This is part of a series of mini-Redlands Connections. This is a portion about a series of visitors at Redlands, Quick Visits. Magic Johnson and John Wooden showed up at the University of Redlands as part of a Convocation Series. A piece on Tom Flores was another one. Hall of Fame pitcher Ferguson Jenkins, former NBA player John Block, legendary high school coach Willie West showed up. There are others. Cazzie Russell, for instance, came to Redlands with an NCAA Division III basketball team from Savannah, Ga. Russell, out of Michigan, was the NBA’s overall No. 1 draft pick by the New York Knicks in 1966.
Today’s feature: None other than Cazzie Russell.
Truth is, there aren’t many NBA No. 1 draft choices that pass through Redlands. Not just a No. 1 draft pick. We’re talking No. 1 overall.
Cazzie Russell comes to mind. That Chicago native was a three-time All-American at Michigan in those mid-1960s. Years later, at 54 years of age, Russell was coaching Savannah (Ga.) College of Arts & Design (SCAD).
In December 1998, SCAD came out west for a three-game trip to play Westmont College, near Santa Barbara, then Univ. La Verne and finally that University of Redlands.
“This school was founded in 1979 with 71 students, said Russell, “and a credit card.”
By 1998, it had grown to a campus of 4,000 students.
Upon being hired, SCAD’s Chairman of the Board was none other than Dr. Bernie Casey, well known as an NFL All-Pro wide receiver. Onetime major league pitching hero Luis Tiant, who pitched in Cleveland, New York and Boston, was SCAD’s baseball coach.
As for Russell, hoops fans might recall that 6-foot-5 pure shooter who helped lead those Wolverines to Final Four in both 1964 and 1965, losing in 1966 Regionals to eventual finalist Kentucky. A short time later, New York made Russell basketball’s No. 1 pick — just ahead of players like Lou Hudson and Dave Bing.
Cazzie Russell, a No. 1 overall draft pick by the New York Knicks in 1966, coached a small college team from the visitor’s bench in 1998 at the University of Redlands (photo by Savannah College of Art & Design).
Thirty years later, including an NBA title in 1970 — Knicks over the Lakers — Russell was sitting in an Ontario hotel, sort of a midway point between La Verne and Redlands.
“I love coaching here,” he says. “Nobody expects anything from us. We’re a bunch of cartoonists, graphic designers, architects. We come into another school’s gym and they’re thinking they’ve got us.
“When they get us on the court, we fool ‘em.”
Someone else could write those connections between Russell had with a variety of NBA legends, including some sharp teammates, including Jerry West and Elgin Baylor, Willis Reed and Walt Frazier, Nate Thurmond and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson and John Havlicek.
“I just saw Oscar two or three weeks ago,” said Russell. “I remember when he came to my high school and tried to get me to go to Cincinnati, his old school, his old college.”
By 1971, Russell was traded by those world champion Knicks to San Francisco in exchange for legendary rebounder Jerry Lucas.
Three decades later at SCAD, Russell laid the groundwork for recruiting, basketball, arts in that education, getting his team a chance for an education at an NCAA Division 3 institution.
No one sees us at practice, he says. “We’re working on defense, shooting, fundamentals … just like everyone else, I suppose.”
At SCAD, Russell’s recruits are playing for a former No. 1 draft pick, a onetime NBA champion who played both with and against that NBA’s best basketball players.
“A lot of kids are in awe of the fact that I was drafted No. 1,” he said.
Teaching those fundamentals at practice, he said, “is like trying to introduce them to a new cereal.”
That list of overall number one picks — Shaquille O’Neal, Kareem, Robertson, Baylor, Patrick Ewing, Magic Johnson, Hakeem Olajuwon, Elvin Hayes or Bill Walton — does NOT include Michael Jordan or Chamberlain, Russell or Karl Malone.
Russell’s in rare company. He joked: “I don’t want to get into the difference in the amount of money we made then and what they make now.”
During his post-playing career, Russell coached at every level — high school, CBA, assistant in the NBA, collegiately in both NAIA and NCAA — before settling in at SCAD.
In its three-game swing out west in 1998, the Bees swept Westmont, La Verne and Redlands. It seemed strange to see Russell , well-suited, seated on SCAD’s bench as those Bees warmed up to play the Bulldogs inside Currier Gymnasium on that night, December 16, 1998.
It was a far cry from that Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum when, playing for the Warriors, the smooth-shooting Russell was swishing shots in a rare win over that high-level Milwaukee Bucks.
Averaging 15 points a game over a 10-year career, Russell not only played in New York and Golden State, but also the Lakers and Chicago Bulls. When the Lakers signed him away from San Francisco, according to rules of the day, Russell’s former team received draft compensation.
That pick turned out to be Robert Parrish, a 7-foot center later traded by the Warriors to Boston.
As for SCAD basketball, Russell’s coaching career in Savannah lasted 13 seasons. That school cancelled basketball in 2009.
Russell was as well-versed in spiritual necessities as he was setting up a jump shot. He seemed to make as much joy in reporting that God was a huge factor in his life.
“If God is first in your life,” he told me, “then you’re going to be successful. I’m not talking about making money. I’m talking about faith in everything you do.
You can run from God, he said, “but you can’t hide. When I decided I was going to be obedient in 1989, it was the best thing I ever did.”
A Redlands Connection is a concoction of sports memories emanating from a city that once numbered less than 20,000 people. From pro football’s Super Bowl to baseball’s World Series, from dynamic soccer’s World Cup to golf’s and tennis’ U.S. Open, major auto racing, plus NCAA Final Four connections, Tour de France cycling, more major tennis like Wimbledon, tiny connections to that NBA and a little NHL, major college football, Kentucky Derby, aquatics and Olympic Games, that sparkling little city sits around halfway between Los Angeles and Palm Springs on Interstate 10. That I-10 represented quite a few travels between Redlands and Arizona-based spring training sites for two Redlands East Valley pitching aces. – Obrey Brown
All talk of trading Tampa Bay pitcher Chris Archer might be music to ears of Rays’ pitcher Matt Andriese.
Tyler Chatwood, meanwhile, was headed toward becoming a stunner one summer in Chicago.
Andriese and Chatwood, a pair of former teammates on some very strong Redlands East Valley High School teams, headed for spring training with one thought in mind:
Claiming a spot in their current teams’ starting rotation.
Both seem destined for mound duty when that 2018 season opens. Both were in Florida on March 28 when their seasons opened. Tampa hosted Boston Red Sox and Chicago, those Cubs, were in Miami.
Former Redlands East Valley pitcher Matt Andriese, drafted originally by San Diego, got dealt to Tampa Bay, the Rays. (Photo by Wikipedia Commons)
Andriese, an original draft pick by San Diego, was dealt to Tampa in a January 22, 2014 deal that sent southpaw reliever Alex Torres and right-handed starter Jesse Hahn to those Padres. Andriese was joined by second baseman Logan Forsythe, eventually sent to Los Angeles, plus right-handers Matt Lollis and Brad Boxberger.
That onetime REV star, who was drafted out of UC Riverside in that 2011 third round draft, is a career 28-38 over 221 MLB games with a shutout, four saves and a lifetime 4.65 earned run average.
One season with Tampa , Andriese headed into spring training as a possible fifth starter in that Rays’ rotation behind Archer, Jake Odorizzi, Blake Snell and Jake Faria.
Both Archer and Odorizzi, meanwhile, were rumored to be a target in New York and Minnesota , among other teams, since those Rays likely had no shot at pennant contention in 2018. Dealing them might be that team’s best chance to land some coveted prospects.
CHATWOOD BECAME A ROCKY BY ANGELS
Chatwood, meanwhile, was dealt to Colorado by his original team, Anaheim Angels, on November 30, 2011 for catcher Chris Ianetta.
Tyler Chatwood, a former Redlands East Valley ace, is shown pitching for Anaheim during his rookie year in 2011. By his final season in 2021, he was 40 wins, 48 losses with a 4.45 ERA. (Photo by Wikipedia Commons.)
When his Rockies’ contract expired following 2017, those 2016 World Series champion Cubs quickly sprung to sign Chatwood on a 3-year, $38 million deal. It could be under-the-radar signing of that off-season.
