Canoga Park’s Transfers Succeed Despite Critics

Ralph Turner knows exactly what he has gotten himself in to. He knows that when a newly hired coach turns a downtrodden athletic program into a huge success virtually overnight, scrutiny will follow.

Two years ago, after just one season of varsity experience as an assistant at Cleveland High, Turner was hired to coach the boys’ basketball team at Canoga Park. And in only two seasons, Turner has taken a team that finished 4-19 in 1993-94 and pieced together one of the most talented groups of players in the region.

The turnabout has been so dramatic the Hunters (22-4) will play Van Nuys (16-9) for the City Section 3-A Division title tonight at 8 at Cal State Los Angeles.

But despite the improvement of a team that hadn’t had a winning record in 10 seasons before Turner showed up, you won’t hear many of his colleagues singing his praises.

Their beef is simple: Four of Canoga Park’s starting five players are transfers from other schools in the region.

Three are products of the state’s open enrollment policy, which was enacted in the 1994-95 school year and allows students one transfer within their district during their high school careers. All four transfers enrolled at Canoga Park after Turner took over.

Coincidence? Of course not. But Turner says the players simply followed him.

“When someone shows up on your campus, of course everyone is going to say you’re recruiting,” he said. “Of course the accusations are gonna fly.”

But Turner, a former college player at St. John’s University in Minnesota whose coaching experience consists of little more than six years at the junior high level, insists there has been no harm, no foul.

“I’m not doing anything [wrong],” he said. “It’s not like I’m out there saying, ‘Hey, come to Canoga Park.’ ”

But come they have, by the bushel.

The Starting Five Lasley Harper Ellison Bernal Haqq

Carloes Harper, a 6-foot-4 junior forward, is among the finest players in the region. If he were playing for Antelope Valley High--where he played as a freshman--the Antelopes might have advanced past the first round of the Southern Section playoffs.

But Harper, who played three years for Turner on a youth team in Lancaster, transferred to Canoga Park after his freshman season to play for Turner in what he deems “the opportunity of a lifetime.”

Harper moved with his mother to Van Nuys as a sophomore. His mother’s first priority for her son was an education, and she wanted him to go to a private school--Montclair Prep, to be exact.

But Harper, who dreams of being a doctor one day, instead enrolled at Canoga Park in the agricultural magnet program.

It’s a decision he has not regretted. School is going great, he said, and it’s even better on the court, where he averages 23.6 points and 11.5 rebounds.

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Anthony Ellison also lives in Van Nuys. Ellison, a 6-3 junior forward who averages 18.1 points and 11.4 rebounds, said he attended Van Nuys High until Coach Kevin Kanemura cut him from the team after a one-day tryout. Kanemura said he does not remember Ellison.

Ellison promptly left Van Nuys after friends told him Canoga Park had a new coach and that the Hunters were going to be the next great basketball program.

Ellison wanted to be a part of it, and the open enrollment policy allowed his transfer.

But Ellison said he had never met Turner before he enrolled at Canoga Park.

He went on a hunch and good luck followed.

Ellison sat out his sophomore year because he was academically ineligible, but he has flourished this season under Turner’s guidance.

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Some coaches count Jamal Haqq among the best playmakers in the region.

He is a 5-7 point guard who shows flashes of brilliance in an uptempo offense. He averages 6.4 assists and is clearly the spark that gets the Canoga Park machine in motion.

But last season he was the starting point guard for the Cleveland junior varsity team and unsure of his future as a Cavalier. Today, he isn’t sure he would have cracked the starting lineup at Cleveland as a senior.

He played years ago for Turner at Porter Junior High in Granada Hills. Three years had passed when Haqq ran into Turner at an adult-league game last summer. The reunion included much chit-chat, they both admitted, but no talk of recruiting.

Weeks later, Haqq enrolled at Canoga Park via open enrollment.

But Haqq, who lives in Sylmar, insists Turner did nothing to sway him toward Canoga Park.

“I was transferring either way,” Haqq said. “It was just a matter of which school.”

Haqq had considered using his transfer option to enroll at Chatsworth or Birmingham, two schools with teams that seemed to have loads of potential just six months ago. But he remembered how much he liked playing for Turner and decided to play again for him.

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Haqq wasn’t the only Cleveland junior varsity player to check out over the summer.

Rene Bernal, a 6-1 senior guard who rode the bench for Cleveland last season, decided he had had enough role playing.

Bernal’s apartment building in Reseda was condemned after the earthquake in 1994. He moved with his mother into another apartment in Canoga Park days later but continued to attend Cleveland.

After a disappointing junior season, Bernal figured he had nothing to lose and everything to gain.

A transfer to Canoga Park, which is a short walk from his apartment, seemed the perfect solution. But he did not expect his good fortune.

“The earthquake helped people and it destroyed others,” he said. “It helped me. I guess I was one of the fortunate ones.”

The fact that Haqq also had transferred to Canoga Park was a pleasant surprise for the two former Cleveland teammates.

“He shocked me because I came in the first day, sixth period and I saw [Bernal] sitting there. We both just kinda smiled,” Haqq said. “I thought he was gonna stay [at Cleveland], but he was really unhappy.”

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Aaron Lasley is the only starter whose origins haven’t been questioned.

Lasley was at Canoga Park before Turner got there. He grew up in West Hills and there was never a question in his mind of where he would go to school.

He was academically ineligible as a freshman, played as a sophomore and has thrived under Turner the past two seasons. He averages 13 points and leads the team in rebounding with a 12.7 average.

Interestingly, Lasley and his family moved to Sylmar last year, but he chose to stay at Canoga Park as a continuing student.

Said Turner: “Winning breeds winning. When you see a team winning, you want to go there.”

That’s what Birmingham’s David Redmond, a nationally touted junior center who quit the Braves midway through the season for personal reasons, must be thinking.

Shortly after he quit, he told The Times he was thinking of transferring to Canoga Park.

“It would be great if he did [transfer],” Turner said. “I would be glad if he walked through the door and signed up.”

But Turner wants to set the record straight about Redmond.

“The only time I have ever seen David Redmond was in a game where I sat there and watched him [last year] score 38 points and eliminate us from the playoffs,” Turner said. “I’ve never seen him outside of that gym.”

And to the coaches who are pointing fingers--none of whom wanted to be quoted in this story--Turner would like them to check their own rosters and see how many players come from outside of their attendance areas.

“I could put a pretty good team together if I had local guys here that are attending other schools,” said Turner, who mentioned North Hollywood’s Shannon Johnson and Taft’s Brandyn Fisher, who live in Canoga Park’s attendance area.

To be sure, Canoga Park is not the only successful team with players from other neighborhoods.

It just happens to be the best.