Name for the L.A. Games Is Still Harmony

The ideals remain as lofty as a Dwight Stones high jump. The purpose is as resolute as Marques Johnson driving to the basket.

Competing teams shake hands before games. Volunteers chat with athletes about brotherhood. Time for friendships to develop is set aside.

In 1968, three short years after frustration with poverty and crime erupted into the Watts riots, the Los Angeles Junior Chamber of Commerce turned bold thought into action and created the Watts Summer Games.

“We took the name Watts, with all its negative connotations, and made something positive out of it,” said Rick Moos, a bank executive who served on the junior chamber committee that began the games.

Although the name was changed last year to the L.A. Games--a move that disappointed many people--the event still brings together high school athletes of diverse social and ethnic backgrounds. Nearly 9,000 athletes are participating in the games’ 12 events, which began last weekend and continue Saturday and Sunday at 20 locations.

Many of the finest athletes in the Southland, including Stones and Johnson, have competed in the games and more than 100,000 young people have participated in 18 years.

“The games bring together youngsters of an impressionable age, and show through competition that all kids have the same ambitions and needs,” said Willie Hooker, chairman of this year’s games.

Brad Holland, who played basketball in the Watts Summer Games for Crescenta Valley High from 1973 to 1975 before going on to star at UCLA, said the purpose of the games was clear to him.

“I went to an all-white high school and we always got paired up with black schools,” Holland said. “Which I thought was really good for us. There was always a sense of good will. We played schools we’d never heard of and met athletes we’d never have otherwise met.”

The games offer interesting match-ups for several reasons. Southern Section teams are paired against City Section teams. Inner-city teams are paired against teams from the suburbs. Spectators speculate on the next school year’s strongest teams. Only athletes who will attend high school next autumn are eligible to compete.

This year’s cast of thousands includes a large contingent from the Valley area. Canyon and Hart meet in a seven-on-seven football game Saturday. Westlake, Cleveland, Taft and Granada Hills are among the final 16 boys basketball teams. Advancing to Saturday’s quarterfinals are Thousand Oaks’ softball team, Alemany’s baseball team, Burbank’s boys soccer team and girls basketball teams from Simi Valley and Louisville. Finals will be held Sunday at El Camino College.

“The games are a good preview for the coming school year,” said Cleveland High basketball coach Bob Braswell, who played in the games 10 years ago. “And the basketball tournament has become one of the best in the country.”

Pepperdine basketball coach Jim Harrick attended games last weekend to recruit and also to watch his son, Glenn, play for Newbury Park. Harrick coached Morningside High to four titles in the first six years of the Watts Summer Games.

“When it gets to the quarterfinals, the games get very interesting,” Harrick said. “There are some unbelievable contests.”

The junior chamber claims that the boys basketball tournament, with 112 teams, is the largest in the nation. “And there is a waiting list of 160 teams,” said Julius Mason, spokesman for the junior chamber.

There are more teams on the waiting list for basketball than there were participants in the first Watts Summer Games, which were held at Locke High and featured a field of 152 boys, who participated in track and field, basketball and volleyball.

Gymnastics, swimming and diving were added in 1969. Events for girls began in 1970 and the games were moved to Cal State L.A. to accommodate more than 1,000 athletes.

The youngsters in this year’s games weren’t born when the Watts riots occurred. Yet many are made aware of the racial strife of the 1960s through the efforts of coaches and volunteers.

“The chairman of each event is given a printed blurb to read to the athletes that states the theme and why the games are held,” Mason said.

Moos, a games’ official from 1968-77, said the script was less formal but just as effective in the games’ early years.

“We’d share with the young people what the games meant to us,” Moos said. “We made it very personal. It was from the heart.”

Don LaMarr, another of the games’ original organizers, believes the theme is weakening as time wears on. “Most of the kids now, even the black kids, don’t relate back to the riots,” he said.

The name change further lessened the connection to the troubles of two decades past.

According to Mason, the name was changed because the games are no longer held in the Watts area. Mason admitted, however, that the new name has been slow to catch on.

“I don’t hear people calling it the L.A. Games yet,” he said. “Scouts and coaches who phone and want schedules call it the Watts Summer Games.”

Braswell and others believe much of the theme’s impact was lost when the word Watts was removed from the name.

“I’m not sure how many kids really know what happened in the ‘60s and that’s kind of sad,” Braswell said. “It was an important period. People were made aware of the problems of the inner city.

“When they were the Watts Summer Games, players would ask me what the name meant. They were curious. I still make a point of talking to the team about the history behind the games. Not an hour-long speech or anything, but I make them aware.”

Harrick also misses the Watts connection.

“I liked the name because you were always reminded of why the games were started,” he said. “Kids were so excited to be a part of it. You got a warm feeling as an educator.”

After attending games last weekend, Harrick acknowledged that much of the original spirit remains.

“It’s still there,” he said. “I see it.”

Moos expressed the strongest sentiment against the name change.

“Watts is a symbol of an area of unemployment, poverty and a situation that needs to be improved upon,” he said. “Do we need another riot so we can call them the Watts Summer Games again? If we can do one thing to break down the prejudice and barriers, it’s worthwhile.”

Holland recalled that the nature of the tournament helped eliminate communication barriers.

“It was a setting where we could solidify relationships,” he said. “We’d play a game, get some lunch or sit in the gym and watch games before we played again. You were accessible to other people and sort of started talking about things.

Braswell, whose team has advanced to the final 16 of the basketball tournament, is convinced that the games are important to today’s players.

“This means a lot to my kids,” he said. “There is the history behind the games and the fact that it is a major happening. When we talk about the L.A. Games, it’s clear it would be something very nice to win. We would be considered the top team in Southern California.”