Eugene “Gene” Black’s funeral was on Wednesday, and the Calvary Baptist community will miss the school’s girls volleyball and former girls basketball coach.

Although I never met him, I talked with him on the phone several times when he reported results to the paper.

He did a little bit of everything around the school, and I recalled him telling me four or five years ago that he was helping install the wood for the gym floor.

The wood was old bowling lanes donated by a local alley, and Gene, about 70 at the time, was down on the floor, bolting the wood to the floor.

“He put in the bulk of the hours on that floor,” his son-in-law Lincoln Dial said.

He did a lot of things around the school, more than I could mention in print for Thursday’s paper. Dial, who also coaches and serves as pastor at the school, said that Gene would make sure everything was locked up at night at the school.

“I was so relieved when he did that, because I didn’t have to worry about it,” Dial said.

They knew he did a lot, but I think now, they’re realizing just how much he did.

“We’ve been going around the school making a list of the things he used to take care of that we need to do now,” Dial said.

I wasn’t witness to his many good deeds, but I will miss the caring evident when he called in his team’s results, win or lose.

Mike Saeger, radio voice of the 66ers, became a dad for the first time last Friday when his wife J’leen gave birth to a girl, at 10:25 a.m., weighing eight pounds and measuring 19 inches.

I’m going to add to the drama a little bit longer before revealing the name.

If you recall, I posted on Sept. 11, a follow-up to a previous post asking for baseball-related baby names (especially Dodgers), because that’s what they wanted.

I got another e-mail after that Sept. 11 post, from a childhood friend of Saeger’s, Kevin Koons, who suggested Vin Scully Saeger. Well, since Vin is tough for a girl, they didn’t go with that.

They didn’ go with the other suggestions I got for a first and a middle name: Robinson Koufax, Grand Slam, Mitt Hurler, Jack Looper, Chase Striker, Diamond Lace, Diamond Pearl, Pearl Lace. Or some others they were considering: Shea, Ebbets, Camden or Wrigley.

J’leen at one point wanted to name the baby Saeger Saeger. And she wasn’t really kidding. Mike, of course, nixed that idea. So they got the next best thing, a middle name of Michael.

As for the first name, the winner is….

Ashlyn.

I had to rush to my computer to find the baseball connection. Apparently, there’s a former female baseball player named Ashlyn Homer. Or, as Saeger texted me, “most bats are made of ash.”

It’s good Saeger doesn’t broadcast college games, because Aluminum Saeger has more of a “ping” than a “ring” to it.

Anyway, congratulations to the Saegers.

Los Osos boys basketball coach Dave Smith has been organizing his “I Have a Dream Classic” for I believe six years now, a one-day Martin Luther King Jr. Day basketball event hosted by Los Osos on Monday.

Generally, as is the case with other one-day events, teams sign up to be in the event before the season and then are matched up with each other based on how their season is going.

Sometimes, those matchups are great. Sometimes, they’re duds. But after Monday, we can call Smith “The Matchmaker.”

Let’s look at the final four scores (out of seven games) of the event:

Miller 69, Diamond Bar 63

Chino Hills 77, Temecula Great Oak 74

Los Osos 66, Twentynine Palms 65

Los Alamitos 58, Etiwanda 57

If you’re math-challenged, that’s a total margin of 11 points in four games, and two for the final two games. There was a big blowout earlier in the day (Glendora 75, Colton 35), but that apparently due in part to a cancellation by Glendora’s original opponent.

I’d have to say Smith created some compelling matchups, including challenging his own team with a very talented small school. Not a bad way to keep an event going.

Summit’s girls basketball team is ranked No. 2 in Division II-A, and the SkyHawks have done much of it without starting point guard Adrianne Thomas.

Thomas was out since December after spraining the MCL in her knee just before Christmas in the Santa Barbara Tournament. Summit has filled in well without her, but it’s always good to get back a player of the caliber of Thomas, who averaged 11.4 points, 4.0 assists, 4.9 rebounds and 4.2 steals last year.

Initially, the fear was that Thomas’ knee was torn, which would’ve essentially ended her season. But instead it was a sprain and a “really aggressive rehab” got her back in about three weeks. She played in her first game on Thursday, scoring two points in about six minutes of playing time.

Coach Alexis Barile said Thomas is champing at the bit to play more, but they will take it slowly with her return.

Summit won’t be challenged in the Sunkist League, but can look to Jan. 31 when they’ll play a challenging opponent to be announced in Cajon’s one-day girls basketball event.

Ayala’s Extravaganza, set for Jan. 24 this year, is a great one-day event of girls basketball, although it doesn’t have as many local teams as I would like.

Here is this year’s schedule as released by Ayala coach Mel Sims:

Monrovia vs. Anaheim Magnolia, 9 a.m.

Ventura vs. Inglewood St. Mary’s, 10:30 a.m.

Orange Lutheran vs. Santa Fe Springs St. Paul, noon

Lynwood vs. Perris, 1:30 p.m.

West Hollywood Pacific Hills vs. Diamond Ranch, 3 p.m.

Chino Hills vs. Long Beach Millikan, 4:30 p.m.

Fullerton Troy vs. Los Angeles Marlborough, 6 p.m.

Long Beach Poly vs. Chatsworth, 7:30 p.m.

Ayala vs. Moreno Valley Vista Del Lago, 9 p.m.

Thanks to Tribune colleague Fred Robledo for this info on the Southern California Shootout, a basketball event held Jan. 24 at Azusa Pacific

Southern California Shotout
Flintridge Prep vs. Walnut, 8:30 a.m.
Bishop Amat Girls vs. Sonora Girls, 9:55 a.m.
West Covina vs. Ayala, 11:30 a.m.
Rowland vs. Diamond Ranch, 12:45 p.m.
Damien vs. Northview, 2:10 p.m.
Glendora vs. Ontario Christian, 3:35 p.m.
Vista Murrieta vs. La Canada, 5 p.m.
Etiwanda vs. Golden Valley, 6:25 p.m.
Los Osos vs. Colony, 7:50 p.m.
Brea vs. Diamond Bar, 9:15 p.m.