Uncategorized – Obrey Brown

February 1, 2025February 4, 2025

DAUER HELPED BAPTIZE SPIRIT IN REDLANDS, 1987

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

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 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 28, 2025January 31, 2025

PART 2: POINT SHAVING SCANDAL SCARRED 1951 NCAA FINALE

There was 1948 and 1951. Again in 1961 and 1966.

All four of “Black” Jack Gardner’s trips to NCAA’s Final Four came without a national championship – 1948 and 1951 coaching at Kansas State, then 1961 and 1966 at his next stop, University of Utah. Three times his squads lost in semifinals. It was in 1951 that his team came closest. That season, though, was a disaster for college basketball. It involved point shaving.

Kentucky, coached by legendary Adolph Rupp, beat Gardner’s K-State team by 10 points, but there was more to it. K-State had beaten Arizona, Brigham Young and Oklahoma A&M to earn its spot in that season’s NCAA championship game.

Adolph-Rupp-1930 (Photo by Commons) — Adolph Rupp, shown here in 1930, would eventually become one of college coaches greatest champions. Rupp’s Kentucky team took on Redlands’ Jack Gardner in the 1951 NCAA finals – a game scarred by a point-shaving scandal. (Photo by Commons.)

Kentucky’s involvement in that point-shaving mess was later to be uncovered when No. 1-ranked Wildcats arrived in Minneapolis in search of their third NCAA championship in four years. Gardner’s No. 4-ranked Kansas State, the champion of the Big Seven, awaited.

Led by 7-foot junior All-America Bill Spivey and sophomore Cliff Hagan, the Cats beat Gardner’s K-Staters, 68-58. Kentucky’s celebration didn’t last long. Shortly after winning the title, that point-shaving scandal broke in New York.

REAL REASON FOR KANSAS STATE’S LOSS

Five of Kentucky’s players, including Alex Groza, Ralph Beard and Spivey were implicated. Groza and Beard, stars of USA’S 1948 Olympic basketball team and eventual professionals, were thrown out of the NBA. Spivey fought those charges, but never played another game in college or pros.

Gardner, he told me, “bit his tongue” in suffering such a setback. There was, he said, “nothing he could do.” Fifteen seasons later, in 1966, was Gardner’s last in leading his team into that NCAA Tournament. It would be a memorable achievement.

Gardner, upended by Rupp in ’51, nearly squared off against him in ’66 when Texas Western hit stride, inspiring that future 2006 movie “Glory Road.”

In “Glory Road,” Rupp was portrayed by Academy Award winner Jon Voight. Don Haskins was played by Josh Lucas. Tons of actors portrayed various roles – reporters, rival players, boosters, racists, students, you name it. There were no roles to depict Gardner, or even Chambers.

As for Utah, there was a consolation game in those days. After losing to third-ranked Texas Western, the unranked Utes lost to second-ranked Duke, 79-77, to finish a 21-8 season. None of that was portrayed in “Glory Road.”

In 1966, after Utah beat Oregon State, 70-64, the Utes found themselves up against that rather historical team – Texas Western University, later known as Texas-El Paso. In that 2006 motion picture, “Glory Road,” its story focused on Haskins’ decision to lead an all-black team into that 1966 Texas Western season.

There was no mention of that NCAA semifinals between Texas Western and Gardner’s Utes in that movie. Though Jerry Chambers, of Utah, was selected as that year’s Final Four MVP despite losing, 85-78, to Kentucky, “Black Jack’s” role was curiously absent in that movie.

Haskins may have changed the way basketball was played, but Gardner’s career seemed far deeper.

GARDNER TOOK ON COLLEGE HOOPS’ BIGGEST NAMES

Marquette’s legendary coach, Al McGuire, brought his team into Madison Square Garden (N.Y.) to beat “Black” Jack’s Utes by 20 at that 1970 NIT. Marquette capped a 24-3 season with that NIT championship. A 24-3 team? NIT? Remember, NCAA tournaments had just expanded to 32 teams a year earlier.

Gardner’s final career game from the sidelines was a loss – by 11 points. Against rival BYU. A few seasons earlier, at home in his Utes’ Huntsman Center, Dean Smith’s North Carolina Tar Heels got him in 1965. By five points.

DeanSmithcropped2 — Dean Smith, of North Carolina, was among the coaching legends that Redlands’ Jack Gardner went up against. (Photo by Commons.)

Speaking of North Carolina. In 1956-57, Frank McGuire’s unbeaten Tar Heels beat Utah on Dec. 27, 1956 by 21 points en route to their own NCAA championship a couple months later.

That was a crazy tournament in which UNC beat No. 11 Michigan in the semifinals before knocking off Wilt Chamberlain’s Kansas team in that season’s finals – both triple overtime victories.

“I watched all those games,” Gardner recalled, chuckling. “I won’t say it. I won’t say if we could’ve beaten Kansas, Wilt’s team. I just won’t get into it.”

There was a 1964 game in which Utah knocked off a Cal-Berkeley team by 25 points. On that Golden Bears’ team was another Redlands product, Danny Wolthers, who averaged 17.7 points that season. A few years earlier when he was in high school, Wolthers played for Jerry Tarkanian during their Redlands days.

A couple years earlier, though, Cal tagged Utah with a 72-66 loss in that 1962-63 season opener at Berkeley’s Harmon Gym. Wolthers averaged 6.7 points that season..

