SPORTS NOTEBOOK : Ex-Poly Star Eager to Return to Playing Field After Accident

With family members at his bedside at Long Beach Community Hospital, Richard Washington vowed that he will return next fall to play football at the University of Washington.

Washington, 18, was one of eight people injured Sept. 20 when their rented van collided head-on with a car traveling the wrong way on Interstate 5 near Medford, Ore. Seven of the injured, including Washington, are redshirt freshmen on the Washington team.

The 5-foot-11, 190-pound Washington had to be cut from the crumpled van, which flipped over at least twice and landed in the freeway’s grassy median. He suffered a broken jaw and a broken pelvis, facial lacerations and a fractured ankle. The driver of the other vehicle, 23-year-old Rene Guzman-Velloso, died upon impact.

Oregon State Police are investigating the possibility that Guzman-Velloso was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, although it was reported that no evidence of either was found at the scene. Toxicology reports are expected within two weeks.

Washington, a CIF All-Southern Section Division I selection from Long Beach Poly High School last season, was flown from Medford to Long Beach on Sept. 23. He may be released from Community Hospital later today.

A rider in the rented van, former Paramount High student Adrianne Jamison, was released last weekend from a Medford hospital following surgery for a fractured leg.

Former Wilson High cornerback Michael Steward, who suffered a fractured leg and arm, was released Tuesday from a hospital in Oregon. Eric Battle, a guard from Banning High in Wilmington, was held overnight for observation following the accident, then released Sept. 21. Leon Neal, a tailback from Paramount; Reggie Reser, a cornerback from Pasadena; Joel Rosborough, a wide receiver from Jordan; and Charles Barnes, a linebacker who lives in Carson and attended Verbum Dei, were treated and released.

The players were making a surprise return to Southern California to visit relatives and friends when the accident occurred about 2:30 a.m.

“We were all very homesick,” Washington said.

According to Washington, the group was talking and joking as the van, driven by Rosborough, headed south on the four-lane divided interstate. Sometime after midnight most of the group fell asleep, including Washington, who was seated in the front of the van next to Steward. Shortly before the accident he awoke and remembers turning around to say something to a teammate.

“The next thing I remember is waking up in the hospital and a light was shining in my eyes from above my head,” he said.

Last week, Washington underwent surgery to place metal plates in his jaw, which separated in the middle of his chin, and plates and screws in his pelvis, which was fractured near his bladder.

According to Richard Washington Sr., the player’s father, university officials wanted to move his son from Providence Hospital in Medford to one in Seattle, where its staff of orthopedic specialists could treat him. But the father said he made the decision to bring his son back to Long Beach because he felt being near family would speed his recovery. He said he expects his son will try walking in a couple of weeks.

But that is not soon enough for the younger Washington.

“I’m not used to being unable to move like this,” he said.

Meanwhile, family members have kept a vigil at his bedside, boosting his spirits when needed. When the younger Washington complained about his predicament last week, his father reminded him that he was “blessed.”

“If you weren’t in such good shape because you are an athlete, son, you would have been in worse condition,” he said.

Justin Serrano, 11, thought the most difficult situation he might encounter during his baseball career would be pitching out of a bases-loaded jam.

But when the Whittier right-hander was chosen to play in an international youth baseball competition that begins Saturday in Argentina, he discovered that playing the games was the easy part. Earning money to get to Argentina was another story.

Despite two months of attempting to raise funds, Serrano had to borrow almost half of the $2,300 needed to cover the cost of the 15-day trip. His parents, Larry and Pam Serrano, have two other children and can’t afford to pay back the loan on Larry’s salary from a paint manufacturer. When Justin returns, he will have to find a way to pay off the debt.

“He’s had the worst time of any of the players raising money,” said Kevin Whitworth, president of the International Athletic Foundation, which helped arrange for the Serrano loan from a private benefactor affiliated with the foundation. “In a city like L.A., raising that kind of money shouldn’t be a problem.”

Serrano, a sixth-grader at Jordan Elementary School, is one of 16 players from 10 states who will arrive in Buenos Aires today to represent the United States in the Pan American Baseball Championships for Infantiles sponsored by the Confederation of Pan American Baseball.

This is the fifth year the youth games have been held, but only the second time that a U.S. team has participated, Coach Pete Caliendo said. Last year, an all-star team from St. Louis represented the United States in games held in Mexico and “got munched,” according to Whitworth. Caliendo, who runs coaching clinics in Chicago, decided to scour the country in search of better talent.

Serrano was chosen after he led a select team of 11-year-olds from Southern California to the championship of the Continental Amateur Baseball Assn. World Series in July in Tarkio, Mo. Since then he has trained for the Argentine competition by practicing at least an hour a day and five hours each weekend.

Prior to their arrival in Miami on Tuesday, none of the U.S. players had met. They worked out Tuesday and Wednesday in Florida and were scheduled to play two games in Buenos Aires on Friday. The tournament, which is expected to have a field of 10 teams, begins Saturday in Salto, a town 107 miles southeast of Buenos Aires.

“Basically, we’re playing against the best players in the world,” Caliendo said. “This was the toughest level to pick an all-star team from, the 10- and 11-year-olds. How do you pick the best in the nation?”

Justin, who also plays shortstop, batted .375 and pitched a no-hitter in the state final, which his team won, then pitched in a 3-2 victory over Hawaii in the national final in Missouri. His fastball has been clocked at 73 m.p.h.

If the Cal State Long Beach women’s volleyball team wins its second NCAA title later this season, as some players are predicting, it would fulfill what Coach Brian Gimmillaro calls “the impossible dream season.”

The unbeaten 49ers (14-0), who defeated UC Irvine in three games Monday night, had one of the biggest victories in school history on Saturday--a five-game, come-from-behind victory over defending NCAA champion UCLA.

Long Beach trailed in the final game, 8-2, before rallying. Two weeks ago the 49ers defeated host University of Hawaii on back-to-back nights. Long Beach is now rated No. 2 in the nation according to an NCAA coaches’ poll. UCLA is fourth and Hawaii is sixth. Stanford is ranked No. 1.

The 49ers should be one of the top-seeded teams when the 32-team NCAA playoff bracket is announced in December.

“We’ll probably host the first match of the tournament,” Gimmillaro said. “But we (did not) bid to host a regional, so that means we’ll probably be sent to play a regional at either (third-ranked) University of Pacific or Hawaii. Those schools are two of the best teams in the nation, so for us to win the regional, we will have to beat one of them on their own court.”

The final four will be held at UCLA.

“To win it, we’ll probably have to defeat UCLA on its own court, which is extremely difficult to do,” he said.

Because UCLA is expected to have the home-court advantage, Gimmillaro has called a possible NCAA title “the impossible dream season.”

“No one else in the country (will have done) this before,” he said of the scheduling the 49ers hope to overcome.

Long Beach, which won its only NCAA title in 1989, finished fifth in the nation last season.

“Last year we had a lot of personality problems,” sophomore middle blocker Danielle Scott said.

Said junior setter Sabrina Hernandez, who attended Gahr High in Cerritos: “Last year we were very immature. This year, for some reason, the players have returned very mature. Last year the kids liked each other. This year we’re willing to fight for each other.”

Hernandez, who leads the nation in assists per game, has been the most outspoken about the team’s chances. “Our goal is to win it all,” she said.

Antoinnette White, a senior outside hitter from Lynwood who is an All-American candidate, is also optimistic about the 49ers’ chances.

“I believe we are going to win it all,” said White, who has been chosen the Big West Conference’s player of the week twice and is expected to set a conference record for aces. “I’m a senior now and I just have that feeling.”