Noteworthy Neighbor Keeps Tabs

Forever under cover of Knight, Lyn Boop made his way from the dairylands of the Midwest to the high desert of the Antelope Valley.

The first-year assistant basketball coach under Tim Knight at Highland High spent his childhood living next door to the parents of legendary Indiana Coach Bob Knight.

Boop’s memories of Orrville, Ohio, include Knight’s frequent visits home, first while Knight was coach at West Point, then during his early years at Indiana.

Although Knight has a well-deserved reputation for being temperamental, to Boop he was downright neighborly.

“His visits were always the highlight of the summer,” Boop said. “He was really successful--I’d follow his teams religiously--and one of his first stops was always to our house to see my dad.”

Dr. Donald J. Boop, 72, was something of a father figure to Knight. When Knight was dismissed from his high school team after a confrontation with his coach, Dr. Boop persuaded him to apologize. Knight was reinstated.

“Bobby has a lot of older friends--Pete Newell, Hank Iba, Red Auerbach,” Boop said. “My dad is another one. Even now, Bobby spends a lot of time with him. He’s taken good care of my parents.”

The entire Boop family accompanied the Indiana team to the Maui Classic over Thanksgiving. During the off-season, Lyn and his father can look forward to a couple rounds of golf with Knight.

Boop, 34, has also worked at Knight’s summer basketball camps.

No wonder he has a different view of Knight than of the coach throwing chairs, striking players and terrorizing officials and reporters.

“For every bad story, there are nine good ones,” Boop said. “Bobby Knight can be a real class person.”

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True colors: Before his team’s first game, Notre Dame boys’ soccer coach Colm McFeely told goalie Juan Plascencia to wear a jersey and shorts of his own choosing.

Perhaps McFeely should have asked his keeper exactly what he had in mind, for Plascencia now guards the Knights’ goal draped in an outfit more suited to the Las Vegas Strip than the Mission League.

Neon orange, yellow, green and pink make up the color scheme, with the only discernible shapes being two large arrows on the jersey’s chest.

The glowing ensemble is in the style of Mexico’s World Cup goalie Jorge Campos, whom Plascencia says is one of his favorite players. And though Plascencia, a freshman, exudes confidence on the field, he wasn’t at all sure how McFeely would react to the garish garb.

“He was pretty surprised,” Plascencia said. “He said ‘What’s that?’ real loud and started laughing, but I think he really likes it.”

Said McFeely: “I had to chuckle but I said, ‘If that’s in your character, I have no problem with it.’ ”

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Better, best: Coach Nori Parvin believes this could be Newbury Park’s best girls’ basketball team ever, quite a statement considering last season’s team was 21-6.

So far, the ‘94-95 edition has not disappointed.

Owners of the area’s longest winning streak (15 games), the Panthers are 20-1, undefeated in Marmonte League play and ranked sixth in the state and first in the Southern Section’s Division III.

“I’ve got to admit, 1994-95 has been pretty good to me so far,” Parvin said.

The lineup is experienced, consisting entirely of senior two- and three-sport athletes.

Center Kara McKeown and guards Julie Wastell and Renee Intlekofer played on the school’s volleyball team, which finished second in the league. Forward Jann Thorpe is a standout softball player. Christine Arguijo plays volleyball and softball.

But Parvin likes to point toward her team’s prowess in class, rather than on the courts and fields.

Last year, Newbury Park received the Southern Section Academic Award, given to the girls’ athletic team with the highest grade-point average, judged only by core classes. The team had a collective 3.76 average.

* Dave Desmond and Tris Wykes contributed to this story.