Long Beach lost a legendary member of its sports community earlier this month with the passing of beloved golfer Len Kennett, who passed peacefully at home at the age of 98 years old. Kennett was a member of several local Halls of Fame and in 1955 founded the Len Kennett Junior Golf Championship, an event still held every year seven decades later.
“One of the most passionate men I’ve ever met when it came to the game we both loved,” wrote Long Beach Golf Hall of Fame chair Bob Livingstone in a tribute to Kennett. “Thanks for your friendship, support and mentorship Mr. Kennett.”
Kennett was born in 1927 and was raised fell in love with golf while caddying during the Great Depression at the Santa Anita Golf Course in Arcadia. He joined the Marines at the tail end of World War II and after the war played collegiate golf at USC, where he was the team’s captain and was part of the 1950 Southern California Collegiate Championship.
Kennett served as the golf pro at San Gabriel Country Club, Los Verdes Golf Club, and the Lakewood Country Club until his retirement from teaching in 2001. Kennett truly dedicated his life to the sport of golf, and to bringing more people onto the course, and he spent so much time dedicated to so many disparate golf-related efforts that it’s hard to sum his impact up in one article.
“Mr. Kennett was a pillar of the Southern California golf community for over 70 years,” said Nikki Gatch, the CEO and Executive Director of the SoCal Professional Golf Association in a statement. “As a PGA Professional, he exemplified integrity, dedication, and an unwavering passion for the game. He was especially revered for his tireless support of junior golf, mentoring countless young players and inspiring generations. His legacy will live on not only in the many lives he touched but in the spirit of the game he loved so deeply. He will be greatly missed.”
Golf was not considered a “kids’ sport” in the 1950s when Kennett founded his Junior Golf Championship. It was an adult game for serious people—but Kennett believed in opening it up for kids and teaching a love of the game at a younger age, something he did tirelessly for the rest of his life. The Junior Golf Championship was the first stop of stars like Tiger Woods (twice), Paul Goydos and John Merrick, regularly drawing 300+ competitors to the Lakewood Country Club, where a walkbridge on the course was named in Kennett’s honor. The event has been running for 70 years and the Kennett family plans to continue it going forward.
Kennett’s impact can’t be measured just in the events he founded or the length of his tenure as a golf pro. It’s measured in the number of lives he influenced over the years. In a recent tribute post, upcoming Long Beach Golf Hall of Fame inductee Troy Grant wrote, “His influence is in everything I do.”
Grant, a longtime golf pro himself, said, “He dedicated his life to growing golf and mentoring others, and I’m proud to say I’m a golf professional because of him…Thank you, Len, for believing in me, for guiding me, and for passing down your passion for the game. I will miss you greatly, but your legacy lives on in the way I teach, carry myself, and honor the game we both love. Thank you for everything…you were, and always will be, the BEST.”
Kennett’s service as a golf pro and tournament organizer was only part of his impact on local youth golfers. He spent much of his free time finding ways to increase access as well. His company People to People hosted golf trips to more than 40 countries connecting Southern California golfers with likeminded people around the globe.
Kennett is a member of the Long Beach Golf Hall of Fame, the Long Beach Century Club Hall of Fame, the Southern California Golf Association Hall of Fame, and the Southern California PGA Hall of Fame. He also won the SCPGA’s Heritage Award in 2010, the SCGA’s Lynn Smith Award in 2005, and the SCPGA Bill Bryant Award in 1991. He was inducted into the Long Beach Golf Hall of Fame in 1998, and went on to spend another 27 years serving the Long Beach golf community.
Kennett was also a devoted family man and was a beloved husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. He was married to Marie Kennett for more than 60 years, raising daughters Beverly Lindberg and Teresa Kennett. The Kennetts had five grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.
An obituary posted by the family reads in part, “(Len) was a cherished great-grandfather whose quiet wisdom and loving presence spanned four generations. Whether offering swing advice, sharing stories from his travels, or cheering from the sidelines, Len was a guiding light and source of strength to his entire family.”
When Marie passed in 2016 after 65 years of marriage, Len wrote that her last words to him were, “Len, I am going ahead. I will save a place for you, we will be together again.”
Services will be announced at a later date, with a public celebration of life that will give the local golf community a chance to recognize Kennett’s contributions together.
