“POP” LITTLED SMALL COLLEGE SUCCESS BEFORE ENTERING NBA

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. For Pomona-Pitzer College to reach its road game against at its SCIAC rival, University of Redlands, their driver had to take that University Street exit off I-10 – Obrey Brown

There was something strangely familiar about how visiting Pomona-Pitzer College had put an end to a longtime men’s basketball domination by SCIAC rivals, especially a University of Redlands squad one night in January 1983.

For years, that small SCIAC basketball chase had been a two-team race confined between powerhouse Whittier College with Gary Smith’s coached Bulldogs usually a close second place.

Hmmm.

Around his seventh season coaching at Pomona-Pitzer, Popovich had his team headed to Minnesota as SCIAC champions, a qualifying spot in NCAA Division III playoffs. “It’s just neat to have somebody besides Whittier and Redlands win,” he said.

It took awhile.

Located consistently were two teams on different historic losing streaks — Caltech, from Pasadena, and Pomona-Pitzer College from nearby Claremont. It certainly didn’t seem like a launching pad for Popovich, en route to an NBA Hall of Fame coaching career.

Maybe it was Popovich using his bench that night in 1983. It was, believe it or not, reminiscent of UCLA a few years earlier. The Bruins, then under coach Larry Brown, had reached NCAA’s championship game against Louisville — later vacated over rules infractions.

Who’d have believed that Gregg Popovich would launch an NBA Hall of Fame coaching career having started at NCAA Division III, tiny Pomona-Pitzer College in Claremont, Calif.? Part of that trek went through the University of Redlands, Whittier, Claremont-Mudd, Occidental, La Verne, plus a few others. (photo by Wikipedia).

Popovich was an assistant to Hank Egan, then at Air Force, when he took Pomona-Pitzer’s job. That first Sagehens’ team was 2-22, losing to Caltech, which had set an NCAA record with 99 straight losses.

In that 1983 game at Redlands, Kurt Herbst was Pomona-Pitzer’s big banger against the Bulldogs. Redlands couldn’t penetrate his 6-foot-6 size, a wide body who had some help that night.

Backtracking a few years later, it was Pomona-Pitzer that famously lost to Caltech, ending that then-dubbed Engineers’ 99-game losing streak. I remember that story went on Associated Press’ wire. I published that four-paragraph brief in a local newspaper.

After all, two teams in Redlands’ conference seemed mildly interesting to our readership. That was our mandate, of course, to keep our pages local.

The Sagehens, for all intents and purposes, were no more talented than a college freshman team — maybe not even that good. So when I approached Popovich about those UCLA observations, he quickly summoned me inside the Sagehens’ locker room.

He seemed excited, perhaps impressed that I’d made that wise connection.

“Yes,“ he said, “that’s exactly the blueprint we use for this team I’ve got here. Larry Brown …“ his voice drifting off into a rash of interpretation, basketball lingo and connecting the dots between UCLA and Pomona-Pitzer’s rise to prominence.

Another coincidental connection! Popovich and Brown were connected. Those connections would later surface, re-surface and surface again.

Popovich spoke of his Air Force Academy background. He’d originally met Brown at the 1972 Olympic Games tryouts – those infamous Games where Team USA lost that controversial game to Soviet Union. A handful, or so, years later, Popovich was hired at Pomona-Pitzer to coach and, along with his wife, run a campus dormitory — “something like that,” he told me.

His connection with Brown, he said while Sagehen players were giddily showering after their upset win over Redlands, dated back to those 1972 Olympic tryouts.

If Brown coached it, Popovich tried it.

“That’s the relationship we have,“ said Popovich.

At Pomona-Pitzer, Popovich was using Brown’s system of defense, not to mention a substitution pattern that was eerily similar to that of UCLA’s 1979-80 squad. Strange as it might sound, in 1983, that system stood out.

Larry Brown, coaching here at Southern Methodist University, was the catalyst to an NBA coaching Hall of Fame career for Gregg Popovich, who lifted himself from tiny Pomona-Pitzer College to the San Antonio Spurs (photo by SMU).

It was a starting five, plus two key contributors off Pomona-Pitzer’s bench.

Popovich copped to it all, via Brown. There was no possible way anything he told me that night could crystallize into Pop’s eventual NBA Hall of Fame career.

I’d keep an eye on Popovich, who took one season off to take a sabbatical at Kansas, under Brown’s guidance. By 1986, Popovich had lifted the Sagehens to the school’s first SCIAC championship in nearly seven decades — 68 years to be exact.

Trust me on this: Some Redlands folks had a few “concerns“ on just how Popovich conducted recruiting basketball players on that remarkable Pomona-Pitzer campus in Claremont.

He’d turned it around on a campus that seemed oblivious to its athletics program. Pomona-Pitzer and Caltech, I’d written, cheated its student-athletes by not offering appropriate coaching and playing facilities. Yes, academics was a shrewd leadership at those campuses. Naturally, I received negative admonitions from a few corners of that SCIAC chamber.

I’d written about how some SCIAC campuses were cheating their student-athletes — taking their tuition monies and providing them with slighted athletic facilities, inauthentic coaching and only mild support. Popovich indicated some extra incentives were plugged into his program right around this time; saying, however, he didn’t know if it was related to that column I’d published.

These campuses were supposed to stand for academic strength. Sports, it was reasoned, was pay-for-play. Intramurals. Deemed not important enough. That was my take in that piece I’d written.

Frank Ellsworth, Pomona-Pitzer’s president at the time, told me in a telephone call, protesting my writing, “I think we need to have you on our campus to explain our educational mission.“ That mission, I guess, didn’t include a shiny basketball program that included a pristine gymnasium.

I’ve got to admit, though. Within years, that campus funded itself with enough money to include high-level renovations to its entire athletic facility. That came during Ellsworth’s watch, in fact.

Truth is, many of those coaches didn’t get enough support from their administrations. Maybe they didn’t hit the recruiting trail hard enough. Popovich, in fact, did that. I didn’t report that part of it. I should have. It’s how he landed Herbst.

Little by little, Pomona-Pitzer attracted better players.

A few years later, Mike Budenholzer, a red-headed, non-scoring threat at point guard — the future NBA head coach at Atlanta and NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks, later coaching Phoenix. Hey, he was born in Arizona, showing up at Pomona-Pitzer.

Speaking of that, the article attacked a few of those SCIAC campuses: Some Redlands athletic officials were mildly upset, perhaps thinking their SCIAC rivals suspected that they’d put me up for writing that piece.

Popovich, in his own way, bailed me out.

“I think you’re one of the reasons things improved here,“ he told me on that night in 1983. Solid as they were, Popovich’s Sagehens finished a hugely impressive 6-4 record in SCIAC play, nowhere close to a conference championship. By 1986, Pomona-Pitzer won its first league title in decades — eventually fourth at NCAA Regionals.

In another nice twist, Brown — having led Kansas to an NCAA Division I championship in 1988 with Danny Manning being the key player — invited Popovich’s Division III Pomona-Pitzer team for a non-conference game the following season.

I’ll never forget the score of a Pomona-Pitzer vs. Kansas matchup at the Phog Allen Field House. It was 94-38, Jayhawks. It was Popovich’s final season, incidentally, a 7-19 record, 4-6 against SCIAC rivals, his worst season in years. Future into coaching in the NBA?

Eventually, San Antonio hired Brown, who stands today as that lone coach to win NCAA and NBA (with Detroit) championships. That Spurs’ hiring led Brown to bring on Popovich as an assistant.

Popovich went on, spending a couple seasons at Golden State, but considered that Nevada-Las Vegas’ legendary coach Jerry Tarkanian, who coached Redlands High School over 1959-61 seasons, had been railroaded out of his job with the Runnin’ Rebels.

Tark turned up, briefly, as Spurs’ coach. It didn’t last more than a half season. The guy that hired and fired both Brown and Tarkanian was former owner Red McCombs. When McCombs sold out to Peter Holt, a few years later, Popovich returned — his SCIAC connections forever bridging a gap to his NBA career.

Eventually, Popovich appeared as Spurs’ general manager. Bob Hill was their coach. All of which led to Popovich taking over as Spurs’ coach in 1996. Just over one decade earlier, he’d coached at tiny Currier Gym in Redlands, his team playing the Bulldogs.

That Popovich-to-Kansas connection was a curious relationship. Popovich tried out for Team USA during its 1972 Olympic Trials, Brown cutting him early. There was an Air Force connection.