Chatwood, 40-46 with a 4.31 ERA between 2011-2017, seemed ready to fire on all cylinders. Moving from hitter-friendly Colorado to a more pitcher-friendly Wrigley Field could lift numbers of that 2008 second-round draft pick.
On that Cubs’ starting pitcher assemble, Chatwood was to follow ace southpaw Jon Lester, recently-signed Yu Darvish, Kyle Hendricks and Jose Quintana in what appeared to be a solid Cubs’ rotation heading into 2018.
MIXING ANDRIESE, CHATWOOD ON MOUND
That Chatwood-Andriese combination led REV into that 2007 Southern Section Division 2 championship game at Dodger Stadium against El Toro High School. El Toro, buoyed by presence of future Rockies’ slugging third baseman Nolan Arenado in its lineup, handed Chatwood a 7-0 loss.
Around a decade later, Chatwood and Andriese pitched against each other in a 2016 major league duel – Chatwood with Colorad and Andriese with Tampa. Andriese didn’t start, Chatwood lost for Colorado when those Rays beat him badly in a 10-1 outcome on July 19 in Denver.
Long after Chatwood was knocked out by Rays’ hitters – lasting three innings, surrendering seven runs – Andriese entered that game for Tampa’s final three innings.
Andriese relieved Snell, pitching three frames of three-hit ball and getting a save, surrendering a ninth inning home run to Rockies’ rookie shortstop sensation Trevor Story.
Snell surrendered just one hit to a Rockies’ lineup featuring All-Stars Carlos Gonzalez and Arenado.
Andriese, meanwhile, continued to pitch, concluding that game with a sparkling 2.78 earned run average, out of that bullpen. Most of their starting pitchers had much higher ERAs.
As for Chatwood, he surrendered a home run to Rays’ slugger Evan Longoria, his 22nd, among other hits. Chatting with him beyond that game wasn’t difficult.
“I didn’t throw any curveballs tonight,” he said, “and it’s always been my best pitch. I threw a lot of fastballs and didn’t miss barrels (of the bat) and kind of put us in a hole.
“I lost the game for us, pretty much. At some point, you’ve got to make an adjustment, and I didn’t make an adjustment.”
*****
Sure, sure, sure … there was more than a handful of other REV baseballers taken in drafts by various MLB teams – catcher Brett Martinez and outfielder Josh Cowles, both taken by Anaheims, infielder Paul Eshlemen by Milwaukee, plus Andriese’s brother David, an outfielder taken by Pittsburgh out of UC Riverside.
Then there’s pitchers Justin Jacome by Miami, plus a pair taken by Toronto, Jackson McClelland and Griffin Murphy.
Neither of those players ever made those big leagues.
A Redlands Connection is a concoction of sports memories emanating from a city that once numbered less than 20,000 people. From pro football’s Super Bowl to baseball’s World Series, from dynamic soccer’s World Cup to golf’s and tennis’ U.S. Open, major auto racing, plus NCAA Final Four connections, Tour de France cycling, more major tennis like Wimbledon, tiny connections to that NBA and a little NHL, major college football, Kentucky Derby, aquatics and Olympic Games, that sparkling little city sits around halfway between Los Angeles and Palm Springs on Interstate 10. Among this city’s top tennis connections, this might be one of its best ever. – Obrey Brown
I WISHED THERE WERE more guys like Darrell Hudlow.
Redlands, that city where football turned out highly successful, soccer and softball became high-level sports, throw in some impressive swimming, above-average baseball, plus amazing track & field and golf connection off the charts, figure this: There was an original Mr. Tennis in this city.
It might’ve been Hudlow.
In a low-populated city that’s produced multitudes of high school and collegiate tennis champions, including some Wimbledon and U.S. Open connections, Hudlow comes quickly to mind.
Darrell Hudlow, one of the first top-flight players at the University of Redlands back in the 1930s, had quite a list of opponents that could have included Bobby Riggs and definitely included Jack Kramer and Gardner Malloy (photo submitted by Rachel Roche, assistant athletic director and head sports information at the University of Redlands).
I wasn’t even aware he played tennis, not at first. There was a place to go dancing, said once-young lovers. Hudlow had a drive-in, located on “the highway to Redlands.”
Hudlow was proprietor of a big place near downtown. Upon moving to Redlands in 1979, I couldn’t miss the greenish sign out there on a Redlands Blvd. building — where the Bank of America now sits, I think.
Hudlow was a University of Redlands Hall of Famer. It was stressed to me likely by my City Editor, Dick West, of the Redlands Daily Facts – that Hudlow had been a tennis player. A damned good one at that.
Immense Bulldog tennis coach Jim Verdieck may well be that school’s top name associated with championship brilliance around Redlands. Hudlow showed up on that scene long before Verdieck built his dynasty.
Verdieck’s teams won an unheard-of 921 tennis duals over a 38-year span. In 35 of those years, Redlands copped a conference championship. There were plenty of top players, namely Verdieck’s sons, Doug and Randy, among other brilliant players wearing those maroon and grey uniforms.
Long before the Borhnstedt and Verdieck brothers started playing at that local high school — they played at both Wimbledon and U.S. Opens — Hudlow had long set an early tone for high level tennis in Redlands.
Hudlow’s, incidentally, is a now-disappeared liquor store over on that Redlands Boulevard site. He just laughed. “I went into the liquor business,” he cracked. “I quit tennis because I didn’t have time to play any more.”
That liquor business, at least in Redlands, was taboo amidst his college campus during those days touching 1940s and 1950s. “The university fought me,” said Hudlow, who carried a grudge against his alma mater for years. “It was a staid old school. You couldn’t even dance up there.
“Anyway, they took this liquor thing to the city council.”
Hudlow won when that university turned over a new leaf, he told me. When that school inducted him into its relatively new Hall of Fame in 1984, they extended a familiar hand. “The university,” he said, sarcastically a few days before the event, “is having a cocktail hour before the (Hall of Fame) dinner.”
Maybe, I told him, he ought to provide liquor. “If I did that back when I was going to the university,” he said, chuckling, “I’d have gotten kicked out of school.”
UofR tennis had long been a dominant program. Hudlow was conference singles champion from 1937-39.
It was curious timing. Verdieck, who hailed from nearby Colton, was playing football for a dynamic group called the Vow Boys up in Palo Alto. Stanford University had vowed that it would never lose to USC. Following a football loss to USC in 1932, Stanford players vowed they would never again lost to the Trojans.
Hudlow, for his part, was playing championship-level tennis while Verdieck was making football his college-playing mission. Hudlow won amateur singles titles in Arizona, Michigan and Arkansas. Verdieck was Rose Bowl dominant.
Some of Hudlow’s opponents were Frank Kovacs, a Wimbledon champion who later lost to legendary Bobby Riggs in the 1941 U.S. Tennis Championship finals.
Bobby Riggs, a 1930s and 1940s tennis star, likely played Redlands’ Darrell Hudlow along the way. “I can’t remember if I played Bobby Riggs,” he said (photo by Wikipedia Commons).
Hudlow also played Gardner Mulloy, the four-time U.S. Tennis Champion, paired with William Talbert in doubles. Then there was Welby Van Horn, who lost to Riggs in that 1939 U.S. Tennis Championship finals. Hudlow beat Van Horn at a tournament in Ojai, Calif.
Another big name Hudlow opponent was Frankie Parker, a onetime U.S. tennis champion.
Said Hudlow: “I played Jack Kramer in an exhibition in the (Redlands) university gym,” he said, “to raise money so I could go back east. I think we played to a tie that night.”
Jack Kramer might have been the biggest name in tennis for a few decades. Kramer and Redlands’ Darrell Hudlow once played an indoor tennis exhibition (photo by Wikipedia Commons).
Kramer, who would become a huge tennis executive in years ahead, was a U.S. Open and Wimbledon champion.
“I can’t remember if I ever played Bobby Riggs,” said Hudlow. “I knew him. You know, on rainy days at country clubs, all people do is sit in the clubhouse playing poker. I held Bobby’s one-dollar bills for him.”
In that second class of UofR Hall of Famer selections, the original Hall headliners had to be Verdieck himself, along with football coach Frank Serrao. Lee Fulmer (baseball, basketball), John Fawcett (cross country, football and track), Charles Gillett (football), Lee Johnson (track), faculty member S. Guy Jones, track’s Samuel Kirk, Donald Kitch (football, basketball), Sanford McGilbra (football, basketball, baseball), Robert Pazder (football, basketball, baseball), football and tennis star Randy Verdieck were right there.
