All-Star Basketball Games at Southwest

City Section girls’ and boys’ basketball players will play Southern Section counterparts in the inaugural Scholastic Hoops Jam all-star games May 1 at Southwest College.

City players of the year James Wright of Manual Arts and Leilani Estavan of Palisades are among the players in the event, all of whom maintained a minimum 2.7 grade-point average and submitted 250-word essays on a hero or role model.

Players will tour the Challengers Boys and Girls Club in South Central Los Angeles and the Hollenbeck Youth Center in East Los Angeles on Saturday.

City boys’ players are Wright, Ronald Cass and Brandon Moorer of Manual Arts, Jonathan Stokes, Dwayne Parker and Ryan Sims of Crenshaw, Gabriel Chipe and Brian Berumen of Franklin, Nehemiah Campbell of Washington, Edward Estavan of Palisades, Eric Knight of Westchester and Ronald Johnson of South Gate.

City girls’ players are Estavan and Palisades teammate Nicole Funn, Cynthia Alex and Xena Harris of Washington, Jody-Ann Gilzene and Nicole Smith of Hamilton, Candice Baldwin of Banning, Jenice Johnson of Crenshaw, Shevonda Gordon of Gardena, Shirlee Low of Los Angeles, Chakeitha Lawson of Jordan, Robin Richs of Manual Arts, Tiffany McCollum of San Pedro, Kiarira Drummond of Westchester and Maria Barajas of Wilson.

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Funeral services for Jim Cheffers, who served as City Section Commissioner from 1972 to ‘86, will be held May 15 at Hope Lutheran Church in Whittier.

Cheffers died April 15 of heart failure at 76. He coached at Roosevelt High and worked as a specialist for the Los Angeles Unified School District before becoming commissioner. He was also a longtime NFL official.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Jim Cheffers Memorial Scholarship at Whittier College.

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Joe Shipp, who led Fairfax to the City boys’ basketball final, has signed a letter of intent with California.