GITTELSON BITS column

A.D. makes a weighty difference
BY GERRY GITTELSON, Columnist

I'm usually pretty good with faces, but I had no idea I was reacquainting myself with Saugus athletic director Kevin Miner the past few times we said hello.

That's because Miner, who used to weigh 385pounds, wasn't recognizable after losing more than 140 pounds in just one year and having shaved his head on a bet.

I was too embarrassed to ask who the heck he was. Finally, I implored a colleague to identify this "stranger" the other day at a Saugus basketball game and was shocked to learn it was Miner, with whom I had spent countless hours through the seasons at various prep sporting events.

"Don't feel bad. It happens all the time now," he said. "At Disneyland the other day, a fellow staff member came up to us and recognized my wife but walked right by me."

Miner, 39, was among the Southland's top baseball pitchers at Saugus during the 1980s. He was a two-time All-Southern Section selection whose fastball was clocked at 90 mph.

After playing college ball at Azusa Pacific, Miner's weight went up and down - a problem I can relate to - before he finally committed himself to a health program, followed by gastric bypass surgery.

"Actually, I never had a problem losing weight, I just kept gaining it back again, plus more," Miner said. "I finally decided I needed some help, and it started with seeing a nutritionist and behaviorist. So far, so good."
Not surprisingly, Miner says he has a boundless new supply of energy. The other night, when he stood next to Hart athletic director Mike Herrington, an avid weightlifter, I kidded Herrington about Miner now being the Foothill League's trimmest A.D.

"I've got two kids, 9 and 5, and I guess the biggest difference now is I don't sit on the couch and watch TV all night," Miner said. "I do things with them. I feel great and just have much more energy. I'm not tired all the time."

-- Sean Sehnam, a former Crespi High of Encino football standout who led Division II college kickers with 15field goals and was No. 3 in punting at Western New Mexico this past season, has obtained his release and plans to transfer to a Division I university.

"He just wasn't having a good college experience," said his father, David, who was the winning pitcher in Granada Hills Little League's 1963 world series victory in Williamsport, Pa.

"There were a lot of reasons. The adjustment from going from an area with a 3 million population to 10,000, the poor facilities, the 16-hour bus rides, the lack of a commitment to winning by the school and his desire to compete at a higher level."

Sehnam, a freshman, has sent a highlight tape to 52 Division I universities.

If a D-I scholarship doesn't pan out, he plans to play at College of the Canyons.

-- Taft running back Malcolm Smith, among the San Fernando Valley's most sought-after uncommitted college football prospects, has narrowed his choices to USC, where his brother, Steve, is a senior receiver, and Notre Dame.

Jeff Cirillo, a 13-year major league veteran, two-time All-Star and .298 career hitter, will return to his alma mater, Providence High of Burbank, for a ceremony Thursday to retire his jersey and honor the 20-year anniversary of Providence's 1986 small-schools baseball championship.

So far, nine ex-Providence teammates have confirmed their attendance.

"How often does a Major League Baseball player come to a small school?" said Jim Wagner, who was the team's assistant in 1986 under Marc Saraceno. "It's going to be a good event."

-- Per a new school district rule, the Foothill League has disallowed negative cheers and banners as part of move toward better sportsmanship.

There will also be no more "Newhall High" references to Hart High, something that's been going on for a few years as part of plan supposedly to diffuse Hart's football mystique.

Gerry Gittelson's column appears Sundays in the Daily News.

gerry.gittelson@dailynews.com

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