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 a straight shot down that I-10 from Alta Loma High to take on Redlands in a huge soccer playoff matchup that witnessed a pair of eventual Team USA mates. – Obrey Brown
Landon Donovan on the move. Image Credit: Jason Wojciechowski “USA vs. Algeria World Cup match. Licensed under CC BY (2.0)
Landon Donovan, an Olympian and World Cup soccer player, not to mention a multiple-winning Honda Player of the Year in Major Soccer League play, was on the field during an unforgettable CIF-Southern Section high school playoff match back in 1996.
Donovan was a freshman midfield sensation who would eventually be named his league’s Most Valuable Player. On this March afternoon, in a match played on the school’s JV football field – corner of Citrus and University – Alta Loma High School was the visiting side.
The place was packed. People everywhere. Spectators lined up around the field six or seven deep. Parking was impossible. Assigned to cover the match, I could barely get a place to view the match myself. I needed a perfect viewing position. Unobstructed. When I did manage to find a spot, I met an excited Alta Loma player’s mother.
Her name was Kelly. Nice lady. Alta Loma had won a CIF Southern Section football championship a few months earlier. Plenty of kids on this Braves’ soccer team played on that team. As Kelly’s mom, this match against Redlands would be no contest.
“Alta Loma,” she told me, “will win this game.” It was a straight-out prediction I’ll never forget. Kelly’s son, Carlos Bocanegra. Imagine that!
There was no doubt in mom’s mind. “A lot of the players on this soccer team were part of Alta Loma’s football team … that won the CIF Division IV championship.” Her son, Carlos incidentally, was Brave of the Year off that 1996 squad.
This soccer matchup in Redlands was totally different.
Donovan. Bocanegra. On that same soccer field. Opposite sides. Two players who would eventually play together for both America’s Olympic and World Cup teams. Bocanegra, like Donovan, was a future big-time player in his own right.
That high school match itself was a classic. It was like a mini-World Cup match. This highly-played matchup was attended by a huge following, notably on a field that was not a stadium. People stood around this field, perhaps, a dozen deep throughout. Traffic passing by that corner stadium at University Avenue and Citrus Street had to wondering, “what is going on there?”
Redlands won, eventually, on penalty kicks. Terrier goalkeeper Jerad Bailey, who had a future great career at Loyola Marymount University, emerged a hero, having stopped some critical shot attempts by the visiting Braves, including during the penalty kick phase of the match.
The following year, Donovan wound up at Redlands East Valley High School, its first year of existence. Midway through his sophomore season, though, the 16-year-old signed a professional contract to play in Europe.
A pro soccer career was underway.
FOOTBALL NOTE: Alta Loma’s football championship game, a 26-16 win over Corona Centennial, was played a short hop from the site of this soccer playoff – at the University of Redlands Stadium. Interesting that Bocanegra returned a 66-yard interception to the four-yard-line to set up a touchdown in that game.
This is part of a series of mini-Redlands Connections. This is part of a series of quick visits. Magic Johnson and John Wooden showed up at the University of Redlands as part of its Convocation Series. Future NFL Hall of Fame coach, Tom Flores, onetime 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 that No. 1 NBA’s overall draft pick by the New York Knicks in 1966. Today’s feature: Former Chicago Cubs’ pitcher Ferguson Jenkins.
Here’s where being a media member has its advantages:
Hall of Fame pitcher Ferguson Jenkins had appeared in Redlands to help conduct a youth clinic at Community Field and, perhaps, sign a few autographs.
Chicago Cubs’ fans were plentiful throughout this nation. One notable such fan, a veterinarian who lived in Redlands, could recite all Cubs’ doctrine from those Jenkins years.
Here are guys that fans instantly thought about when recalling those Cubs’ teams from that 1960s showdown: Ron Santo, Billy Williams and Ernie Banks were headliners. Jenkins, of course, was their ace pitcher. Leo Durocher was Cubs’ manager, a fact that wasn’t enthusiastically accepted by the local vet.
“Durocher ruined Jenkins’ career,” said Redlands’ area vet. “He used him too much. Ruined his arm.”
He was adamant. So was another group of Cubs’ fans, folks that meant at least once a month at local restaurants, to chat about that Chicago team. That area vet wasn’t part of that group. Cubs’ fans were almost anywhere.
Hall of Fame pitcher Ferguson Jenkins spent a few hours in Redlands, teaching baseball to youths and answering questions about former manager Leo Durocher (photo by Wikipedia).This gathering Redlands Community Field, of course, was years later — after baseball had starting dedicating a full core of relief pitchers to save games. In Jenkins’ days, legendary pitchers like Bob Gibson, Juan Marichal, Mickey Lolich, Don Drysdale, Tom Seaver, Jim Palmer, Catfish Hunter, Vida Blue, you name it, would pitch 300-plus innings each year.
Bullpens weren’t quite as deep. So here was Jenkins in my sight line: “Tell me about Leo Durocher.” Jenkins took it from there.