Dean, said Popovich, and Larry “were close back in when they both coached at Air Force. Popovich got cut again when Brown was coaching that old American Basketball Association squad, Denver. That Nuggets’ coach sliced Popovich from their roster. Playing at Air Force just wasn’t good enough for a future pro, it seemed.

Connections in Popovich’s coaching world added up quickly.

I keep giving myself an “atta-boy“ for that 1983 observation on a cold, rainy night in Redlands.

*****

Speaking of basketball: Current Phoenix Suns coach Mike Budenholzer, the former Milwaukee Bucks and Atlanta Hawks coach, who has been NBA Coach of the Year, spent some time locally during his playing career at Pomona-Pitzer College – playing against both the University of Redlands and Cal State San Bernardino. It’s when the Coyotes were NCAA Division III members back in the early 1990s.

Budenholzer, who led Milwaukee to an NBA title? That redhead, seen playing point guard during his playing days at Pomona-Pitzer, took a different path into the NBA.

It was mostly on Popovich’s shoulders Budenholzer served as a San Antonio assistant coach since beginning in 1996. Popovich? By 2020? That’s when Team USA returned with an Olympic Gold Medal. In Tokyo.

Kevin Durant and Draymond Green were each part of that team. So, too, was a Popovich Spur, Keldon Johnson. Steve Kerr, an assistant that season, wrapped up another gold medal as head coach in 2024.

While Popovich took his major lift into NBA activity, longtime Pomona-Pitzer assistant Charles Katsiaficas replaced him as Sagehens’ coach, lifting Pomona-Pitzer even further into that SCIAC.

Brown? Popovich? NBA? Try this: Popovich’s Spurs knocked off Brown’s Detroit Pistons, a seven-game duel, in 2005. It was a long way from those light-achieving seasons at Pomona-Pitzer.

April 2, 2025April 25, 2025

CYCLING HALL OF FAMER DAVIS PHINNEY HELPED LAUNCH REDLANDS CLASSIC

Redlands Connection is a concoction of sports memories emanating from a city that once numbered less than 20,000 people. From the Super Bowl to the World Series, from the World Cup to golf’s U.S. Open, plus NCAA Final Four connections, Tour de France cycling, major tennis, NBA and a little NHL, aquatics and quite a bit more, the sparkling little city that sits around halfway between Los Angeles and Palm Springs on Interstate 10 has its share of sports connections. In 1985, it all started when racing’s top cyclists showed up to compete. – Obrey Brown

Davis Phinney took over a post-race media conference after winning that yellow jersey at 1986’s Redlands Bicycle Classic.

Phinney was a cycling rock star.

Davis_Phinney_1991_Thrift_Drug_Classic — Until Greg LeMond came along to win the Tour de France in 1988, there may have been no bigger USA cyclist than Davis Phinney, who won the Redlands Bicycle Classic while wearing Team 7-Eleven colors in 1986. (Photo by Wikipidia Commons.)

He’d just ridden a handful of days, pushed over the line by teammate Raul Alcala, runner-up and an Olympic bronze medalist for his native Mexico a couple years earlier. Phinney also held off future teammate Jeff Pierce in that Memorial Day weekend event.

Interviews centered around, naturally, of Phinney’s Tour de France success. Wasn’t that big news?

Wouldn’t Redlands like to connect with a guy that was in cycling’s greatest race?

After all, he would eventually become America’s first-ever cyclist to win a stage at that European-dominated event. Americans, at that point, had rarely competed in Europe.

Team 7-Eleven had raced across that Atlantic Ocean in this globe’s most important cycling race. Until Greg LeMond came along, Americans weren’t successful at any level in Europe.

In Redlands, Phinney was trying to be kind, but he knew why he was there. Phinney’s presence, along with his pre-eminent 7-Eleven cycling team, had been whisked to Redlands in order to help try and send this one-year-old event to a much higher level of popularity among everyone – cyclists, followers, media, you name it.

There were enough questions about European racing. Mostly mine. I was thinking globally, not locally. Finally, Phinney stepped in.

“Let’s stop talking about the Tour de France,” said Phinney, in a manner of taking over that post-event media conversation, “and talk about the Tour of Redlands.”

Tour of Redlands?

Fair enough. We’re on U.S. soil. On hand for those moments were handfuls of Redlands race organizers, no doubt delighted over their guest’s manners in trying to highlight this local race.

Team 7-Eleven’s presence might have been paramount in keeping Redlands afloat. A quarter century later, well into these 2000s, it’s still pertinent and relevant in cycling’s world.

In 1997, that team was inducted into U.S. Cycling’s Hall of Fame. That original 7-Eleven squad had sent two teams to Redlands for that 1986 Memorial Day weekend trek.

Team manager Jim Ochowicz, a Hall of Famer in his own right, had organized a remarkable collection of mainly U.S. riders.

Racing in Redlands that weekend was Tom Schuler and Bob Roll, Ron Kiefel and Doug Shapiro, plus Alex Stieda, Roy Knickman, Chris Carmichael, not to mention Phinney and Alcala.

Don’t forget Eric Heiden, that Olympic speed skater who captured multiple medals at the 1980 Lake Placid (N.Y.) winter games while also qualifying as an alternate for Team USA’s cycling squad later that summer.

It was a showcase for Redlands, its area fans, perhaps, not yet connected to cycling.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — Eric Heiden, a 1980 U.S. Olympian in both speed skating and an alternate in the Summer Olympics as a cyclist, was part of Team 7-Eleven’s appearance at the 1986 Redlands Bicycle Classic. His presence brought extra prominence to the growing event. (Photo by Wikipedia Commons.)

And don’t overlook another Hall of Famer. Knickman, who rode for La Vie Claire and Toshiba-Look alongside the famous teams that included LeMond, Andy Hampsten and frenchman Bernard Hinault.

Team 7-Eleven’s presence in Redlands that 1986 race, I was told, came after plenty of negotiation – with top executive Jim Ochowicz, I believe – to help lift Redlands’ race to prominence. It was hard to bring his team west when most important competitions were in Europe.

Lying ahead was a huge historical level being highly raised at this Redlands event. Those 7-Eleven racers were followed by significant cyclists.

It’s story after story on that Redlands’ side of male cyclists notching a spot between 1985, its first race won by Thurlow Rogers, and its 2025 renewal.

Alexi Grewal, that 1984 Olympic road race gold medalist, showed up to win at Redlands in 1988.

LeMond, that first American ever to win a Tour de France? Did he show up? At Redlands? Not as a racer, but he came to lead a Redlands Bicycle Classic ride through a canyon a year, or so, following his retirement.

Lance Armstrong? Forget, at least for a moment, he had seven Tour de France triumphs wiped out over his behind-the-scenes usage of racing advantages. Having recovered from cancer in the mid-1990s, this U.S. Postal Service racer was seriously asked to race at Redlands during his return to cycling.

I was told by Craig Kundig, this race’s lengthy leader, “it was close.”

So close.

Armstrong’s U.S. Postal team, however, produced four straight champions at Redlands – Tomasz Brozyna, Dariusz Baranoski, Jonathan Vaughters and Christian Vande Velde. Those four racked up yellow jerseys from 1996 through 1999. Those last two guys rode as Armstrong lieutenants across that Atlantic.

Chris Horner captured his first Redlands yellow jersey in 2000 while racing for Team Mercury. A couple years later, Redlands’ 2002 champion was a Prime Alliance jersey-wearing star, Horner. In 2003 and 2003, Horner won wearing a Saturn uniform, then a Webcor, outfit.

Following that 2003 championship, Horner reflected that his age, 33, was a little beyond in seeking a career cycling overseas. Wrong! Over several following years, Horner racked up quite a few achievements over that ocean.

By 2011, Horner was Tour of California champion.

Spain’s Francisco Mancebo, a five-time top 10 finisher at the Tour de France, copped a pair of Redlands yellow jerseys.

Funny note on Horner, who also came in second place twice.

Phil Gaimon must have read my pre-race article’s 2012 interview on Horner, his strong hopes for notching victory No. 5 on yet another team. Gaimon, however, used that as motivation to race past everyone, beating three stage winner Patrick Bevin by just a couple seconds, Mancebo taking third, trailing by just a mere seven seconds.

Horner finished well behind.

Gaimon, who began racing on a “Team Redlands” squad known as Jelly Belly in 2009, repeated that Redlands triumph in 2015.

Almost each year, I approached Frankie Andreu just to see if something came up that wasn’t brought about in his book. Andreu, a former 7-Eleven cyclist, thought for a moment, shook his head, leaving me on my way. Why report something that was already brought out in his book?

Close men together, Armstrong and Andreu were quite well known over a few years.