That must’ve been a nice win for No. 5 Utah when it outdueled No. 8 Utah State on Feb. 27, 1960 in Logan, 77-75. Aggies’ coach Cecil Baker had a 24-5 team that season while Gardner’s squad finished 26-3. It was a big basketball night for Utah.

No. There was never a collegiate matchup with Tarkanian, that ex-Terrier coach who took a similar pathway to major colleges as Gardner – through junior college ranks, namely Riverside and Pasadena. Tark wound up at Long Beach State during Gardner’s final years in Salt Lake City.

Jerry_Tarkanian_with_LBSU_players_in_1970-71 Photo by Long Beach State — Jerry Tarkanian, in this 1970-71 photo with three of his top Long Beach State players, including future NBA players Ed Ratleff and George Trapp, had coached Redlands High School about one decade earlier. But Tark’s teams never played against Utah teams coached by Redlands’ Jack Gardner. (Photo by Long Beach State)

Long Beach State never played Utah in that five-year span.

“The Fox,” meanwhile, had quite a career.

Even Sports Illustrated got into the mix on Gardner.

That magazine once wrote that “he could win with an old maid on the post and four midgets.” A proponent of fundamental basketball, Gardner was an expert in fast break basketball. His Utah teams were accordingly known as the Runnin’ Redskins, later the Runnin’ Utes.

Part 3 next.

January 28, 2025January 31, 2025

PART 3: “BLACK” JACK PART OF 10 HALLS OF FAME

“Black” Jack Gardner’s Kansas State record, 147-81 (.645) was largely built over his final seven seasons when his mark improved greatly to 127-47 (.730). There were a pair of 20-win seasons and two Final Four appearances, including a championship gane. After helping the squad to back-to-back second-place conference finishes in 1952 and 1953, he handed reins of that program to his assistant coach, Tex Winter, in 1953.

Yes. That’s the same Tex Winter of Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers’ basketball fame, pioneer of that Triple-Post offense – assistant coach to Phil Jackson in both spots.

Yes, the ex-Redlands High star from the 1920s, Gardner, coached against the greats. His Utah team, 23-3 in 1961-62, beat John Wooden’s UCLA Bruins, 88-79, at L.A. Sports Arena. Those were UCLA’s pre-dynasty days, in fact. In that same building a few years later, eventual NCAA champion Bruins, 28-2, posted a 30-point win over Gardner’s 17-9 Utes.

Times were changing.

Gardner had departed Manhattan, Kansas in 1953 for Salt Lake City. Over those 18 seasons, “The Fox” led his Utes to six NCAA Tournament appearances, reaching Final Four twice. Remember, this was an era when only 23 teams reached that NCAA field — not this current 68-team tournament.

“The Fox” concluded his Utah career at 339-154, leading the Utes to seven conference titles. Between 1959 and 1962, his teams won 51 out of 56 at home. Like his days in Manhattan, where Gardner’s influence helped create those Ahearn Field House vibrations, Gardner’s Salt Lake City presence led to construction of Utah’s new basketball facility.

Against intra-state rival Brigham Young University, coached by Stan Watts, Gardner’s Utes held a narrow 19-17 mark against the Cougars in what was considered a highly intense rivalry.

Gardner, whose overall lifetime coaching mark, 486-285, was inducted into 10 separate Halls of Fame throughout his years. Note this: He received a National Association of Basketball Coaches’ Golden Anniversary Award.

Southern Utah Hall of Fame
Kansas Sports Hall of Fame
Utah All-Sports Hall of Fame
State of Utah Basketball Hall of Fame
Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame
Helms Foundation Hall of Fame
Kansas State University Hall of Fame
Crimson Club (University of Utah)
Modesto (Calif.) Junior College Hall of Fame
Redlands High (Calif.) School Hall of Fame

He was a consultant for NBA’s Jazz from 1979, the year that team moved from New Orleans to Salt Lake City, through 1991. Gardner, who died on April 9, 2000, is credited with discovering Stockton while working for the Jazz.

That part of the story? Gardner wintered in Malibu, near that Pepperdine University campus. When Gonzaga (Wash.) University came to Pepperdine for a Big West Conference game, Gardner was watching. Stockton was a Zag.

498px-John_Stockton — Utah Jazz scout Jack Gardner, whose basketball life began a half-century earlier while in Redlands, was the man that recommended Stockton by drafted by the Jazz in 1984. An eventual Hall of Famer, Stockton was part of the 1992 Olympic Dream Team (Photo by Commons).

In 1984, Stockton’s selection as the 16^th player – the same draft as Hakeem Olajuwon, Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley, among others – it was Gardner’s strong recommendation that left the Jazz with an eventual Hall of Famer.

That same year, 1984, was when Gardner himself was inducted into NBA’s Hall of Fame. At that point, he was in the midst of a record-setting attendance performance. Between 1939 and 1997, Gardner never missed a Final Four – whether it was coaching or attending.

Part 4 coming.

January 22, 2025January 31, 2025

ANDRIESE, CHATWOOD: REV-BASED MLB PITCHERS IN TAMPA, CHICAGO

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 the San Diego Padres, is now toiling for the Tampa Bay Rays. (Photo by Wikipedia Commons) — 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.

Los Angeles Angels starting pitcher Tyler Chatwood (52) — 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.

