Cotton Is Back on Bumpy Road

Schea Cotton will be remembered as one of the Southland’s most talented high school basketball players, but his story continues to unfold in unfortunate fashion.

The 6-foot-5, 210-pound sophomore forward, who looks and plays more like a college senior, seems destined for the NBA. Off the court, however, Cotton is making mistake after mistake.

Last week, he confirmed that he was transferring from Santa Ana Mater Dei back to Bellflower St. John Bosco. The family said it is moving from Huntington Beach to San Pedro because it wants to be closer to the San Fernando Valley, where the family business is doing most of its work.

Cotton attended St. John Bosco, an all-boys parochial school, during the fall of 1993. He left the school and the basketball team during a holiday tournament and transferred to Mater Dei, a perennial powerhouse.

At Mater Dei, Cotton was a two-year starter who averaged 22 points and nine rebounds. The Monarchs won the State Division I title last season.

Rumors that Cotton planned to leave Mater Dei, though, were swirling even then. Schea and his parents, James Sr. and Gaynell Cotton, have moved five times in six years.

Cotton’s parents seldom give reasons for their actions and Schea said the latest move was not his choice.

“It’s just something we had to do as a family,” he said.

The Cottons have said previously that they are eager to get their son prime basketball exposure, but it would seem that Schea is the loser in all of this. He is a 16-year-old being treated more as a commodity than a young man in a learning environment.

He is not being allowed to chart a course of study and stick to it. He is not being allowed to build lasting friendships with classmates or teachers. He is not being allowed to build school pride or self-esteem.

The Cottons appear to be sacrificing their son’s youth for their own dreams of having a family member in the spotlight. And that’s the real tragedy in this soap-opera basketball career.

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Bryan Howard of Moreno Valley Canyon Springs, regarded as the nation’s top high school sprinter, recently resumed competition after sitting out the first half of the season because of left foot and ankle injuries.

The senior ran the 100 meters for the first time this outdoor season in a dual meet on April 20, then ran the 200 and 400 the next week.

Although his times were down, they were good enough for him to qualify for the Ivy League finals last Wednesday at UC Riverside. Howard won the 100 in 10.84 seconds and the 200 in 21.95.

“His times certainly aren’t up to his normal standards, but they aren’t bad, considering he hadn’t been on a track for over a month,” Canyon Springs Coach Dave Torbert said.

Howard will compete in the Southern Section Division II preliminary meet Saturday at UC Riverside.

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The CIF council, which was expected to announce who would be the new executive director at a meeting last weekend in San Francisco, has delayed the decision.

The council’s six-member executive committee apparently needs more time.

Sources in the CIF say the front-runner is Dave Gordan, assistant superintendent of elementary education for the Elk Grove Unified School District near Sacramento. Gordan, 48, is a former assistant state superintendent with close ties to the department of education and legislature.

Prep Notes

The City Section has finals scheduled this week for boys’ team tennis and boys’ volleyball. The tennis championship matches for Division 4-A and 3-A are set for Thursday at 1:30 p.m. at the Studio City Racquet Centre. Cal State Northridge will be the site of the volleyball finals Friday night, with the 3-A match at 5:30 and the 4-A at 8. . . . Aminah Haddad of Long Beach Poly, who finished second in the 200 meters at the state track meet last season, finished fourth in the event at the Moore League finals last week and did not qualify for the Southern Section preliminary meet.

Eric Bangs, who led the Irvine Woodbridge girls’ basketball team to the State Division II title last season, resigned as coach last week. He wants to pursue a teaching and assistant coaching position at Irvine Valley College. . . . La Puente Bishop Amat and Rialto Eisenhower, two of the Southland’s dominant football schools, are expected to meet in nonleague games each of the next two seasons. . . . Joanna Hayes of Riverside North, the state’s leader in the 100- and 300-meter low hurdles this season, recently signed a letter of intent with UCLA.

Glenn Bell, a graduate of and former football coach at Manual Arts, is returning to the school after a 20-year absence. Bell has been coaching football at Camp Kilpatrick, a boys’ detention facility in Malibu. . . . Mission Viejo Trabuco Hills has apparently ended its search for a football coach. Assistant Bill Crow is expected to be promoted. Former Tustin coach Tim Ellis accepted the job last month but the offer was rescinded after objections were lodged by the Trabuco Hills booster club.

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Times’ Top 20 Baseball Poll

The Times’ top 20 high school baseball poll, with teams from the City and Southern sections.

School Sect. Div. Rec. LW 1. Millikan SS I 20-2 1 2. Fountain Valley SS I 19-3 2 3. Fontana SS I 20-2 6 4. Mater Dei SS I 17-5 3 5. Bishop Amat SS I 21-3 7 6. Marina SS I 19-5 4 7. La Quinta SS III 22-3 5 8. GH Kennedy City 4-A 20-3 8 9. Lakewood SS I 18-6 9 10. Calabasas SS IV 22-0 10 11. Arlington SS II 19-3 12 12. South Hills SS II 20-1 13 13. West Torrance SS I 20-5 18 14. Arcadia SS I 18-4 11 15. Gahr SS II 18-4 14 16. Peninsula SS I 18-4 NR 17. Tustin SS II 18-4 17 18. Ayala SS I 18-5 19 19. Bell City 3-A 21-2 NR 20. Glendora SS II 18-5 16