Andreu, meanwhile, often came to Redlands – media, team manager, a women’s coach, you name it. Here was a guy who discussed his spot in Armstrong’s hospital room during his 1996 cancer days, telling medical practitioners what he was using for cycling. It turned into Andreu’s book. Wow!

*****

Perhaps spurred on by his Redlands success, Phinney won two stages at the Tour de France, copping that 1985 third stage, then the 12th stage a year later.

Phinney, meanwhile, was accorded a high honor in Redlands when its organizers proclaimed “Legendary” status on him at a 2012 ceremony.

It was a Hall of Fame moment, A Redlands Connection and a huge chapter for that city’s classic event.

April 1, 2025April 27, 2025

TOM FLORES’ TIES TO THE OLD AFL DAYS

This is part of a series of mini-Redlands Connections. This is Part 3 of the series, Quick Visits. Magic Johnson and John Wooden showed up at the University of Redlands as part of a Convocation Series. This 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 top athletic achiever, Flores, showed up in Redlands.

I still remember the day when a onetime Oakland Raiders’ legend showed up at the University of Redlands.

Before Tom Flores’ speaking appearance that day, I’d been given an hour to sit with him in an adjoining room inside that school’s chapel. I grew up in Raider Territory, a city called Hayward, some 20 minutes south of that Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. It allowed me a little background for this chat.

“I’ll bet you,” Flores told me, “that you can’t name the original eight AFL teams.”

“You guys started in Minnesota,” I told him.

Tom FLores (Silver & Black Pride) — Tom Flores, standing in front of his team in preparation for a game, led the Oakland and Los Angeles Raiders to Super Bowl victories. In between those triumphs, Flores spoke at the University of Redlands (photo by Black & White pride).

Flores, who’d played collegiately at Fresno City College before landing at College of Pacific in Stockton, smiled. Nodded. I thought I had him. Name any other ones, he challenged me.

I almost got them all. Buffalo Bills, Boston Patriots, Los Angeles, not San Diego, Chargers, Houston Oilers, Denver Broncos and the Kansas City Chiefs. Oh, and the New York Jets.

“Not perfect,” he said.

Kansas City Chiefs? Uh-oh. They were in Dallas, dubbed Texans. Plus this: Those Jets were originally New York Titans. Flores clearly knew more than I did, no doubt.

One of Flores’ memories: “I remember we were being paged over that Minneapolis airport. They said, ‘Oklahoma Raiders.’ ”

Smiling broadly, Flores said, “They didn’t know if we were truck drivers or pro football players.”

American Football League teams weren’t exactly household names in those early 1960s. It was, Flores recalled, all-out war between the American Football League and National Football League.

After several minutes of taking on Flores’ trivia questions, he was introduced to a couple hundred audience members at that university.

“There’s something about those stained-glass windows,” said Flores, noting inner décor at that University of Redlands’ ancient chapel. “I had a few off-colored stories I was going to share with you, but I don’t think I’d better do that.”

Flores, part of football history, was part of that old AFL that merged with NFL teams in 1970. Flores, before he popped onto that audience, noted to me that he was part of Super Bowl champion as a quarterback, assistant coach before landing as Oakland’s head coach.

“No one else has done that,” Flores noted. “Proud? For me, it’s even greater than being proud.”

Flores had played as Raiders’ QB. Eventually, upon retirement, he wound up as assistant coach to legendary John Madden.

When Madden stepped aside as Raiders’ coach after 1978, Managing General Partner Al Davis tabbed Flores as Oakland’s head coach. What lied ahead were two Super Bowl championships, one in Oakland, another in Los Angeles.

Flores’ visit to Redlands came in between those two titles.

“I don’t mingle in any of that,” Flores told me, referring to any conflicts his boss, Davis, was having NFL teams and its commissioner, Pete Rozelle. “It’s hard enough to get a team ready to play.

“Teamsm coaches don’t need all those other distractions.”

He was totally in Davis’ corner.

“I think Al’s right. Six years ago, we had one of the best stadiums in football. Oakland Coliseum. Now, we’re one of the worst. Everybody has passed us by.”

That 27-10 Super Bowl win in New Orleans over Philadelphia in 1980 had some errant media coverage, he told that Redlands audience.

“We’re publicized as a team that has no discipline,” he said. “When we went to New Orleans for the Super Bowl, they publicized the fact that everyone on the team was out on Bourbon Street every night. Well, that wasn’t true at all.

“Only half the team was out.”

Audience members, laughing, had questions.

On football’s best player:

“There are several and I should go position by position. But I think Walter Payton is one of the most complete backs in the NFL. He’d sure fit in with the Raiders.”

On the upcoming NFL draft:

“We’re not limited to a position in the draft. But I think we’ll look for an offensive back or receivers. If there’s one out there we like, we’ll take a dominating defensive player.”

On Davis:

“As long as I win, we get along great.”

March 11, 2025May 13, 2025

FEW REV ATHLETES CAME CLOSE TO KRISTA VANSANT’S ACHIEVEMENTS

A Redlands Connection is a collection 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. One Redlands-based volleyball legend took off northbound. – Obrey Brown

I could hear whispers in the stands at Redlands East Valley High, circa 2007. “She’s only on the team,” said one volleyball-players’ mom to another, “because her mom’s the coach.”

That was enough evidence for me. I glanced down that roster. Saw there was actually a Vansant, jersey No. 16. Freshman. Sure enough, Tricia Vansant was REV’s coach. Her daughter? Krista!

Pushy parents are curious. Here’s one mom that pushed her daughter right onto REV’s varsity – as a freshman. It takes something special to make varsity as a freshman. Right?

REV had a squared-away squad. Victoria Brummett, a college-bound Univ. Colorado-Boulder junior was playing middle. At setter was sophomore Johnna Fouch with libero Kyla Oropeza racking up plenty of key play, both players eventually winding up at Univ. San Diego.

“Two Story Tori” – Brummett’s nickname – would eventually transfer back to NCAA Division 2 powerhouse Cal State San Bernardino and win All-American honors.

Then there was that little REV freshman, Krista. Little? She was listed at 6-feet, 2-inches. Talk about a “loaded” team.

COLLEGIATE POWERHOUSE IN SEATTLE

Krista Vansant probably wasn’t kidding when she spoke about hopes of winning a national volleyball championship for the University of Washington. She’s that competitive. There was a breathtaking come-from-behind win over Pac-12 rival USC in the 2014 NCAA Division I Western Region championship.

One match later, Washington landed in an NCAA semifinals against second-ranked Penn State. Jim McLaughlin, coaching those Lady Huskies, eventually became an AVCA Hall of Famer.

REV’s onetime superstar, an outside hitter had risen from the Gatorade National Prep Player of the Year in 2010 to American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Player of the Year in 2013.

It was quite a run – for Vansant, her team and coaches, family and friends, plus all those that followed her exploits – in a season full of remarkable achievements. After that rival match triumph against USC, though, she was full of hope.

She spoke about not being satisfied, setting goals, never reaching the Final Four despite great teams, winning a national title. For athletes like Vansant, nothing short of winning is ever enough.

Said Vansant: “So I think we’re not being complacent. We’re in the gym working hard every day to get better.”

(Speaking of working hard. During her REV days, Vansant might’ve been among two or three volleyball players working in the weight room – alongside that school’s high-achieving, boys-only football team.)

When third-ranked University of Washington took on No. 2 Penn State at NCAA Division 1 semifinals on a December night just before Christmas, Vansant was her side’s logical force.

Vansant, that season’s Pac-12 Player of the Year, would likely be a factor in lifting the Huskies to a national title game two nights later. But Penn State swept Washington’s women in three sets.

One match earlier, top-ranked Texas, defending NCAA champion, was knocked off by No. 16 Wisconsin – a huge outcome. In an all-Big Ten showdown, Penn State later knocked off Wisconsin for that season’s NCAA title.

Against Penn State, Vansant looked tall, lithe and athletic, totally ready to fire. Penn State, winners in seven titles since 1999, was no stranger to national championship, taking her out of the flow, its attack dwarfing Washington in that semi finals matchup.

That Washington triumph over USC became its ultimate triumph.

Vansant’s efforts were key – 38 kills and 30 digs – the first-ever 30-30 performance for a Husky in their NCAA tournament’s long history. Her 38 kills notched a Washington record, beating Stevie Mussie’s 35 kills against BYU in 2007.

Washington, trailing USC by two sets in that NCAA Western Regional finals, likely stunned a national TV audience. Completing a comeback that included saving two match points knocked off those sixth-ranked Lady Trojans in five sets, 26-28, 23-25, 25-22, 25-18, 17-15.

