Dudley Rooney’s Return One Reason to Give Thanks

After 364 days of grousing, the day has come to give thanks for all the good things that have happened in high school sports during the past year.

* Dudley Rooney’s return to Alemany.

After 17 years at the Mission Hills school, the beloved teacher and coach was unceremoniously dismissed by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

Two months of tears, phone calls and protests helped change that and we’re all better for it.

* The golden right arms of Kyle Boller and Maureen LeCocq.

Boller, the Hart quarterback, and LeCocq, the Chaminade softball pitcher, dazzled us with their precision in leading their teams to Southern Section titles.

Boller was an All-American after setting region records with 4,841 yards passing and 59 touchdown passes.

LeCocq was 23-2 with a 0.16 earned-run average and was chosen the nation’s player of the year.

* Memorable retirement parties for Lou Cvijanovich and Bud Murray.

Cvijanovich, the Santa Clara boys’ basketball coach, and Murray, Hart’s baseball coach, culminated prolific careers with championships.

Cvijanovich’s state-record 829th career victory came in a 75-68 victory over Calvary Temple Christian of Modesto in the state Division V championship game in Sacramento.

Afterward, Cvijanovich called his third state championship team the best he ever had in 41 years at Santa Clara.

After 15 league titles and more than 500 victories, Murray achieved the only goal that had eluded him in 22 years at the school.

Hart defeated Righetti, 10-9, to capture the Division III title in his final game as coach.

Enjoy the fishing, Bud.

* Delayed retirement parties for two more elder statesmen.

Amid speculation that they might retire, football Coach Brent Newcomb of Antelope Valley and softball Coach Neils Ludlow of El Camino Real announced they will return next season.

Their teams are traditionally among the most disciplined and successful in their divisions.

* Jermaine Marshall got a third chance.

After being sent to Kilpatrick, a camp for juvenile offenders, as a sophomore, after leaving the team at Antelope Valley as a junior, it would have been very easy to give up on him.

Kilpatrick didn’t, and he is rushing into the state record book and hopefully taking steps toward turning his life in the right direction.

* Courtney Young’s move to Ventura.

Young, one of the nation’s best sophomore girls’ basketball players last season, transferred to Buena from Santa Monica Crossroads and made an already deep and talented program one of the top teams in the country.

* Justin Fargas is up and running.

One of the best running backs in region history, Fargas appears to have recovered from a broken right leg that required two surgeries and two metal plates to repair.

The Notre Dame High graduate, who missed much of 1998 season and all of 1999 at Michigan, recently ran the 40 in 4.5 seconds.

It’s good to have you back, Justin.

*The integrity at Crescenta Valley.

The school handled two difficult and unseemly situations firmly and with class when it could have just as easily attempted to sweep everything under the rug for the sake of athletic success.

First, it relieved a successful basketball coach of his duties after he allegedly had an improper relationship with a female student.

Earlier this month, nine football players were suspended for alleged improper use of a credit cardpossibly costing the Falcons an outright league championship.

It’s refreshing to see a school call the shots for an athletic program, rather than the other way around.