While Hudlow was inducted, so, too, was his coach, Lynn Jones, running those Bulldogs from 1928 through 1944. There was a lengthy list of names, likely trying to catch up with a near century’s worth of athletes and other sports-related contributors that needed enshrinement.
Hudlow, who died on June 19, 1998, said he didn’t play tennis for nearly 40 years before he sold his liquor store. When he decided to return, he played recreationally.
Darrell Hudlow, in his later years, put aside playing tennis because he had plenty of other activities to take care of, including business-related items. His tennis-playing lifestyle took him to places and opponents that eventually made him a Bulldog Hall of Famer.
“I could tell you lots of stories,” he said, chuckling. “I think I’ll hold off for awhile.”
Thing is, the two of us never came back into connection.
A Redlands Connection is a concoction of sports memories emanating from a city that once numbered less than 20,000 people. From pro football’s Super Bowl to baseball’s World Series, from dynamic soccer’s World Cup to golf’s and tennis’ U.S. Open, major auto racing, plus NCAA Final Four connections, Tour de France cycling, more major tennis like Wimbledon, tiny connections to that NBA and a little NHL, major college football, Kentucky Derby, aquatics and Olympic Games, that sparkling little city sits around halfway between Los Angeles and Palm Springs on Interstate 10. – Obrey Brown
This was in honor of that College World Series, which was getting underway. Redlands’ Chris Hernandez had a nice fastball, good command.
Redlands’ Chris Hernandez got his shot at the College World Series — twice, in fact, with the University of South Carolina (photo by USC).
He was part of some nice Redlands High School teams which, for some reason, has never reached a CIF Southern Section championship game in well over 100 years of taking a diamond.
Out a fairly impressive list of Redlands High pitchers — Shaun Benzor, Richie Burgess, Ben Washburn, John Herrera, David Quinowski, plus MLB veteran Ed Vande Berg and onetime RHS pitching coach Gary Pool — Hernandez was one of Redlands’ best-ever on a mound,
In one game article describing his pitching, I’d referred to Hernandez as a “non-power” pitcher, noting observations made by three scouts having while observing.
It’s a kind of thing writers long for while watching a prep game. Hearing accounts of scouts is like tossing out meat for a tiger. That particular observation drew disapproval from that particular prospect, Hernandez, who was definitely seeking college and a pro career.
A few days later after that article, he got it off his chest, telling me that, indeed, “I AM a power pitcher.”
His minor league seasons — six in Pittsburgh’s chain while reaching Triple A level — might overlook some brilliant collegiate campaigns. Hernandez’s impressive travels took him first to Riverside City College and, eventually, landing at that major campus, University of South Carolina.
While watching him work up within Redlands — its PONY All-Stars and, eventually, with that high school Terriers — Hernandez was part of a growingly impressive crop of ballplayers.
It led him to RCC, which notched back-to-back state junior college championships in 2000 and 2001 under a future Hall of Fame coach, Dennis Rogers.
That was his launching pad that got him to South Carolina for his junior and senior seasons in 2002 and 2003. The Gamecocks, one of seven teams from the baseball-rich Southeastern Conference to reach the NCAA Division 1 playoffs, made back to back seasons at the College World Series.
So here was Hernandez, a two-time All-Orange Empire Conference selection at RCC. In 2002, the Gamecocks (57-18) had to get past Virginia Commonwealth, North Carolina and Miami in that Columbia, North Carolina-based Super Regional.
At that College World Series, Georgia Tech took down USC, 13-0, in its opening round.
Those Gamecocks from South Carolina? Wins over Nebraska, a rematch over Georgia Tech, then a sweep over Clemson lifted the Gamecocks into a championship game against Texas.
The Longhorns, coached by the legendary Augie Garrido, beat South Carolina, 12-6.
Playing against such future MLB prospects as Huston Street (Texas), Kahlil Greene (Clemson), Nebraska’s Drew Anderson, Todd Sears and Brian Duensing, Aaron Hill (LSU), Stanford’s Ryan Garko, Jed Lowrie and Carlos Quentin, Chris Ianetta (North Carolina) — to name a few.
Hernandez, who was 1-1 with a 3.27 ERA, pitched 13 games that season.
South Carolina’s talent pool that season? Catcher Landon Powell (Oakland), pitcher Matt Campbell (Kansas City) and shortstop Drew Meyer (Texas) were eventual first-round round picks.
On that 45-22 squad in 2003, there were no less than 17 Gamecock players targeted by MLB teams. Powell, third baseman Brian Buscher (San Francisco), outfielder Kevin Melillo (Oakland) and infielder Steve Tolleson (Minnesota) were among those that eventually reached the majors.
Hernandez, who was 5-5 with a 3.32 ERA over 25 games and 84 innings, pitched three complete games though he appeared mostly in relief. Eight teams from that enormous SEC battled their way into those NCAA playoffs.
It was Stanford that ultimately knocked out South Carolina in its chase to another College World Series championship — twice, in fact, 8-0 and 13-6. In between those losses, USC had stayed alive with 11-10 win over Louisiana State.
LSU couldn’t hold on, despite the presence of future MLB reliever Brian Wilson, who closed down San Francisco’s 2010 World Series championship over Texas.
Rice (Texas) University beat Stanford two out of three to nail down the 2003 title.
As for Hernandez’s opponents, imagine pitching to future major leaguers like Ryan Garko, Jed Lowrie and Carlos Quentin, who were noted Stanford sluggers.
In Pittsburgh’s minor league chain, Hernandez made two all-star teams, chunking out 23 wins, 56 saves and a 3.22 ERA in 230 professional games between 2003 and 2009.
The Pirates?
Hernandez had some good seasons — 24 saves, 1.93 with Class A Hickory Crawdads in his first full season as a pro, 6-1 record and a 2.86 ERA with Class AA Altoona Croon in 2007. At a Class AAA level, he spent parts of two seasons with Indianapolis of the International League.
He was 0-4 over 23 games in between a 4-0, 2.61 stint back at Altoona.
Hernandez was teammates with future MVP Andrew McCutchen, plus solid future MLB players like Neil Walker and Steve Pearce, both No. 1 draft picks. So were pitchers Bryan Bullington and Sean Burnett, who never quite made an MLB level.
Future MVP Andrew McCutchen was a minor league teammate of Chris Hernandez while the two worked their way up toward a hopeful Major League Baseball career in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ chain (photo by Wikipedia Commons).
In all, Hernandez struck out 353 hitters over 324 1/3 innings as a seven-year minor leaguer — not bad for a power pitcher.
As for the College World Series, consider this: Hernandez first showed up there with the Gamecocks in 2002, repeating the appearance in 2003.
One season later, another ex-Terrier, Robbie Hudson, made the first of two straight trips to Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Neb. — site of the annual College World Series.
The Redlands Connection was in full effect at college’s biggest baseball showcase.
A Redlands Connection is a concoction of sports memories emanating from a city that once numbered less than 20,000 people. From pro football’s Super Bowl to baseball’s World Series, from dynamic soccer’s World Cup to golf’s and tennis’ U.S. Open, major auto racing, plus NCAA Final Four connections, Tour de France cycling, more major tennis like Wimbledon, tiny connections to that NBA and a little NHL, major college football, Kentucky Derby, aquatics and Olympic Games, that sparkling little city sits around halfway between Los Angeles and Palm Springs on Interstate 10.
Imagine staying up late on a Sunday night, listening – not watching – an Extreme sport on ESPN while doing some late-night writing. All of a sudden, this nothing event comes to life. Words sounded familiar.
“… and in the Street Luge category … a man made a name for himself … from Redlands, California … David Rogers.”
What’s that? Redlands? Late-night ESPN TV? Made a name for himself? I kept watching. Sure enough, Rogers was there, lying on his back face up, racing downhill, battling for a gold medal. From Redlands, of all places. As a media member, you’re always looking for local angles.
I had to get it into our newspaper, next edition. Late night phone calls. Early morning. Let’s see. If this took place on tape-delayed ESPN, he might be traveling home at this hour – and maybe just getting back.
