EPSTEIN LEAVING LEGACY.

Byline: DAVE SHELBURNE Golf

He was on hand for the inception of boys' golf in the City Section and coached the first girls' team to win a City title, as well as the winner of two of the first three girls' individual championships.

His teams have faced such stellar San Fernando Valley youth golfers as eventual four-time SCGA champion Craig Steinberg of North Hollywood High, three-time City Section champion Darren Angel of Granada Hills and Duffy Waldorf, the Taft of Woodland Hills star who went on to earn NCAA Player of the Year honors at UCLA and win on the PGA Tour.

Now, four decades after arriving at Birmingham High of Lake Balboa, Alan ``Chick'' Epstein is ending his career as a full-time coach.

He'll retire Jan. 31 with memories to last a lifetime.

Although his boys' teams never won a City title in a section dominated originally by powerhouse Palisades and later by Granada Hills, Epstein often produced title contenders and coached another of the best individuals to come out of the San Fernando Valley in Mitch Voges, who went on to win the U.S. Amateur Championship in 1991.

Seven of Epstein's former players became teaching professionals, including Rick Lebby at Lakeside and Jeff Gibbons at Crystalaire. Brothers Aki and Yusa Amaya went on to play NCAA Division I golf off the same Birmingham team. And current Cal State Northridge golfer Scott Bashin qualified for the State Amateur the summer after graduating from Birmingham.

Epstein downplays his contributions, especially during the early years, when his Birmingham teams went head-to-head in most of the City finals with Palisades.

``Having kids coming out of country clubs made golf coaching easy,'' Epstein said. ``All you had to do was get a starting time and teach putting.''

It got tougher in those City finals against Pali, which included such standout players as eventual SCGA champion Tony Sills, eventual State Amateur champion Mac Hunter and eventual LPGA Hall of Famer Amy Alcott, who played on the boys' team because there was no high school golf for girls then.

``We'd be right there, but they killed us,'' Epstein said of the Dolphins, who won 12 of their record 13 City championships before Granada Hills began to dominate the section, winning seven of its eight titles since 1991.

Epstein and Birmingham, however, wound up at the front of the ranks when the City Section initiated girls' golf in the fall of 2000. Led by Jee Hee Hwang and her sister Min Hee, who was MVP for women's state community college champion Mt. San Antonio this year, Birmingham won the inaugural City girls' team title. Jee Hee followed with consecutive City individual victories over Carson standout Maria Lamela, who was the section's first individual girls' champion.

Epstein, who helped launch City girls' golf - which began four years ago with unofficial club play at par-3 courses - is proud of that program's growth, reflected remarkably in Granada Hills' 95-stroke improvement in successfully defending its section team title last month.

``It's getting better every year,'' he said. ``We started behind the Southern Section, but its getting more competitive and more girls are playing.''

Epstein, a three-year baseball player at UCLA, where he was a teammate of current Bruins baseball coach Gary Adams, won't be getting entirely out of youth coaching. He will continue to run the Fairways Golf Camp he has operated for nearly two decades in the San Fernando Valley and will coach the Birmingham boys' golf team on a part-time basis next year.

Recently named the National High School Coaches Association's Chairman for Golf, Epstein also will give lectures and conduct clinics in that capacity.

And, like countless retirees before him, he'll spend the occasional moment wondering where all the time went.

``It's been really fun for 40 years,'' Epstein said. ``But it's over too quickly.''

Not just for him.

``They're going to miss him,'' Jee Hee said. ``He put so much effort into everybody. There were girls that didn't know how to play, and he taught them. He's just so dedicated. He's, like, the best.''

--Names in the game: Other notable area high school golfers for 2002 besides Birmingham's Hwang included Brian van Heel of Westlake (CIF/SCGA boys' champion); Colin Wilcox of Camarillo (Northern Divisional medalist in Southern Section qualifying); Darren Schwartz of Westlake and Brett Kanda of Flintridge Prep of La Canada (qualifiers for the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship); Brandon Beck of Oak Park (winner of the Ventura County Tournament of Champions); and Campbell Hall of North Hollywood sophomore Vanessa Brockett, who won the Los Angeles City Women's Championship.