January 15, 2025January 31, 2025

REDLANDS’ ED VANDE BERG SPENT SEVEN SEASONS ON MLB MOUNDS

I saw Ed Vande Berg. In Arlington. Pitching. On a steaming hot Texas night, he hurled 2 1/3 scoreless innings of relief in a 6-2 loss to Milwaukee, then playing among American League teams. I was one of 26,526 fans that Thursday night. Arlington Stadium. Hall of Famers Paul Molitor and Robin Yount were in Milwaukee’s lineup. It was July 14, a Thursday night, in the summer of 1988.

Vande Berg, a Redlands High baseball-playing product, was playing for enigmatic Bobby Valentine, the Rangers’ manager. It was one of Vande Berg’s fina appearances during his seven-year MLB career.

Attended legendary Arizona State, where Hall of Famers Reggie Jackson and Jim Palmer –- not to mention Barry Bonds – played collegiately, among others.

Vande Berg rarely threw important pitches in a meaningful game during his MLB career. Who cares? He was a major league pitcher — with promise. It should be noted, however, that Vande Berg’s 1982-88 career span did not include playing for a team that finished at .500.

Redlands’ Ed Vande Berg spent seven seasons in major league baseball.

He was a left-handed specialist, a long reliever and, at one brief point, he started 17 times for Seattle in 1984.

Managers like Rene Lachemann, Del Crandall, Chuck Cottier, Hall of Famer Tommy Lasorda, Pat Corrales or Valentine might summon him to pitch against the likes of Fred Lynn or Eddie Murray, Don Mattingly or Lou Whitaker, maybe a Tim Raines, Darryl Strawberry or Keith Hernandez.

He had surrendered Reggie Jackson’s final career hit. Vande Berg, then with Texas, watched a broken bat single off that bat of a future Hall of Famer.

BASEBALL CARDS APLENTY ON THIS REDLANDS KID

Check out a website on Ed Vande Berg some time. Click on images. When you do, your entire computer screen should light up with baseball cards – Vande Berg with Seattle. Or Los Angeles. Or Cleveland . Or Texas.

He was an Alaska Goldpanner.

An Arizona State Sun Devil. Appeared in a College World Series.

Don’t let it slip your mind that Vande Berg was a Redlands High Terrier. Here was his background, stated by plenty of Redlands baseballers not to be much of a prospect while playing for Terrier coach Joe De Maggio.

When he showed up at San Bernardino Valley, Vande Berg took instruction well enough to burnish a slider. It was a new pitch. That resulted in an 18-1 record. State Player of the Year.

Fascinating! Movement, plus zip on his fastball, earned his way to Arizona State — a hub for future MLB players. That got him on radars of MLB scouts, who drafted him no less than three times before he signed.

He was a Rookie Team All-Star in 1982, the year he finished 9-4 with the Mariners, who had drafted him out of Arizona State. A league-leading 78 games accompanied that 2.37 earned run average over 76 innings pitched.

SAN DIEGO, ST. LOUIS, FINALLY SEATTLE

Vande Berg’s draft history was pretty interesting. San Diego took him. third round in 1978, but Vande Berg didn’t sign. A year later, St. Louis made him a fourth round pick. Again, he didn’t sign. In 1980, Seattle drafted him, 13th round. This time, he signed.

That ’82 rookie season, though, was something. Only 54 hits were allowed in those 76 innings pitched, including just five HRs. He was 23 when he made that MLB debut with Seattle.

In 1984, the Mariners made Vande Berg, a 6-foot-2, 175-pounder, a starting pitcher. He logged an 8-12 record (4.76, 130 innings) for a 72-90 team on a pitching staff topped by Mark Langston. Alvin Davis, who hit 27 homers, knocked in 116 runs and batted .284), was American League Rookie of the Year.

By 1988 when Vande Berg joined up at Texas, Ruben Sierra was clearly that team’s best player. Vande Berg was part of a bullpen backed by closer Mitch Williams. The staff’s ace was ex-Dodger knuckleballer Charlie Hough.

It was one season before Nolan Ryan signed with Texas. By then, Vande Berg was gone. Released. Final season of his career.

Who would remember a trade that sent Vande Berg from Seattle to Los Angeles in 1985? It was a straight-up deal on Dec. 11. Catcher Steve Yeager, who had played in three World Series with L.A., was sent back to Seattle.

The Dodgers paid Vande Berg $455,000.

That season, Vande Berg registered a 3.41 ERA over 60 games (71 1/3 innings).

Teammates included Cy Young Award winners Fernando Valenzuela and Orel Hershiser, both managed by Lasorda, a Hall of Fame manager. Vande Berg had relieved both pitchers during that 1987 season.

For one season, Dodger Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda summoned Redlands southpaw Ed Vande Berg into a major league game (photo by Wikipedia Commons).

Granted free agency in each of the following two seasons, Vande Berg found homes in Cleveland and Arlington, Texas.

Among Vande Berg’s Cleveland teammates was Joe Carter, who hit the game-winning World Series homer for Toronto a few years later. Another teammate was that ageless Julio Franco, who made Cleveland just one of his stops on a seven-team, 23-year career.

For a season and a half, incredibly enough, Vande Berg was teammates with another Redlands product, Julio Cruz. The two spent the entire 1982 season in M’s uniforms, but in 1983 Cruz was sent to the Chicago White Sox in a trade deadline deal.