Maybe I could catch him before he went to bed. It was 1 a.m. on a Monday, I’ll do anything for a story on deadline.
David Rogers, of Redlands, won a gold medal at the 1999 Super Mass X Games competition in San Francisco on the street luge (photo by Wikipedia Commons).
Rogers, who resided in Redlands, took that ride down a San Francisco hill near that famed Cliff House restaurant on one June summer day. While temperatures soared to nearly 100 in his home town, that City By the Bay was nice and cool.
Rogers took first at X Games Street Luge championship in August 1999, thus earning a gold medal. It was a first. He’d come from last place on that daring dangerous downhill plunge at that Cliff House.
With names like Biker Sherlock, Rat Sult, Earl “The Squirrel” and Dennis Derammelaere in that sport of Street Luge, a name “Mr. Rogers” doesn’t seem all that exciting, does it?
Godfather of that sport was Bob Pereyra. Yeah, Mr. Rogers was chasing that guy
It’s a Redlands Connection that Rogers copped a street luge gold in that Super Mass category.
Some background: The programming department of ESPN in 1993 came up with ideas of holding a meet for athletes from alternative, or extreme, sports. After nearly two years of preparation, first Extreme Games were held in Rhode Island and at Mount Snow, Vt., from June 24 through July 1, 1995.
Competition in nine sports attracted 198,000 spectators. Based on that success, ESPN decided to do it again in 1996, when that name was changed to X Games.
Summer X Games in 1997 and 1998 were staged in San Diego. Those second Winter X Games in 1998 were held at Crested Butte, Colorado. Following summer, arrangements had carried that event to San Francisco for two years in June.
Rogers’ racing expertise lied, perhaps, in facts that he crafted his own racing machinery. A Texas A&M engineering graduate, Rogers fabricated his own boards on which he lied, facing straight up, as he rode downhill and steered in that crazed position.
That event was called Super Mass.
Summer attendance climbed continuously over a three-year period, to 221,000 in 1997, 233,000 in 1998 and 275,000 in 1999. ESPN hasn’t really released attendance figures since then, so supposition is that they’ve reached a plateau or declined somewhat.
Many competitors had arrived in Utah to compete in the Street Luge X Games’ “Last Chance Qualifier.” Weather had been hot but nice with moderately heavy winds during evenings. Hills feature a steep grade with an off camber sweeping right followed by a very challenging left turn. Braking was required.
Redlands’ Rogers had a blistering qualifying run which would have placed him as a top 10 qualifier for Street Luge. Comparing two related events, riders noted less fear of injury and little pressure to perform in San Francisco by 1999.
Whoosh! Rogers, from his past place sport, whizzed past Sean Slate in a rear position, taking best line through that famous Cliff House Turn, winning Super Mass category.
Position is everything. Pushing a racer into hay bales might be perfect strategy.
This is the position that a street luge participant finds themselves in when competing 0 — lying flat on their back, racing downhill while surrounded by fans, haybales and thrill-seeking adventures (photo by Wikipedia Commons).
There might’ve been 10,000 watching in this remarkable view. Unfortunately for those racers lying on their backs, they had no view of that great Pacific Ocean as they raced downhill for a gold medal.
For that local newspaper, I had an off-the-beat story.
I couldn’t wait for my first face-to-face interview with Rogers. He’d given me his address. I met him at home. His wife, dressed to the max for this special interview with her husband, looked lovely and supportive.
One day later, Rogers met me on a road course – part of that Sunset Loop for annual Redlands Bicycle Classic – for a photo spread with photographer Lee Calkins. It led to a full-page spread in that local newspaper.
That gold medal had one to Rogers – A Redlands Connection – with some nice outcomes.
A Redlands Connection is a concoction of sports memories emanating from a city that once numbered less than 20,000 people. From pro football’s Super Bowl to baseball’s World Series, from dynamic soccer’s World Cup to golf’s and tennis’ U.S. Open, major auto racing, plus NCAA Final Four connections, Tour de France cycling, more major tennis like Wimbledon, tiny connections to that NBA and a little NHL, major college football, Kentucky Derby, aquatics and Olympic Games, that sparkling little city sits around halfway between Los Angeles and Palm Springs on Interstate 10. When this coach showed up to begin his legendary coaching career, there was no such freeway. He eventually became Team USA’s Olympic track coach. – Obrey Brown
It was May, 1984 – an Olympic year.
Jim Sloan, an heir to the R.J. Reynolds tobacco dynasty, was a celebrity photographer from Redlands. He pushed an invitation on me. There was a group of guys getting together for a reunion, of sorts. It was at Robert Scholton’s home, truly an athletic pioneer of Redlands. Citrus groves and all. Scholton had married into the Walter Hentschke family – one more Redlands-area pioneer.
At this reunion, however, Payton Jordan was guest of honor. Sloan, Scholton & Co. wanted this reunion covered in their local newspaper. I wasn’t invited as a friend to chat and eat. I was invited to write up this guy.
One night earlier, it had been “Olympic Night” at Redlands Country Club. Naturally, Jordan, who didn’t exactly speak on golf, was their featured speaker. That “club” was directly across from Scholton’s home.
Scholton, Sloan and a bunch of buddies had invited Jordan to Redlands. He’d been around plenty. This visit, however, was special. Plenty of guys had been summoned for this reunion. It was an Olympic year, after all. Jordan had plenty of connections to Olympians.
Way back in 1939, before World War II, Jordan had coached at Redlands Junior High School. He’d just graduated from USC, so his coaching career was just getting underway. Little did anyone know.
Payton Jordan’s Hall of Fame coaching career began in Redlands in 1939 at Redlands Junior High School (photo by Occidental College).
That junior high campus had been located right across Citrus Ave. from Redlands Senior High – that is, before the two campuses were merged into one full high school. Eventually, Redlands Junior High was nixed.
After World War II, Jordan returned – briefly.
Jordan had been a high-achieving two-sports star at USC – part of an illustrious Trojans’ football team, later starring on their nationally prominent track team as a sprinter. He was from nearby Pasadena, where Mack and Jackie Robinson had grown up, but attended UCLA.
Jordan had been coached in football by the illustrious Howard Jones – brilliant record, 121-36-13 – who’d been Trojans’ coach from 1925-1940.
Track coach Dean Cromwell, USA’s Olympic coach in 1948, might’ve been even more prominent. USC guys that he coached, including Jordan, were too numerous to highlight.
Jones and Cromwell are both Hall of Famers in multiple spots, not just at USC, either.
JORDAN’S CONNECTION TO REDLANDS
It’s important to note that scintillating connection between Jordan, USC and Redlands.
It was easy to see why Jordan was so highly favored around Redlands. Scholton, Sloan & Co. were his “boys.” When Jordan showed up just before World War II, his background must’ve seemed spectacular in this small-town haven.
A USC guy in Redlands? Years later, Jordan had only added to his lengthy list of achievements. Talk about a Redlands “connection.”
Once I’d arrived at this glorious 1984 Redlands Junior High reunion, held at Scholton’s old-century, country club-style residence, I was only aware that Jordan had been 1968 Olympic coach – nothing else.
Jordan, splendidly dressed and warmly received by about a dozen older men – now retired, some with money, nice careers – couldn’t have been more gracious.
Throw this in: Jordan personally knew 1936 Olympic hero Jesse Owens.
Athletically, Owens was remarkable. In 1938 and 1939, Jordan shined on USC’s national championship track team.
That 40.3 clocking in their 4 x 110, raced in 1939, was a world record Owens helped perform.
Also in 1939, Jordan played on USC’s Rose Bowl-winning football team, 7-3 winners over Duke.
In 1941, Jordan won the AAU 100-yard title – running sizzling 9.4 or 9.5 in yardage races, or a 10.4 in metric events.
By his Senior years up to age 80, Jordan was an age-group champion and record holder in Masters meet – refusing to stop competing.
As an athlete, Jordan missed out on the 1940 and 1944 Olympics due to World War II. No doubt he’d have made those Olympics. Imagine those Redlands Junior High students, not to mention their athletes, getting a grip on their Olympian.
Jordan’s career had been phenomenal, to say the least.
