team hit five home runs, including two by Yvonne Ale, in a 28-2 Southern Pacific Conference victory over Narbonne on Thursday. . . . Suzanne Radcliffe hit three home runs, including a first-inning grand slam to lead Torrance to a 21-0 Pioneer League victory over visiting Centennial Friday. . . . El Segundo baseball Coach John Stevenson is among this year’s inductees into the El Camino College Hall of Fame. Stevenson, who played baseball at El Camino in 1952 and is in his 34th season at El Segundo, has coached the Eagles to six Southern Section championships. He will be honored at an induction ceremony May 6 at Los Verdes Country Club.