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Titles Aren’t Only Measure of Success in Santa Ana : Prep Wednesday: District coaches use sports to foster positive attitudes and teach students about life off the field.

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

Rich Prospero didn’t see the problem with the hats.

After taking the Santa Ana Valley boys’ basketball coaching job in 1991, he purchased $700 worth of baseball caps, which he had planned to give to his players and sell at Falcon games.

But Prospero didn’t notice the signs in the Santa Ana Valley gymnasium stating, “Absolutely No Hats Allowed In The Gym.” It’s a precaution to prevent gang problems.

Crime and gang concerns are some of the obstacles encountered by athletic programs in Santa Ana. The high schools in the Santa Ana Unified District--Century, Saddleback, Santa Ana and Santa Ana Valley--also face other barriers that can hinder attempts to build a successful program.

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There are socioeconomic barriers for many of the students. Some have part-time jobs to help support their families. Some have younger siblings to supervise while their parents are working, so there is little time for many to participate in extra-curricular activities.

Despite these obstacles, there are coaches and players in these athletic programs who have been successful. Although Southern Section championships might not be plentiful, the programs have taught many to succeed outside the athletic arena.

There have been football championships for the Santa Ana schools, including one each for Saddleback and Santa Ana in 1985. On the basketball court, the most recent success came last season when Santa Ana Valley advanced to the semifinals of the Division I-AA boys’ playoffs.

Although the Falcons came up two points short in a 69-67 loss to La Crescenta Crescenta Valley, Prospero was proud of the team’s accomplishments.

“It was a real positive experience,” said Prospero, who has coached at Tustin High and Chapman University. “This is a different environment we work in at Valley. Probably 95% of my players come from dysfunctional families. There was a special camaraderie here and it was very rewarding to be a part of something so positive, in an environment that’s not so positive.”

Century girls’ basketball Coach Jeff Watts agreed.

“We do a lot of good things,” Watts said. “A lot of our kids don’t have real good home lives. I don’t consider myself just a coach, this is a family. This is about so much more than wins and losses; I don’t even think about that anymore.

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“School is the one positive for some of these kids. They feel comfortable here. It’s sort of a safe haven.”

Santa Ana Valley girls’ Coach Beth Lovett didn’t build a basketball empire like Brea’s, but she left one similar to it.

Before she came to Santa Ana Valley in 1983, she coached basketball in Louisiana for 12 years, where she churned out district champions year after year at Hahnville High.

“It wasn’t a question of if we would win, but by how much,” Lovett said.

But Lovett burned out from coaching and left Hahnville in 1975. After a few years of working in business, she came to California in 1982.

“I was just looking to do something different,” Lovett said. “I heard about the opening at Valley and was hired in 1983.”

This year, she completed her 11th season with the Falcons in the Century League, where fielding a basketball team sometimes can be tougher than cutting players from the team.

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“You face different obstacles here,” Lovett said. “Some kids can’t even play because many of the kids need to work to support their families.”

Said Ruth Vallejo, a former Century girls’ basketball player: “A lot of the kids from the area . . . aren’t really encouraged to go on to college. Making money right out of high school is more important.”

Another hurdle, according to Lovett, is a pervading attitude among students in Santa Ana that a high school education is a bonus. Secondary education is not even considered by many.

With a high percentage of students for whom English is a second language, Lovett said the language barrier makes academic eligibility a bigger problem in Santa Ana.

“When I first started at Santa Ana Valley, I thought I was inadequate to reach the kids,” Lovett said.

Strategy for winning basketball was not the highest priority anymore.

“If I have a player doing more than she thought was possible in terms of basketball, academics and her family life, and if I’m able to teach the kid she’s capable of a brighter future, that’s the winning part of it,” Lovett said.

Bob Mangram, Saddleback’s baseball coach the last 13 years, added that winning is not just the final score.

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“When the kids have played their hearts out, but still came out on the short end of the scoreboard, it doesn’t mean you’re not a winner,” Mangram said. “We want our kids to perform to the best of their abilities. If they can say they played their best and they are totally exhausted after coming off the field, they are winners.”

Saddleback had its most successful season in 1985, winning the Central Conference football championship.

