NOTEBOOK : Duncan Named Division V Player of Year

Jrmirol Duncan, a senior point guard for the Division V state champion Ribet Academy boys’ basketball team, was selected Southern Section Division V player of the year.

Duncan, who was named to The Times’ All-Glendale team, averaged 20 points a game for the Fighting Frogs this season.

Duncan missed the state championship game because of a knee injury sustained in the state tournament semifinals.

Ribet teammates Jauquin Moore and Andre English were selected to the Division V first team. Chris Maxwell made the second team.

Add awards: Cherokee Parks of Marina High in Huntington Beach and Tamika Phillips of Chaffey were named winners of the George Yardley Award, honoring the best boys’ and girls’ basketball players in Southern California, at The Times’ basketball awards banquet Sunday at the Anaheim Sheraton hotel.

Parks, a 6-foot-10 center who will attend Duke next fall, averaged 28.8 points a game this season.

Phillips, who will attend Cal Poly Pomona, led Southern Section girls in scoring (28 points a game) and rebounding (20).

La Canada guard Jeff Lord and Spartan Coach Tom Hofman were honored as Glendale-area boys’ player and coach of the year.

Jennifer Dalton of Glendale and Dynamiter Coach Paul Broneer were honored as Glendale-area girls’ player and coach of the year.

The Times’ all-area teams, and the players and coaches of the year, were selected by Times sportswriters based on ballots received from area coaches.

Last hurrah: Several Glendale-area seniors figured prominently in victories for the West teams in the West San Gabriel Valley All-Star basketball games played last Saturday at La Canada High.

Lord scored 20 points in the West’s 122-112 victory over the East in the boys’ game. Brad Haines of Crescenta Valley also scored 20 points and Kyle Barrett of St. Francis added 16.

In the girls’ game, Debbie Nilsen of Flintridge Sacred Heart and Karen Pearson of Flintridge Prep each scored 14 points as the West won, 74-63.

Berlyn Cosman of Crescenta Valley added 13 points.

Paul Perkins of South Pasadena, who had 17 points and eight rebounds, was selected the most valuable player in the boys’ game.

Kim Davis of Muir, who had 11 points and 18 rebounds, was the girls’ MVP.

Record-setter: Occidental College swimmer Ed Bedford, the Tigers’ lone representative in last week’s NCAA Division III championships, finished third in the 100-yard butterfly in a school-record 50.01 seconds.

Bedford, a junior from Etna, N.H., also placed 10th in the 50-yard freestyle in 21.23.

Qualifiers: Three Occidental distance runners qualified for the NCAA Division III track and field championships after performances last weekend in the Cal Poly Pomona invitational.

Jose Garcia qualified in the 10,000 meters, running 30 minutes 58 seconds.

Emmet Hogan and Konstantine Kendriech qualified in the 5,000. Hogan was clocked in 14:36; Kendriech in 14:40.

The Division III championships will be held May 22-25 at Baldwin-Wallace College in Cleveland.

Add qualifiers: Brady Dargan of Occidental, who earlier this season qualified for the national championships in the hammer throw, was named to the 1990 National Strength and Conditioning Assn. All-American team.

Dargan, a senior who was a two-time all-conference defensive end for the Tigers’ football team, was among 125 athletes selected from 85 NCAA Division I, II and III schools.

Fast start: The Eagle Rock boys’ volleyball team is off and running under second-year Coach Bill Whiting.

The Eagles are 5-1 overall and 4-1 in Northern Conference play, their only loss coming against Verdugo Hills, which finished second in the 3-A Division last season.

Johnny Lam, an All-City selection last season, is leading the Eagles with 14 kills a match.

Vote postponed: Marshall, Eagle Rock, Franklin and Verdugo Hills high schools will have to wait until Monday to find out how the Los Angeles Unified School District intends to handle sports schedules when the district goes to a year-round academic calendar next fall.

The district is considering a proposal that would provide $1.2 million to keep high school sports teams operating according to their traditional schedules.

A vote on the proposal, originally scheduled for March 18, was postponed until Monday.

Softball sign-ups: Sign-ups for men’s, women’s and co-ed softball leagues sponsored by the Glendale Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department, have begun.

Applications will be accepted until all of the slots are full.

Information: 818-548-3797.

Brave new world: Two former Glendale-area junior college players participated in the World League of American Football’s inaugural weekend of play Saturday and Sunday.

Sacramento safety Greg Coauette, who won J.C. Grid-Wire All-American honors at Glendale College in 1983, made two interceptions and six tackles in the Sacramento Surge’s 9-3 win over the Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks in Sacramento on Saturday.

New York/New Jersey wide receiver Lonnie Turner, who played at Los Angeles City College in 1979, made one reception for 13 yards in the Knights’ 19-7 loss to the Barcelona Dragons in Spain on Sunday.

Another World: Turner is a football pioneer for the second time. He played for the U.S. Football League’s Los Angeles Express in 1983, and so far is the only player to have participated in the first season of both spring leagues.

Before the WLAF opener, Turner said the two leagues were “about the same” at their early stages, but it was easier playing for the Express because he was living at home.

Turner, 30, played with the USFL’s Oklahoma Outlaws in 1984 and Denver Gold in 1985. He was out of football after the USFL ceased operations after the 1985 season and he began working at his father’s Glendale construction company.

Turner returned to football in 1989 when his coach with the Gold, Darrell (Mouse) Davis, became the Detroit Lions’ offensive coordinator. But Turner was waived in the Lions’ last cut before the start of the regular season.

When Davis became the Knights’ coach in January, he contacted Turner.

“I just want to play one more year of football,” Turner said. “I’m not looking to get back to the NFL. I just I had a goal to reach, to catch a lot of passes for a lot of yards, and this is a chance to reach that goal.”

Staff writer Steven Herbert contributed to this notebook.