Orange’s leading scorer Friday night Ivan Kim in the tournament opener. (PHOTOS: Tom Connolly, For OC Sports Zone).
Orange’s boys basketball team got off to a slow start and couldn’t recover, falling to Incline High of Nevada 52-32 in an opening round game of the 60th annual Orange Holiday Basketball Classic Friday at Orange.
Incline forward Halen Hanson led all scorers with 17 points to help the team snap a five-game losing streak and improved its record to 4-6 while Orange (5-9) lost its third consecutive game.
To see additional photos, click on the first photo:
Incline players left to right with Coach Tim Kelly, Halen Hansen, Jonah Miller, Lucas MacDonald and Andrew Bodel after the win Friday.
Orange Coach Jake Rhodes (fourth from left) talks to his team during a timeout.
Irvine players warm up before Friday’s game.
“We lack basketball awareness and making adjustments,” said Panthers Coach Jake Rhodes, who was missing four players due to sickness and unavailability. “We’re not shooting well. I think we’re shooting something like 18 percent from the 3-point line. We can’t continue to try and shoot over taller opponents in the paint. We must push through this and be focused on the fact that the team comes first.”
The Panthers fell behind 14-7 in the opening quarter but held Incline scoreless over the final 3:40 of the quarter and added baskets by Sebastian Nunez and Fernando Reyes to cut the lead to 14-11 after eight minutes of play.
Both teams didn’t shoot well in the second quarter. The Panthers were held to two baskets by Anthony Randle and Ivan Kim in the quarter but still only trailed 23-15 at halftime.
Orange’s shooting woes continued in the third quarter as the Panthers didn’t sink a bucket until Alex Villa nailed a 3-pointer with 1:12 left in the quarter, but Orange trailed 36-21 after three quarters and the Highlanders cruised to a victory.
“Shooting has been our big problem,” said Panthers assistant coach Rob Nasman. “Our defense is improving but as a team we’re still having too many lapses and we’re giving up too many second chance points.”
Orange forced 13 turnovers in the game but was never able to draw any closer than 10 points of the lead in the second half.
“We didn’t have the energy today; we need to come out with more energy,” said Ivan Kim , who led Orange with 13 points. “We know we’re better than this and we know what we are capable of, but we have to prove it.”
The Highlanders were consistently able to drive into the lane for layups and limited Orange to one shot on the offensive end. Incline also outrebounded the Panthers and moved the ball efficiently.
“Tonight was the best job we did all season getting Lucas MacDonald the ball in the key,” said Incline’s coach Tim Kelly. “We need to get him the ball more in the paint for him to be effective. We are still trying to find our identity as a team.”
“We did good getting back on defense, moving the ball, rebounding and getting key baskets,” said Hanson, who scored 10 points for the Highlanders.
In other tournament games, Fullerton defeated Boulder City, Nev. 54-42 and Shadow Ridge topped Irvine 50-49.
Notes:
—Orange will play Shadow Ridge of Nevada on Saturday at 6 p.m. while Incline faces Irvine at 7:30.
–—The Orange Holiday Basketball Classic is the longest running Christmas basketball Tournament in Orange County. The event started Friday, including boys’ and girls’ divisions with the girls championship game scheduled Tuesday at 6 p.m. The boys’ final will follow at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday night.
—In the boys division, Pool A consists of Incline, Nevada; Irvine, Orange and Shadow Ridge of Nevada, Nev. Pool B will include Boulder City, Nevada, Cerritos, Fullerton, and Long Beach Wilson.
—In the girls division, Pool A includes Apple Valley, Laguna Hills, Montclair, and Valley Christian. Pool B includes Cabrillo, Fullerton, Irvine, Orange.
—Incline’s coach Tim Kelly is the son-in-law of former Servite football coach Larry Toner. Kelly said his son, John Paul Kelly, is currently an eighth grader and is a skillful basketball player who plans to relocate to Southern California next season and attend Servite or Mater Dei and play basketball.
—Incline High School is in Nevada on the north shore of Lake Tahoe.
Bayern Munich have, supposedly, always put an emphasis on academy talents and transitioning that talent to make an impact in the first team. However, for years it felt as if Bayern’s pool of youth talent had run dry. Blame the front office, blame the coaches or blame the general lack of talent. It doesn’t matter. Lennart Karl’s tremendous success story this season is single-handedly forging Bayern’s youth strategy for the future.