His final game came at age 29 against, of all teams, Seattle, a Mariners’ team Vande Berg spent four of his seven-year MLB pitching for in America’s vnorthwest.

The end result was a 25-28 lifetime mark … 413 games … surrendered 52 HRs … 3.92 earned run average … 22 saves … not a bad career.

WINDING DOWN A SEVEN-YEAR MLB CAREER

A couple months after I watched Vande Berg pitch against Milwaukee in Texas, the Redlands product pitched his final game. Against his old team, the Mariners.

On Friday night, Sept. 30. At the Kingdome that night, 7,870 fans watched.

He pitched a full inning. With home plate umpire Rich Garcia calling balls and strikes, Vande Berg surrendered three hits, including a Rey Quinones double.

In Seattle’s lineup that night was Davis, not to mention future MLB Network broadcaster Harold Reynolds. Darnell Coles, from Vande Berg’s former Citrus Belt League rival Rialto Eisenhower, was also in that night’s lineup.

A lowly Rangers’ squad beat those lowly Mariners, 11-6.

Exactly one month earlier, Vande Berg picked up his final career victory. In an 8-6 win over Minnesota, Cecil Espy’s bottom-of-the-ninth, two-run HR cracked a 6-6 tie. Vande Berg, who had pitched a scoreless ninth inning in relief of starter Bobby Witt, logged the win.

It was career victory No. 25.

January 13, 2025January 31, 2025

REV BASEBALL’S ORIGINAL STAR: TOMMY HANSON

A Redlands Connection is a concoction of sports memories emanating from a city that once numbered less than 20,000 people. From pro football’s Super Bowl to baseball’s World Series, from dynamic soccer’s World Cup to golf’s and tennis’ U.S. Open, plus NCAA Final Four connections, Tour de France cycling, more major tennis like Wimbledon, tiny connections to that NBA and a little NHL, Kentucky Derby, aquatics and Olympic Games, that sparkling little city sits around halfway between Los Angeles and Palm Springs on Interstate 10. That I-10 freeway was often used by baseball players looking to jump from their high school ranks to a major league opportunity. This baseball hopeful went from his high school to Riverside to faraway Atlanta to nearby Anaheim, home of the Angels. – Obrey Brown

Tommy Hanson struck high during his third league season, 2011, with those Atlanta Braves. Pitching numbers were 11 wins, 7 losses, a 3.60 ERA over 22 games, tossing pitches to All-Star catcher Brian McCann, picking off with throws to another All-Star, first baseman Freddie Freeman, plus future Hall of Fame third baseman Chipper Jones.

Try to figure how many of Hanson’s 11 triumphs were saved by closer Craig Kimball, who had 46 saves, including a few for starters like Tim Hudson’s 16 victories.

You figure there were plenty of Redlands East Valley High School connected folks checking out Hanson, that 2004 graduate. Don’t forget, he was an original catcher, then a first baseman.

REV’s baseball program produced that solid major leaguer. From the mound. To a strong university. Originally, he wound up 11-4 with a 2.89 ERA during his 2009 rookie season pitching for the Braves.

Hanson, 49-35, 3.85 lifetime, spent five seasons in the majors, mostly with Atlanta, plus a season with the Angels. He concluded his 2006-2015 professional career — injuries, soreness, perhaps some other health problems — in the minors with San Francisco’s Class AAA team in Sacramento.

Tragically, he was struck down at age 29 when he died on November 9, 2015.

In 2005 after Atlanta grabbed him on that 22nd round, a 677th overall selection, he signed with the Braves. Hanson was pitching for dominant California junior college, Riverside City, that season. Dozens and dozens of baseball players have been taken out of RCC.

Tommy Hanson, an original Redlands East Valley right-handed pitcher, lifted himself into the major leagues from that Mentone city next to Redlands and Yucaipa, getting drafted by Atlanta from Riverside City College in 2005.

_____

Hanson was the first of REV’s growing list of professional baseball signees. There were a couple handfuls more that eventually joined him.

Hanson established himself as baseball’s top pitching prospect after he dominated as the 2008 MVP of the Arizona Fall League.

As that much-anticipated major league debut that following June there were four straight starts, including two straight against the Yankees and Red Sox at Turner Field.

After producing a 3.28 ERA over the 77 starts made during his first three Major League seasons, Hanson was hit by injuries— shoulder, plus a back ailment. There was another setback.

His younger brother died in 2013. Hanson was then with the Angels. He told reporters, “I was having mental issues with the death of my younger brother. I was just trying to get through it. I didn’t know how to handle it.

“That was the first time anything like that had ever happened to me. I didn’t know how to cope with it.”

In grieving his brother, Hanson left those Angels for three weeks. There were 15 appearances by his conclusion, his final major league work.

A SURPRISE CONCLUSION

It was a long way from REV, which is where Hanson had pitched brilliantly. What dropped feelings back home was simple and disruptive: That ex-Braves’ pitcher died, caused by delayed complications of cocaine and alcohol toxicity, according to an autopsy report. It was a Coweta County coroner in Georgia, Dr. Richard Hawk, who ruled that death as an accident, the cause being illicit cocaine use.

No one, absolutely no one, wanted to see this conclusion. Hanson was 29. At the beginning, born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. At the end, buried in Roswell, Georgia.

