This Is a Real Courtship

Coaching basketball isn’t exactly just what the doctor ordered for Dennis Shearer of Louisville High.

But Shearer, longtime assistant to wife Paula Getty-Shearer, hasn’t missed a dribble since learning that coaching might soon become a task too physically demanding to perform.

Louisville (15-6) opens the Southern Section Division IV-AA playoffs tonight against Ramona Convent at Crespi High.

The Royals, who reached the section semifinals last season and finished third in the Mission League this year, have a new perspective since Getty-Shearer informed the team after a recent practice that “Mr. Coach” has leukemia.

“I sat the girls down and said, ‘I’m not sure I should tell you guys this, but if I was in your situation, I would want to know,’ ” Getty-Shearer said. “ ‘Mr. Coach is very sick.’ ”

Some players wept. Others buried their heads in their sweatshirts.

“I couldn’t even breathe,” said Rosie Chingcuangco, a senior guard. “This is like our family and our coaches are like the parents.”

In three seasons under the guidance of “Mr. and Mrs. Coach,” as the couple is affectionately known, Louisville has evolved from mediocrity into one of the region’s better programs. But basketball has been only part of it.

“He’s been so much a part of our lives the past three years, on and off the court,” said Becky Witt, a senior guard. “We’ve come to him for advice about certain things. He’s like a father figure.”

Troubled by fatigue, Shearer visited his doctor Jan. 22--his 51st birthday--and was told his white-blood-cell count was more than 20 times the normal level.

“Right before the Alemany game,” Shearer said. “We went out that night and they pounded us. That was a bad day.”

Shearer’s condition is considered chronic. Chemotherapy medication has delayed the disease from progressing to the acute stage. Soon, the Shearers will consult with specialists about the possibility of a bone-marrow transplant.

Because of his illness, Shearer has been forced to curtail his coaching duties. Guarding against fatigue, he no longer runs the floor during practice.

“I used to get in there and mix it up a little,” Shearer said. “Now, it’s more like standing on the sidelines and telling them what to do. I don’t have the strength I used to have. But no matter how bad my day can be, once I’m in the gym with the kids, I feel better.”

He has not missed a practice or game despite his wife’s suggestions that he take an occasional rest.

“Just try to tell him to stay home,” Getty-Shearer said.

The Shearers have been inseparable since meeting seven years ago during a game of pick-up basketball. Shearer, a longtime youth league coach in Ventura County, soon became his wife’s assistant at Royal High.

She became coach at Louisville in 1994.

“Basketball has been my life and it’s been our life,” Getty-Shearer said. “I even thought, ‘Maybe this is it for me coaching. Maybe I’ll just spend as much time as I can with him and we can have a less stressful life.’

“And then one day he said to me, ‘Thank God we have basketball practice. It gives me something to look forward to.’ ”