May, Ross Made a Believer Out of Him

High school sports serve as a rite of passage for the athletes who play them, the students, friends and families that gather to watch them and the sportswriters who cut their professional teeth covering them.

High school football games in Los Angeles date to 1896, but it wasn’t until 1934 that the Los Angeles City Section was born.

The Southern Section was established in 1912 and held its first athletic competition in 1913.

This story is not an attempt to document the achievements of every outstanding athlete, coach and team that made a mark, for there are far too many to chronicle here.

Rather, it is a history lesson of sorts told by current and former Times staff writers who have written about Southland prep athletes. Most of the writers graduated from Los Angeles-area high schools. And while many have gone on to cover college and professional sports as beat writers or columnists, all maintain indelible images of the prep athletes they watched, covered and, in some instances, competed with and against on the playing field.

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It took only a few matches to turn this basketball-loving, baseball-playing San Fernando Valley kid into a volleyball fan.

OK, so watching Karch Kiraly in the Olympics also had an influence, but coming to Orange County, where high school volleyball is played at such a high level, made me an instant convert.

And I’ve been lucky enough to have watched two of Southern California’s best players: Newport Harbor High’s Misty May and April Ross.

May was a two-time college player of the year at Long Beach State, and the USC-bound Ross is a two-time Orange County and Southern Section Division I player of the year.

And they helped Newport Harbor win four section and four state titles in the 1990s.

I first saw May in 1991, when she was a freshman. Even then, people saw something special. Whether it was knowing precisely when to dump a ball or somehow finding an open area on the court, May had a knack of always making the right play.

But being the highly touted daughter of former Olympian Butch May, she faced some unrealistic expectations. Still, she led Newport Harbor to one section and two state titles.

Ross faced the expectations of living up to her potential, but her winning high school career speaks volumes.

Sure, she got to play three seasons alongside Jennifer Carey, who started as a freshman at Hawaii this season. But Ross helped Newport Harbor win two consecutive state titles and three section titles in a row.

Ross’ teams went 27-2 in the playoffs and 38-0 in the tough Sea View League. When the scoreboard was on, she got tough. And when her teams were down 14 to whatever, she got tougher.

Opposing teams found the road from 14 points to 15 mighty rough against Ross and Newport Harbor.

For example, in October, Newport Harbor trailed Irvine, 14-3, in the fourth game of the league title match. Ross helped the Sailors erase seven match points, win the game and then the match in five games.

Ross, the ultimate winner, and May, the ultimate player. Both leave behind prep legacies that will be hard to match.