I watched closely on TV. You couldn’t miss that REV product. Vansant was spotted breaking into tears on that court after an emotionally-draining marathon.

Vansant eventually joined eventual Team USA Olympian Courtney Thompson, a previous Washington star, as the only Honda Award winners in program history.

Finalists that season included Texas’ Haley Eckerman, Nebraska’s Kelsey Robinson and Stanford’s Carly Wopat. For good measure, Vansant was also espnW Player of the Year.

Incidentally, Vansant was a two-time Honda Award winner. It’s an award as USA’s top female collegiate player.

It’s hard to keep all those awards straight.

CAPPING HER PREP CAREER

Back at high school. Vansant was a monster – part of a stacked REV lineup that won three CIF titles (2007-2009), winning CIF Player of the Year honors as a sophomore, junior and senior from 2008-2010 – her Lady Wildcats’ squad winning all 59 Citrus Belt League matches with her mother, Tricia, as coach.

In December. 2010, Vansant, who was REV’s Homecoming Queen, was later named national Gatorade Player of the Year just after completing her senior season at REV.

Repeat, National Player of the Year. Not State, but National.

She was in my wife’s English class at REV. If I quoted Laura Brown properly, there’d be comments on her student level – classy and responsible, humble and honest, forthright and work-conscious.

Let’s not forget that it was in English class – not on a volleyball floor.

It was for that reason Mrs. Brown convinced Mr. Brown to drive all the way to Redondo Beach to watch REV play in a Division 1 playoff match. In a rarity, REV lost that Division 1 showdown to Redondo Union.

It was Vansant’s final prep match. She was a senior.

REV’s end was just Vansant’s beginning. She became the first-ever Lady Husky to win that AVCA Player-of-the-Year honor. On hand to present the award was none other than multi-Olympic gold medalist Kerri Walsh-Jennings.

Comments were typical Krista:

“I did not prepare a speech, I just want to thank my friends and family and all my teammates for everything you guys do for me. You make my life so easy and I love you all so much.

“Love you Mom and Dad (Robert). Thanks to my previous club coaches. I would say my previous high school coaches but those are my parents, so thanks again!”

As for Vansant’s freshman year at REV, there were 38 matches. Thirty-four of them were victories … team-high 367 kills … she could receive a serve (201) … she could serve well (30 aces) … she could play that net (26 blocks).

The Lady Wildcats went through the playoffs without blinking much – Monrovia, San Bernardino Cajon and Wildomar Elsinore, all in 3-game sweeps.

South Torrance went down in four.

In the finals against North Torrance, REV won in five.

So much for being the coach’s daughter! A freshman. Wonder what those other moms thought after their season-opening comments.

VANSANT TOOK OFF EVERYWHERE

Vansant just wasn’t a Lady Wildcat or a Lady Husky. No, in fact, she went on to play top-flight matches overseas.

At a NORCECA Championship in 2015, Vansant aided Team USA to snag a gold medal, playing on her nation’s preliminary round squad. Playing in both 2015 and 2016 FIVB World Grand Prix. Team USA captured gold and silver medals.

She was on Swiss side, Volero Lurich, snagging the Swiss Cup and a Swiss Championship.

On Team USA for a Pan American Cup title in 2015. She was an MVP, that tournament’s best outside hitter — same as REV, same as Washington, same as almost everywhere she’d played.

Trips to play at Bangkok, Toronto, Peru, Morello, even in Omaha, Nebraska, was part of Vansant’s pile-up of gold, or silver, medals.

It seemed like she’d be a perfect player on Team USA’s Olympic team for Brazil. But no. Curious, though. It was China knocking off Serbia for that year’s gold medal. Team USA, which lost to Serbia in a five-game semifinals showdown, won in four over Netherlands to grab a bronze medal.

Wonder what that 2016 Team USA could have done if Vansant was on its floor. It wasn’t until 2020 when America’s women nailed down its first-ever Olympic gold medal.

Down The Road: Stories to come – Vansant came within an eyelash of making Team USA at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics … Her coaching career got underway at Indiana, later at Illinois.

February 3, 2025April 26, 2025

PART 1 – REDLANDS IN THE SUPER BOWL

Jim Weatherwax, who played in the fabled Ice Bowl game against Dallas, had a hand in helping Green Bay win its first two Super Bowl titles.

Brian Billick basked in the glow of his name joining names like Landry and Shula, Noll and Parcells, Walsh and Gibbs on the Lombardi Trophy. Curiously, eventual five-time Lombardi Trophy celebrant Bill Belichick would join that list after Billick.

Patrick Johnson, who caught a pass in Super Bowl XX, nearly made a diving catch for a touchdown in that same game against the New York Giants.

Welcome to A Redlands Connection-Super Bowl edition. That trio of former Redlands football players – Johnson (1994 graduate), Weatherwax (1961) and Billick (1972) – has surfaced in America’s greatest sporting spectacle.

It’s easy to break it down, too. Johnson’s speed. Weatherwax’s strength. Billick’s brains. It culminated with a spot in pro football immortality.

Johnson’s path to the Super Bowl might have been the shortest. He graduated from Redlands in 1994, committed to the University of Oregon and was selected by Baltimore in a second round pick in 1998’s NFL draft .

Weatherwax left Redlands after graduating in 1961, headed for Cal State Los Angeles before transferring to West Texas A&M in Canyon, Texas. Green Bay took him in round 11 during that 1965 NFL draft.

Billick’s path took him to Air Force Academy, eventually transferring to Brigham Young University. He was drafted by Dallas, but his career wasn’t as a player. He coached at Redlands, in San Diego, pushing onto Logan, Utah before Stanford in Palo Alto before surfacing as an assistant coach for Denny Green in Minnesota.

By 1999, Billick was named head coach in Baltimore.

It almost seems like pro football didn’t exist before 1967. It delivered a National Football League champion against an American Football League champion for professional football’s world title. It was a first.

In those seven years since AFL play had been developed, that league held its own championship. The Houston Oilers, Dallas Texans (future Kansas City Chiefs), San Diego Chargers and Buffalo Bills had won AFL titles.

NFL titles during that same span mostly went to Green Bay from 1961, 1962 and 1965 with Philadelphia , Chicago and Cleveland also winning pre-Super Bowl championships during those seasons.

SUPER BOWL ERA BEGINS

By that 1966 season, with 1967 showcasing its first AFL-NFL title game, Super Bowl’s era was born. In fact, Super Bowl terminology had yet to become adopted. That game was billed simply as an AFL-NFL Championship Game.

Green Bay going up against Kansas City was quite a spectacle. It was AFL’s best team going up against the NFL’s best. Vince Lombardi’s Packers playing Hank Stram’s Chiefs.

Redlands had a representative right in that package. It was none other than Weatherwax, known back in Redlands as “Waxie.”

MJS Jim Weatherwax — Redlands’ Jim Weatherwax of the Green Bay Packers. (Journal Sentinel file photo, 1966)

Weatherwax, for his part, played plenty in during second half in both championship games. He was seen spelling starters Ron Kostelnik and Henry Jordan on a few plays in that first half of Super Bowl II.

That particular showdown had been set up by that famous Ice Bowl game of 1967. That NFL Championship showdown came down to Bart Starr’s last-second quarterback sneak for a touchdown that beat Dallas on Green Bay’s “frozen tundra.”

It’s so well-known these days that winning play hinged on blocks from Packers’ center Ken Bowman and guard Jerry Kramer, who blocked Cowboys’ defensive tackle Jethro Pugh. That play, that win ultimately led Green Bay into its second NFL-AFL championship, now dubbed a Super Bowl, this one against Oakland in Miami.

Pugh, incidentally, was picked in that 1966 NFL draft five players ahead of Weatherwax in the 11^th round.

Green Bay, of course, won both “Super Bowl” games. The Packers, thus, set NFL history in virtual stone.

“That second Super Bowl was Lombardi’s last game,” Weatherwax told me several years later. “You should’ve heard the guys before that game, Kramer in particular. ‘Let’s win it for the old man.’ That’s what he was saying. Looking back, you couldn’t do anything but think that was special.”

Vince_lombardi_bart_starr Photo credit unkown — Legendary Green Bay Packers’ coach Vince Lombardi and quarterback Bart Starr are pictured. Redlands’ Jim Weatherwax was Starr’s teammate in Green Bay’s 1967 and 1968 Super Bowl championships. (Photo by Green Bay Packers)

AFL, NFL TACTICS LED TO MERGER

It was that first Super Bowl, however, that proved itself worthy of attention.

