Chase Leaving Trail of Success at Washington : Girls’ basketball: The coach helped build the City’s dominant team.

Mention Phil Chase to almost anyone who follows high school girls’ basketball in Los Angeles, and chances are they could speak at length about him.

Some might talk about the teams he has coached at Washington High in South-Central Los Angeles and point to the three consecutive City Division 4-A titles the Generals have won.

Others might speak about the players he has coached, from UCLA guard Detra Lockhart and Cal Poly Pomona’s Remitha Houston to current Washington High standout Charisse Sampson.

The self-appointed spokesman of City girls’ basketball who quietly entered the prep scene in 1983, will leave after this season.

“I’m just not enthused about coaching basketball again,” said Chase, who has a career record of 178-56 at Washington. “It is time for me to make a change.”

In his nine seasons as coach, Chase has separated the Generals from the rest of the City.

Over the last four seasons, Washington has been the state’s only ranked City team by Cal-Hi Sports and has not lost to a City opponent in 63 games. The Generals (27-2) will go for their fourth consecutive title Friday when they meet Wilmington Banning at 4:30 p.m. in the Sports Arena.

Chase is sometimes seen as the Generals’ version of the “White Shadow.”

“He does come across as out of place at first,” said Washington assistant coach Julie Rousseau, who is expected to replace Chase next season. “I guess he is not what you would expect (the girls’ coach) to look like.”

For every Washington game, the bespectacled Chase looks the same. With thinning black hair and a mustache, he sits conservatively dressed on the Generals’ bench.

His style is in sharp contrast to that of his team. His attire and attitude rarely change from game to game, but his team has a less conventional style.

From the colored tights under their shorts to their trendy black sneakers, the Generals do things their own way. One team member has even gone to wearing one red and one blue shoe in support of the school’s colors.

What Chase has done best over the years is let his players be themselves while still playing as a team. Rarely do you see a General argue with an official or taunt an opponent.

“I think that I am a little-better-than-average coach, but the credit for the success at Washington belongs to the players,” Chase said. “What I’ve tried to do is to put them in position to succeed. I know that if it wasn’t for the great athletes we had, we would not have won too many games.”

As a basketball coach and as a teacher, Chase has meant a great deal to his players.

Sampson, a starter since her freshman year at Washington, is a fan of Chase.

“Even though I lived near Washington, I was being recruited by other high schools in the eighth grade,” said Sampson, a senior who holds the City scoring and rebounding records. “When I first met (Chase), he came across as a person who cared more about me as an individual compared to the other coaches who only saw me as a basketball player.”

Chase has worked hard to help his players after they leave Washington. He is proud of the number of former players who are attending college, whether they are playing basketball or not.

Chase is a relative newcomer to basketball. A distance runner at University High in Los Angeles in the late 1960s, he graduated from UCLA with his only basketball experience being as a follower of former coach John Wooden. After college, Chase made a living playing chess, and even though he says that he wasn’t good enough to make a career from it, he is still regarded as an expert.

His life changed in the early 1980s when he decided he wanted to teach. Soon Chase found himself as a teacher’s assistant at Dorsey High where he worked with the Academic Decathlon Team.

“I learned that there was no difference in learning after the second day working there,” said Chase, who eventually was hired full time at Washington High because of his success at Dorsey.

Since going to Washington, Chase has taught English and history, along with the school’s academic decathlon. But it is on the court where he has made his mark.

“I recently heard a phrase that I think fits me: Some people are builders and some are maintainers,” Chase said. “I just feel now that I have to go somewhere and build.”

For those at Washington, his work will be missed.