After 35 seasons at the helm at L.A. Fairfax, Harvey Kitani was replaced by Steve Baik, who led Chino Hills to the 2016 FAB 50 National Title. Photo: Cal-Hi Sports Archives.
Year-by-year results kept by Cal-Hi Sports via the historian Bruce McIntosh, and records kept by the coach himself, shows current San Pedro Rolling Hills Prep and former L.A. Fairfax mentor Harvey Kitani seven wins short of becoming the third coach in state history with 1,000 career wins (counting forfeits/defaults). Below is a tale of the tape for the legendary coach who started off coaching with one lone season at San Fernando High School.
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When it looked like long-time L.A. Westchester coach Ed Azzam was going to pass eight-time CIF champ Willie West of L.A. Crenshaw for most wins among L.A. City Section coaches in 2014, then L.A. Fairfax coach Harvey Kitani noted how the wins seemed to pile up fast and that the milestone came rather quickly. Kitani’s hunch was on point, and a careful review of Azzam’s and West’s yearly logs showed him to be about 50 wins short of the Crenshaw coaching legend.
West won 803 games (against only 140 losses), 16 L.A. City Section titles and those eight state titles in the highest division. Azzam eventually surpassed West in wins and finished with 932 wins (against 287 losses). By the time “Easy Ed” retired after the 2020-21 spring season shortened by COVID-19, he had captured 15 L.A. City Section titles, his final one the season prior in his final full season, and six CIF state titles in the highest classification at the time.
Kitani didn’t quite have the post-season success in the L.A. City Section ranks as his two contemporaries, but for many years the Westchester-Fairfax rivalry was arguably the best league rivalry in the country. Azzam still has the most wins in section history, but that’s because Kitani (who attended Gardena High School at the same time in the early 1970s as Azzam) retired from teaching in the LAUSD school district after the 2015-16 school year.
Kitani then took a job at Rolling Hills Prep and the wins have kept racking up. In his first season at Rolling Hills Prep, he became only the second coach to win a CIF state title at two different schools. Later on that same Friday evening at the 2017 CIF state championships, Eastvale Roosevelt’s Steve Singleton joined Kitani and Frank Allocco at Northgate of Walnut Creek and De La Salle of Concord as the only coaches to win CIF state titles with two different programs. In 2024, Matt Dunn of Bellflower St. John Bosco joined the trio after previously winning a state title at La Verne Damien in 2014-15.
Kitani has now won four section titles at Rolling Hills Prep in various CIF Southern Section divisions to give him eight section titles all-time as a coach, while winning three CIF state crowns. He is rapidly approaching 1,000 career wins, a group that only includes current coaches Gary McKnight of Santa Ana Mater Dei and Mike LeDuc of Damien. Just as we did with Azzam and West nearly 14 years ago, we wanted to make sure Kitani’s numbers were accurate so his current team, former players, friends and family could enjoy the milestone when he reaches it a bit later this season.
After crunching the numbers based on our Cal-Hi Sports final state rankings each year, plus numbers in our archives from the late, great historian Bruce McIntosh, plus Kitani’s own books, we have now confirmed he sits seven wins away from the magical 1,000 mark. That would be based on counting forfeit wins/defaults, however. Based on results on-the-court, Kitani would have 989 wins right now and not 993.
In record-keeping, there is always the possibility of discrepancies. In a state as large as California and in boys basketball because of the varying amount of games each team plays, especially within the consolation brackets of tournaments which can easily go unreported, it’s easy to have numbers that are off a few wins either way. After reviewing the logs year-by-year back to Kitani’s lone season at San Fernando High School, we came up with a final tally that we’ll report in our state record book files and that we’ll now share with the rest of the media and fans.
We keep our files on all coaches with won-loss records reflected on-the-court, but we understand many coaches report their numbers with forfeit wins (and hopefully losses) included. And we have no problem if programs wants to celebrate and honor a coach with the numbers that reflect defaults and forfeits. They are part of the game.
One thing is certain, if it wasn’t for LAUSD budget cuts to begin the 1980-81 school year or for the COVID-19 Pandemic that shortened the 2020-21 season, Kitani would already be over 1,000 wins. When the young coach took the San Fernando job after being an assistant at Wilmington Banning, he had a great group of sophomores to work with and had high hopes of coaching them in the 1981 and 1982 L.A. City Section playoffs. Kitnai was crushed he didn’t get a chance to coach such talents as 6-foot-7 Oliver Seeley (Cal-St. Fullerton), 6-foot guard Leo Mauldin (Cal-State Dominguez Hills) and Grid-Hoop stud Jim Reynosa as seniors.
