From Crescenta Valley to CIF’s hallowed hall, Ed Goorjian has made quite a journey
Ed Goorjian had a vision when he stepped on to the Crescenta Valley High campus and became coach of the school’s boys’ basketball team in 1960.
In a budding suburb not far from where he grew up in bustling Los Angeles, Goorjian came to the school in its first year of existence and wanted to lay down a foundation that would include a tradition of prolific players who were respected and feared. It didn’t take long for Goorjian to shape the face of a program that would catch the attention of rival schools around the area and neighboring communities.
“It was about having a sense of class, pride and tradition,” said Goorjian, who was inducted into the CIF Southern Section Hall of Fame on Wednesday in Long Beach. “We wanted those three things to be a very big part of the program and we made sure to carry that out.
“We wanted the fans to see us working hard every game while we tried to build a fun team they could remember. We had lots of fun doing it and we did our best to make the community proud.”
Crescenta Valley fought for its place in the community while Glendale and Hoover had long established their roots. In the infant stages at Crescenta Valley, Goorjian had players who wouldn’t become seniors until the 1962-63 season.
In the process, Goorjian — who was born in Los Angeles and played at Los Angeles High and L.A. City College — worked with his first group of players and taught them the value of being disciplined and aggressive on the court.
“We were just excited about being able to start a program and see what the players could do,” said the 89-year-old Goorjian, who has resided in Oceanside since 1989. “We never expected to accomplish what we would go on to do.”
Goorjian became the patriarch of a program that would go 328-103 (.761 winning percentage) between 1962-78 at Crescenta Valley before he left for Glendale Community College for one season. Under Goorjian, Crescenta Valley won seven league championships with elite players like Allen Holmquist, Gene Sutherland, Gordon Tope, Troy Jones, Bob Trowbridge, Bill Boyd, Brad Holland and Goorjian’s sons Brian, Greg and Kevin. The Falcons also advanced to the CIF Southern Section Division 4-A championship game in 1971.
Suddenly, the Falcons had star power with players who would go on to flourish at the collegiate and professional levels.
“I thought we had a chance to put out some very good teams,” said Goorjian, who piloted his varsity teams to at least 15 wins per season at Crescenta Valley and was inducted into the school’s athletic hall of fame in 2008.
Crescenta Valley originally had a small gymnasium and had to play most of its home games at Glendale college to accommodate more fans.
Crescenta Valley’s biggest moment came in 1971. The Falcons won the Foothill League title and were 29-0 entering the title game against Verbum Dei at the Los Angeles Sports Arena. Crescenta Valley saw its championship aspirations end with a 51-42 defeat in front of a crown of around 11,000.
“We also got a lot of support from school administration, faculty and student body who would come to our games,” said Goorjian, whose teams went 53-5 and won two Foothill League titles from 1969-71. “We had some teams that were in the top five in the nation and that happened because we had players who bought into what we were trying to teach.
“We wanted to win that championship in 1971 for the entire community. We just came up a bit short, but it didn’t take away from the great season we had.”
The 1971 squad had a lineup of five future Division I athletes all 6-foot-3 or taller. It consisted of 6-10 center Troy Jones, 6-8 Bob Trowbridge and 6-7 Bill Boyd at forward and Brian Goorjian (6-3) and Scott Palmer (6-3) in the backcourt.
Coming off the bench was 6-8 Bruce Denton and 6-5 Bruce Palmer. Boyd and Trowbridge would attend USC, Jones went to Brigham Young, Goorjian moved on to Pepperdine, Scott Palmer went to UC Irvine before transferring to USC, Bruce Palmer would attend Pacific and Denton went to Portland.
Boyd came to Crescenta Valley for the 1970-71 season after staring at Santa Ana Foothill. Boyd moved to La Crescenta so his father and former USC basketball Coach Bob Boyd, could be closer to USC.
Boyd said Goorjian made sure the Falcons grasped the fundamentals.
“That’s what it was all about,” said Boyd, who was inducted into the school’s hall of fame in 2013. “He wanted us to practice hard so we’d be ready for any situation in a game.
“We were able to maximize our potential. We weren’t the fastest team, but we were confident and played with intensity. He taught us about being organized and disciplined. We wanted to win that championship game so much for coach.”
To top off Goojian’s decorated career at Crescenta Valley, he had the pleasure of coaching his three sons.
Greg averaged 43.4 points per game — without the aid of the three-point shot — during the 1977-78 season and became one of the top scorers in the history of high school basketball in the state.
He contributed 1,259 points and was selected CIF Southern Section Division 4-A Most Valuable Player in 1978. Goorjian had 2,506 points in three seasons at Crescenta Valley, which ranks among the elite in the history of the CIF Southern Section. Goorjian then played at Arizona State, UNLV and Loyola Marymount and would secure All-West Coast Athletic Conference accolades at LMU.
Brian served as coach for the Australian Olympic men’s basketball team in 2004 and 2008 and still coaches in the National Basketball League in Australia. Kevin Goorjian is also coaching basketball in Australia.
“He trusted and believed in us,” said Greg Goorjian, who resides in Nevada and is a member of CV’s hall of fame. “He had a tremendous amount of pride and cared about the program and I could see that as a player and son.
“He was a disciplinarian, but he was a teddy bear at home and has a great personality. He constructed a program that’s still very much successful today. It’s great to see him being honored by CIF.”