IT WAS HANSON THAT LED THOSE REV STEPS

Sure, sure, sure … there was more than a handful of other REV baseballers taken in the draft by various MLB teams – catcher Brett Martinez and outfielder Josh Cowles, both taken by the Angels, infielder Paul Eshlemen by the Brewers, plus Matt Andriese’s brother David, an outfielder taken by the Pirates out of UC Riverside.

Then there’s pitchers Justin Jacome by the Marlins, plus a pair taken by the Blue Jays, Jackson McClelland and Griffin Murphy.

Neither of those players ever made it to the big leagues.

Matt Andriese and Tyler Chatwood, both pitchers, came along at REV just a couple seasons following Hanson’s REV seasons, eventually winding up in MLB play.

For that 1997 first-ever school year, baseball beginning at REV in 1998, Hanson was the original star.

December 28, 2024January 31, 2025

RUTH’S JUMP: REDLANDS TO LOS ANGELES GAMES

University of Redlands track & field coach Clay Brooks raved about Ruth Kleinsasser. So did his boss, Ted Runner.

Brooks, who spent years at that university, seemed a true professor in that sport.

Runner, whose Redlands presence as an athlete, coach and, ultimately, director of athletics, was fond of track. He’d competed. For years, he coached.

Kleinsasser, eventually marrying as Ruth Caldwell or Ruth Wysocki, stepped onto the track at the Los Angeles Coliseum nine years after spending that frosh season at Redlands. Those two men, Brooks and Runner, watched with great interest.

That Alhambra-born Kleinsasser, who competed at Azusa High School, was a prized performer at Redlands in 1975. What made Kleinsasser special was her true dedication to that sport. She was a lifer in track.

It started in age-group races in the late 1960s, starting an eventual period of about 30 years, until she became an over-40 Masters runner in 1997. In between, there was plenty to remember.

As an Azusa High senior in 1973, she ran a 2:16 to win the CIF Southern Section 880-yard championship. She also sped around the track to win the 440 in 57.3. That’s as tough of a double in any championship meet.

Since there was no State meet held for girls that year – one would start in 1975 – Kleinsasser never had a chance to prove her prep domination.

By 1975, Kleinsasser was running at Redlands, primarily because internationally-renowned Bulldog coach Vince Reel had come out of retirement. Reel, in fact, met her halfway, training her somewhere in California – between Redlands and Azusa. Kleinsasser gave great runs in both the 400 and 800.

Former University of Redlands runner Ruth Wysocki, then known as Ruth Kleinsasser, beat Mary Decker Slaney, right, at the 1984 U.S. Olympic Trials in the women’s 1500-meter – one of track’s shocking upsets that year (Photo by runmoremiles.com).

A YEAR IN REDLANDS

Reel, married to Chinese star Chi Cheng, had international status, especially since he’d lured some top talent – Chinese sprint star Lee Shiu-Chia, middle distance runners Chee Swee Lee, plus Donna Fromme and some dandy runners like distance star Molly O’Neil, hurdler Pam Ashe, sprinters Gloria Kennedy, Lynn Jones and Denise Becton.

Throw Kleinsasser into that mix. If only she’d lasted four seasons.

Reel wrote about his own exploits. Part of his writings were about Kleinsasser, including her season at Redlands.

Vince Reel, shown here as a Long Beach City College athlete, where he was State champion in the 100 and 220, in the early 1930s. A two-time sprint champion at Occidental College in 1936, he was fourth in the NCAA 220 championships for Occidental College.He would become a huge connection in the track world as a coach – Long Beach Wilson High School Track and Field Coach (1938-1957), moving on to Claremont College (1958-71), coming out of retirement to coach Redlands through 1979. He was also the Olympic track & field coach for India (1960) and China (1972). Reel was the founder of “Women’s Track and Field” magazine. (Photo credit: Long Beach City College).

Kleinsasser dropped out of Redlands.

“I realized I had chosen the wrong school. Not that it isn’t a wonderful place; it was not just the right place for me. That was before the NCAA for women.”

Ruth – just so readers don’t know she’s a Kleinsasser, Wysocki or a Caldwell – told Reel in the days when women’s sports were governed by the old AIAW. Truth is, in those days, Redlands’ men were part of the NAIA, not the NCAA.

A more familiar name may well be Ruth Wysocki. Ruth married top top national distance runner Tom Wysocki. Well, let’s go with Ruth from this point.

In reality, Ruth wasn’t even the fastest half-miler on her own team. That same season, Lee Chiu-Shia ran a 2:05.36 in the SPAA meet at track-rich Occidental College, just outside of Pasadena.

At the Bakersfield Invitational, Kleinsasser posted that 2:07.6.

What made Ruth a Redlands Connection was that year she spent running at that college in Redlands. In 1975, she ran fast – the 2:07.6 in the 800, plus a 56.80 in the 400 at the Long Beach Invitational – but she transferred back to Citrus College, a junior college.

More domination. At Citrus, Ruth scored victories in the State cross country championship for both 1977 and 1978. During spring seasons in 1978 and 1979, she was State champion in both the 800 and 1500.

There was a pattern here. Like many international competitors, she was laying the groundwork for the Olympics. In fact, she ran a 2:03, qualifying for the 1976 U.S. Olympic Trials – still under Reel’s watch. She was 19. Ruth took eighth in the Trials.

She was on-again, off-again training – seriously, pondering, planning. She’d gone from Ruth Kleinsasser to Ruth Caldwell and, finally, to Ruth Wysocki.

RUTH SLAYED SLANEY

If there was a top-flight moment for the ex-Redlands runner, it might be these:

Ruth upset highly-touted USA star Mary Decker to win the 800 at the 1978 U.S. Championships in 2:01.99. Ruth scored another upset victory against Decker – eventually Slaney – at the 1984 U.S. Olympic Trials, this time in the 1500-meter.

It was huge at that time. Still is … well, huge, that is.

Ruth outsprinted Slaney to win the Trials in 4:00.18 – her lifetime best. It was Tom Wysocki, training for the Trials, that had convinced his wife to train for the Olympics.

Brooks, who was Reel’s successor at Redlands and Runner, who were both coming to the end of their Redlands careers, watched with curiosity as the one-year Lady Bulldog star made her way into the L.A. Games.

Ruth took sixth in the 800, eighth in 1500.

To veteran observers like Brooks and Runner, it was a Redlands victory. One of their own had reached the pinnacle of the sport.

Who cared if the Eastern Bloc nations had boycotted the 1984 Games? Remember, these were the games of Carl Lewis’ 4-event gold medal.

Women sensationalists included sprinters Valerie Brisco-Hooks, Evelyn Ashford, plus Flo Jo – Florence Griffith Joyner – plus onetime San Gorgonio High School star Sherri Howard (4 x 400 gold medalist), Jackie Joyner-Kersee, along with marathon champion Joan Benoit.

More men: Britain’s Daley Thompson scored his second straight decathlon title.

Americans. Hurdler Edwin Moses. Triple jumper Al Joyner.

ANOTHER REDLANDS CONNECTION

Step away from Ruth for a just a moment. It’s adding to the flavor of Redlands connections:

One year before the L.A. Games, in 1983, Redlands’ annual invitational came on its cinder track. Two interested participants were Colorado-home Air Force Academy and California’s Azusa Pacific University, among over a dozen other team entries.

In that meet-concluding 4 x 400 relay, Air Force’s Alonzo Babers and Azusa’s Innocent Egbunike ran neck-and-neck on that anchor. They might have even brushed against one another halfway during an unforgettable final lap.

From the home bleachers, 200 meters in, Egbunike could be seen turning his head toward Babers. Was there a connection? Did someone say something perplexing? Neither runner broke stride. Egbunike prevailed. Barely. There would be a highly interesting rematch. Of all places, it was at the Olympics.

It was that following year, both met in the open 400-meter – Egbunike for his native Nigeria and Babers for the U.S. Curiously, no one among national or international media mentioned their previous duel in Redlands.

Babers, in fact, won that Olympic gold in 44.27 seconds. Egbunike was last, 45.35. Those two dueled again in the 4 x 400 relay.

USA’s Sunder Nix, Ray Armstead, Babers and Antonio McKay won gold, prevailing in 2:57.91. Nigeria, anchored by Egbunike, ran third in 2:59.32 for a bronze.

*****

Back to Ruth! That Redlands Connection kept going for years. Over a decade later, in 1995, Wysocki ran seventh in the 1500 at the Championships in Athletics in Gothenburg. That’s Sweden.

In 1997, Ruth set several Masters records at distances from 800 to 5000 on the track, plus 5K and 8K road races. She was surrounded by distance runners. Her dad, Willis Kleinsasser, was a successful Masters athlete.

Alan Kleinsasser, her brother, ran a 1:50.5 over 800 meters and a 3:52.2 clocking in the 1500 – both school records at Caltech Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

Then, of course, her one time husband, Tom Wysocki, produced 13:35.33 in the 5000-meter and 28:19.56 in the 10,000.

RUTH AT THE L.A. OLYMPICS

It wasn’t going to be easy. Despite the absence of the Eastern Bloc nations, that boycott led by former Soviet Union, there was still plenty of international talent.

On Aug. 6, Romanian Doina Melinte circled the Coliseum track twice to score gold in 1:57.60. USA’s Kim Gallagher, whom Wysocki had often encountered, won silver in 1:58.63. Melinte’s teammate, Fita Lovin, took bronze at 1:58.53.

Ruth? Sixth in 2:00.34. She also qualified in the 1500, held on that 1984 August 11 race. Ruth took eighth as America’s best in 4:08.32, nowhere close at her USA Trials.

Melinte won the silver, barely nosed out by Italy’s Gabriella Dorio’s 4:03.25, the Romanian a fraction behind in 4:03.76. Another Romanian, Maricica Puica, took bronze in 4:04.15.

Ruth had to be thinking if she’d matched her lifetime best – that 4:00.18 at the Olympic Trials – she’d have been a gold medalist.

Said Ruth: “Even though the Olympics didn’t go really great for me, when I got to Europe after the Olympics, I beat everybody that beat me in the Olympics, including (Dorio).”

It was, she said, some vindication.

Brooks, for his part, sent plenty of half-milers out to do battle in Lady Bulldog colors. Runner, meanwhile, often reflected on the year that Ruth ran at Redlands.

“She was,” he said, “not just a hard worker.” Runner said, observers could easily tell, “she had a game plan in any race she ran.”

She even made one last attempt to qualify for the 1996 Olympics at 38. Didn’t make it.

That one season, 1975, Ruth was A Redlands Connection.

December 27, 2024January 31, 2025

NHRA SEASON OPENS, DRAGSTER STAR LEAH PRUETT TOOK OFF

That original Leah Pruett started speeding at a youthful age. Eight or nine, right in there. Yes, there was a 78-mph blast away. Ron, her dad, built that junior dragster for racing.

Leah’s grabbed her share of speed at the highest speeding level, National Hot Road Association. Fastest Leah blasted Ron’s-built junior dragster with that 78 mph. Youthful. Under 15. She didn’t hit 100-mph on the track until after she graduated from Redlands High. At age 18, Pruett piloted a Nitro Funny Car to a blazing 200-mph. By age 19, she hit 250.

Looking ahead. Fifth place in 2016 among Top Fuel speedsters, the Redlands product notched wins in 2017’s first two races, starting at Pomona – winning four times throughout that season. Yes, it was her best,

Ron, Lindsey Pruett — Ron Pruett, left, and Leah Pruett, who is now married to NASCAR and Indy top driver Tony Stewart, Pruett, stands alongside the family dragster in the early days of her racing career. Too bad, though. Ron died a few years ago. (Photo by Pruett family).

She’s a Top Fuel dragster. This is a huge connection to the auto racing world. A queen among speed thrill-seekers. Leah, then 29, whose older sister, Lindsey, got first crack on the track when her dad, Ron, started building junior dragsters.

Leah was eight when she started racing. No soccer. No volleyball. No softball. No track & field or cross country.

Think of the cost. You don’t buy those cars in a kit at K-Mart or Sears, folks. Lots of detail, lots of attention, lots of expertise – not to mention expense – goes into building each machine. It’s beyond normal thinking.

Ron’s Precision Alignment, located down on Park Street near the end of Redlands’ city border, was headquarters for his kid’s car-racing dreams. A few years back, Ron sold out. It left him and wife Linda to move back east, to North Carolina – NASCAR country – while Leah sought her career in a Top Fuel speed machine.

The sponsors over the years – Gumout, Papa John’s, Albrecht’s, Mopar, Pennzoil, FireAde 200, among others – have kept her in the cockpit.

Speed? She’s got it to burn.

Leah’s gone from the Sportsmen’s division to Nitro Funny Cars to Pro Mod to winning a Hot Rod Heritage Series and, finally, in 2013, she landed in a Top Fuel dragster for Dote Racing. More was to come. So much more. It came right up until the time Leah retired in December 2024. It was time to start a family with her new husband, Tony Stewart.

Years earlier, though, I could remember when Ron invited me up to his Redlands home to view the junior dragster he created for Lindsey, Leah’s sister. At least, I think it was Lindsey’s. Ron, who was a speed demon himself – setting land speed records in Utah, plus various points around Southern California – chose a different sport for his girls.

Drag racing.

Ron fed me all of his daughters’ achievements – Lindsey’s and Leah’s – for publication in the local paper. There were 37 junior wins for Leah at various tracks throughout SoCal.

Ron himself was a star on the circuit – a 12-time land speed record holder. I don’t think he ever reached the speed his youngest daughter ever registered, though.

Ron Pruett proudly holds a Wally trophy, which indicates a speed-filled victory on a drag-racing track. (Photo by Pruett family).

Speed, though. Leah was born into the chase.

It would ludicrous to list all of Leah’s achievements from the junior circuit to her Top Fuel days in which she held (as of Jan. 17, 2018) the fastest speed at 332.75 over a thousand yards which brought a 3.64 elapsed time – both world records.

Drag racing underwent a change a few years back when distances were shortened from 1,320 yards, a quarter-mile, to 1,000 yards. It was safer. It probably limited any further hopes of increasing speed milestones.

Then there’s the Wally trophy. Named for Wally Parks, the sport’s founder who took street racing and put it on the track. A Wally goes to each week’s champion.

Ron’s got a few Wallys.

Leah’s got a handful. More were likely to come. She’s had a team, sponsor and experience is gradually growing. At Pomona, it’s a home track for Leah, especially since she raced there as a kid from Redlands.

Back in 2014, assigned to cover Winternationals for an area newspaper, my assignment was to land a connection on the locals – Funny Car’s “Fast” Jack Beckman of Norco, plus Top Fuel’s Shawn Langdon from Mira Loma. And Leah.

“Do I remember you, Obrey?” she asked in amazement. “Are you kidding? Of course, I remember you. You’re some of my best memories.”

That brought a nice streak of electricity up my spine.

For my article in the Riverside Press-Enterprise, I got more than I needed from her. Leah brought me up to date on her folks, who’d moved back east. Ron had sold his Redlands business, moved to North Carolina with Linda. Their other daughter, Lindsey, was teaching in Redlands.

Leah was just getting started. Patrons of the sport might tend to overlook what it takes to arrive where Leah was just reaching. This isn’t a sport. It’s a career. Racing just a portion of the 2013 schedule, Leah racked up 15^th place.

Leah’s won at tracks in Denver and Indianapolis, which is near her home in Avon, Ind. She’s driven speed cars like Mustangs and Camaros. Speed records came with some of those drives.

Twice, though, she was part of teams that shut down, leaving her without a ride – and those much-needed sponsors.

Leah Pritchett – the Redlands Rocket.

Part 2 coming soon.

December 12, 2024January 31, 2025

ALLY VON L: GOING FROM A REV LADY WILDCAT TO AN ARIZONA LADY ’CAT

In honor of the NCAA College Softball World Series, which were unfolding, there was always something to check on with a checkout from Redlands – a kid called Allyson Von Liechtenstein.