“I’ll never forget it,” said Mangram, who is also an assistant football coach. “There was tremendous spirit at the school. At a school assembly, the district superintendent came, the mayor came, it was an exciting time.”

Although it was the only championship season for Saddleback, it hasn’t dampened Mangram’s enthusiasm for coaching.

“The kids work hard for you here,” said Mangram, who lives in San Clemente. “I thought about taking a job in San Clemente to cut down on my commute, but I love working with the kids and people here.

“To see these kids be successful is a fun thing, especially when they know they can be successful on the field and in life itself.”

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Lovett has seen her former players succeed on and off the court. Many have come back to Santa Ana Valley to help her with the program.

“I thought I gave them some respect and love for the game,” Lovett said. “It was great that they wanted to stay involved.”

But after a 20-year coaching career, Lovett has finally called it quits. She retired at the end of last season.

“I always said I didn’t want to be coaching when I was 50,” said Lovett, 49. “It’s time to bring in some new blood.”

Now Lovett has time for a winter vacation and travel abroad. But she will remember her days at Santa Ana Valley fondly.

“If I was at another program winning all the time just coaching basketball, what would I have done? I think I would be bored,” Lovett said. “It’s not as much of a challenge. This is where I belonged.”

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Prospero knows Santa Ana Valley is where he belongs.

“I don’t know what it would take to get me away from Valley,” Prospero said. “There are great kids here who need guidance. As players, they’d run through five brick walls for us.”

Prospero took over the team in 1991 after the Falcons won two games the previous season. The turnaround was completed when Santa Ana Valley tied Orange for the Century League championship last season and came within one three-pointer from a trip to the Division I-AA final at The Pond of Anaheim.

“The success of the team had a greater impact on the community,” Prospero said. “If you look at who came to our games it was a lot of alums, staff, people in the community who were proud of Santa Ana.”

A crowd of 1,200 jammed Glendale High’s gymnasium for the Division I-AA semifinal game and half the fans took “rooter buses” or made the 50-mile drive on their own to support Santa Ana Valley.

“There’s a small group of students who really get into it, and that’s great,” Prospero said. “We have one of the largest enrollments of any high school in Orange County, but we’ll have a pep rally and only 100 students will show up.

“It’s frustrating to a degree that more students don’t get into it. But hey, I realize lots of these kids have other commitments. It’s all part of being at Valley.”

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There was also a rabid boys’ basketball following at Century.

In the Centurions’ gym, more than 100 students sat courtside in a section dubbed “The Zoo.”

The students sat in portable chairs, cheering and waving flags and stuffed animals in a roped-off area under the supervision of three Century administrators known as “the zookeepers.”

Athletic Director Bob Halford, also a graphic arts teacher, was one of them. He made T-shirts for The Zoo’s students and printed flyers promoting the games, Century boys’ basketball Coach Greg Coombs said.

With the zoo-court advantage, Century won its first playoff game, 63-61, against University in Division I-A.

“I think it was the finest spirit section in the county,” Coombs said. “When we moved the students down onto the floor, I think it made them feel more part of the game; they felt like they had an impact.”

The Centurions finished second in league, their highest finish, and were 11-1 at home, losing only to Pacific Coast League champion Trabuco Hills.

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“It was a neat time for us,” Coombs said. “There was a lot of enthusiasm. The advisers and teachers were all coming out; it helped solidify the whole campus.

“Everyone at the school made the experience successful.”

Century was one of 11 Orange County high schools to earn a distinguished school award from the California State Board of Education.

“We want the kids to take pride in their school,” said Coombs, who was the Santa Ana boys’ basketball coach for eight years before joining Century when it opened. “As a coach, you can’t control if you get a 6-foot-11 player or a 5-11 player, but you can control how hard they play.

“For our school, which is so young, you can see it growing and see the pride and enthusiasm the kids had. I look at where we’re at now, and the future is bright.”

Santa Ana’s newest high school, Century, opened in 1989, and its first freshman class included Ruth Vallejo.

Vallejo could have been just another anonymous student who would finish high school and remain in Santa Ana, but she discovered basketball.

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“I think more students should just try high school athletics, any sport, not just basketball,” Vallejo said. “I tried out for basketball as a freshman and found out I liked it.