His collegiate football exploits were spectacular. On that track, he’d been a whiz. After World War II, where he served U.S. Navy, it was time to get rolling in a coaching career.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS TOO NUMEROUS
After coaching those guys at Redlands Junior High, Jordan landed at the collegiate level. It turned out to be venerable small-college Occidental, located in Eagle Rock, next to Pasadena – a key rival for that campus known as University of Redlands. It was like a hometown job for him since Jordan was a Pasadena product. After that Occidental decade between 1946 and 1957), there were nine outright conference track titles and one tie. Next stop was Stanford University’s over 23 more seasons.
Imagine. It all started at Redlands Junior High.
Also imagine:
Billy Mills’ remarkable upset win at the 1964 Tokyo Olympic 10,000.
Bob Beamon’s world record long jump, 29-feet, 2 ½ inches at the Mexico City Olympics.
One of his Occidental athletes, Bob Gutowski, set a world pole vault record (15-9 ¾).
Discus superstar Al Oerter nailed down his third and fourth gold medals under Jordan’s watch.
When Jimmie Hines won the 1969 Olympic gold medal in a world record 9.9 seconds, Jordan was head coach.
Tommie Smith’s 200-meter gold medal in 19.8 seconds led to the “power salute” protest in those ’68 Games. It included third place finisher John Carlos.
Quarter-miler Lee Evans set a world record 43.8 seconds in winning the 1968 Olympic gold medal.
At those 1960 Olympic Trials, Jordan ran USA’s squad in a meet at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, Calif. No fewer than seven world records were set.
During that 23-year career at Stanford, Jordan’s Indians (now Cardinal) had produced seven Olympians, six world record holders and six national champions.
This is just a small sampling of the exploits of the man I was sitting next to at Scholton’s home in spring 1984. At the time, I’d known none of all those achievements.
If I’d been paying attention to my TV set in 1968 – watching the track portion of that the Olympics, maybe I’d have noticed the interview with ABC’s well-known broadcaster.
From the left among athletic medal winners, Australia’s Peter Norman, Tommie Smith and John Carlos in the Olympic medal ceremony at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics at which the two Americans were protesting the poor treatment of Blacks in the U.S. (photo by Wikipedia Commons).Media had treated Jordan favorably, except for one nasal-toned, often exasperating, yet highly entertaining sportscaster from New York.
“Howard Cosell,” said Jordan, “had his mike in my nose while my foot was in his fanny. He’s the only one I had trouble with. I had him escorted out of the stadium.”
Guess I’d better be careful in my interview.
Here’s some evidence on how Jordan and Scholton were close:
Jordan once offered Scholton to help him coach at Stanford. The year, 1957. Scholton, a 1937 University of Redlands graduate – Pi Chi, track, cross country, biology major – was a teaching contemporary of Jordan’s at Redlands Junior High.
Scholton, according to folklore, had served under NFL legend George “Papa Bear” Halas during his own U.S. Navy stint. In Redlands, Scholton taught biology, coaching runners in both track and cross country.
More folklore came after Jordan took that Stanford job, apparently offering Scholton an assistant coach’s role to his former contemporary. Homegrown, however, Scholton stuck around Redlands.
That association between Scholton and Jordan, however, lasted for years. Scholton retired in 1970. Jordan called it quits in 1979.
A curious note: As the Olympics were set to take place in Los Angeles, Jordan conceded he wouldn’t be attending. “I don’t have tickets.”
Scholton, however, had blocks of track & field tickets at the Coliseum. I bought a couple from him for me and my father-in-law, Dean Green – an assistant principal RHS, of all places, in an office that was on the same side of the street where Redlands Junior High School once existed.
A portion of my 1984 interview:
“LET THE GAMES BEGIN”
Jordan says it might be a euphemism for “Troubled Times.”
“The Olympics,” he told me, “are always the focal point of politics, world unrest and controversy. All the problems of the world seem to be magnified during this period of time.”
PERFORMANCE ENHANCING DRUGS
“You can make it without steroids,” said Jordan, who knew plenty of athletes even back in those days. “You don’t have to do it … If you’ve got the ability, work harder, eat better and dedicate yourself, you’ll get there.”
AMATEUR VS. PROFESSIONAL
“There is no such thing,” he said, “as amateurism.”
All normal workings of any Olympic disagreements are simply workings of non-athletes seeking to control that athletic world.
JESSE OWENS
History records that Hitler turned his back on that one time Ohio State star at those 1936 Berlin Olympics. Said Jordan: “Actually, it wasn’t Owens that Hitler had turned his back on. He’d shunned Cornelius Johnson after he won the high jump the day before.”
Germany long jumper Lutz Long, Jordan proclaimed, had given Owens a tip that helped lift him to win that fourth gold medal in Berlin.
“Those types of incidents,” said Jordan, “were left under-publicized, in comparison to what activities existed between non-athletes.”
In 1968, Owens had been summoned to Mexico City for a bull session with the team. “There’s nobody I know who’s less of a racist than you,” he told Jordan. “Anything I can do, just ask.”
BLACK POWER MOVEMENT
Smith and Carlos, it had long been rumored, were set to protest at an Olympics in which several black U.S. athletes had decided not to participate – perhaps in their own protests.
It’s one reason why Cosell was so blatant into Jordan’s face during those ABC interviews.
Jesse Owens, the hero of the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, was a strong acquaintance of Payton Jordan, the onetime U.S. Olympic coach who began his coaching career in Redlands. Owens showed up to support Jordan during the black protest movement during the 1968 Mexico City Olympics (photo by Wikipedia Commons).
“They would’ve come to me to discuss (the protest),” he said, “and I would’ve vetoed that idea. They did come in and asked, ‘What should we do?’ I said, ‘Let me and my staff handle it.’
“Thank God it worked out beautifully.”
Part of that was Smith and Carlos were suspended from USA’s Olympic team and sent home.
It was a team, Jordan said, that was very close. “I never experienced that kind of closeness in spite of all the distractions. It was a group of people … who didn’t get hysterical about it and lost sight of our mission.”
Jordan says he took no part in any protest movement. “I was part of it, though. I was the coach.” Evans, Carlos and Smith, he confided, “were probably more loyal to me.”
That USA team came out of 1968 with more gold medals and Olympic records than any prior Olympic team, plus several future years.
After several minutes of that memorable Olympic protest chatter, there was a likely conclusion on talking it over. Too much to chat over. Jordan leaned back in his Scholton home chair, frowned and said, “I think that’s enough talk about 1968.”
A Redlands Connection is a concoction of sports memories emanating from a city that once numbered less than 20,000 people. From pro football’s Super Bowl to baseball’s World Series, from dynamic soccer’s World Cup to golf’s and tennis’ U.S. Open, major auto racing, plus NCAA Final Four connections, Tour de France cycling, more major tennis like Wimbledon, tiny connections to that NBA and a little NHL, major college football, Kentucky Derby, aquatics and Olympic Games, that sparkling little city sits around halfway between Los Angeles and Palm Springs on Interstate 10. – Obrey Brown
It was June 15, 1983. In those days, that date served as Major League Baseball’s trade deadline.
Think of these great deals — Seattle traded Randy Johnson to Houston in 1998; C.C. Sabathia had been traded by Cleveland to Milwaukee in 2008; that same season, it was Manny Ramirez traded to Los Angeles by Boston; when the Mets got Yeonis Cespedes in 2015, the slugging outfielder led New York to that year’s World Series; Philadelphia dealt Curt Schilling to Arizona in 2000.
All of those deals probably outweigh that swap of second basemen in that 1983 trade between Seattle and the Chicago White Sox.
Julio Cruz, undrafted free agent out of Redlands High/San Bernardino Valley College, had been such a solid player for Seattle — a base-stealing dynamo, not to mention a flashy fielding second baseman.
Redlands’ Julio Cruz, who built a steady and sturdy career at second base with the Seattle Mariners, was eventually swapped to the Chicago White Sox in the heat of the 1983 American League Western Division chase (photo by Wikipedia Commons).
A guy named Roland Hemond, the general manager in Chicago, noticed.
In 1983, Seattle took its sure-handed infielder and all-time leading base-stealer and dealt him to the ChiSox. That deal plucked second baseman Tony Bernazard from Chicago.
That mid-season trade, Chicago was five games under .500, fifth in the American League Western Division. Hemond pulled off thate Bernazard-for-Cruz trade, only real adjustment he made to an already-strong roster.