In an interview with Maximilian Koch of Abendzeitung, Bayern CEO, Christian Dreesen, stressed the importance of Karl’s emergence, the Bavarian side’s youth academy and how the club will continue to lean on academy players in the future.
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“Lennart Karl is doing incredibly well,” exclaimed Dreesen (as captured by @iMiaSanMia). “Compared to other 17-year-olds, he’s simply much, much more mature. Christoph Freund, Max Eberl, and Vincent Kompany recognized his immense talent, which is why he got his chance. And he seized it. Of course, we couldn’t have expected him to establish himself so quickly. This has to be our path for the future. Lennart is an example for other talents at the academy that they can make it to the top. Just like Josip Stanišić, Aleksandar Pavlović, and Jamal Musiala before him. We’re investing a lot of money in the academy, and it has to pay off. A high percentage of players trained here are making it to the professional level – significantly more than at any other German club. To remain competitive in the medium and long term, we need to rely on a mix of homegrown players and international superstars like Harry Kane or Luis Díaz. Financially, the Premier League is too far ahead – especially when it comes to TV revenue. English clubs earn 80% more from domestic TV rights than their German counterparts, and the differences are even bigger internationally.”
The 58-year-old CEO went on to explain Bayern’s need to find creative ways to bridge the financial gap that exists between the Bundesliga and Premier, perhaps hinting that the youth academy could be a good example.
“We need to find other sources of revenue or further improve existing ones,” explained Dreesen. “Take sponsorship, for example; we’re doing very well there, among the top three European clubs. And we need to increase that even more. We’ll only be able to compete internationally in the future if we grow dynamically in sponsorship and merchandising. And then I’m not worried about the future. We have to work harder for it; for us, money doesn’t just seem to grow on trees like it does for others. We have to work for every euro and, above all, be careful about how we spend. It’s about our ambition to play top-level European football while simultaneously being financially stable. We have to try to maintain this balance. And that’s harder than it perhaps used to be.”
The recent emergence of Aleksandar Pavlović and Lennart Karl have certainly given Bayern impetus to trust and utilize the youth academy, something fans have been crying out for season upon season. Youth players also incur no transfer fee which comes as a massive positive on Bayern’s balance sheet. Considering Kompany’s knack for integrating young players into his squad as well as ‘Die Rekordmeister’s’ financial savvy, one can expect the academy to play an increasingly important role.
The Alabama Sports Writers Association has released the three finalists for Back and Lineman of the year in each classification.
Plainview junior Cole Holland has been name one of the three finalist for 4A Lineman of the Year along with Sharontae Bailey, Anniston and Laquon Whisenhunt, Jackson.
Holland anchored the Bears offensive line this season as Plainview captured the 4A Region 8 Championship going 13-1 advancing to the semifinals for the first time since 1999. Holland blocked for an offensive that scored 586 points this season averaging 41.9 PPG. This year’s Bears offense scored the most points in school history, passing the 1991 team that scored 553 points.
ASWA FINALISTS
Winners of the Alabama Sports Writers Association’s major high school football awards, Mr. Football and the 12-member Super All-State team are scheduled to be announced Jan. 20 at a lunch banquet at the Montgomery Renaissance.
Rosenberg National Little League (RNLL) has officially opened registration for the Spring 2026 baseball season, welcoming boys and girls ages 4 through 14 to participate in one of the community’s longeststanding youth sports programs.
The Spring 2026 season will run from February through late May, with all practices and games held at Seabourne Creek Regional Sports Complex in Rosenberg.
RNLL offers divisions ranging from Tee Ball for firsttime players through Junior Baseball for older youth, with a strong emphasis on player development, sportsmanship, and teamwork.
Registration closes on Jan. 25. Players must be registered by the close of registration to be eligible for evaluations and team placement. Registration fees vary by division and help support uniforms, equipment, field maintenance, umpires, and league operations.
New for Spring 2026, RNLL is introducing a Rookie Ball division for players ages 5–6 who have completed one season of Tee Ball. Rookie Ball is designed to bridge the gap between Tee Ball and Coach Pitch by allowing players to see a limited number of coach-thrown pitches before using a tee if needed, helping young athletes build confidence while learning the fundamentals of live pitching.
