Perrine climbs back to top

Barry Faulkner

There was the cumbersome looking knee brace and the slightest hint

of favoring the right leg that gave way a little more than four

months before, prompting reconstructive surgery and casting a pall

over an approaching season of promise for the Newport Harbor High

boys basketball team.

But, when senior Greg Perrine darted, slashed, sprinted, sprung

and sweat for the first time in game action, Dec. 13 against

nonleague visitor Edison, about a week after being cleared to

practice, it was quickly apparent that the 6-foot-1 point guard had

conquered the rehabilitation regimen required when he tore his

anterior cruciate ligament in a July 31 summer league game. He had

conquered rehab just like the long list of opponents he had bested

since he debuted as a varsity starter his sophomore year.

Perrine, having missed the first seven games of the season,

started that night for the Sailors and scored a team-high 14 points

to help key a 57-46 come-from-behind victory. He also collected six

assists, three rebounds, three steals and one blocked shot. He netted

four free throws in the final minute to clinch the win, then brushed

off amazement over his remarkable recovery.

The coming weeks featured some difficulties, both with the knee

and with returning to the proficiency which had led to a scholarship

offer from Chapman University (which he accepted) during a sparkling

summer campaign.

But Perrine eventually settled in and helped lead Coach Larry

Hirst’s Sailors to the outright Sea View League title, the school’s

first outright league crown since 1985.

He was named Co-Most Valuable Player by league coaches and then

transitioned to volleyball, where he also led the Tars to the league

crown and shared league and Newport-Mesa Dream Team MVP recognition

as a set-thumping outside hitter.

His basketball and volleyball prowess led to his being named Sea

View League Boys Athlete of the Year and, now, to his selection as

the Daily Pilot’s Newport-Mesa Boys Athlete of the Year.

Perrine spent three days a week in rehab in order to reclaim his

senior season, a prospect that Hirst candidly said was not to be

counted upon even days before Perrine started against Edison. But,

Perrine seemed genuinely surprised by the disbelief some expressed at

the level of play he was able to regain in basketball and volleyball.

But for the knee brace, one would never have guessed he’d had

major surgery, especially after he was well into the Sea View

basketball campaign.

He hit a game-winning three-pointer in the final seconds of a

league victory at Laguna Hills, but his contributions, Hirst

consistently pointed out, transcended scoring.

“He does all the obvious things like running our offense, shooting

and passing,” Hirst said after his strong Alaska tournament. “But he

also does all the intangibles that you can only appreciate if you

really follow basketball.”

Perrine averaged 10.2 points during the 20-7 basketball season,

which ended in the second round of the CIF Southern Section Division

II-AA Playoffs. He produced a career-high 23 points in a

league-opening win over Aliso Niguel.

Not long after joining Coach Dan Glenn’s volleyball team, he

earned MVP honors in the Orange County Championships, which the

Sailors won for the second straight season.

He consistently led the Sailors in kills and displayed the

all-around skills most would associate with a veteran of club

volleyball. Perrine, however, played for the first time for the

Balboa Bay Volleyball Club after his senior high school season.

He had foregone club volleyball participation previously in order

to devote his summers to the basketball program.

He was second-team All-CIF Division II in volleyball and played in

the Orange County All-Star match, after helping the Sailors reach the

section semifinals and compile a 26-7 record.

His junior basketball season, Perrine averaged 9.7 points en route

to second-team all-league laurels, then followed those honors with

second-team all-league and All-Newport-Mesa District recognition in

volleyball.

He played in 26 basketball games as a sophomore, averaging 4.9

points en route to second-team all-league honors. He helped Harbor

reach the CIF Playoffs in each of his three varsity basketball

seasons.

He made four postseason appearances in volleyball, contributing to

the 2000 squad that lost to Back Bay rival Corona del Mar in the CIF

Division I title match. He was called up to the varsity for the 1999

playoffs, when the Sailors claimed the CIF Division I crown.

*

Newport-Mesa Boys Athletes of the Year

2001-2002 -- Greg Perrine, Newport Harbor

2000-2001 -- Peter Belden, Newport Harbor

1999-2000 -- Kevin Hansen, Corona del Mar

1998-1999 -- Dennis Alshuler, Corona del Mar

1997-1998 -- Sam Nelson, Estancia

Brett Baker, Newport Harbor

1996-1997 -- Danny Pulido, Newport Harbor

1995-1996 -- Brian Coleman, Corona del Mar

1994-1995 -- Charles Chatman, Costa Mesa

1993-1994 -- Wade Tift, Newport Harbor

1992-1993 -- Beau Ralphs, Newport Harbor

1991-1992 -- Matt Fuerbringer, Estancia