Hemond, a legendary general manager, made a trade that everyone would later credit with turning that season around. Looking to give his team a spark, Hemond’s trade launched an immediate effect.
I tracked down Hemond for comments on that trade. These were, of course, days before cell-phone usage, so getting hold of him seemed like a major achievement. Hemond was back east. That’s three hours’ difference than the west coast. I remember trying for a few days before I connected with him.
Why would I try? Local readership, no doubt. Every local reader might want to hear about their guy. Right? A little insight on those inner workings never hurt. We already had Cruz on the record.
“I was excited about the trade!”
“Chicago!”
“A real pennant race!”
“I love Seattle.”
That’s what Julio Cruz was telling me for that local press.
INTERVIEW WITH WHITE SOX GM
Hemond must’ve been in his office at Comiskey Park, home of the White Sox.
My standard intro … “Hi, Obrey Brown here from Redlands, hometown newspaper of Julio Cruz … wondering if I could pick your brain a little about that trade you made for Julio.”
Hemond, a friendly guy, needed no further prodding.
In 1983, Chicago White Sox General Manager made a trade for Seattle second baseman Julio Cruz, thus helping lift the ChiSox out of fifth place and onto winning the division by 20 games over the Kansas City Royals (photo by Wikipedia Commons).
“Oh, hi,” he said. There were some pleasant formalities between us. Like this one: “Think you’ll make it out here to see him play?”
I had to fib on that one. That tiny budget of a Redlands newspaper had barely allowed me to cover a Terrier game in nearby Rialto or Fontana. Send me to Chicago? Said Hemond: “When you get here, look me up.”
If only, I thought.
“I think it’ll turn out to be a real great acquisition for this club,” said Hemond, whose East-coast accent was a nice touch to our conversation. “In fact, it’s already helped us.”
“How long have you had your eye on Julio?”
“Oh … no … wow. I’ve known about Julio for a few years. How can you not notice a guy with his glove and his ability to steal bases? No, he just didn’t jump off the page at us. We need this guy. We’ve known about him.”
Hemond said, “Our clubhouse needed a jolt. Tony (Bernazard) wasn’t all that great of an influence in there. I’ve heard a lot about Julio being a good guy.”
This baseball lifer, Hemond, was very gracious with his time. He asked, “Did you cover him while he was playing in high school out there?”
“No. I got here a few years after he left.”
I tried to stump him, though. “Julio’s coach out here was Joe DeMaggio.”
Hemond either didn’t hear me, or thought I was kidding. No, it wasn’t THE Joe DiMaggio (note the spelling difference).
COVERING THE ‘REDLANDS’ CHISOX
Those summer-time sports pages, though, got a big plug. Cruz, standing on second base, darted for home plate on future Hall of Famer Harold Baines’ sharp single to right field. Tenth inning. It was against the Angels. Game-winner. Division-clinching run. Celebration. Photos.
Huge splash in this Redlands newspaper.
Cruz was picked up from Seattle when the ChiSox were 28-32, fifth in the American League West. They went 71-31 with Cruz, batting ninth in that lineup with Rudy Law atop a strong White Sox attack.
That year’s White Sox were filled with superb batsmen. Baines, Ron Kittle, Greg Luzinski and Hall of Fame catcher Carlton Fisk, combined to hit 123 home runs. Law stole nearly 80 bases.
Their pitching was topped by LaMarr Hoyt and Rich Dotson, who won 24 and 22 games, compiling that league’s greatest number of wins by two pitchers. Southpaw Floyd Bannister was nearly unbeatable, finishing off that season with a 13-1 streak.
Second place belonged to Kansas City, which finished a staggering 20 games behind Chicago.
The Daily Facts kept a close watch on that “Redlands” White Sox. Remember, this was A Redlands Connection.
By that year’s All-Star break, those ChiSox had climbed to three games over .500. Then things really got hot. Chicago, led by Tony LaRusso managing, climbed into first place on July 18 and never looked back. Their second half record was 59-26, a .694 winning percentage.
Not everyone was impressed. One out-of-town writer dismissed that team as no better than fifth best in that year’s A.L. East. Texas manager Doug Rader theorized that ChiSox’s bubble had to burst. “They’re not playing that well. They’re winning ugly.”
On September 17 at Comiskey Park, the White Sox clinched Chicago’s first championship in 25 years. Baines’ single brought home Cruz with that game’s winning run.
BIRDS TOOK OUT CHICAGO IN PLAYOFFS
Chicago’s opponents in that playoff duel would be Baltimore, having won that year’s season series against the ChiSox, seven games to five. In that 1983 playoff matchup, the Orioles won three out of four.
Even with Cruz , that group of White Sox couldn’t shake Baltimore. Hall of Famers Cal Ripken, Jr. and Eddie Murray, plus a strong corps of pitchers ousted Chicago and ended up beating Philadelphia in the World Series.
The ex-Terrier hit .333 in four games, the White Sox winning game one, 2-1, before the Orioles came streaking back to win 4-0, 11-1 and 3-0 behind strong pitching from Mike Boddicker, Tippy Martinez and Mike Flanagan.
As for Hemond, that slick transaction for Julio may have gone a long way in snagging his second Sporting News Executive of the Year honors.
Years later, ’83 White Sox manager Tony La Russa and I were eyeball to eyeball in spring training Arizona. By this point, he had moved on to manage the Oakland A’s. I couldn’t help but try and snag him for some comments – even though it was years later – on Cruz.
Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa called Julio Cruz an “igniter” when asked about the former Redlands ballplayer (photo by Wikipedia Commons).
La Russa didn’t have much time. Calling Cruz “an igniter,” La Russa wasn’t in a mood to chat. He said, “The thing I remember from that team was the power we had … Julio and Rudy Law gave us another dimension to score runs with their speed.”
One final, quick comment: “He played a great second base for us.”
Footnote: Seattle lost 102 games in 1983.
Sabathia, Johnson, Ramirez and all the other more famous MLB trade deadline might draw more attention in baseball’s history book. For the Chicago White Sox, however, that deal might be No. 1.
A Redlands Connection is a concoction of sports memories emanating from a city that once numbered less than 20,000 people. From pro football’s Super Bowl to baseball’s World Series, from dynamic soccer’s World Cup to golf’s and tennis’ U.S. Open, major auto racing, plus NCAA Final Four connections, Tour de France cycling, more major tennis like Wimbledon, tiny connections to that NBA and a little NHL, major college football, Kentucky Derby, aquatics and Olympic Games, that sparkling little city sits around halfway between Los Angeles and Palm Springs on Interstate 10.
I saw Ed Vande Berg. In Arlington. Pitching. On a steaming hot Texas night, he hurled 2 1/3 scoreless innings of relief in a 6-2 loss to Milwaukee, then playing among American League teams. I was one of 26,526 fans that Thursday night. Arlington Stadium. Hall of Famers Paul Molitor and Robin Yount were in Milwaukee’s lineup. It was July 14, a Thursday night, in the summer of 1988.
Vande Berg, a Redlands High baseball-playing product, was playing for enigmatic Bobby Valentine, the Rangers’ manager. It was one of Vande Berg’s fina appearances during his seven-year MLB career.
Attended legendary Arizona State, where Hall of Famers Reggie Jackson and Jim Palmer –- not to mention Barry Bonds – played collegiately, among others.
Vande Berg rarely threw important pitches in a meaningful game during his MLB career. Who cares? He was a major league pitcher — with promise. It should be noted, however, that Vande Berg’s 1982-88 career span did not include playing for a team that finished at .500.
Redlands’ Ed Vande Berg spent seven seasons in major league baseball.
He was a left-handed specialist, a long reliever and, at one brief point, he started 17 times for Seattle in 1984.
Managers like Rene Lachemann, Del Crandall, Chuck Cottier, Hall of Famer Tommy Lasorda, Pat Corrales or Valentine might summon him to pitch against the likes of Fred Lynn or Eddie Murray, Don Mattingly or Lou Whitaker, maybe a Tim Raines, Darryl Strawberry or Keith Hernandez.
He had surrendered Reggie Jackson’s final career hit. Vande Berg, then with Texas, watched a broken bat single off that bat of a future Hall of Famer.
Reggie Jackson’s final MLB hit came on a broken back single off Ed Vande Berg in 1987 (photo by Wikipedia Commons).
