Chapman University

There are plenty of new faces at the Chapman men's basketball practices, but some in attendance feel quite at home. Just look at the coaching staff. Coach Mike Bokosky returns for his fifth season after compiling a .650 winning percentage, and alongside him this season is former NBA player Bob Thornton. Thornton, who lives in Irvine and spent last season as an assistant coach at Orange Coast College, played at UC Irvine when Bokosky was an Anteater assistant.

Chapman men's basketball Coach Mike Bokosky, a traditionalist at heart, has staged a bit of a coup against himself. In four previous seasons with the Panthers, Bokosky kept things simple. Chapman was a solid team that tried to win with a half-court game. But circumstances prompted a change. When players reported this fall, Bokosky discovered he lacked a "go-to guy" but had plenty of talented players. Bokosky decided he should take advantage of the depth by becoming more of a full-court team.

When Stephanie Carew climbs into the batter's box, her father, Angel batting coach Rod Carew, can't help but grin. She'll fiddle with her uniform and paw at the dirt before she focuses on the pitcher. Just like Dad. "I noticed that she had the same mannerisms as me," Rod Carew said, "but I couldn't understand how that happened." During Rod Carew's playing career with the Angels, Stephanie would come to Anaheim Stadium but wouldn't watch the games.

A framed poster on Chapman University President James Doti's wall represents his dream. "Chapman Studios," it says, with the university's black-and-gold panther mascot staring out like a sphinx. This little-known university near Old Towne Orange, he hopes, someday will breathe the same rarefied air shared by the best film schools in the country.

They learned about torts and testimony, duress and due process, but perhaps most important, the first graduates of Chapman University School of Law learned about gambling. The 64 students who receive their degrees today in a ceremony on campus had wagered that the university could win national accreditation for the fledgling law school by the time they graduated. Accreditation is crucial because it opens the door to law licenses and jobs in other states.

The last time the Chapman Panthers football team ran out onto a field, Franklin D. Roosevelt had just been elected and the New Deal promised relief to a nation mired in the Great Depression. Sixty-two years later, players will once again don helmets and pads and march onto the gridiron this September. This time, the team will play home games in Orange--not Los Angeles--and will no longer carry its old name of California Christian.

Many Chapman University students choose to leave their cars on residential streets during class and risk a citation rather than buy a $50 permit for on-campus parking lots, according to a preliminary traffic study. That pattern forces residents to compete for scarce curbside spots, said Hamid Bahadori, transportation manager for the city of Orange. At the same time, the university's 700-space parking garage sits half full on most days, he added.

Once upon a time, in a castle on a hill near a small hamlet, lived a handsome prince. The prince had everything that money could buy, but he was very, very sad and he never, ever laughed. Then one day, the prince met a fetching young man who made him chuckle, and, after some travail, the two lovers lived happily ever after. Not exactly your typical fairy tale?

Until she showed up to collect the tassel for her mortarboard cap, Adelaide Tatto of Pacoima never stepped foot on the main campus at Chapman University, but news of her graduation spread as quickly as a keg party on the small campus in Orange. At age 73, Tatto may be the oldest undergraduate to earn a degree from the 132-year-old university, but administrators say they can't be sure.

Although Chapman linebacker Shawn Racobs' path to this point has been twisted, it has led him exactly where he wanted to be all along: playing football and earning a college degree. A year ago Racobs and his wife, Julie, were living from paycheck to paycheck, working to support their two children. Racobs was toiling up to 60 hours a week in a medical supply warehouse, wondering if his dreams of completing his college education were slipping away.