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This is the latest post for an ongoing media project — SoCal Sports History 101: The Prime Numbers from 00 to 99 that Uniformly, Uniquely and Unapologetically Reveal The Narrative of Our Region’s Athletic Heritage.  Pick a number and highlight an athlete — person, place or thing — most obviously connected to it by fame and fortune, someone who isn’t so obvious, and then take a deeper dive into the most interesting story tied to it. It’s a combination of star power, achievement, longevity, notoriety, and, above all, what makes that athlete so Southern California. Quirkiness and notoriety factor in. And it should open itself to more discussion and debate — which is what sports is best at doing.

The most obvious choices for No. 5:

= Reggie Bush: USC football
= Albert Pujols: Los Angeles Angels
= Robert Horry: Los Angeles Lakers
= Freddie Freeman: Los Angeles Dodgers
= Kenny Easley: UCLA football
= Baron Davis: UCLA basketball, Los Angeles Clippers

The not-so-obvious choices for No. 5:
= Brian Downing: California Angels
= Dieter Brock: Los Angeles Rams
= Misty May Treanor: Long Beach State women’s volleyball
= Ali Riley: Angel City FC
= Corey Seager: Los Angeles Dodgers
= Normar Garciaparra: Los Angeles Dodgers

The most interesting story for No. 5:
Hunter Greene: Notre Dame High of Sherman Oaks baseball (2014 to 2017)
Southern California map pinpoints:
Sherman Oaks, Stevenson Ranch, Compton, Woodland Hills

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Hunter Green might be No. 19-5511 TCX on the Patone color spectrum, described as a cool-tone, earthy, woodland shade that “can evoke feelings of peace and balance, and can also embody growth and new beginnings.”

Hunter Greene — add the “e” on the end of his swatch — wore No. 5 as the Notre Dame High of Sherman Oaks’ pitcher/shortstop/attention grabber when he arrived on the varsity baseball team as a freshman. That was pretty cool unto itself.

Greene found his own inner peace and balance as a two-way star. He wasn’t throwing shade. By the time he reached the end of his senior season, many saw him as Major League Baseball’s next big deal.

In numerology, No. 5 is said to represent flexibility and resilience. It represents the pentagram. It is supposed to bring luck for those intelligent, adventurous and have good communication skills.

Exhibit A: Hunter Greene.

When Sports Illustrated still had cultural relevance and media clout, it presented Hunter Greene to the world on the cover of its April 24, 2017 issue. A few months heading into the Major League Baseball draft, it proclaimed: “Baseball’s LeBron or the new Babe? He’s 17. He mashes. He throws 102. Hunter Greene is the star baseball needs (First he has to finish high school).”

It was suitable for framing.

While SI had put high school athletes on the cover before — less than a dozen — Greene was the first California high school athlete honored. Also, the first African-American prep baseball player on the cover.

Next came the June cover of Sports Illustrated for Kids: “Meet 17-year-old Hunter Greene, the slugging, flame-throwing, violin-playing painter who is on deck to become baseball’s biggest superstar.”

That’s a lot for one teenager to be saddled with. But if anyone might be best equipped to handle that sort of attention, Green, who grew up 20 miles north of the campus up in Stevenson Ranch near Santa Clarita, may have been the too-good-to-be-true story for a three-time All-CIF player.

“People are going to look at him expecting things and he’s still just a kid,” his father, Russell Greene said. “He has to rise to that occasion and he will.”

Eric Sondheimer of the Los Angeles Times whetted the appetite prior to SI with his own profile of Greene a couple months earlier, as the 2017 baseball season started, and the headline called him a “a teenage star in the making.”

“At 6 feet 4 and 211 pounds, with a still-maturing body and a powerful right arm that could lead to a $9-million signing bonus, Greene … scored 31 on the ACT and is on a first-name basis with many in Major League Baseball’s hierarchy, from the commissioner, Rob Manfred, to Hall of Famers Joe Torre and Tommy Lasorda. This smart, humble, communicative teen could be an ideal role model to perform on baseball’s highest stage.”

He was serving up 100-mph-plus fastballs in the recent winter league games.

He had become a fascinating fielding shortstop whose “power is only getting better since his 5-foot-10 freshman days when he batted just .122 on varsity. He has since hit .419 and .390 in the last two seasons. His improvement has been both consistent and dramatic.”