Referees in that first Super Bowl: Six overall, including three AFL and three NFL, including head referee Norm Schachter, who started his officiating career 26 years earlier. He was an English teacher in, of all places, Redlands.

The networks: The AFL’s NBC would be telecasting against the NFL’s CBS. Jim Simpson was on the radio.

Weatherwax, meanwhile, was playing behind the likes of Willie Davis and Bob Brown, Kostelnik and Jordan – Green Bay’s legendary defensive linemen. The Redlander gave a short chuckle as “The Hammer.”

Weatherwax said, “I can’t really say what happened out there.”

What happened? “The Hammer” was Chiefs’ secondary defender, Fred Williamson, who predicted he’d “hammer” Packers’ wide receivers during that initial championship games. It was Williamson himself that got knocked out of that game, Waxie noted.

Translation: He knew what happened, all right.

Kostelnik chasing Garrett (Photo by WordPress.com) — Kansas City’s Mike Garrett, 21 with ball, is being chased by Green Bay defensive tackle Ron Kostelnik during the first-ever championship game between the National Football League champion Packers and the American Football League champion Chiefs. Photo by WordPress.com)

When Packers’ placekicker Don Chandler sent his kick toward Kansas City’s Mike Garrett, it was Weatherwax who drove the onetime college Heisman Trophy winner out of bounds.

Credited with a tackle. First in a Super Bowl.

There were a few times that Weatherwax, part owner of restaurant in Orange County, later moving to Colorado, sat next to my desk. Earlier, he visited with Jeff Lane at that same office. Waxie showed up in Redlands visiting old friends.

Part of those visits included stopping by Redlands’ local newspaper. This dates back to the 1980s and 1990s. Sharing stories. Sharing memories. Showing off his championship jewelry. Great guy. Helpful. Willing to talk.

It was a huge part of a Redlands Connection.

Part 2 – About Super Bowl XXXV tomorrow.

February 3, 2025April 26, 2025

PART 2 – SUPER BOWL FROM TAMPA

Twenty-four years after Redlands’ Jim Weatherwax appeared in pro football’s first-ever title game between National Football League and American Football League champions, one of the most coincidental connections in Redlands’ Super Bowl-connected history took place.

A pair of ex-Terriers showed up in the NFL’s biggest game.

Brian Billick, whose Redlands High School days were beckoning when the first Super Bowl kicked off in nearby Los Angeles, had a future in the NFL’s big game.

Patrick Johnson, who caught a pass in Super Bowl XXXV, nearly made a diving catch for a touchdown in that same game against New York.

At Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla., Baltimore Ravens – formerly a Cleveland Browns’ team – stopped New York, 34-7, to win Super Bowl XXXV. That date: Jan. 28, 2001.

All those football eyes from Redlands were squarely on those Ravens. By-lines appeared under my name about Billick’s early years in Redlands – his friends, starting football as a ninth grader at Cope Middle School, plus some of his Terrier playing days which included subbing for injured QB Tim Tharaldson in 1971.

09_Billick_PreviewPreseason_news — Brian Billick, whose high school play in Redlands was memorable in the early 1970s, eventually rose through the coaching ranks to take on of the most deadly defensive teams to win Super Bowl XXXV in Tampa, Fla. (Photo by Baltimore Ravens)

Thirty years later, he was coaching Baltimore in Super Bowl XXXV.

Johnson, a track & field sprinter who had raced to California championships in both the 100 and 200 less than a decade earlier, turned up as a second round pick by Baltimore in 1998. He wore Terrier colors. Picking football over track & field, Johnson was an Oregon downfield threat noticed by Baltimore.

It was during Johnson’s third season when Baltimore reached that Super Bowl. Twelve of his 84 career catches came in that 2000 season, two going for touchdowns. Tight end Shannon Sharpe (67 receptions, 810 yards, 5 TDs) was, by far, Baltimore’s top receiver. Running back Jamal Lewis (1,364 yards, 6 TDs) was that team’s most dangerous threat.

Baltimore’s defense, led by linebacker Ray Lewis, free safety Rod Woodson, end Rob Burnett and tackle Tony Siragusa helped keyed the Ravens’ drive to an eventual 16-4 record. Playoff wins over Denver, Tennessee and Oakland lifted Baltimore into the Super Bowl in Tampa Bay, Fla.

Billick’s high school coach, Paul Womack, traveled back east to see his former player. He showed up at the team’s Owings Mill practice facility. Basically, Womack had free run of the practice facility.

Womack heard Billick telling Johnson – dubbed the “Tasmanian Devil” for his uncontrollable speed – he had to run precise routes. The ex-Terrier coach quoted Billick, saying, “Pat, I can’t play you unless you run the right routes.”

In the Super Bowl, Johnson snagged an eight-yard pass from QB Trent Dilfer. It was good for a first down. There was another moment, though.

“I ran right by (Giants’ free safety Jason) Sehorn,” said Johnson.

Dilfer delivered the pass. Into the end zone. The ex-Terrier receiver dove.

“It hit my fingers,” he said. “It’s okay. It ain’t all about me.”

Patrick Johnson (Photo by Baltimore Gridiron Report) — Patrick Johnson, a Redlands High product, is shown after one of his 84 career NFL receptions, turning upfield to display some of his world class speed. (Photo by Baltimore Gridiron Report)

As for Johnson, I got him on the telephone a couple hours after that big win. He was on Baltimore’s team bus, sitting beside teammates Sam Gash and Robert Bailey. At that moment, Johnson said the Lombardi Trophy was sitting about six feet behind him.

“I just had it in my hands,” Johnson said, “right before you called.”

LOMBARDI, LANDRY, SHULA … BILLICK!

Billick, for his part, later shared time on the telephone with me, sharing some of his innermost thoughts for the benefit of Redlands readers. Baltimore beat Denver, Tennessee and Oakland to land in that Super Bowl.

“I can’t believe I’ll have my name on that trophy,” said Billick, days after that big event in Tampa. It was a chance to reflect on guys like Tom Landry, Don Shula, Joe Gibbs, plus a man he once worked for in San Francisco, Bill Walsh.

Billick named those legendary coaches he’d be sharing Super Bowl glory throughout the years.

After that game, that Lombardi Trophy was held aloft. On TV. Billick was holding it. Showing it to players. To fans. An Associated Press photographer snapped a picture. One day later, the Redlands Daily Facts’ single page sports section on Jan. 29, 2001 was virtually all Billick and that Lombardi Trophy. Confetti was falling all around him.

Framed around the Billick photo were two stories – one by local writer Richard D. Kontra, the other by-line was mine. As sports editor, I probably should have nixed the stories and enlarged that photo to cover an entire page.

Let the photo stand alone. Let it tell the whole story. As if everyone in Redlands, didn’t know, anyway.

One day after the enlarged photo, the newspaper’s Arts editor, Nelda Stuck, commented on why the photo had to be so large. “It was too big,” she said. “I don’t know why it had to be that big.”

Maybe she was kidding.

I remember asking her, “Nelda, what would you do if someone from Redlands had won an Academy Award? You’d bury it in the classified section, huh?”

That’s a newspaper business for you. Everyone’s got a different view of reporting.

A P.S. on Womack: Not only did he coach Billick in the early 1970s, but the former Terrier coach was Frank Serrao’s assistant coach in 1960. On that team was Weatherwax, who also played a huge role on Redlands’ 1959 squad.

It was a team that Serrao once said might have been better than Redlands’ 1961 championship team.

Another P.S., this on Weatherwax: While he had been taken by the Packers in the 1965 draft, the AFL-based San Diego Chargers also selected him in a separate draft. He played in 34 NFL games before a knee injury forced him from the game.

A third P.S., this on Johnson: Billick’s arrival as coach in 1999 was one year after Baltimore drafted the speedy Johnson. That would at least put to rest any notion that Billick played some kind of a “Redlands” card at draft time.

One final P.S.: That Jan. 29, 2001 Redlands newspaper headline in that Super Bowl photo was simple. To the point.

“Super, Billick.”

February 1, 2025February 4, 2025

DAUER HELPED BAPTIZE SPIRIT IN REDLANDS, 1987

Retired major league ballplayer Rich Dauer sat beside me on a first base bench just after minor league San Bernardino Spirit finished playing an intrasquad game under a dimly-lit diamond at Redlands Community Field.

It was April 1987.

Thirty-one years later, Dauer would be taking part in a pre-game ceremony with Major League Baseball’s newly-crowned world champion Houston Astros — an awfully long way from those early minor league coaching days in San Bernardino.

