Etiwanda Grows Success at Home

Once upon a time, before the Internet and before basketball shoes cost $125, there was the concept of the neighborhood school.

Parents would send their children to the school closest to home because they were proud of their neighborhood and respectful of the teachers, and wanted their kids to attend school with their neighborhood friends.

For the most part, those days are a distant memory. Parents have the power to pick any school they want if there’s space, and disparities in academic and athletic achievement continue to encourage movement away from schools closest to home.

Nowhere is this change in educational and athletic philosophy more noticeable than in high school basketball, where a steady flow of transfer students has kept perennial powerhouses winning season after season.

Finding a successful basketball team built with players who actually live within a public school’s attendance boundaries is like discovering a lost civilization in the 21st century.

But Etiwanda’s 23-1 boys’ basketball team is that lost civilization. It’s a true neighborhood team filled with players who weren’t recruited and weren’t directed to come together in a calculated way for the chance to win a championship or earn a college scholarship.

“It’s the luck of the draw when you don’t recruit,” standout junior guard David Carter said. “You never know who’s coming. The first day of school is an interesting day.”

Of Etiwanda’s top seven players, only senior Rene Rougeau has lived in the area for less than five years. Darren Collison, the team’s exceptional junior point guard, and junior center Jeff Pendergraph have lived in Etiwanda since they were 5. Carter has been a resident since he was 8. There are no transfers on the roster.

Each player lives between five and 10 minutes from school. They know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, secrets and triumphs.

“We’re more of a family,” said Collison, one of four starters averaging double figures in scoring.

Added senior Joey Smits: “Everyone on the team is friends. We’re not just teammates.”

Dave Kleckner, in his eighth season as coach, is a former Arizona State player who grew up near Chicago attending Catholic schools. He leaves no doubt that he enjoys having the chance to coach a neighborhood team.

“I take a great deal of pride in that,” he said.

Even the players realize being a neighborhood team makes them different.

“It makes our program more respectable,” Carter said. “We’re not recruiting, and we’re still able to match [teams] on a competitive level.”

Kleckner has won four league titles in the last seven years, but this could be his best team because of its offensive balance, size and strong defense.

The Eagles lost to Santa Ana Mater Dei in the 1997 Division I-A final and lost to the Monarchs in their only defeat this season. They figure to challenge Long Beach Poly for the Division I-AA title next month.

Collison, Carter and Pendergraph project as college prospects. Collison is so dedicated he once shot baskets in his backyard at 2 a.m. He averages 15 points, has superb court vision, is always under control and can make three-point shots or score off the dribble.

Carter is 6-1, weighs 180 pounds and has a powerful move to the basket. Pendergraph’s size allows him to tower over opponents, although he’s still learning how to use his 6-9 frame. The 6-1 Smits has made 52 three-point shots. He also has a 4.7 grade-point average and 1,400 SAT score.

Kleckner said his school probably won’t challenge for Southern Section championships every year, because it is a true neighborhood campus.

“The rules state you’re not supposed to influence or encourage kids to play for your program, and we take that seriously,” he said. “We’re very competitive, but we don’t try to find some player that’s going to put us over the top. Some years we’re not as talented, but it doesn’t mean we don’t compete or we’re not a good basketball team. We try to make the best of what we’re dealt.”

The players, such as 6-6 senior Jason McClure, understand that because of coincidence and luck, they’ve all come together in this San Bernardino County neighborhood to form a special team.

“It’s more meaningful,” McClure said.

Added Smits: “It’s fun people are starting to notice us, but it doesn’t mean we’ve accomplished anything.”

Kleckner, though, is proving that it is possible to be a successful coach by following the rules and not having to make promises to parents just so they’ll enroll their sons at his school.

“No promises were made to these kids,” Kleckner said. “They put their trust in me.”

Eric Sondheimer can be reached at [email protected].