“But the sport went hand in hand with school. As I started to improve in basketball, I realized I would have to improve my grades to stay eligible so I could keep playing.

“I stopped hanging around with the wrong crowd, people who would like to party, drink, skip school, that kind of thing. There wasn’t time for it anymore with school, studying, practice and work.”

And Vallejo had other problems to overcome, Watts said.

“Ruth was the type of girl who had a chip on her shoulder,” he said. “In basketball, if anyone looked at her wrong or elbowed her or something, she was going to do something about it.”

Said Vallejo: “I used to think I was kind of tough. Coach Watts made me a better person; he gave me a reality check.”

In the summer of 1992, before Vallejo’s senior season, she had her showdown with Watts. During a tournament game at Lake Tahoe, Vallejo got into a scuffle with an opposing player.

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“She was elbowing me so I slugged her,” Vallejo said. “I almost got kicked out of the game.”

And Watts almost kicked Vallejo off the team.

“He pulled me over and yelled at me, ‘I’m sick and tired of you being so feisty, and right now I’m ready to fly you back home.’

“I remember tears rolling down my face. I was really scared. That was when I realized I had to change, to do things his way.”

Watts chuckles about the incident today.

“Wow, I forgot about that,” Watts said. “I guess I really did lay into her. But I remember telling her that there was no place for violence like that. There are other ways to get even, like out-playing or out-hustling your opponent.

“For Ruth, once she started to have a little success in basketball, she started to become a leader.”

Watts said Vallejo, who had a 2.1 grade-point average after her sophomore year, graduated from Century with a 3.4 GPA.

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As a senior, Vallejo, a 5-7 forward, was named to the All-Century League team, and at the team’s banquet in 1993, Watts gave Vallejo the first Ruth Vallejo Lady Centurion award--honoring her for hard work and good attitude on the basketball court and in the classroom.

Last season, Vallejo played at Saddleback College, averaging 4.1 points and 3.3 rebounds. Although the Gauchos finished 7-17 and 2-10 in Orange Empire Conference, she wasn’t disappointed.

“I’ve met a lot of nice people at Saddleback,” Vallejo said. “It was a tough decision whether to help my mom out financially by getting a job, or going to college. Only one of my eight brothers and sisters ever went to college.

“But there’s no way now I’m going to leave school. It’s too important to me.”

When Vallejo graduates from Saddleback, she plans to transfer to a four-year university. She would like to become an investigator for the FBI.

Said Watts: “She’s really looking forward to education and playing basketball, and I felt we had something to do with that. I’m more proud of things like that than any basketball win.”

Watts, 46, lives in Irvine, but graduated from Santa Ana High in 1965 and returned to the district where he has taught the last 20 years. He has watched the changes in the community and the county and is baffled why many parents don’t agree with him when he preaches academics over athletics to his students.

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“I can’t figure out why all these parents emphasize the athletic scholarship when they’re the hardest ones to get,” Watts said. “There are so many more academic scholarships. At Century, I’ve always tried to convince the kids that with education, you can do better than what is there now.”

Watts says there is more stereotype than substance to the low-income, high-crime image his hometown carries.

“The city has some problems, and it has traditionally taken a rap over the years,” Watts said. “People think Santa Ana High is a hell hole. But I taught summer school there, and I realize summertime is somewhat different, but there were no problems.”

Watts said the socioeconomic status of the community affects its schools and their academic and athletic programs.

“But our district has been very good. They realize the importance of athletics here, so while everyone else has cut back, they’ve kept more funding than other districts like out in South County,” Watts said.

Said Mangram: “If we didn’t have an athletic program at Saddleback, there probably would be more people on the street, doings things they shouldn’t be doing.”

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Although there are hardships to overcome in Santa Ana, Prospero says he doesn’t believe he or any of the other coaches are doing anything superhuman.

“I saw our choir teacher working during an assembly and she was working just as hard as any coach, getting her kids ready to perform,” Prospero said. “We’re all in this profession for the same reasons . . . it’s not some kind of savior job.

“But I think its more rewarding than some jobs I’ve had, but that’s my own selfish opinion. If you look at guys like Jeff Watts who have stayed in Santa Ana for 20-25 years, trying to make it better, there’s a reason for that. It’s a great place to be.”

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