Another Erin (Boisclair) Could Blow Right Through San Jose

Erin Boisclair of Agoura Hills will be one of the top-seeded players in the United States Tennis Assn. Junior National Championships 18-and-under tournament, which starts Sunday.

But her flight this week from Florida, where she attends a tennis academy, to San Jose, site of the national, was delayed for two days.

Cause of the grounding: Hurricane Erin.

Delores Boisclair, Erin’s mother, was confused when American Airlines officials called to tell her about the delay.

“Erin’s flight was canceled because of Erin,” she was told.

“I said, ‘What?’ ” said Delores, a former TWA flight attendant. “ ‘Let me talk to a supervisor.’ ”

Then she figured it out.

On the run: Lester Cook IV is back on the job at the Infiniti Open tennis tournament. Cook, 11, of Woodland Hills, became the youngest ballboy in tournament history when, at age 6, he was able to hold three balls in one hand.

“I think he could do that because he has been playing tennis since he was 2,” said Cook’s father, Lester (Monte) Cook III. “He’s been playing tournaments since he was 6.”

Lester IV last week won four of six matches in the USTA National Zonal 12-and-under team tournament and captured the sportsmanship award.

His duties at the Infiniti Open will be cut short this year so he can watch his older brother, Jason Cook, compete in the USTA 18-and-under junior national tournament, which starts Saturday in Kalamazoo, Mich.

Breaking the code: Although it was a fine display of impromptu thinking by Area 6 Legion Commissioner Charley Hatfield, it was too little too late.

As Claremont and Arcadia prepared for a playoff game at UCLA, the public-address announcer asked fans to rise for the national anthem.

But after several moments of silence and the conclusion that the tape recorder’s batteries were dead, Hatfield grabbed the microphone and started to recite the Legion Code of Sportsmanship.

Too bad Hatfield wasn’t on hand for an earlier game between Newhall and Ventura.

The two teams engaged in a bench-clearing brawl which resulted in six players and a coach being ejected.

Honors

Fernando Vargas of Oxnard won a $5,000 training grant as the recipient of the Mary Lou Retton award, recognizing the top up-and-coming male and female athletes at the recently concluded Olympic Festival.

Vargas, a Channel Islands High senior who trains at La Colonia Boxing Club in Oxnard, easily outpointed his opponents in two Festival light welterweight bouts.

Vargas was the 1994 U.S. amateur lightweight champion.

Softball pitcher Christa Williams, a senior at Dobie High in Houston, shared the award with Vargas.

Quotebook

“If that guy hadn’t been playing turtle in the middle of the racetrack, he wouldn’t have gotten rear ended.”

--Canyon Country resident Julianne Seeley after she was disqualified for bumping a car during competition at Kern County Raceway last Saturday night.

Things to Do

Cleveland High is the site of a charity softball game with the Oakland Raiderettes today at noon.

Cleveland staff and alumni will play the Raiderettes. An autograph and photo session will follow.

Information: 818-349-8410.

The renovated La Colonia Youth Boxing Club officially will reopen its doors with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and boxing exhibition on Saturday morning starting at 10.

Several former La Colonia boxers are scheduled to attend and show off their talent, including Vargas, the 1994 U.S. amateur lightweight title winner who won the welterweight championship at the recent Olympic Festival, and North American Boxing Federation junior lightweight champion Robert Garcia, who is undefeated in 22 fights.

Information: 805-983-6377.

Compiled by Mike Hiserman. Contributing: Dana Haddad, Michael Lazarus, Bryan Rodgers.