Good Old Days Are in Past in Wake of Prop. 13

Chuck Ferrero fondly recalls an era when the Valley College athletic program’s wish list was short and student enrollment was high.

Those were the days, muses Ferrero, Valley’s athletic director. The days before the implementation of Proposition 13, when funds were plentiful and Valley offered almost every sport a junior college-bound athlete desired.

“At one time, the school offered everything on the books,” Ferrero said. “We had it all, even wrestling. But it hasn’t been that way in years. I don’t know if we’ll ever see those days again.”

The last two decades have been marked by steady decline for many state community colleges and their athletic programs, victims of budget constraints and dwindling enrollment. Many campuses have managed to maintain athletics only through patchwork efforts that involve coaches raising funds and community members volunteering services.

Valley, among nine schools of the financially troubled Los Angeles Community College District, is the gem of the district, as far as athletics are concerned. While other schools--most notably, Pierce, eight miles west of Valley--have seen athletics steadily wane, Valley has managed to thrive, thanks to Ferrero and an administration sensitive to athletics.

“Five or six years ago, times were really tough with money and it was really difficult to keep athletic programs,” said Mary Ann Breckell, vice president of administration at Valley. “There is a limited amount of money we can put into the athletic program. So, it does take fund-raising, or it doesn’t get done.”

At Valley, fund-raising includes everything from staging youth track meets to marketing its annual women’s basketball tournament. Realistically, the survival of junior college athletics has become dependent on grass-roots mobilization.

“No districts have been close to what they were since Prop. 13,” Ferrero said. “It’s been very difficult times. But you can either accept what you get and tread water and just get by, or you can find a way.”

Amid harsh realities, there are reasons to be optimistic about the future, particularly in the LACCD. Last summer, the district reported a $23.9 million budget surplus. Reforms have boosted enrollment and expansion is being discussed again at several campuses, even Pierce.

Pierce, which last year had an increase in enrollment for the first time in years, is considering reinstating men’s basketball, cut from the program in the mid-1980s. The school also is considering adding women’s soccer and women’s water polo, athletic director Bob Lyons said.

Other signs of rebound at Pierce include the installation of air conditioning and a new phone system on campus. Soon, hot water will flow in the football locker rooms, an amenity missing since the Northridge earthquake in 1994.

“It’s been a real problem keeping things afloat,” Lyons said. “We’ve had a Band-Aid approach for many years. Now there are signs that Pierce is coming back. But we have a long way to go.”

The need for programs to raise funds will remain. Pierce’s athletic department has benefited from the proceeds of an on-campus carnival held twice a year. The campus also rents facilities for home-improvement shows, youth soccer tournaments and location shooting by film-production companies.

Combined efforts have allowed Pierce to maintain its football program, which has an operating budget of only $55,000. The program was reinstated in 1988 after a two-year hiatus.

Lyons said Pierce is “getting ready” to hire coaches on a full-time basis.

There are other signs that the financial woes of the 1990s are ending at campuses throughout the region.

Ventura, among three campuses of the Ventura County Community College District, has added women’s water polo and women’s soccer within the last three years. Valley has added women’s water polo, men’s and women’s cross- country, and softball.

Mission College in Sylmar, which discontinued its entire athletic program in 1997 because of a $2 million campus deficit, announced in September that steps are underway to restore baseball and softball, and men’s and women’s golf, perhaps as soon as next spring.

College of the Canyons, the fastest growing community college in the state in terms of enrollment, last season reinstituted its football program after a 17-year hiatus. The project was the culmination of a four-year campaign in which more than $200,000 in start-up costs were raised by the College of the Canyons Foundation, the school’s fund-raising arm.

Canyons’ expansion also included the addition of women’s soccer.