Category: Gary Smith

This is part of a series of mini-Redlands Connections. This is another portion of the series, Quick Visits. Magic Johnson and John Wooden showed up at the University of Redlands as part of a Convocation Series. There was a piece on Tom Flores. Hall of Fame pitcher Ferguson Jenkins, former NBA player John Block, plus legendary high school coach Willie West, Jr. showed up. There are others. Cazzie Russell, for instance, came to Redlands with an NCAA Division III basketball team from Savannah, Ga. Russell, out of Michigan, was the NBA’s overall No. 1 draft pick by the New York Knicks in 1966.

Today’s feature: Former L.A. Crenshaw High School coach Willie West, Jr.

It was a slow night at Currier Gymnasium, the ancient, never-to-be-replaced basketball center at the University of Redlands.

It was one of the first Bulldog games of this 1995 season. Longtime coach Gary Smith and I hadn’t yet discussed his team for the upcoming season — a normal pattern I’d carefully followed since my arrival at the local newspaper in 1979.

Casually glancing down at the roster, spotting a few familiar names from previous seasons, I came across one that struck a small chord. There was a guard with an interesting and familiar name.

Willie West.

Now where did I know that name?

Well, there’s Willie West, one of California’s most legendary high school basketball coaches.

His son, perhaps?

Why would Willie West’s son, a 6-foot-3 scoring threat, be at Redlands?

Had to be someone else. It was November 1995.

That slow night at Currier allowed me to scan the grandstands. Each participant. One by one. Most were college students, of course, perhaps taking a break in their studies to watch a dorm mate play basketball. There were a few community die-hards. Plus staff members. There might’ve been one or two others that I couldn’t recognize.

Finally, I spotted him.

Top row. Sitting alone. Northwest portion of Currier.

It was none other than Willie West, Jr.  I’d come to learn that his son was actually Willie West III. The younger West came to Redlands via state junior college powerhouse Ventura (coached by onetime Univ. San Francisco coach, Phil Mathews), where he helped lead the Pirates to a 37-1 record one season previous.

At that moment, his dad, Willie E. West, Jr., was still Los Angeles Crenshaw High’s basketball coach. West, Jr. and longtime Bulldog coach Gary Smith had known each other for awhile. That was the connection that brought Willie III to Redlands.

Legendary? Twenty-eight league championships. Sixteen L.A. Section championships. Eight State titles. In a city well known for high-level prep hoops. Standing in the shadow of the Lakers and UCLA. Dozens of kids enrolled in college. A few NBA players. Thirty-seven seasons. Career record, 803-139.

I’d known a couple of players that wore Crenshaw Cougar colors — or tried, anyway.  Those guys never actually played varsity for The Man.

Said one, a janitor in the Moreno Valley school district: “I practiced with them one summer. Most of the time, there wasn’t even a ball in the drills. He was tough, man. I mean it. You had to have something extra to play for him.”

Another was a part-time driver at Enterprise rent-a-car. He was equally insightful: “I played JV (junior varsity) one season there. The practices were incredible. If you couldn’t cut it in practice, no way you’d be in the games.”

No, he didn’t make West’s final varsity roster, either.

Both said that Crenshaw’s success didn’t necessarily come because the Cougars attracted out-of-district transfers. Or that their success helped stockpile loads of talent. On the contrary. It was typical that plenty of star players transferred out of the low-income Crenshaw area (drugs, poverty, crime) to places like Pacific Palisades or out into the San Fernando Valley — major college talent, if not future NBA players.

Such was the case of Willie III. Truth is, Willie III didn’t play at Crenshaw during his senior year. His parents were divorced in 1976. Willie III, living with his mother, played in Houston — after spending his sophomore and junior seasons playing in Cougars’ colors.

“Yates High,” Willie III told me, adding the relationship with his dad was “strong.”

There were many nights West, Jr. couldn’t have journeyed all the way out from his L.A. county home to see Willie III play. It was in-the-season for the Crenshaw coach, whose presence on the bench was so low-key that he was often identified as an assistant coach for those who might not be wise to his personality. He often sat quietly on Crenshaw’s bench. Observers might’ve watched an assistant coach pace on the sideline.

As for Redlands, much was made of the fact that Willie III voluntarily took himself out of the Bulldogs’ starting lineup, thus giving Smith a scoring presence off the bench.

On a side note, it has to be noted that Smith — whose Bulldog teams were always competitive but rarely at the top of the standings in a conference with Claremont-Mudd, Pomona-Pitzer and California Lutheran University, among others  — must’ve been held in high enough esteem that one of high school’s greatest coaches might sign off on sending his son to play for him at Redlands.

A few nights after I’d made notice of the West-Redlands connection, Willie III hit for 28 points in a game against Chapman College from Orange County.

I didn’t see Willie West, Jr. in the stands that night.