BOYS’ BASKETBALL 1994-1995 / SMALL SCHOOLS : Kimble’s Potential Keeps His Coach on the Sideline

It’s common for small schools to have high turnover rates among coaches.

Player enters school. Parent coaches team. Player graduates from school. Parent stops coaching team.

But at Huntington Beach Claremont, George Watson has returned to coach the Cougars for a second year even though his son, Gavin, has moved on to Ventura College.

Watson’s main reason for staying was Steve Kimble, the all-league forward who averaged 22 points for the Cougars last season.

“I wanted to come back this year because of Steve and a couple other guys,” Watson said.

Kimble and a handful of teammates are usually all Watson can get on the floor for his practices.

With only 150 students in the private school, good athletes are hard to find.

However, Kimble has been a diamond in the rough for Watson, a 6-foot-9 former USC star who also played for the New Jersey Nets.

Last season, Kimble had double figures in points, rebounds and assists five times and teamed with Gavin Watson for more than 90% of Claremont’s offense as the Cougars finished with a respectable 7-9 record.

With Gavin Watson gone, Kimble will have to take on even more responsibility, but that’s something he’s been doing his whole life.

His younger brother, Dan, has muscular dystrophy and the 16-year-old has recently been confined to a wheelchair.

The contrasting lives the brothers lead is something they both openly share with each other.

“There’s a 50-50 chance I would have contracted the disease,” Kimble said. “It could have just as easily been me in a wheelchair.”

Kimble said his brother is a big sports fan, and he regrets him not having the chance to play one-on-one or take batting practice while growing up.

“The one thing I wish he could do is play sports,” Kimble said.

Kimble now wishes he would have attended a different school to play sports. When Kimble entered Claremont, he did not consider himself an athlete, but the Cougars’ small-time program did not deter him.

He played his freshman year on a hapless team that went 0-16, but during his sophomore year things began to turn around for the Cougars, and Kimble grew attached to the sport.

Kimble now wishes he would have tried the public school route, where he believes he would receive more attention from college recruiters.

“I play with the guys from the public schools in the park and I hold my own against them,” he said. “George is a good coach and I’ve learned a lot from him, but I would’ve been better tested at a public school. I live in the (Lakewood) Mayfair district and I think I could play with them.”