Westchester and Fairfax had one of the best rivalries in the country for two decades. Photo: Andrew Drennen
As most coaches are, Kitani is still fond of his first team and many of those former San Fernando players went to countless Fairfax games over the years to offer well-wishes or say hello to their tenth-grade coach. Who knows, maybe a few of them will be on hand for the celebration of Kitani’s 1,000th victory.
Looking at Rolling Hills Prep’s schedule for 2025-26 and going off the reported number including defaults and forfeits, Kitani potentially could win game No. 1,000 on Jan. 20 vs. New Roads, depending on how the teams fares the game before against state ranked No. 13 Corona Centennial, or it could happen the next game on Jan. 23 vs. Bishop Gorman of Las Vegas at the Nike Extravaganza. Should RHP lose to Centennial and Gorman, then it’s likely to happen in the regular season finale on Jan. 24 on senior night.
If any former San Fernando, Fairfax or Rolling Hills Prep players have more information on any of these years, or want to know what plans there may be to celebrate Kitani’s milestone, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Harvey Kitani (San Fernando, L.A. Fairfax & Rolling Hills Prep)
Year-by-Year:
San Fernando HS
1979-1980: 13-12
L.A. Fairfax HS
1981-1982: 12-11
1982-1983: 16-10
1983-1984: 17-7
1984-1985: 25-2
1985-1986: 19-5
1986-1987: 26-1
1987-1988: 19-5
1988-1989: 13-12
1989-1990: 22-6
1990-1991: 16-9
1991-1992: 15-10
1992-1993: 18-8
1993-1994: 21-6
1994-1995: 24-7
1995-1996: 17-12
1996-1997: 19-7*
1997-1998: 19-9
1998-1999: 24-7**
1999-2000: 21-7
2000-2001: 22-7
2001-2002: 30-5
2002-2003: 28-4
2003-2004: 27-5
2004-2005: 26-6
2005-2006: 26-3
2006-2007: 28-5
2007-2008: 27-6
2008-2009: 27-5
2009-2010: 17-11
2010-2011: 17-10
2011-2012: 20-10
2012-2013: 19-13
2013-2014: 22-11
2014-2015: 32-3
2015-2016: 30-5
Rolling Hills Prep HS
2016-2017: 28-2***
2017-2018: 20-7****
2018-2019: 25-7#
2019-2020: 24-3##
2020-2021: 13-3###
2021-2022: 20-2####
2022-2023: 23-6
2023-2024: 27-7
2024-2025: 22-7
2025-2026: 13-5 (CURRENT)
•Overall Career Record (On-Court): 989-311 (.763 winning % on the court)
•Overall Career Record (Including defaults/forfeits): 993-314
•160-65 in the 1980s (.711 winning % on the court)
•195-81 in the 1990s (.707 winning % on the court)
•262-53 in the 2000s (.832 winning % on the court)
•230-79 in the 2010s (.744 winning % on the court)
•142-33 in the 2020s (.811 winning % on the court)
Won-Loss Key:
* Does not reflect one forfeit loss.
** Does not reflect one forfeit win.
*** One default win not included.
**** Two default wins not included.
# One default win not included.
## Does not reflect three forfeit losses; one default win not included.
### One default win not included.
#### One default win not included.
•Assistants Over The Years: Manasa Chanaiwa, Andy Fujitsubo, Ivan Garner, J.D. Green, Jamal Hartwell Sr., Jason Ito, Corey Kitani, Dimitrius Lynch, Derrick Mills, Ramsey Miura, Cyrus Turks, Steve Wachs, Nick Welch Sr.
•4 L.A. City Section Titles: 1985 (3A), 1987 (4A), 2007 (City), 2015 (Open).
•4 Southern Section Titles: 2017 (5AA), 2018 (4A), 2019 (3A), 2021 (2AA).
•3 CIF State Titles: 2004 (D1), 2007 (D1), 2017 (D5).
•Cal-Hi Sports State Coach of the Year: 2007
•Div. I State Coach of the Year: 2004, 2007
•Fairfax All-State Players (Overall Team): Alex Bausley 2003, Jamal Boykin 2004/2005, Evan Burns 2002, Lorne Currie 2015, Duane Davis 1995, Lindsey Drew 2015, J.D. Green 1987, Burt Harris 1992, Sean Higgins 1985/1986/1987, Solomon Hill 2009, Chris Mills 1987/1988, Joe Shipp 1999, Josh Shipp 2004, Renardo Sidney 2008/2009, Chase Stanback 2007.
•Rolling Hills Prep All-State Players (Overall Team): Benny Gealer 2022.
Ronnie Flores is the managing editor of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at ronlocc1977@yahoo.com. Don’t forget to follow him on Twitter: @RonMFlores
