Spectators Liked O’Mara, if Not Judges

George O’Mara knows who won the decision. His opponent, Mike Weaver.

Two weeks ago at the Warner Center Marriott, Weaver, the former World Boxing Assn. heavyweight champion, and O’Mara duked it out for 12 rounds.

One judge had Weaver winning every round, another had Weaver winning 11, and the third gave Weaver 10.

But who really won the fight? O’Mara isn’t certain.

“I haven’t seen the tape of it yet,” he said this week. “And I was too busy at the time to keep score myself.”

This much is for sure: O’Mara, a part-time character actor who resides in North Hollywood, definitely won the popularity contest. Most of the crowd--even Weaver fans-- were cheering him at the end.

“I always win a few fans,” O’Mara said. “Most people don’t give me much credit because I don’t look like much, but I hang in there pretty good.”

Hang in, indeed.

O’Mara disclosed this week that he fought Weaver knowing he had a broken bone in his left foot. “If I could have walked it would have helped,” O’Mara said.

O’Mara’s acting agent, who was in attendance for the Weaver fight, recently requested that his client have more publicity photographs taken.

Could this mean work is on the way?

“I don’t know,” O’Mara said. “I think maybe he’s just tired of drawing cartoons of me.”

Name game: Gary Howard is all over the racing map.

Just ask Gary Howard, a Ventura-based sprint car driver.

Howard recently moved up to the Sprint Car Racing Assn. series after a successful 1 1/2-year run in International Motor Contest Assn. racing.

However, the SCRA already has a Gary Howard--one who races out of Rancho Cucamonga--on its roster, which could easily lead to confusion.

The solution: middle initials.

Gary Howard from Ventura will be known as Gary A. Howard. Gary Howard from Rancho Cucamonga will go by Gary W. Howard.

According to Gary A. Howard, there is also a Gary G. Howard and a Gary H. Howard racing Sprint Cars in the Midwest, and another Gary Howard who owns a United States Auto Club Silver Crown car in the Midwest.

Passing shots: Be careful for what you ask; you might get it.

That adage is the likely advice of an outgoing coach to an incoming coach of the Calabasas High boys’ tennis team.

En route to the Southern Section Division III championship in 1994, the Coyotes strangely went through three coaches that season: Casey Allen, Athletic Director Cindy Jones and Ed Charles.

Along came 1995 and another new coach, who met with a similar ending.

Steve Caresky took over the team in ’95 when Charles, who coached the final three weeks of 1994, decided not to return. But after leading the Coyotes to the Division III quarterfinals, Caresky was dismissed.

How did Caresky react when he was told his contract would not be renewed?

“Relieved,” Caresky said. “Glad.”

As talented as the Coyotes were, Caresky, like others before him, said the players were not coachable.

“Personally, it was very unrewarding,” he said. “When they let me go, I told the principal, ‘When you find someone else, make sure he doesn’t take any of their crap.’ ”

Honors

The California Waves, an 18-and-under fast-pitch softball team based in Ventura County, last week won a tournament in Stockton and qualified for the national tournament in Rockford, Ill., in August.

Karen Breshears of Cornerstone Christian High batted .462 and had three game-winning hits. Right-hander Jessie Davenport, a Thousand Oaks High graduate who is headed to San Diego State on scholarship, was the winning pitcher in four tournament games. Kelly Lovato, a right-hander from Moorpark College, won three games.

Stats

Crespi High graduate Keith Evans set the Cape Cod League record for consecutive scoreless innings pitched when he ran his streak to 31 2/3 innings.

The previous record in the 110-year-old league was 26, set by Winston Wheeler in 1989.

Evans, who will be a junior at California next season, pitches for the Chatham A’s in the Cape Cod League, one of the country’s most-prestigious summer leagues for college players.

Left-hander Randy Wolf, a former El Camino Real High standout, has a 1-0 record with a 2.25 earned-run average for Team USA this summer. Wolf, working out of the bullpen, has pitched only four innings.

Team USA is 13 games into a summer tour that will help determine the members of the 1996 Olympic baseball team.

Things to Do

Thirty-two high school football teams, including Hart, Westlake, Notre Dame and 21 others from the Valley region, will participate in Valley College’s fourth seven-on-seven passing tournament today and Saturday.

Pool play will take place on eight fields from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Bracket play will begin Saturday at 9 a.m., with the championship games starting at 3 p.m. Games last 50 minutes. Admission is free.

Compiled by Mike Hiserman. Contributing: Darin Esper, Jeff Fletcher, Dana Haddad, Paige A. Leech.