Pepperdine’s van Breda Kolff Left Mark in ABA

Pepperdine basketball fans without a sense of history probably assume Coach Jan van Breda Kolff, 47, played the game. For one thing, he’s 6 feet 7.

But few realize an action photograph of van Breda Kolff is only a point-and-click away.

Van Breda Kolff is pictured on the home page of RemembertheABA.com, a Web site dedicated to preserving the legacy of the long-defunct American Basketball Assn.

He shares the page with another player, some guy named Julius Irving, but van Breda Kolff probably doesn’t mind.

The son of former Lakers Coach Butch van Breda Kolff, Jan was a second-round draft choice of the Portland Trail Blazers in 1974, but he signed with the Denver Rockets of the ABA and played two seasons in the league, also spending time with the Kentucky Colonels and Virginia Squires.

Van Breda Kolff went on to play seven seasons for the New York and New Jersey Nets, scoring 3,696 points.

In the Web site photo, the back of van Breda Kolff’s Squires’ jersey simply reads VBK.

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Tom Canale, a junior right-hander at Cal Lutheran, has been selected to Baseball America magazine’s Division III preseason All-American team.

Canale, a power pitcher, was 10-4 with a 1.94 earned-run average last season, striking out 133 in 126 innings. Baseball America also lists him among the top five professional prospects in Division III.

The Kingsmen have qualified for the Division III World Series four times in seven seasons under Coach Marty Slimak, yet they are not listed as a top-five team by Baseball America.

Chapman, Cal Lutheran’s longtime Southland nemesis, is ranked No. 3.