18 March 2021

A Bit Part for Local History in a Los Angeles Times Article on the Ball Family

I was surprised to get an email last week from Los Angeles Times reporter Andrew Greif, saying he'd seen the blog and other references with my involvement in local history and wanted to talk to me about Chino Hills history as context for his article on the return of LaMelo Ball to this area tonight as his Charlotte Hornets play the Lakers.

I spoke to Andrew for a while, sharing my recollections, as mentioned in a post here, of LaMelo's father telling me at their house almost twenty years ago that his older sons, Lonzo (who is, for now, with the New Orleans Pelicans) and LiAngelo (still looking for an opportunity to get to the pros) were going to be in the NBA.  I don't think the boys were older than maybe 6 and 5, though the post probably says they were younger, but I sure was struck by LaVar's confidence as he told me that while showing me his back-yard set up for training his kids.

I was further surprised when Andrew asked if I would agree to have my photo included in the article, but I met Gina Ferazzi out on English Road, which still retains the rural equestrian feel of days gone by, for a quick session, which included the published photo, in which I had to stare in the sun and had a bit of trouble keeping my sensitive eyes fully open.  There's that and my pandemic hairdo, but Gina is a very good photographer and I like her images of LaVar.

In any case, Andrew got in a fair amount of the area's history, as well as interviews with a number of residents and officials, and wrote a really good article, which you can check out here.

No comments: