Vollnogle Says Los Alamitos Suits His Style

Ever since David Williams was named Carson High’s football coach in April, there have been rumors that Gene Vollnogle would return to his former school as an assistant.

Those rumors cropped up again after Vollnogle was spotted watching Carson compete in the L.A. Watts Summer Games last weekend at Compton College.

Vollnogle, though, said he was merely an interested observer. The retired coach, who left Carson after the 1990 season as the winningest coach in state history, said he plans to return for his third season as a part-time assistant at Los Alamitos High, near his home.

“I wanted to see how Carson was doing, that’s why I was there,” he said, explaining his presence at Compton. “I plan on staying at Los Alamitos.”

Vollnogle acknowledged that he had considered returning to Carson because of the uncertain status of the Los Alamitos coaching staff a few months ago. Coach John Barnes was a leading candidate for the Fullerton College job, and Vollnogle said he would have left Los Alamitos if a new coach had scrapped the Griffins’ passing game.

But Barnes didn’t get the Fullerton College job--it went to former Cal State Fullerton Coach Gene Murphy--leading to Vollnogle’s decision to stay.

“I had told Williams that if they hired somebody at Los Alamitos who didn’t run the passing game, I would not stay,” Vollnogle said. “But I’m happy to come back. It’s an ideal situation for me.”

In Vollnogle’s two seasons as an assistant, Los Alamitos has a 25-2-1 record and two Southern Section titles--the Division II co-championship last season and the Division III title in 1991. In addition, he has coached the junior varsity team to a 12-8 record.

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Vollnogle spent some time in recent weeks helping Carson during its first spring football session under Williams. Vollnogle hired Williams as Carson’s B coach in 1990 and knows Williams’ father, also named David, from their days as rival City Section coaches in the 1950s.

The elder Williams, a former UCLA player, is a member of his son’s staff.

“I have a great deal of respect for Dave Williams’ dad,” Vollnogle said. “He’s a great coach and a great individual.”

Vollnogle said Carson played well at the Watts Summer Games. The Colts split two games, beating Workman of Industry, 14-0, Saturday and losing to Hart of Newhall, 7-0, in the second round Sunday.

Junior Tony Harvey started at quarterback for Carson in both games, which were played in a seven-on-seven, passing-only format.

“I was really impressed with Carson,” Vollnogle said. “They played a team (Hart) that is very competent in the passing game. Carson moved the ball well and had three opportunities to score, but didn’t. Hart didn’t move the ball very well, but burned Carson on a corner pattern. I’m hoping Carson won’t get discouraged because I really think they outplayed them.”

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When Cliff Warren coached the basketball team at Rolling Hills, the Titans were involved in so many close games they became known as “Cliffhangers.”

Saturday, Warren showed he hasn’t lost his flair for dramatic finishes. In his first game as Peninsula’s coach, the Panthers lost to Loyola, 72-70, in double overtime in the first round of the Watts Summer Games at Dorsey.

“I was pretty encouraged,” Warren said. “It’s the summertime, and even I don’t get excited in the summertime. But I was excited after the game to find out we potentially have some good basketball players.”

Warren was particularly encouraged by the inside play of his front court, led by 6-foot-6 freshman Andrew Klein, 6-5 sophomore Marcus Boyd and 6-4 junior Brian Devaney. Warren said that it’s the tallest team he has had since the 1967 El Segundo squad that included 6-8 John Pleick, who went on to play for Notre Dame. Pleick holds the South Bay records for most rebounds in a career (1,130), season (593) and game (38).

Peninsula nearly beat Loyola--which boasts 6-5 junior Toby Bailey, one of the top college prospects in Southern California--despite the absence of starting guard Brian Hogentogler. The Panthers missed a one-and-one free throw late in the fourth quarter that led to a game-tying basket by Loyola with two seconds left. Peninsula later missed a 14-foot shot at the end of the first overtime that would have won the game.

“We had a couple of good opportunities, but it’s only the summer,” Warren said. “I’m just trying to know the players.”

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Brad Fullmer, a senior second baseman for Montclair Prep in Van Nuys, set a Southern Section record with 62 runs batted in this season, breaking the previous record of 58 set by Scott Davison of Redondo in 1987.

Fullmer also hit 15 home runs, one short of the section record, and batted .568. He was drafted in the second round by the Montreal Expos, the same club that drafted Davison in the fourth round after his senior year in 1988.

Notes

Marty Blankenship, who coached Carson’s football team to a two-year record of 15-9-1 before resigning after last season, applied but was passed over for the coaching job at Woodland High, located 25 miles north of Sacramento.

Hawthorne, the defending Southern Section Division III football champion, will play Dominguez of Compton in the semifinals of the Watts Summer Games at 11:30 a.m. Sunday at Compton College. The Cougars, led by returning quarterback Kenji Tatum and wide receiver-defensive back Justin Stallings, scored victories over Inglewood, 24-0, Cathedral (forfeit), South Torrance, 21-7, and Canyon of Canyon Country, 25-19, last weekend. The winner of the Hawthorne-Dominguez game will play the winner of the other semifinal between Muir and Hart in the championship game at 2 p.m. Sunday.

Chuck Didinger, vice principal in charge of athletics at Banning, reportedly is one of the leading candidates to replace Hal Harkness as commissioner of City Section athletics. Former Carson basketball Coach Richard Masson and Carson track Coach Bill Mocnik also applied, but were not selected among the finalists. A new commissioner is expected to be named July 15.

Junior guard Sam Turks, the Bay League most valuable player last season, has helped Inglewood’s basketball team reach the fourth round of the Watts Summer Games. The Sentinels will play Washington at 9 a.m. Saturday at Inglewood. Led by Turks and sophomore guard Paul Pierce, Inglewood posted victories over Canoga Park, 57-24, Hawthorne, 47-25, and Leuzinger, 62-37, on its home court last weekend. Banning will play Pasadena at 11 a.m. Saturday in another fourth-round game at Inglewood.

Freshman Kerry Martin was the winning pitcher and drove in two runs Sunday to lead Redondo over Peninsula, 3-2, in the championship softball game of the Watts Summer Games. Redondo overcame a 2-0 deficit with three runs in the fourth inning, capped by Martin’s two-run double. Martin was 16-6 with an 0.25 earned-run average for the Ocean League champions last season.