It'll be like old times at Healdsburg High

In what promises to be a quality girls? high school basketball game tonight when Healdsburg hosts No. 1 ranked Petaluma, there is also a turn-back-the-clock feature that should interest fans of the 1980s and ?90s.

First-year Healdsburg coach Jackie Henderson, who starred as a Greyhound just over 20 years ago, is being assisted by Harry Tappin, her high school coach and the man who won 12 consecutive Sonoma County League championships, had a 110-league game win streak, won three section championships and took his 1991 and ?92 teams to state title games.

And Tappin?s arch-nemesis for much of that time is longtime Petaluma coach Doug Johnson, who also has won numerous league championships and took the Trojans to state in 2000.

That their teams always seemed to play important games against one another and the competition was sometimes fierce, most believed Tappin, 70, and Johnson, 68, didn?t especially like one another. Not so says Tappin and Johnson.

?We used to laugh about that,? said Johnson. ?We used to talk a half-hour before the games and ask what kind of show we were going to put on. We?ve always been close friends.?

Tappin stepped away from coaching just over eight years ago. Henderson, whom he coached beginning in fourth grade, has coached frosh and JV girls at Healdsburg the last five years. Henderson had been trying to get Tappin back into coaching. He told Henderson, who now goes by her married name of Sellards, that if she ever coached varsity, he would assist her.

?Oh yeah, I called him right away,? Sellards said. ?Harry has a wealth of knowledge. He was a father figure for me growing up.?

?When she called me up she told me to dust off my tennis shoes,? Tappin said.

Tappin has missed just one practice and has attended all the games. He sits while Sellards stands. For the most part.

?I always stood when I coached,? Tappin said. ?Jackie and I had a good laugh in one game. The ball went in the backcourt and I told the ref it was Headldsburg?s ball. He told me to shut up, that assistant coaches can?t say anything.?

Tappin said coaching really hasn?t changed, although he?s noticed that some of the girls? don?t seem as fundamentally sound and that there are usually just one or two girls on a team that are good shooters.

?That?s a pretty good observation,? Johnson said. ?For all kids they just have so many more interests today.?

?We?re on the same page,? Sellards said of Tappin. ?I talk to the girls and I think Jackie and I work well together,? Tappin said. ?I?ll say, ?Get the hell out of that offense,? and she will.?

Healdsburg has been one of the hottest teams in the Empire. Last week, the Greyhounds upset Sonoma, which tied Petaluma for the SCL title last season, and then edged nearby rival Windsor Saturday night.

Sellards believes her team can play Petaluma closer than the first meeting, when the Trojans won by 19 points.

?I think every game we?re playing better,? Sellards said. ?They?re learning to win those close games.?

Tappin has been impressed by the girls? learning curve. Senior co-captain Addison Brush reminds Tappin of one of his top players, Lannie Bebber. ?She was a leader and would step up. Lannie and Addison are like, ?I?ve gotten enough points so let?s get the ball to the others.?

While Healdsburg had some strong teams under Tappin?s successor, Sal Costanzo (the 2003-2004 team with Jamie Van Horne went 29-1), Windsor has cut into Healdsburg?s enrollment. When Tappin coached, Healdsburg had nearly 1,200 students. Now, Healdsburg, which has dropped to Division IV, has about 850 students.

Tappin, who has retired from his glass company in Healdsburg, but still works with contractors in the area, believes to build up the progam, youth programs must be rebuilt.

Tappin remembers giving away basketballs to young camp goers. ?You?d see them dribbling them all over town. You don?t see that now.?

Johnson still oversees youth programs in Petaluma and is currently working with a group of first graders. He agrees that to have a strong high school program, girls? need to be introduced to the sport at a young age.

Sellards said that she still adheres to Tappin?s coaching philosophy of ?how well you play is based on how hard you work and there are plenty of life lessons besides just knowing strategy.?

Johnson is looking forward to tonight?s game and the chance of seeing Tappin again. ?I have the deepest respect for Healdsburg and its fans.?

And Johnson, one of a handful of coaches who attendend Tappin?s surprise 70th birthday party, will be bearing a food gift for Tappin. Harry brought Doug an apple pie before the first Petaluma-Healdsburg game this year, after Johnson had given one to Tappin at a Petaluma game he attended last year.

?It?s not an apple pie,? Johnson said. ?Just say I had to go to a ranch to get it.?