Green had the green light to do big things.

Continue reading “No. 5: Hunter Greene” →

This is the latest post for an ongoing media project — SoCal Sports History 101: The Prime Numbers from 00 to 99 that Uniformly, Uniquely and Unapologetically Reveal The Narrative of Our Region’s Athletic Heritage.  Pick a number and highlight an athlete — person, place or thing — most obviously connected to it by fame and fortune, someone who isn’t so obvious, and then take a deeper dive into the most interesting story tied to it. It’s a combination of star power, achievement, longevity, notoriety, and, above all, what makes that athlete so Southern California. Quirkiness and notoriety factor in. And it should open itself to more discussion and debate — which is what sports is best at doing.

The most obvious choices for No. 43:

= Troy Polamalu, USC football
= Raul Mondesi, Los Angeles Dodgers
= Mychal Thompson, Los Angeles Lakers

The not-so-obvious choices for No. 43:

= Greg Lee, UCLA basketball
= Rick Sutcliffe, Los Angeles Dodgers
= Dave Ball, UCLA football
= George Brunet, California Angels

The most interesting story for No. 43:
Troy Polamalu, USC football safety (1999 to 2002)
Southern California map pinpoints:
Garden Grove, Santa Ana, L.A. Coliseum

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The best chance Troy Polamalu had for survival when he was a kid was to move out of Southern California. His mother agreed.

So when he was 9 years old, with an incredible amount of self awareness, Troy went to live in Oregon. His Uncle Salu Polamalu would be a major influence on him.

Eventually, the next best chance Troy Polamalu had for self fulfillment as an talented, passion-filled athlete when he was a teenager was was to come back to Southern California. His family agreed.

So when he graduated from high school in Oregon, his Uncle Keneti Polamalu, better known during his USC football days as a running back named Kennedy Pola was a major influence on his finding a spot on the Trojans’ football roster.

It didn’t take all that long before Polamalu stood head and shoulders above his Trojan teammates. Aside from his signature head of hair.

Dynamic. Acrobatic. But with his soulful calmness, integrity and dedication to family and spirituality. He also became another link in a line of influential and admired Polynesian/American Samoan players in the region’s storied history history.

Continue reading “No. 43: Troy Polamalu” →

This is the latest post for an ongoing media project — SoCal Sports History 101: The Prime Numbers from 00 to 99 that Uniformly, Uniquely and Unapologetically Reveal Our Region’s Athletic Heritage. Pick a number and highlight an athlete — person, place or thing — most obviously connected to it by fame and fortune, someone who isn’t so obvious, and then take a deeper dive into the most interesting story tied to it. It’s a combination of star power, achievement, longevity, notoriety, and, above all, what makes that athlete so Southern California. Quirkiness and notoriety factor in. And it should open itself to more discussion and debate — which is what sports is best at doing.

The most obvious choices for No. 40:
= Elroy Hirsch: Los Angeles Rams
= Frank Tanana: California Angels
= Troy Percival: California/Anaheim Angels
= Bartolo Colon: Anaheim/Los Angeles Angels


The not-so-obvious choices for No. 40:
= Bill Singer: Los Angeles Dodgers
= Roman Phifer: UCLA football
= Karl Morgan: UCLA football
= Manu Tuiasosopo: UCLA football
= John Vallely: UCLA basketball

The most interesting story for No. 40:
Billy Bean, Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder (1989), Loyola Marymount outfielder (1983 to 1986)
Southern California map pinpoints:
Santa Ana, Westchester, Dodger Stadium

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When the Los Angeles Dodgers fumbled their way through a regrettably controversial Pride Night at Dodger Stadium in June of 2023, Billy Bean wasn’t going to shy away from any of it. He arrived in his No. 40 jersey — the number he wore during his one and only season with the team in 1989 as a reserve outfielder — and this event, however convoluted it had become, or misunderstood by those who had to have their own opinions, was going to have his positive spin.

That was likely the last time many in the organization saw him.

Just two months later, he was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. He revealed the diagnosis during the MLB’s Winter Meetings in December to help with a “Stand Up To Cancer” fundraiser. He had been awaiting a bone marrow transplant.

After a year-long battle, Bean died at his New York home on August 6, 2024. He was 60.