Thirty-eight years later, Dauer died.

But on that date in 1987, something new was taking place. The California League had just expanded to, of all places, San Bernardino. Less than two decades before that, Dauer’s prep side, Colton High School, came to play at Redlands.

“I remember playing here,” Dauer said, referring to Community Field, “in high school.”

In 1983, Dauer played second base on that 1983 Baltimore Orioles’ World Series championship team, whose teammates were future Hall of Famers, Eddie Murray, Jim Palmer and Cal Ripken, Jr.

He was homegrown at Colton, a 1970 graduate. On to San Bernardino Valley College. Then it was onto USC, where he was a two-time All-American third baseman, helping lead those Trojans to win College World Series titles in both 1973 and 1974. Yes, Baltimore. That team, its roster dropping with older players like Brooks Robinson, Boog Powell and Mike Cuellar, an already traded Frank Robinson, Dave McNally and Don Bufurd, shortstop like Mark Belanger, plus Dave Johnson, Don Baylor, plus future all-star Bobby Grich. Those Orioles made Dauer a No. 1 pick in that 1974 draft.

This guy had been around.

Rich Dauer, on hand at a Houston Astros World Series celebration, got his early coaching start as manager of the San Bernardino Spirit in 1987. — Long time major league infielder Rich Dauer, during a pre-game ceremony, got his coaching career start with a team called San Bernardino Spirit in 1987 (photo by Wikipedia).

Spirit management knew where many of their fans might come from to show up at Fiscalini Field, located on Highland Ave. in San Bernardino. Those fans were Redlands.

Showing up at Community Field was a perfect public relations move. The Spirit could sell a lot of tickets to those folks. With hitting coach, Jay Johnstone, sitting nearby, Dauer reflected on minor league ball players.

“These guys,” he said, motioning out to those Class A players, “aren’t that far away from the major leagues.”

It was quite a proclamation. These were minor leaguers, Rich, I’d told him. He shook his head in disagreement.

“All these guys,” he said, “are just young. They need experience. They can throw just as hard, hit it just as far … as any major leaguers. They just need to get consistent. That’s what will keep them out of the majors. If they’re not consistent.”

There were some future major leaguers on that Spirit roster – not to mention a few past big-leaguers.

Todd Cruz and Rudy Law, plus Terry Whitfield, pitchers Andy Rincon and Craig Chamberlain – all of whom showed up in a major league uniform before landing with San Bernardino. Cruz, in fact, was Philadelphia’s shortstop in that 1983 World Series duel with Dauer’s Orioles.

Law played against Dauer’s Orioles in that year’s 1983 American League playoffs when Baltimore knocked off the Chicago White Sox. All those ex-MLB players were playing out their careers.

Another Spirit player, infielder Mike Brocki, had torn apart Redlands High in a CIF soccer playoff match a few years earlier – scoring three goals in a 6-0 win at Walnut High School. For the Spirit in 1987, Brocki hit two HRs and batted .233.

Let’s not forget another Spirit infielder, Leon Baham, who would eventually become one of Redlands’ top youth baseball coaches in years ahead. Baham wound up hitting .279 with 8 HRs that season.

Throw in Ronnie Carter, a Fontana product who was an NCAA Division 3 All-American at the University of Redlands a couple years earlier. Hoping for a pro career, Carter hit .213 with 4 HRs over 164 at-bats for a Spirit squad that was filled by plenty of guys that never wound up at baseball’s top spot.

Dauer sat over all of them, perhaps lining himself up for a lengthy future in MLB as a coach. Curiously, he never drew amn MLB manager’s assignment, coaching at Kansas City, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Colorado and, finally, Houston.

Dauer spent as much time as I needed on that Community Field bench after playing the game that night. Plenty of local youths showed up to watch this split-squad game.

Pitchers fired seeds.

Hitters took big cuts.

Baserunners seemed quick, fast.

Fielders made it look easy.

All of that above were descriptions by Dauer. Three decades later, Dauer was pulling himself to Houston’s mound at Minute Maid Park. It was April 2, 2018. He threw out the first pitch.

For the previous three seasons, he had coached first base as the Astros made a dramatic move toward becoming contenders. When Houston beat the Dodgers in a thrilling 7-game series the previous fall, Dauer was back in familiar territory.

MAJOR NOTE: YES. YES. YES. WE KNOW. HOUSTON PLAYERS EVENTUALLY GOT DEALT WITH FOR CHEATING TO WIN THAT SERIES. A MANAGER GOT FIRED AND PLAYERS WERE SPOTTED IN CHEATING. NOTE THAT, AT LEAST. DAUER NEVER GOT NAMED IN THAT DREARY MOMENT, OR TWO.

Tragedy struck at their World Series parade. Dauer suffered a head injury, resulting in emergency brain surgery. It brought his coaching career – 19 years strong – to a premature conclusion.

He was the perfect selection to throw out that first pitch at Minute Maid.

Dating back to that 1987 season in San Bernardino, it was his season to run things as a manager, also coaching. His playing career concluded in 1985. It should be noted that neither of those future Hall of Fame teammates, Ripken, Jr., Murray or Palmer, had ever played California League ball.

Dauer cut his teeth as a manager in that historical assemblage of minor league cities. At long last, California League ball eventually surfaced in various Southern California cities.

San Bernardino had joined the Bakersfield Dodgers, Fresno Giants, Modesto A’s, Palm Springs Angels, Reno Padres, Salinas Spurs, San Jose Bees, Stockton Ports and the Visalia Oaks. Truth is, the Salinas Spurs had moved to San Bernardino, adopting the Spirit name.

Here was Dauer, back in Redlands after a well-traveled baseball career. A few hundred had bothered to show that night. That ex-Oriole player seemed to be the perfect fit as the Spirit’s manager. Local product? Yeah. Ex-major leaguer? Ex-collegiate success story? A starter at a winning World Series? No wonder he’d been hired at San Bernardino.

Dauer played over 1,100 major league games, 984 career hits, batted .257 in 10 seasons, playing at Baltimore’s World Series — losing to Pittsburgh in 1979, then winning against Philadelphia in 1983. Two seasons later, 1985, was his final playing season. By 1987, well, he was managing a minor league team not affiliated with a single MLB organization.

“When I was growing up in Colton, it never occurred to me,” said Dauer on that April 1987 night, “that there’d ever be a minor league team in San Bernardino.” Funny thing was that he became its first-ever manager.

January 31, 2025February 2, 2025

HUMBLED BY HIS REDLANDS CONNECTIONS, JULIO CRUZ SOARED BEYOND BASEBALL

UPDATE: In mid-February 2022, an unexpected phone call flashed across my screen: “TOM MARTIN,” it read. It’s always fun to chat with Tom, a longtime Southern Californian who had relocated to Washington a few years earlier. He had bad news about a longtime friend, Julio Cruz. Martin, whose friendship with Cruz dated back to the 1960s, was very gentle: “Julio only has a few days left on the earth.” Struck by cancer, he said, a couple of visits to the former MLB second baseman and Redlands High product, had concluded with a few sad good-byes. On a Tuesday, Feb. 22, Cruz died, leaving a wife and children — and a whole bunch of memories.

Julio Cruz, perhaps one of the most popular athletes in Redlands High School’s century-plus history, is showcased in his baseball card — then a member of the Seattle Mariners. Cruz played nine seasons in the major leagues after getting signed at an open tryout.

SEATTLE — Julio Cruz remembers cutting to a basket during practice for coach Al Endeman’s team at Redlands High School way back, say, in the early 1970s.

“Brian Billick blocked my shot,” said Cruz, a 5-foot-10-inch guard, “and knocked my glasses off. They were on the floor, broken.”

Cruz, a future Major League Baseball player, was sent to an optometrist the next day for contact lenses. By Endeman. Backed by the Lion’s Club, the worldwide service club that specializes in sight.

“My vision was bad,” said Cruz. “One day, he gave me a slip of paper. It was for a sporting goods store.” Cruz got a pair of basketball shoes.

Billick, of course, went on to spend a full-fledged career coaching football. In 2001, it was Billick, as head coach, who led the Baltimore Ravens to a Super Bowl championship.

Imagine that: Billick, who spent a career in football, was teammates with Cruz, a baseball lifer, as teammates on a basketball team!

Endeman and Billick are just a couple of names Cruz, then 64, recalled during a time of reminiscence. Cruz may well be Redlands’ most famous baseball name, having spent 10 seasons (1977-86) in the major leagues.

He’s one of the most popular Redlands athletic products.