BASEBALL CARDS APLENTY ON THIS REDLANDS KID
Check out a website on Ed Vande Berg some time. Click on images. When you do, your entire computer screen should light up with baseball cards – Vande Berg with Seattle. Or Los Angeles. Or Cleveland . Or Texas.
He was an Alaska Goldpanner.
An Arizona State Sun Devil. Appeared in a College World Series.
Don’t let it slip your mind that Vande Berg was a Redlands High Terrier. Here was his background, stated by plenty of Redlands baseballers not to be much of a prospect while playing for Terrier coach Joe De Maggio.
When he showed up at San Bernardino Valley, Vande Berg took instruction well enough to burnish a slider. It was a new pitch. That resulted in an 18-1 record. State Player of the Year.
Fascinating! Movement, plus zip on his fastball, earned his way to Arizona State — a hub for future MLB players. That got him on radars of MLB scouts, who drafted him no less than three times before he signed.
He was a Rookie Team All-Star in 1982, the year he finished 9-4 with the Mariners, who had drafted him out of Arizona State. A league-leading 78 games accompanied that 2.37 earned run average over 76 innings pitched.
SAN DIEGO, ST. LOUIS, FINALLY SEATTLE
Vande Berg’s draft history was pretty interesting. San Diego took him. third round in 1978, but Vande Berg didn’t sign. A year later, St. Louis made him a fourth round pick. Again, he didn’t sign. In 1980, Seattle drafted him, 13th round. This time, he signed.
That ’82 rookie season, though, was something. Only 54 hits were allowed in those 76 innings pitched, including just five HRs. He was 23 when he made that MLB debut with Seattle.
In 1984, the Mariners made Vande Berg, a 6-foot-2, 175-pounder, a starting pitcher. He logged an 8-12 record (4.76, 130 innings) for a 72-90 team on a pitching staff topped by Mark Langston. Alvin Davis, who hit 27 homers, knocked in 116 runs and batted .284), was American League Rookie of the Year.
By 1988 when Vande Berg joined up at Texas, Ruben Sierra was clearly that team’s best player. Vande Berg was part of a bullpen backed by closer Mitch Williams. The staff’s ace was ex-Dodger knuckleballer Charlie Hough.
It was one season before Nolan Ryan signed with Texas. By then, Vande Berg was gone. Released. Final season of his career.
Who would remember a trade that sent Vande Berg from Seattle to Los Angeles in 1985? It was a straight-up deal on Dec. 11. Catcher Steve Yeager, who had played in three World Series with L.A., was sent back to Seattle.
The Dodgers paid Vande Berg $455,000.
That season, Vande Berg registered a 3.41 ERA over 60 games (71 1/3 innings).
Teammates included Cy Young Award winners Fernando Valenzuela and Orel Hershiser, both managed by Lasorda, a Hall of Fame manager. Vande Berg had relieved both pitchers during that 1987 season.
For one season, Dodger Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda summoned Redlands southpaw Ed Vande Berg into a major league game (photo by Wikipedia Commons).
Granted free agency in each of the following two seasons, Vande Berg found homes in Cleveland and Arlington, Texas.
Among Vande Berg’s Cleveland teammates was Joe Carter, who hit the game-winning World Series homer for Toronto a few years later. Another teammate was that ageless Julio Franco, who made Cleveland just one of his stops on a seven-team, 23-year career.
For a season and a half, incredibly enough, Vande Berg was teammates with another Redlands product, Julio Cruz. The two spent the entire 1982 season in M’s uniforms, but in 1983 Cruz was sent to the Chicago White Sox in a trade deadline deal.
His final game came at age 29 against, of all teams, Seattle, a Mariners’ team Vande Berg spent four of his seven-year MLB pitching for in America’s vnorthwest.
The end result was a 25-28 lifetime mark … 413 games … surrendered 52 HRs … 3.92 earned run average … 22 saves … not a bad career.
WINDING DOWN A SEVEN-YEAR MLB CAREER
A couple months after I watched Vande Berg pitch against Milwaukee in Texas, the Redlands product pitched his final game. Against his old team, the Mariners.
On Friday night, Sept. 30. At the Kingdome that night, 7,870 fans watched.
He pitched a full inning. With home plate umpire Rich Garcia calling balls and strikes, Vande Berg surrendered three hits, including a Rey Quinones double.
In Seattle’s lineup that night was Davis, not to mention future MLB Network broadcaster Harold Reynolds. Darnell Coles, from Vande Berg’s former Citrus Belt League rival Rialto Eisenhower, was also in that night’s lineup.
A lowly Rangers’ squad beat those lowly Mariners, 11-6.
Exactly one month earlier, Vande Berg picked up his final career victory. In an 8-6 win over Minnesota, Cecil Espy’s bottom-of-the-ninth, two-run HR cracked a 6-6 tie. Vande Berg, who had pitched a scoreless ninth inning in relief of starter Bobby Witt, logged the win.
A Redlands Connection is a concoction of sports memories emanating from a city that once numbered less than 20,000 people. From pro football’s Super Bowl to baseball’s World Series, from dynamic soccer’s World Cup to golf’s and tennis’ U.S. Open, major auto racing, plus NCAA Final Four connections, Tour de France cycling, more major tennis like Wimbledon, tiny connections to that NBA and a little NHL, major college football, Kentucky Derby, aquatics and Olympic Games, that sparkling little city sits around halfway between Los Angeles and Palm Springs on Interstate 10. – Obrey Brown
It was July 6, back in 2018. A World Cup quarterfinals day took place. France had just beaten Uruguay, 2-0. At 11 a.m., Pacific, Belgium took on Brazil for a spot in the Cup semifinals.
American soccer icon Landon Donovan had made a bold prediction a few years earlier. He talked about Belgium in 2014. By 2018, that European nation was bidding for a Cup.
Flashing back, it’s a distant memory in days when Landon, a young teenager at that time, flashed up and down high school soccer fields, darting in to take a pass, dribble upfield, set up a teammate, or launch a shot into a soccer goal.
In years ahead, he wasn’t worried about playing Rialto Eisenhower, San Gorgonio or Victor Valley from that Citrus Belt League.
What was on his mind that summer of 2014 is Group G — Germany, Ghana and Portugal. plus his American side. America’s coach at that moment was German legend Jurgen Klinsmann. He’d have a choice on whether to pick Donovan or not.
Redlands’ Landon Donovan, who was America’s greatest soccer scoring threat, left America to train in Europe at a young age. Maybe that’s the secret to lifting Team USA to more of an international presence (photo by Wikipedia Commons).
America had been in such a state of disorganization as a soccer side. Team USA went international to hire that coach. Klinsmann, a goal-scoring superstar for Germany, was brought over to direct that American side.
Donovan would eventually feel a sting.
In reality, his days at Redlands High as a freshman – when he was Most Valuable Player for his high school league in 1996 – and his half-season at Redlands East Valley, was just miniature soccer.
He was an IMG Academy (Fla.) kid playing for club and national youth teams, plus prepping for a remarkable career that was about to unfold. Leaving REV midway through his sophomore year (1997-98) to play professionally overseas, Donovan’s touch seemed magical.
Magnificent Donovan, an L.A. Galaxy/U.S. World Cup player, has scored an American record 57 international goals – and likely would’ve added to that mark in his fourth Cup appearance in 2014.
“I hope so,” he said over such hopes. As of April 22, 2014, Donovan claims he didn’t have a clue if he’d be included on USA’s roster. “We’ll find out in the beginning of June.”
Was he being coy? After all, he’s one of USA’s greatest USA scoring threats ever. Donovan shrugged.
“You never know. I hope so – yes.”
DONOVAN: MESSI, RONALDO BEST IN THE WORLD
It’s amazing that such a remarkable talent as Donovan grew up back in that Redlands area. Klinsmann, though, didn’t pick him.
Asked to identify this world’s best players, Donovan pondered for just a few moments. No American players came from his lips.
Cristiano Ronaldo, called by Redlands’ Landon Donovan one of the top players in the world, was certainly on the field against USA’s best-ever product (photo by Wikipedia Commons).
“Cristiano (Ronaldo, of Real Madrid) and (Spaniard Lionel) Messi.”
