The technique and moves were still there, but the legs were the first to go. Twenty-five years ago, the Lady Pointers basketball team finished a run of four consecutive state championships during the years of 1984 to 1987, compiling an almost perfect record of 122-1 under legendary coach Lee Trepanier. Fourteen members of those teams gathered in the Lee Trepanier Gym on Feb. 2 for “A Tribute to the Legacy” to honor their late coach, enjoy a reunion and show the current Pointer varsity girls a trick or two. Now update that record to 123-1. The squad of alumni, substituting frequently, edged the current varsity girls 32-27 before a large gathering of curious students, nostalgic local basketball fans and historians who came to see the girls who were, in a word, special. And none was more special than Terri Mann. Standing 6 feet 2 inches in high school, Mann set national records in rebounding (2,256) and scored 3,188 points — second highest in California history. The prolific player, now known as Terri Mann-Jacobs, was also remembered as coaching an AAU club team near Atlanta, Ga., making behind-the-back passes and putting up points from several spots on the court. A 1987 article in Sports Illustrated called Mann the best player in the nation. “By the time she was a senior, she had left the rest of the girls in the nation behind,” Trepanier said in the article. “There was nothing anyone could do to stop her.” And Mann-Jacobs remembered her Pointer days where, before each game, she would eat “about eight tacos. I had to play on a full stomach.” After many knee surgeries (“eight on one, five on the other,”) Mann ended her playing career. Doctors told her another injury could leave her unable to walk. Mann-Jacobs and teammate Beth Thompson, now living in Serra Mesa, spoke to the crowd about the many ways Trepanier, a PLHS math teacher who players called “T,” helped them in the classroom and on the basketball court. “He was just amazing,” Thompson told the crowd. “He fed us if we were hungry, spent hours with us at his kitchen table going over our algebra and geometry so we could get a scholarship to play at the next level. We played ‘Let’s Make a Deal’ in his class so we could earn a new pair of sneakers.” Trepanier sold concessions from his classroom to raise money for proper equipment and clothing for his girls to play like champions. Thompson fought back tears Feb. 2 as she thanked members of Trepanier’s family who were present for sacrificing their time with him while he spent time building the lives and skills of his players. During high school, Mann lived with 11 other family members in a two-bedroom apartment, unable to afford a phone. “Coach T” gave the family food and clothing, helped her buy a car and brought Christmas gifts to the family. “He was your dad,” Mann told the Trepanier family. “But he was my dad as well. Almost 23 years ago, he walked me down the aisle (at my wedding) and told me, ‘Now go and be the woman I want you to be.’” Trepanier compiled an overall record of 335-51 as the Lady Pointers coach from 1977 to 1990. He was among the first group of high school coaches inducted into the San Diego High School Coaching Legends in 2000 at the Hall of Champions in Balboa Park. Trepanier was diagnosed with cancer in 1989 and retired in 1990. He passed away in 1991 at the age of 56. Returning players with the least distance to travel were current Pointer math teacher Sylvia Maas — a 1981 alum — and physical education teacher Shannon Collins, a member of the 1991 class. A $2,000 check was presented to begin a Lee Trepanier Scholarship Fund. LADY POINTERS ALUMNI ROSTER: Name/class Yolanda Crawford 1984 Monica Filer 1989 Beth Thompson 1984 Shannon Collins 1991 Chanelle McCoy 1986 Sylvia Maas 1981 Tracey Elion-Lee 1988 Liza Leyva-Carrillo 1987 Jessica Benton-Light 1986 Tyeast Brown 1990 Serena Timmons 1986 Claudine Freerira-Neves 1990 Lois Guillory 1988 Maureen Carey 1986 Terri Mann-Jacobs 1987