“Leo helped make my career. If it weren’t for him … I’ll tell you, he taught me a lot. I owe him a lot. I owe a lot of my career to him.”
Under Durocher, Jenkins became one of baseball’s top hurlers. To pick him up, Chicago sent veteran pitchers Bob Buhl and Larry Jackson to Philadelphia as part of that deal.
“When I got traded to the Cubs,” he said, referring to that 1966 deal in which Philadelphia traded away a future Hall of Famer to those Cubs, “we were the worst team in baseball.”
Durocher had just been named Cubs’ manager. Jenkins, under Durocher, won 20 games over six straight seasons — all seasons that Durocher had managed him, incidentally.
“He worked you, no question about that,” said Jenkins.
The Cubs never won a pennant, a division championship, or made it to the World Series during those Durocher and Jenkins days.
“Some of those years we came to spring training,” said Jenkins, “and we knew we’d have a chance to win … because of Leo. He turned that team around in Chicago.”
Where was that veteran, that so-called Cubs’ fan? He needed to be listening to all this.
Durocher, who’d been teammates with Ruth & Gehrig, turned Brooklyn into pennant winners, managed Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays, among others, Durocher was, perhaps, baseball’s greatest connection to multiple generations.
“I never had any trouble with Leo — never,” said Jenkins. “I know what people say about him, what they try to insinuate.”
If there was a criticism of Durocher from that 1969 season, said Jenkins, “it’s probably that he never gave our regular guys a break.”
It was Don Kessinger, Glenn Beckert, Billy Williams, Ron Santo, Ernie Banks, Jim Hickman, Randy Hundley and Don Young. The Cubs took second to the Miracle Mets.
That season, 1969, Jenkins finished 21-15 with a 3.21 ERA over 311 1/3 innings.
I still have no idea how someone from Redlands had lured that fabulous Jenkins — 284-226 over 19 seasons — to Community Field in 1994. In reality, it was Redlands Baseball For Youth President Steve Chapman, a die-hard Cubs’ fan, who sent a white limousine to bring Jenkins to that ballpark.
It was almost an afterthought that Julio Cruz, a onetime Redlands High player, and Rudy Law, a former Dodger and White Sox player, also showed up. Infield play, outfield play, a little hitting — plus pitching.
Ex-Pirates’ pitcher Dock Ellis was also present. Ellis, it’s likely remembered, is the pitcher who surrendered a tape measure home run hit by Reggie Jackson out of Tiger Stadium at the 1971 All-Star game.
Jenkins, incidentally, was one of just four N.L. pitchers in that 6-4 loss to the A.L. Giants’ pitcher Juan Marichal pitched in his final mid-summer classic and so did Houston’s Don Wilson.
Imagine, two of that year’s four N.L. all-star pitchers — Ellis and Jenkins — had shown up in Redlands a couple decades later. Jenkins arrived at Community Field in that white limo. Dressed in his Cubs’ uniform. Showed kids his style of pitching.
“Show ’em your wallet,” he said, demonstrating his high-leg kick, twisting his torso with his left buttock toward the hitter, “and let it fly.”
That’s how a Hall of Famer did it.
Fans might not remember this, Jenkins said, “but Leo converted me into a starting pitcher. I’d been a reliever. He turned my career around. I became a Hall of Famer.”
Jenkins left Redlands like he’d arrived — in that white limo.
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.
REDLANDS – Mike Darnold was a curious “connection.”
Throw in football’s Jim Weatherwax and Brian DeRoo.
Villanova basketball coach Jay Wright showed up here, with his team, one Saturday morning in 2003.
“Black” Jack Gardner left here in 1928.
Jerry Tarkanian lifted off from here in 1961.
How many Redlands Connections can there be?
It’s a basis for that Blog site, www.obreybrown.com. Dedicated to an idea that there’s a connection from Redlands to almost every major sporting event, athletic lovers should check on it.
The afore-mentioned have already been featured. There have been others. Plenty of others.
Golf. Track & field. Tennis. Baseball and basketball. Softball and soccer. The Olympic Games and the Kentucky Derby. The Super Bowl? Yes.
For a city this size, connections to all of those are remarkable.
Softball’s Savannah Jaquish left Redlands East Valley for Louisiana State, later made Team USA.
Bob Karstens was just shooting a few baskets, using a few balls, shooting entertainingly at those outdoor Redlands High courts. Turned out he was one of three white men ever to play for the usually all-black Harlem Globetrotters.
Brian Billick coached a Terrier Hall of Famer. Together, they won a Super Bowl.
Brian Billick, a key Redlands Connection.
Speaking of Super Bowls, not only was a former Redlands High player involved in the first two NFL championship games, there was a head referee who stood behind first championship QBs Bart Starr and Lenny Dawson. That referee got his original start in Redlands.
One of racing’s fastest Top Fuel dragsters is a Redlands gal, Leah Pritchett.
Leah Pritchett has punched her Top Fuel dragster over 330 mph many times.
Greg Horton forcefully blocked some of football’s greatest legends for a near-Super Bowl team.