Player evaluations will be held following the close of registration, except for Tee Ball and Rookie Ball, which do not require evaluations. Practices are expected to begin in early February, with games starting after Spring Break. The season will conclude prior to Memorial Day.
Rosenberg National Little League is led by dedicated volunteers and coaches who focus on teaching the game in a positive, supportive environment while fostering community involvement and youth development.
Families interested in registering for the Spring 2026 season can find additional information and complete registration online at www.rosenbergnationallittlelea-gue. net.
For updates and league announcements, the public is encouraged to follow Rosenberg National Little League on Facebook.
LA HABRA 63, WASHINGTON PREP 48: Acen Jimenez led the Highlanders with 27 points, five rebounds and five assists. Josh Desatoff and Aaron Wilson each had 15 points and three 3-pointers for La Habra.
FOOTHILL 69, AQUINAS 51: Magnus Lawson had 20 points, Braeden Davidson 18 points and five rebounds, Marlee Slone 12 points, six rebounds and five assits and Damir Buckingham seven points and four assists to lead the Foothill Knights.
PACIFICA CHRISTIAN 64, REDWOOD 57: Pacifica Christian was led by Michael Noel, who scored 19 points and had assists. Joaquin Rigdon scored 18 points and Soloman Huang had seven points.
LOS AMIGOS 56, FOOTHILL, NEV. 51: Los Amigos (9-5) was led by Phillip Stewart, who had 18 points and seven rebounds and Jayvon Morgan, who had 10 points in the win over the Foothill team from Nevada.
JSERRA 71, ST. IGNATIUS, OHIO 70: The Lions (11-5) were led by Jaden Bailes with 29 points and Ryan Doane with 17 points.
Crean Lutheran 62, Owyhee 59
ESTANCIA COAST CLASSIC SHOOTOUT
WOODBRIDGE 65, WESTERN 35: Woodbridge (11-4) was led by Jaiden Sabino, who had 31 points and Zacc Saleh who scored 10 points. Woodbridge faces Compton Saturday at 9 a.m. at Estancia.
NEWPORT HARBOR 53, SAN CLEMENTE 46: Owen Saukkola led all scorers with 23 points. Marcel Aguilar added 16 points for the Sailors (10-3).
RINGO BOSSENMEYERTUSTIN HOLIDAY CLASSIC
TESORO 55, MERCER ISLAND 49: The Titans (14-2) were led by Owen Hatch who scored 14 points, Carson Hatch who had 10 points, three rebounds and two assists and Max Draper, who had eight points and 10 rebounds. The Titans face St. Anthony Saturday at 4:30 p.m. Tustin meets Servite at 7:30 p.m.
St. Anthony 60, Beckman 59
Servite 81, Huntington Park 21
Tustin 69, Hawaii Baptist 29
TORREY PINES CLASSIC
CYPRESS 64, MARANATHA CHRISTIAN 51: Ryan Gov led the Centurions (11-5) with 20 points. Ethan Mai added 18 points on six 3-pointers and Gavin Kroll had 14 points with two 3-pointers.
MT. CARMEL TOURNAMENT
EL DORADO 85, EASTLAKE, SAN DIEGO 69: Noah Barker had 20 points, Jack Boettner 18 points, Ryan Northcott 16 points, Elias Rodarte 15 points and Evan Nam 13 points to lead the Golden Hawks (13-1).
ORANGE HOLIDAY CLASSIC
SHADOW RIDGE 50, IRVINE 49: Irvine (7-8) was led by Evan Terakawa, who had 13 points. Holden Stearns and Chase Brito had 11 points each and Jalen Yim eight points for the Vaqueros, who face Incline, Nev. Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
Fullerton 54, Boulder City, Nev. 42
Incline, Nev. 52, Orange 32
DESERT HOLIDAY CLASSIC
VILLA PARK 79, SIMI VALLEY 44: Villa Park (11-6) was led by Sebastian Perez, who had 17 points and four 3-pointers. Jordan Salem had 15 points, seven rebounds and five blocks for the Spartans. Jalen Cotton had 10 points and Nathan Chung nine points.
