Sports : St. Monica’s Klemm Proved a Little School Can Play With the Best : Prep basketball: Departing coach leaves a fine win-loss record and a reputation for good sportsmanship.

During an era when Verbum Dei, Long Beach Poly and Pasadena dominated boys’ high school basketball, Leo Klemm demonstrated that a small school known more for its academics could compete with big-time basketball programs.

Klemm helped build St. Monica into a Southern Section title contender from the mid-1980s through the early 1990s and developed several outstanding Division I players while maintaining a high level of sportsmanship.

Klemm was a lightweight boxer who knocked down heavyweights and then helped them back to their feet.

“I never wanted to show anyone up,” Klemm said, “or put anyone down.”

After coaching varsity basketball for 12 seasons at St. Monica, Klemm recently announced his resignation to accept a coaching and administrative position with a parochial school in Indiana.

“Leo Klemm put St. Monica and all other small private schools on the map,” Crossroads Coach Daryl Roper said. “He let the public know that, yes, you can win at a small private school.”

Fairfax Coach Harvey Kitani has entered several teams in St. Monica’s Christmas tournament and regularly invites St. Monica to play in the Fairfax Summer Classic. The Lions will play host to St. Monica today at 6 p.m. in one of the last games Klemm will coach.

“I thought Leo stood for the right things,” Kitani said. “He showed direction to his players in the program. He maintained tremendous integrity. He always taught in terms of doing the quality things. He had great success at St. Monica. It was a solid program.”

Successful. Enthusiastic. Fundamentally sound.

These words were frequently used to describe Klemm, who leaves a legacy of hard work and achievement at St. Monica. Before Klemm’s arrival there, the Mariners were known as a perennial also-ran in the lower divisions despite one dominant player, Leon Wood, who set the Southern Section career scoring record in 1979 and went on to play at Cal State Fullerton and in the NBA.

In 1979, St. Monica, with Wood, won its first Southern Section title in the 1-A Division, the second-smallest level.

What the talented Wood started, Klemm built on. He became varsity coach in 1982 after two seasons running the junior varsity. During his varsity tenure, Klemm posted a 203-109 record (a .651 winning percentage) and led the Mariners to the Southern Section semifinals four times in the upper-division levels.

In 1991, St. Monica won the Division IV-A championship. Along the way, the Mariners beat teams such as Mater Dei, Long Beach Poly, Verbum Dei and other Southern Section schools with enrollments four times the size of St. Monica’s 600 students.

More impressive than Klemm’s win-loss mark is the number of Division I college players he developed at St. Monica. For instance, three former Mariners started in the 1988 NCAA Tournament: Brian Williams (Maryland), Jason Matthews (Pittsburgh) and Earl Duncan (Syracuse).

Matthews is now in business in the Pittsburgh area and got married last weekend. Williams, who transferred from Maryland to Arizona, was recently traded to the Los Angeles Clippers. Duncan is a police officer in Florida.

Said Duncan, who also played for Rutgers: “Leo molded me from an athlete into a more responsible human being. He taught us about different aspects outside of sports--how to handle life’s ups and downs. I have nothing but great things to say about him.”

Other Division I players Klemm coached include Jahi Bacon (San Jose State), Jason Joe (Weber State), Mark Johnson (Southeast Missouri State), Landers Nolley (Louisiana State) and Cleveland Jackson (Georgia).

“It was really exciting to play for him,” said Jackson, who recently completed his college eligibility at Georgia. “He made you really work hard. I grew up near Crenshaw Boulevard, and I didn’t want to attend a public school in the inner city. The reason I came to St. Monica was because of Leo. He taught me how to play basketball, but more importantly, he prepared me for life.”

Klemm, who also a vice principal at St. Monica, said he enjoyed working at the co-ed parochial school but looks forward to a new challenge in Indiana.

“We had our share of great teams at St. Monica,” Klemm said. “I think I developed a reputation as a coach who works very hard and who had a great enthusiasm for his job. I think I will pretty much do the same thing I’ve always done as a coach. I think anyone can be successful if they teach fundamentals and don’t try any gimmicks.”