HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS : Longmire Leads Pack

If Onaje Longmire were a follower, he probably would be one of the region’s top high school football players.

But Longmire, whose father, Samuel, played wide receiver for the Kansas City Chiefs from 1965 to 1969, is a leader who has his own goals, most of which revolve around a basketball court.

“I don’t like to follow in anybody else’s footsteps,” said Longmire, a Van Nuys High senior.

Longmire has been the leader at Van Nuys since he transferred from Cleveland during his sophomore year. As a junior, he led the Wolves with averages of 15 points and 9.1 rebounds. This season he is averaging a team-high 19.5 points.

The Van Nuys program has been on the rise since Longmire’s arrival, and that climb will climax Friday night at 8 when the Wolves, winners of 11 of their last 13 games, face Canoga Park in the City Section 3-A Division championship game at Cal State Los Angeles.

Longmire, whose first name is pronounced

oh-nah-JEE which in African means “deeply spiritual,” is a player the Wolves cannot afford to have in foul trouble.

“He just needs to be on the floor,” Coach Kevin Kanemura said. “Just his presence alone on the floor makes everybody feel more confident.”

But Longmire’s presence was nonexistent in preseason practices--a primary reason the Wolves got off to a dismal 1-3 and 5-7 start. Instead, he was on the football field, trying his father’s sport for the first time “just for fun.”

Onaje scored two touchdowns as a receiver, but he considers basketball his first love.

“This is really exciting,” he said of the title game. “I’ve never been to a championship game. Here’s my chance.”