At a high school playoff game at Redlands High in 1996, Alta Loma High showed up to play a quarterfinals match. It was Landon Donovan of Redlands taking on Carlos Bocanegra, future teammates on a USA World Cup side.
Karol Damon’s high-jumping Olympic dreams weren’t even known to her mother. She wound up in Sydney, 2000.
There are so many more connections.
A surfing legend.
Besides Landon Donovan, there’s another soccer dynamo.
When this year’s Indianapolis 500 rolls around, we’ll tell you about a guy named “Lucky Louie.”
Fifteen years before he won his first Masters, Tiger Woods played a 9-hole exhibition match at Redlands Country Club.
University of Arizona softball, one of the nation’s greatest programs, was home to a speedy outfielder.
As for DeRoo, he was present for one of the pro football’s darkest moments on the field.
In 1921, an Olympic gold medalist showed up and set five world records in Redlands.
The Redlands Bicycle Classic might have carved out of that sport’s most glorious locations – set in motion by a 1986 superstar squad.
Distance-running sensation Mary Decker was taken down by a onetime University of Redlands miler.
Collegiate volleyball probably never had a greater athlete from this area.
As for Darnold, consider that the one-time University of Redlands blocker is the father of Sam Darnold, a USC quarterback who was the NFL’s 2018 No. 1 draft selection.
Jaquish, that REV star, became a first-ever 4-time NCAA Division 1 All-American at talent-rich LSU.
Jacob Nottingham, drafted a few years ago by the Houston Astros, probably never knew he’d be part of two “Moneyball” deals.
Gardner, who coached against Bill Russell in the collegiate ranks, tried to recruit Wilt Chamberlain to play at Kansas State. Gardner graduated Redlands High way, way back.
Wright, whose team went into the March 31-April 2 weekend in 2018 hoping to win an NCAA championship for the third time, brought his team to play the Bulldogs as sort of a warm-up test for a pre-season tournament in Hawaii.
Tarkanian? Few might’ve known that legend, Tark the Shark, started chewing on towels while he was coaching at Redlands High.
Norm Schachter was head referee in three Super Bowls, including Green Bay’s inaugural championship win over Kansas City.
Norm Schacter, wearing No. 60 (not his normal official number), synchronizes with Kansas City Chiefs’ Hall of Fame coach Hank Stram during halftime of the inaugural Super Bowl in 1967.
Speaking of Tarkanian, Weatherwax played hoops for him at Redlands. Eight years later, Weatherwax wore jersey No. 73 at Green Bay. It makes him the only man to ever play for Tarkanian and Vince Lombardi.
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.
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 the mid-1960s. 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, University of La Verne and, finally, University of Redlands.
“This school,” Russell told me, referring to SCAD, “was founded in 1979 with 71 students … and a credit card.”
By 1998, that campus had grown to 4,000 students.
Russell said he wasn’t SCAD’s only ex-pro. Upon getting hired, SCAD’s Chairman of the Board was none other than Dr. Bernie Casey, who had been an NFL All-Pro receiver. One time major league pitching hero Luis Tiant was that school’s baseball coach.
Imagine.
As for Russell, hoops fans might recall that 6-foot-5 pure shooter who helped lead the Wolverines to that 1964 and 1965 Final Four, losing in the 1966 Regionals to eventual finalist Kentucky. A short time later, the New York Knicks made Russell their No. 1 pick.
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, which included an NBA title in 1970 – Knicks over the Lakers – Russell was sitting in an Ontario hotel, sort of an Interstate 10 highway 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 connections Russell had with a variety of NBA legends, including teammates, plus plenty of opponents that included Jerry West and Elgin Baylor, onetime teammates 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 (coach at) Cincinnati, his old school.”
During his NBA days, Russell was traded by the Knicks to the San Francisco Warriors for legendary rebounder Jerry Lucas in 1971.
Three decades later at SCAD, Russell laid the groundwork for recruiting, basketball, 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.”
Teaching those fundamentals at practice, he said, “is like trying to introduce them to a new cereal.”
At SCAD, Russell’s recruits are playing for a former No. 1 draft pick, a one time NBA champion who played against the best basketball players in the world.
“A lot of kids are in awe of the fact that I was drafted number 1,” he said.
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.
Joked Russell: “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, an NBA assistant, collegiately in both NAIA and NCAA – before settling in at SCAD.
In SCAD’s three-game swing out west in 1998, the Bees swept games at Westmont, La Verne and Redlands.
It seemed strange to see Russell seated on the bench as SCAD warmed up to play the Bulldogs inside Currier Gymnasium on that December 16, 1998 night.
It was a far cry from the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum when, playing for the Warriors, the smooth-shooting Russell was swishing shots in a rare win over NBA powerhouse 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 the Warriors, according to rules of those days, Russell’s former team received draft compensation.
Russell chuckled, noting that draft pick turned out to be Robert Parrish, that 7-foot center later winding up in a deal with the Boston Celtics.
As for SCAD basketball, Russell’s coaching career in Savannah lasted 13 seasons. That school cancelled the sport 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.
