A Funny Thing Happened to Green but You Had to Be There

Artie Green was honored as coach of the year at a ceremony in Oakland earlier this month by the California Coaches Assn. That suits Green fine except for two things: He didn’t coach this year and never received an invitation to the ceremony.

Green coached the Thousand Oaks High girls’ track team to 14 Marmonte League and one Southern Section championship in 17 seasons. But he took off this spring, in part to care for his ailing father who died in March.

He learned of the coach-of-year award when his brother Doni called him from Oakland.

“I didn’t have a clue until Doni called me the night of the ceremony,” Green said. “I thought he was kidding me. I still didn’t know for sure until he brought the plaque home.”

Doni, Moorpark College track coach, attended the June 10th ceremony with Jamie Kogut, who was named junior high coach of the year. Kogut is track coach at Valley View in Simi Valley.

Jim Rear, basketball coach at Alisal High in Salinas and president of the coaches association, said his organization’s awards often represent cumulative achievements. The association, founded in 1957, routinely mails notices to award winners and follows up with a phone call, Rear said.

Obviously, the system has flaws. Green’s invitation was returned without being delivered, and Kogut, who received his notice, is wondering who nominated him.

Still, Doni Green invited his brother to attend the ceremony but Artie chose to stay home.

Said Doni: “When I saw his name on the program, I thought, ‘Artie is going to be upset by this.’ ”

Artie didn’t seem to know how to act.

“I was surprised about it and I guess I’m honored,” he said. “If I would have known about it, I would have gone.”

*

Watchful eye: Club pro Bruce Hamilton must have been caught in the emotional cross hairs. Disappointment and joy gripped him as he watched on TV as Corey Pavin won the U.S. Open last weekend in Southampton, N.Y.

Hamilton coached Pavin since the Oxnard native was a 16-year-old at Las Posas Country Club. Until this year. In February, Pavin, 35, dropped Hamilton.

“Corey needed a different look,” said Hamilton, a teaching pro at Los Robles Golf and Country Club in Thousand Oaks.

Hamilton can take pride--and some credit--for Pavin’s first major victory.

“I feel good knowing I was one of the guys who helped him along the line,” Hamilton said. “I saw him doing some of the same practice drills that we worked on all the time.”

Hamilton also felt some vindication, recalling that he predicted at the start of the year that 1995 would be Pavin’s year.

Pavin has won two tournaments, but the secret lies not in his backswing but his mental approach, Hamilton said.

“Did you see how calm he was?” Hamilton said. “He’s been working with a psychologist in North Carolina and that’s been the primary reason for his success. Corey really believes in it.”

*

Sweet revenge: It was a little late, but it didn’t stop Melissa Hearlihy and the Alemany High girls’ basketball team from enjoying a 49-46 victory over Brea-Olinda in the championship game of the Ladycat Summer tournament.

Brea-Olinda defeated Alemany twice last season including a 56-52 victory in the second round of the state playoffs.

“We got some fair officiating this time and their fans didn’t like it,” Hearlihy said.

Alemany’s Carly Funicello had 19 points and 12 rebounds and was named MVP.

*

Quiet cheater: Three-quarter Midget racer Gary Schroeder of Burbank was stripped of his victory in Saturday night’s 20-lap main event at Ventura Raceway when a post-race inspection showed his wheelbase was 1/4-inch long.

“It’s not that big of a deal, as long as the fans still think that I won,” Schroeder said.

Honors

When Antonio Arce of Palmdale High ran 9 minutes 4.13 seconds to win the 3,200 meters in the Golden West Invitational at American River College in Sacramento earlier this month, he became the third male runner from the region to win a distance race in the meet since it began in 1960.

Camarillo’s Eric Reynolds won the 3,000 in 1983 and Hoover’s Eliazar Herrera won the 3,000 in ‘90).

Stats

Reseda’s Brian Horst won his third consecutive race in the Pure Stock division at Saugus Speedway.

Horst alternates racing with his sister, Amy Horst. They have won five of six features at Saugus this season.

Trivia

With the selection of outfielder Matt Riordan as The Times’ Ventura County baseball player of the year, Westlake athletes won The Times’ player of the year awards in football, boys’ basketball and baseball. Who were the football and basketball winners?

Answer: Wide receiver Billy Miller won the football award and point guard Steve Aylsworth was the basketball winner.

Things to Do

Ventura Raceway will hold the 4th annual Dean Hensley Memorial Vintage Short Track motorcycle races Saturday at 7 p.m.

Chatsworth High plays Crescenta Valley in the quarterfinals of the basketball tournament in the Los Angeles Summer Games at Inglewood High at noon Saturday. The winner plays in the semifinals at 2:30 p.m.

* Compiled by Irene Garcia. Contributing: Darin Esper, Jeff Fletcher, John Lynch, John Ortega, Bryan Rodgers.