Father Who Threatened Baseball Coach Is Sentenced

The Woodland Hills father who threatened his son’s baseball coach was sentenced Wednesday to 100 hours of community service and banished from all Taft High School sports events for one year.

Ronald Clebanoff, 38, was sentenced by Van Nuys Municipal Court Commissioner Mitchell Block after he pleaded no contest to one count of disturbing the peace on school grounds, said Mike Qualls, a spokesman for the Los Angeles city attorney’s office.

Clebanoff also was sentenced to one year’s probation, banned from Birmingham and Chatsworth high schools--where the confrontations occurred--and ordered to stay away from the victims, according to the city attorney’s office.

“The judge called the shot and that’s it,” said Clebanoff’s attorney, Jack Murphy.

Neither Clebanoff nor Taft High School officials could be reached for comment.

The case stemmed from two spring confrontations between Clebanoff and Edmund Gunny, Taft’s junior varsity baseball coach.

In previous interviews, Clebanoff contended that Gunny’s verbal abuse toward his 15-year-old freshman son and other players on Taft’s baseball team was the reason he decided to confront the coach.

On April 15, Clebanoff got in an argument with Gunny at a game being held at Birmingham High, according to the city attorney’s office. The game was momentarily stopped by the umpire because of the disturbance.