Dolak, Farlow: Year of Discontent

The way they were, one year ago.

John Dolak and Kevin Farlow went to Dodger Stadium on June 14, 1985, with different teams to play in different games, but they left with so much in common. Instant success for one thing, instant reputation for another.

Today, with the 1986 season over for both players, it turns out that the first aspect wasn’t so bad, but the second wasn’t so good. And now, they have something else in common, although it didn’t come instantly: season-long letdown.

They were the stars of the championship games, even if Dolak’s stardom was in a losing effort. Only Darryl Strawberry of Crenshaw in 1980 and Bob Grant of Westchester in 1976 hit fair balls into the stands in the first 15 years the City finals were played at Dodger Stadium. Dolak did them one better with two home runs in Palisades’ 8-5 loss to Venice in the 3-A title game.

Farlow hit only one, but it was the game-winner, with two out in the bottom of the seventh no less, that gave Kennedy a 10-9 victory over Banning for the 4-A championship. It also went a long way in his being the first sophomore ever named City Player of the Year.

This season, however, brought both more trouble than anything else. Part of the problem was the pressure they put on themselves, another was the expectations from others.

“He said the two home-run game at Dodger Stadium was the worst thing to happen to him and I tend to agree,” Palisades Coach Jerry Marvin said of Dolak.

“I finally blew my stack at him near the end of the regular season and told him he was barely concentrating out there. He’s a real smart kid and he knew it, too. So he looked me right in the eye and says, ‘You’re right, Coach.’ ”

Dolak hit about .400, signed a letter of intent with UCLA and was drafted in the fourth round by the Toronto Blue Jays, but he wasn’t the hitter he was in his junior year and opposing teams usually pitched around him anyway.

Farlow, although dependable in the field, had trouble finding his groove at the plate and bounced around the batting order from third to fourth to fifth and finally seventh in the playoffs. He finished with a .271 average and could do no better than second-team All-Mid-Valley League.

“Actually, I don’t know if I even deserved that,” he said.

Added Kennedy Coach Dick Whitney: “It was a real frustrating year. My opinion is that he wasn’t an aggressive enough hitter. He would take a good fastball and get behind on the count and then have to look at a lot of curveballs. He felt like he had to try to prove to everyone that he was a good hitter.”

There’s plenty of time for that next year, for both players.

Kudos to Meet Director Dean Crowley and Meet Manager Earl Engman for a well run state track meet at Cerritos College. Using walkie-talkies to help with the communications and after using the Southern Section preliminaries, finals and Masters meets as dress rehearsals, the events went off right on schedule and almost without a hitch.

Although it the state meet meant an end to the prep track season locally, it does not mean the end of competition for some. In fact, the state meet may be just the start of things, considering the series of meets beginning at the end of the month.

The U.S. Junior National championships at Towson, Md., June 28-29, brings together most of the best young track and field athletes from around the country.

The first two finishers in each event qualify for two meets. The Pan-American Junior championships, July 4-6 in Orlando, Fla., and the first IAAF World Junior Championships, July 16-20, in Athens, Greece, where the U.S. will face very strong teams from East Germany and the USSR.

To be eligible, men must not have turned 20 this calender year, women 19. The entry deadline is June 16.

“The real pressure is yet to come,” said Pomona’s Janeene Vickers, a double winner in the hurdles at the state meet. “My nervous system is getting a real good workout these days. I want to go back to the Junior Nationals and this is my last chance, so I keep telling myself, ‘You’ve got to make the team, you’ve got to make the team.’ ”

Sophomore sensation Quincy Watts of state champion Taft will also compete and may even get a chance to race against one of his idols, UCLA’s Henry Thomas.

Prep Notes Brian Johnson of Oakland Skyline last week set his fourth state baseball record of the year by hitting his 17th home run of the season. That’s one more than Arnold Garcia of Oxnard Channel Islands hit in 1982. Johnson, who is heading to Stanford on a football scholarship, already has the career mark for home runs, as well as hits and runs batted in. “The story is that he played someplace with a short fence,” said Riverside Poly Coach Richard Graves, who saw Johnson play for the North team last weekend in the all-star game at Stockton. “But he’s a nice prospect with a real good arm and is very versatile. They had him at third base, shortstop and left field, and he was a catcher during the season. That’s the kind of athlete he is.” . . . Guard Troy Batiste of Crenshaw, forward-center Victor Malbrough of Palisades and forward-guard Kenny Boldt of South Pasadena have signed to play basketball at Sheridan College in Wyoming. Boldt was named All-Southern Section, Malbrough All-City and Batiste started for the state Division I champion.