That pondering, perhaps, came just because he was trying to separate those two between No. 1 and No. 2. It’s impossible. “They’re both good for different reasons,” says Donovan, who may have settled on Messi being best-on-the-planet.
Donovan’s been on the pitch, playing against both players, incidentally. Don’t forget: Messi’s a goal-scoring legend. Truthfully, Ronaldo wasn’t far behind.
Lionel Messi might get the nod, at least from Redlands’ Landon Donovan, as this world’s greatest soccer player as of July 2018, that is. Donovan’s played against that great Argentian scoring legend (photo by Wikipedia Commons).
Said Donovan: “He gets himself into position better than other people can. He’s more of an individual talent when he gets the ball alone.” Messi might be five or six inches shorter than NBA great LeBron James, “but it’s the same athleticism.”
The 2014 World Cup was wide open. Donovan was hoping to play. It would be one last hurrah.
Germany, he said, “is emerging. A lot of people are talking about Belgium.”
Belgium? Four years later, Belgium was on a threshold of winning that 2018 World Cup. They’d taken down 5-time Cup champion Brazil, 2-1, in St. Petersburg, Russia. In that year’s semifinals, however, France ended Belgium’s run with a 1-0 outcome.
Team USA wasn’t in that 2018 field. Neither was Donovan on Team USA’s side.
DONOVAN’S GOAL-SCORING WAS PHENOMENAL
Four years before, in 2014, Donovan’s name wasn’t on Team USA’s roster. It might’ve been a breakdown of America’s side. By 2018, Team USA couldn’t even qualify to be among that year’s 32 World Cup teams. Donovan, by then, was gone.
You have to wonder, though: If Klinsmann hadn’t taken him down in 2014, would Donovan, at age 36, have lasted through a 2018 attempt?
Jurgen Klinsmann, the famed German goal-scoring legend who became Team USA coach, might have slowed up the development of America’s soccer movement after cutting Landon Donovan from America’s team in 2014 (photo by Wikipedia Commons).
USA’s Donovan side shouldn’t be taken for granted, though. An eventual USA World Cup triumph, though perhaps unexpected, would be a great story. In 2014, he said, just getting out our group “would be good. Getting out of our group would be success. Anything after that is icing on the cake.”
Soccer fascination growing in the USA, he says. “Our young kids now are passionate about it.”
Team USA goalkeeper Hope Solo, meanwhile, said there’s too much club, too many parents paying for their kids’ involvement. The inference seemed to be that toughness is limited.
“A rich white kid sport,” she called it.
Donovan: Interest level is high. “It takes time,” he said, referring to growing that same fascination between USA soccer and the European Premiership.
Part of an answer, perhaps: Grow up USA players on European rosters. There were, of course. Gaining toughness. To gain experience. To gain international flavor. Donovan had pulled it off.
During qualifying, those USA players would reassemble for their national team. Donovan did it. As a teenager who trained for Bayer Leverkusen, a Bundesliga league side, he trained — rarely appeared — before being “loaned” to USA’s Earthquakes for 2001-2004.
There were 11 seasons in Galaxy colors. On loan to Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen, Donovan’s cap time started coming to an end. By age 32, retired after a World Cup. Perhaps, but only as a Cup player. “We’ll see,” he said at the time.
By 2016, Donovan retired as Galaxy striker. Playing for six Major League Soccer Cup championship teams, four in L.A., two in San Jose, that onetime Redlands kid was a goal-scoring dynamo — 160 connections in MLS matches, plus those 57 international net-finders.
Briefly, he returned to play for Leon, a Mexican team, but Donovan’s contract was terminated by June 2018. As a U.S. player, he played in more international matches than all players but one by that moment.
It’s kind of cool, isn’t it, that Donovan sprung his worldwide legend from Redlands?
A Redlands Connection is a concoction of sports memories emanating from a city that once numbered less than 20,000 people. From pro football’s Super Bowl to baseball’s World Series, from dynamic soccer’s World Cup to golf’s and tennis’ U.S. Open, plus NCAA Final Four connections, Tour de France cycling, more major tennis like Wimbledon, tiny connections to that NBA and a little NHL, Kentucky Derby, aquatics and Olympic Games, that sparkling little city sits around halfway between Los Angeles and Palm Springs on Interstate 10. That I-10 freeway was often used by baseball players looking to jump from their high school ranks to a major league opportunity. This baseball hopeful went from his high school to Riverside to faraway Atlanta to nearby Anaheim, home of the Angels. – Obrey Brown
Tommy Hanson struck high during his third league season, 2011, with those Atlanta Braves. Pitching numbers were 11 wins, 7 losses, a 3.60 ERA over 22 games, tossing pitches to All-Star catcher Brian McCann, picking off with throws to another All-Star, first baseman Freddie Freeman, plus future Hall of Fame third baseman Chipper Jones.
Try to figure how many of Hanson’s 11 triumphs were saved by closer Craig Kimball, who had 46 saves, including a few for starters like Tim Hudson’s 16 victories.
You figure there were plenty of Redlands East Valley High School connected folks checking out Hanson, that 2004 graduate. Don’t forget, he was an original catcher, then a first baseman.
REV’s baseball program produced that solid major leaguer. From the mound. To a strong university. Originally, he wound up 11-4 with a 2.89 ERA during his 2009 rookie season pitching for the Braves.
Hanson, 49-35, 3.85 lifetime, spent five seasons in the majors, mostly with Atlanta, plus a season with the Angels. He concluded his 2006-2015 professional career — injuries, soreness, perhaps some other health problems — in the minors with San Francisco’s Class AAA team in Sacramento.
Tragically, he was struck down at age 29 when he died on November 9, 2015.
In 2005 after Atlanta grabbed him on that 22nd round, a 677th overall selection, he signed with the Braves. Hanson was pitching for dominant California junior college, Riverside City, that season. Dozens and dozens of baseball players have been taken out of RCC.
Tommy Hanson, an original Redlands East Valley right-handed pitcher, lifted himself into the major leagues from that Mentone city next to Redlands and Yucaipa, getting drafted by Atlanta from Riverside City College in 2005.
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Hanson was the first of REV’s growing list of professional baseball signees. There were a couple handfuls more that eventually joined him.
Hanson established himself as baseball’s top pitching prospect after he dominated as the 2008 MVP of the Arizona Fall League.
As that much-anticipated major league debut that following June there were four straight starts, including two straight against the Yankees and Red Sox at Turner Field.
After producing a 3.28 ERA over the 77 starts made during his first three Major League seasons, Hanson was hit by injuries— shoulder, plus a back ailment. There was another setback.
His younger brother died in 2013. Hanson was then with the Angels. He told reporters, “I was having mental issues with the death of my younger brother. I was just trying to get through it. I didn’t know how to handle it.
“That was the first time anything like that had ever happened to me. I didn’t know how to cope with it.”
In grieving his brother, Hanson left those Angels for three weeks. There were 15 appearances by his conclusion, his final major league work.
A SURPRISE CONCLUSION
It was a long way from REV, which is where Hanson had pitched brilliantly. What dropped feelings back home was simple and disruptive: That ex-Braves’ pitcher died, caused by delayed complications of cocaine and alcohol toxicity, according to an autopsy report. It was a Coweta County coroner in Georgia, Dr. Richard Hawk, who ruled that death as an accident, the cause being illicit cocaine use.
No one, absolutely no one, wanted to see this conclusion. Hanson was 29. At the beginning, born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. At the end, buried in Roswell, Georgia.
IT WAS HANSON THAT LED THOSE REV STEPS
Sure, sure, sure … there was more than a handful of other REV baseballers taken in the draft by various MLB teams – catcher Brett Martinez and outfielder Josh Cowles, both taken by the Angels, infielder Paul Eshlemen by the Brewers, plus Matt Andriese’s brother David, an outfielder taken by the Pirates out of UC Riverside.
Then there’s pitchers Justin Jacome by the Marlins, plus a pair taken by the Blue Jays, Jackson McClelland and Griffin Murphy.
Neither of those players ever made it to the big leagues.
Matt Andriese and Tyler Chatwood, both pitchers, came along at REV just a couple seasons following Hanson’s REV seasons, eventually winding up in MLB play.
For that 1997 first-ever school year, baseball beginning at REV in 1998, Hanson was the original star.