The photo of Bean in No. 40 was atop the New York Times/Athletic obituary of him that helped explain how he “played a groundbreaking role in pushing MLB to reshape its relationship with the LGBTQ community.” He had been actively serving as the MLB’s Senior Vice President for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and Special Assistant to the Commissioner as a way to amp up “visibility of LGBTQ issues in the sport and deliver education initiatives to players and front offices throughout the game.”

Bean never asked for this job. He just sort of evolved into it. As the sport did around him.

Continue reading “No. 40: Billy Bean” →

This is the latest post for an ongoing media project — SoCal Sports History 101: The Prime Numbers from 00 to 99 that Uniformly, Uniquely and Unapologetically Reveal The Narrative of Our Region’s Athletic Heritage.  Pick a number and highlight an athlete — person, place or thing — most obviously connected to it by fame and fortune, someone who isn’t so obvious, and then take a deeper dive into the most interesting story tied to it. It’s a combination of star power, achievement, longevity, notoriety, and, above all, what makes that athlete so Southern California. Quirkiness and notoriety factor in. And it should open itself to more discussion and debate — which is what sports is best at doing.

The most obvious choices for No. 13:
= Wilt Chamberlain: Los Angeles Lakers
= Paul George: Los Angeles Clippers
= Cobi Jones: Los Angeles Galaxy

The not-so-obvious choices for No. 13:
= Kenny Washington: UCLA football, Los Angeles Rams
= Keenan Allen: Los Angeles Chargers
= Max Muncy: Los Angeles Dodgers
= Tank Younger: Los Angeles Rams
= Cotton Warburton: USC football
= Caleb Williams: USC football
= Todd Marinovich: USC football

The most interesting story for No. 13:
Kenny Washington: UCLA football halfback (1937 to 1939); Hollywood Bears halfback (1940 to 1942); Los Angeles Rams running back (1946 to 1948), Los Angeles Angels infielder (1950).
Southern California map pinpoints:
East Los Angeles; Hollywood; Westwood (UCLA); Los Angeles (Gilmore Stadium, Coliseum, Wrigley Field)

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On Sept. 29, 1946, Kenny Stanley Washington strapped on a modest, leather football helmet without a facemask. There were the white horns of the Los Angeles Rams hand-painted on the side. He was called into the second half of the team’s season opener at the Los Angeles Coliseum against Philadelphia to sub in injured star quarterback Bob Waterfield and ineffective backup Jim Hardy.

It had been six months since Washington signed a contract with this newly-transplanted NFL franchise, so the team’s season opener became even more historic.

“Kingfish” Washington, also known as the “Sepia Cyclone,” was on the same turf where he was the first All-American in UCLA football history, eventually the school’s first College Football Hall of Fame inductee.

The now 28-year-old out of nearby Lincoln High in East L.A. became the first Black player to reintegrate the NFL, and the first professional Black athlete on the progressive West Coast.

Los Angeles Times’ sports editor Paul Zimmerman noted that, as 30,553 perspiring fans saw the world champion Rams make their first title defense in a 25-14 loss, Washington’s contribution to the final score was mentioned in the fifth paragraph, under the subhead “Gift Pair”:

A story in the Los Angeles Valley Times also barely noted Washington’s existence, again in the fifth paragraph:

Washington completed just one pass in seven attempts for 19 yards. He had no rushing totals.

It may not have blotted out more than a decade of an exclusionary, unwritten policy about franchises signing anyone of that particular race. This was still 6 1/2 months before Washington’s former UCLA football teammate, Jackie Robinson, made much bigger headlines by breaking Major League Baseball’s color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

These days, they erect statues, rebrand stadiums and build museums to remember Robinson. In Lincoln Heights, at the intersection of North Broadway and Lincoln Park Avenue near at Lincoln High football field, there is a square named after Washington that wasn’t put up until 2014.

Maybe comparing Robinson to Washington isn’t fair. But the truth is that Washington, had he not died far too young at age 52 in the summer of 1971 from a rare blood disorder, might have had more to say about it. His friend Robinson died about a year later at age 53. All that’s left now are changing narratives.

And yet it was Robinson who was once quoted: “Kenny Washington was the greatest football player I have ever seen. He had everything needed for greatness – size, speed and tremendous strength. … It would be a shame if he were to be forgotten.”

Continue reading “No. 13: Kenny Washington” →