His Redlands buddies — Adrian Garcia, Randy Orwig, Juan Delgado, Dominic Mircacantante, Tom Martin, Billick, plus others — are fresh on his mind these days.

Cruz has forgotten little throughout the years.

“I’m re-living my youth,” he cracks, “and disregarding my age.”

His pathway to a MLB career was marked by plenty of help along the way. Cruz’s ascent to playing pro ball didn’t include the modern-day travel ball, Showcases and costly surroundings that today’s players/parents go through to land post-high school opportunities.

“Joe Hansen, my JV coach, drove me home (to Loma Linda) after basketball practice every day,” said Cruz. “Right to my front door.”

The Cruz family, who moved to Loma Linda from Brooklyn, N.Y. when The Cruzer was 14, was poor. No car. No money for buses or taxis. For a future baseball player, it was curious that he had no glove. No baseball spikes. Gear? He’d have to wait on all that.

“I think I was better at basketball,” said Cruz, “but I was only 5-10.”

Cruz’s baseball career was noteworthy for many reasons.

For openers, he’s probably the first-ever Redlands-based ballplayer to reach the majors for more than the so-called “cup of coffee” — 1,156 games, hitting .237 with 343 career stolen bases, fielding a brilliant .983 all between 1977 and 1986 — mostly with Seattle and the Chicago White Sox.

For good measure, that 1983 Seattle-to-Chicago deal at the trade deadline, drew plenty of praise. Not only did the ChiSox pull away in the American League Western Division when Cruz showed up, but someone in the MVP balloting posted a vote in his direction.

That mid-season swap by White Sox General Manager Roland Hemond, who sent second baseman Tony Bernazard to Seattle, fit Chicago well.

CRUZ OFFERS SERIOUS WARNING

Maybe it’s just age, time running out, all those early memories that got Cruz to reminisce about the old days. Martin, his high school friend, shared plenty of insight. On the real serious side, Martin said, “We both had prostate surgery a few years ago … a few days apart.”

Cruz himself asked me, “When’s the last time you got your prostate checked?”

He’s concerned. Then he inquires, “how about your wife? Has she been screened for breast cancer?” There’s a reason he asks.

In 2010, his wife Becky died from that disease after a 17-year battle. She was 48. Throw this in: His current wife, Morgan, has breast cancer, too.

On the plus side, there are his three sons — Austin and Alex, both Washington State graduates — plus Oxford grad, Jordan. Neither one was a baseball player, incidentally.

Jordan was, in fact, named after Michael Jordan. “He was just starting his career in Chicago,” said Cruz, “when I was there (playing with the White Sox).”

As Cruz tells it, a career in baseball — including serving as the Seattle Mariners’ Spanish-speaking TV broadcaster since 2002 — would’ve never happened without an array of those Redlands coaches along the way.

When he dunked a basketball as a Cope junior high schooler — noted by his coach, Gary Branstetter — The Cruzer had a future in Redlands athletics.

“I never dunked in a game,” he said. “All that jumping, though. I’ve had 11 knee surgeries.”

JOE DI OR JOE DE?

Check out these two names — Joe DeMaggio and Joe DiMaggio. Note the spelling on those two names. Joe “De” was Redlands High’s coach — The Cruzer’s coach — during his baseball-playing years. Then there was Joe “Di,” the Yankee Clipper, a baseball Hall of Famer (1936-51).

Cruz memorably extracted an autograph from him during an Old-Timer’s game one year in Japan.

“Normally, he (Joe Di) didn’t give autographs,” said Cruz, “because he thought people would just take them and sell them.”

Choosing not to sign the “sweet spot” on the ball, Joe “Di” signed it to Cruz’s sons. Might be hard to sell an autographed ball if it was signed that way. But he’d come full circle.

Branstetter had those Cope basketball kids shave their heads. “We were the Bald Eagles,” said Cruz, laughing. “I didn’t care. I was having fun.”

Three decades later, Cruz, now retired, was hitting leadoff in that Old-Timer’s game with teammates like Campy Campaneris, plus Hall of Famers Minnie Minoso and Bert Blyleven.

TRYOUT AT UCLA STARTED IT ALL

Cruz, meanwhile, went unscouted during his high school days at Redlands, not to mention his junior college days at San Bernardino Valley. It was Delgado, The Cruzer’s friend from Highland, who found out about a baseball tryout on UCLA’s Westwood campus one Sunday. Cruz was 19.

“The only reason I went,” said Cruz, “was because it was a nice Sunday. It was a good day to play baseball.”

Cruz borrowed a glove, grabbed some spikes two sizes too big, and played in jeans. Delgado drove to Westwood, three times, in fact. Cruz, who wiped out all comers in 60-yard dashes, kept getting invited back.

Scouts were scouting. Cruz played shortstop. First game. First inning. First two guys up reached base. Line drive to Cruz. Steps on second. Throws to first.

Triple play!

He got a mere $500 bonus from California Angels’ scout Lou Cornower. That Cruzer was on his way, just a short time after his Redlands upbringing. “I really had to talk my dad into letting me do it. He wanted me to finish college.”

No one makes it alone, said Cruz. “I had people looking over me. Those guys brought the best out in me. They helped make me more sociable.”

Joe De, Endeman, Hansen, Branstetter, future varsity baseball coach Don Dewees, among others — each has a special place in The Cruzer’s heart.

“My (pro) managers didn’t come close to doing what these Redlands guys did for me,” said Cruz. “The way they went about their business with me, without cheating the other students. The pros cut you. It’s a business to them.

“It wasn’t a business to my teachers.”

Cruz and Billick, meanwhile, showed up again together. Three decades after Billick knocked Cruz down at basketball practice, the two were inducted on the same night into the Terrier Hall of Fame.

January 31, 2025February 1, 2025

A TIGER INVITATION I’M GLAD I DIDN’T TURN DOWN

There they were, lined up, one shot apart among the leader board at the 1997 “Augusta Invitational.” It’s called The Masters. In a keen world of professional golf, this event is considered sacred.

Tom Kite had Tommy Tolles beaten by a stroke after 72 holes, 282-283. At 284, there was a legend, Tom Watson, a multiple major tournament champion. He was followed by a pair of golfers at 285, Constantina Rocca and Paul Stankowski. Previous Masters champion Fred Couples, two-time Masters champion Bernhard Langer, British Open champion Justin Leonard, PGA Tournament champions Davis Love III and Jeff Sluman closed out their tournament with identical 286s.

They trailed by a lot, though. At 270 stood Tiger Woods. A dozen shots ahead. Dominant. A record 18-under par. Augusta, it seems, would never be the same.

He’d won The Masters.

0748-TigerWoods — Tiger Woods, shown here winning the 1997 Masters. Sixteen years earlier, a 6-year-old Eldrick “Tiger” Woods showed up to play a 9-hole exhibition match at Redlands Country Club against a local girl with a standout game. (Photo by Wikipedia Commons.)

It would be our lead story in that April 14, 1997 issue in Redlands. There was a local angle, a major one. Sixteen years earlier, Redlands Country Club head golf professional Norm Bernard had called me with an invitation. Maybe it was an assignment. Or a request. Maybe he was begging.

Little Eldrick Woods, already known to the world as Tiger, had been invited to Redlands to play in a 9-hole exhibition match. On Dec. 30, he would turn six. Norm and I started a little verbal sparring. I didn’t necessarily want to be there. He very definitely wanted me to be there.

“I don’t know, Norm. A 9-hole exhibition?” A 6-year-old? A 12-year-old? Would our readers even care? “What else have you got going on?” Norm asked.

In truth, he was correct. Nothing, at least locally, was taking place. School was shut down for winter break. Except for that San Bernardino Kiwanis Tournament, a basketball extravaganza for Redlands High, nothing of a sporting nature was taking place locally.

This was before an eventual explosion of boys and girls soccer tournaments, or prominent basketball tournaments for both sexes would take place during the winter holiday break, which has now been stretched to three weeks instead of two.

In reality, there weren’t many options to cover much local sports during this period. It seemed like I could be working on something more meaningful that day, which would be Dec. 29.

“Aw, Norm.”

“C’mon. I’ll buy you lunch.”

He was being as gracious as possible. While being demanding. Charming. A little pushy. Norm was always under fire at that club. Private golf members can be really demanding. They want their privacy. They also wanted a little publicity when it mattered.

Redlands CC was full of private club members that were movers and shakers in our community. One of them, Bill Moore, had been my publisher. There had long been rumblings and grumblings about country club coverage in our local pages.

The women’s club had its set of demands. Of course, there was a club tournament. Weekly twilight play, results in the summer. Usually, it was similar names. Norm’s edict was simple: Make certain those results were printed. It was Norm’s job to process results for newspaper publication.

No resentment from me. All part of this job. Bowling had its own set of demands. So did recreation tennis. We had local motorsports. Soccer people were everywhere. Youth baseball. Little boys football. You name it. The sports section is for everyone. Any achievements should be duly noted.

That was a little undercurrent of that relationship between that local country club and a local newspaper. Ah, the life of a local journalist.

That year was 1981. It was just after Christmas. Owner and publisher Bill Moore, who’d sold this local paper a year or so earlier, was gone. His country club cronies were no longer bugging him to light a fire under me. Meanwhile, they’d light Norm under fire to get publicity. No longer were there job-related demands hanging over my head. This was truly my decision. I had to admit I was a little curious.

One day after this nine-hole match would be little Tiger’s sixth birthday. Already, this little guy had been celebrated on television, once on the Mike Douglas Show as a three-year-old that could amazingly swing a golf club. Bob Hope, an avid golfer in his own right, was also a guest that day.

Another appearance came on ABC-TV’s “That’s Incredible,” hosted by John Davidson, Fran Tarkenton and Cathy Lee Crosby.

Norm’s connections led to an invitation to Tiger to play golf at Redlands.

Twelve-year-old Michele Lyford, who would one day go on to win a girls’ CIF golf championship, was selected to be Tiger’s playing opponent on that day. There was a small gallery as Tiger finished the nine-hole round by shooting 51.

Lyford, who shot 41, was champion of that 1986 Junior World in her older 15-17 age category, an event held every summer in San Diego. It should also be pointed out that other yearly winners included Carolyn Hill, Kim Saiki, nearby Brandie Burton from Rialto, and Christi Erb – future LPGA professionals.

Lyford, in fact, beat Burton, runner-up by eight shots in that 1987 CIF-Southern Section girls championship at North Ranch Country Club.

Tiger, meanwhile, was headliner at Redlands on Dec. 29, 1981.

The highlight of that day was, at least for me, coming at that No. 9 hole. Little Tiger had knocked his ball smack into that bunker, smack dab against the lip – an impossible shot for even the most experienced of golfers.

This little guy was poised even then. One day shy of his sixth birthday, Tiger took out his club, chipped his shot back into the fairway, then chipped onto the green.

Then he knocked the ball in position for a double bogey. Even then, he was trained to minimize trouble. Of those people in attendance for this little showcase match, they had to be awestruck at that shot and club selection.

No one discussed that shot. No one told him what to do. Tiger was left alone.

Bernard, described as a huge proponent of junior golf, had known Rudy Duran, who was Tiger’s personal coach. Together, they formed this match, a 9-hole exhibition on RCC’s front nine.

It was Duran, Tiger, Michele and Earl Woods, Tiger’s dad who, at one point, hoisted his little guy up so he could see down the fairway.

“I was nervous,” Lyford-Sine said. “I couldn’t let this 6-year-old beat me. I was twice as old as he was and he was half my size.”

Those scores, 41 — not a bad score for a 12-year-old on the par-35 RCC front nine — and Tiger’s 51 came under guise as a “friendly.”

This little golf prodigy had played bogey golf throughout this match. That in itself was incredible! Afterward, the club gave Tiger a birthday party.

Afterward, I’m somewhat embarrassed to say, I handed this little guy a piece of paper – and a pen. Yes, I asked him for his autograph. He made his letters carefully, his little tongue sticking out corner of his mouth while he wrote, “Eldrick Woods.”

Wish I still had that little slip of paper.

Sixteen years later, he won the Masters. That 1981 day was just starting it all. My column on April 14, 1997 was all about Tiger. Redlands. Winning the Masters. My reluctance to cover it. I’d written, “I’m glad Norm convinced me to come.”

Norm called later to recall the memories.

I asked, “Any more birthday parties you want me to cover, Norm?”

January 31, 2025April 28, 2025

SPOTTING WILLIE WEST WATCHING HIS SON AT REDLANDS’ CURRIER GYM

This is part of a series of mini-Redlands Connections. This is another portion of the series, Quick Visits. Magic Johnson and John Wooden showed up at the University of Redlands as part of a Convocation Series. There was a piece on Tom Flores. Hall of Fame pitcher Ferguson Jenkins, former NBA player John Block, plus legendary high school basketball coach Willie West, Jr. 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: Former L.A. Crenshaw High School coach Willie West, Jr.

It was a slow night at Currier Gymnasium, an ancient, never-to-be-replaced basketball center inside a smallish arena along Colton Avenue, dubbed University of Redlands.

It was one of the first Bulldog games of that 1995 season. Longtime coach Gary Smith and I hadn’t yet discussed his team for their upcoming season — a normal pattern I’d carefully followed since my arrival at Redlands’ local newspaper in 1979.

Casually glancing down their roster, spotting a few familiar names from previous seasons, I came across one that struck a small chord. There was a guard with an interesting and familiar name.

Willie West.

That, I told myself, was a high level name. Amazing?

Well, there’s Willie West, one of California’s most legendary high school basketball coaches.

His son, perhaps?

Why would Willie West’s son, a 6-foot-3 scoring threat, be at Redlands?

Had to be someone else. It was November 1995.

That slow night at Currier allowed me to scan those grandstands. Each participant. One by one. Most were college students, of course, perhaps taking a break in their studies to watch a dorm mate play basketball. There were a few community die-hards. Plus staff members. There might’ve been one or two others that I couldn’t recognize.

Finally, I spotted him.

Top row. Sitting alone. Northwest portion of Currier.

It was none other than Willie West, Jr. I’d come to learn that his son was actually Willie West III. That youngest West came to Redlands via state junior college powerhouse Ventura, coached by onetime Univ. San Francisco coach Phil Mathews, where he helped lead the Pirates to a 37-1 record one season previous.

At that moment, his dad, Willie West, Jr., was still Los Angeles Crenshaw High’s basketball coach. West, Jr. and longtime Bulldog coach Gary Smith had known each other for awhile. That connection brought Willie III to Redlands.

Legendary? Twenty-eight league championships. Sixteen L.A. Section championships. Eight California state titles. In a city well known for high-level prep hoops. Standing in the shadow of the Lakers and UCLA. Dozens of Crenshaw kids enrolled in college. A few NBA players. Thirty-seven seasons. Career record, 803-139.

I’d known a couple of players that wore Crenshaw Cougar colors — or tried, anyway. Those guys never actually played varsity for The Man.

Said one, a janitor in nearby Moreno Valley’s school district: “I practiced with them one summer. Most of the time, there wasn’t even a ball in our drills. He was tough, man. I mean it. You had to have something extra to play for him.”

Another was a part-time driver at Enterprise rent-a-car. He was equally insightful: “I played JV (junior varsity) one season there. Practices were incredible. If you couldn’t cut it in practice, no way you’d be in the games.”

No, he didn’t make West’s final varsity roster, either.

Both said that Crenshaw’s success didn’t necessarily come because the Cougars attracted out-of-district transfers. Or that their success helped stockpile loads of talent. On the contrary. It was typical that plenty of star players transferred away from that low-income Crenshaw area (drugs, poverty, crime) to places like Pacific Palisades or out into San Fernando Valley — major college talent, if not future NBA players, taking off.

Such was the case of Willie III. Truth is, Willie III didn’t play at Crenshaw during his senior year. His parents were divorced in 1976. Willie III, living with his mother, played in Houston — after spending his sophomore and junior seasons playing in Cougars’ colors.

“Yates High,” Willie III told me, adding the relationship with his dad was “strong.”

There were many nights West, Jr. couldn’t have journeyed all the way out from his L.A. county home to see Willie III play. It was in-the-season for the Crenshaw coach, whose presence on the bench was so low-key that he was often identified as an assistant coach for those who might not be wise to his personality. He often sat quietly on Crenshaw’s bench. Observers might’ve watched an assistant coach pace on the sideline.

As for Redlands, much was made of the fact that Willie III voluntarily took himself out of the Bulldogs’ starting lineup, thus giving Smith a scoring presence off the bench.

On a side note, it has to be noted that Smith — whose Bulldog teams were always competitive but rarely at the top of the standings in a conference with Claremont-Mudd, Pomona-Pitzer and California Lutheran University, among others — must’ve been held in high enough esteem that one of high school’s top coaches might sign off on sending his son to play at Redlands.

A few nights after I’d made notice of the West-Redlands connection, Willie III hit for 28 points in a game against Chapman College from Orange County.

I didn’t see Willie West, Jr. in the stands that night.