There were telephone calls to the sports desk from Pam Martin, softball coach at Redlands East Valley High School when that campus opened in 1997. It was quite a ritual. There was often cheer in her voice. In all cases, Coach M had something newsworthy to report.

One of Martin’s top players, Ally Von L, probably went into as many big games as any Redlands-based product at the collegiate level during that outfielder’s post-REV years.

It’s simple. Von L, the twin sister of Elizabeth (Lizzie) and younger sister of Sarah, was part of a trio of Highland-based players who were raised under the softball thumb of their dad, Dave.

Ally Von L, a left-handed, slap-hitting, fleet-footed outfielder, played four sensational seasons at REV. It was nothing for Martin to report a 3-hit game for Ally Von L. Or maybe a couple of stolen bases to go along with her two singles and, maybe, a triple. At the time, she patrolled center field.

Von Liechtenstein — Ally Von L, a Redlands East Valley product who played big-time NCAA softball at powerhouse University of Arizona (Photo by UA).

It should’ve been no surprise, then, that she committed to play collegiately at the University of Arizona from 2002-2005. She was a 5-foot-5-inch slash hitter heading for Tucson.

Arizona’s Lady Wildcats’ softball program should be considered among the finest in the land. Ally Von L found herself playing four straight seasons at the College World Series.

Mike Candrea, coach, might’ve been USA’s best go-getter for UA. He went and “got” Ally Von L.

Ally Von L was a nice catch for her new Wildcats’ team. At that time, anyone caught playing for UA should’ve been considered quite a player.

Candrea, who led Team USA to the 2004 Olympic gold medal, was a fun interview. Make that a professional interview. He knew how to take control. He knew the questions before I’d even launched them at him.

At least when you could get hold of him. Schools this big have Sports Information Directors. Got to get through them to get to guys like Candrea. The man’s got coaching to do.

By the 2018 season, incredibly, Candrea was within a couple hundred wins away from 2,000.

Univ. Arizona softball coach Mike Candrea is closing fast on 2,000 victories – 211 of which came when he coached Ally Von Liechtenstein from 2002-2005 (Photo credit, University of Arizona).

This is the guy who landed Ally Von L. Not to mention landing Jennie Finch. Not to mention Alicia Hollowell. And Caitlin Lowe. And Autumn Champion. And Kristie Fox. Each of whom were teammates with Ally Von L.

Lowe hit .510 one year, swiping 27 out of 30 bases. Hollowell won 40 games in a single season. Finch went 32-0 in another. Lovie Jung hit .481 one season, stroking 25 bombs. Champion hit .489 with 26 steals one season. That same year, 2004, Lowe hit .437 with 46 steals.

These were the players Candrea landed. That coach was en route to winning more collegiate softball games than anyone else. Chats with this coach were special to take.

On Ally Von L, he said, “Listen … (pausing for a few seconds to collect some thoughts) this is a kid with speed. She can hit. She’ll run the bases. She can catch anything hit out there. She’ll help us here.”

Remember, he was taking a player right out of the area from UCLA should’ve been grabbing from (USC doesn’t have intercollegiate softball). At Arizona, Ally Von L had a solid career – .321, .381, .384 and .265 as a senior.

She started 105 games, playing in 172. Often used as a pinch-runner. Swiped 28-of-35 bases over four seasons. Ninety-four hits, 283 at-bats. Scored a batch of runs.

Said Candrea: “There was a time when if UCLA wanted a kid, they got the kid. We got a few breaks. We got some key kids.”

ALLY VON L AGAINST THE GREATS

Along the way, there were remarkable games played against the likes of Cat Osterman.

Tennessee’s Monica Abbott.

Michigan’s Jennie Ritter.

UCLA’s Keira Goerl.

Louisiana’s Brooke Mitchell.

Fresno State’s Jamie Southern was named to the ESPN Rise All-Decade team in 2009.

LSU’s Kristin Schmidt.

Georgia Tech’s Jessica Sallinger.

Alabama’s Stephanie VanBrakle.

These were the kids Ally Von L was playing against – the USA’s most decorated pitchers.

Von L hit against most of those pitchers. As close to being a starting player without actually starting every game, Von L was part of a team that included All-Americans almost everywhere on the diamond during her four-year stint from 2002-2005.

On Saturday, June 5, 2005: It was a Von L single in the 12th inning at the NCAA Women’s College World Series that knocked home the winning run in a 3-2 win over Cal-Berkeley – a game played in Oklahoma City.

Ally Von L’s heroics were only short-lived.

One day later, the fabulous Texas southpaw, Osterman, knocked off the Lady Wildcats, 1-0, to leave Arizona without a 50-win season for the first time in years. Arizona ended its season with a record of 45-12, having reached its 17th Women’s College World Series over an 18-year span.

Ally Von L and I connected a few times on articles about her collegiate experiences, which were vast. She wasn’t hamming it up, probably preferring to lay low. After all, this kid was one of REV’s finest athletes.

You always got the feeling she was battling. Aggressive. In awe of her surroundings, but highly respectful.

In 2005, the Lady Wildcats were co-Pacific-10 Champions. Playing against the likes of UCLA, Stanford, Cal, you name it, UA was a force in NCAA softball.

Wouldn’t you know it: Von L became a group of four Lady Wildcat players to play four seasons without winning at least a national championship, a battle of playoff chases since 1987. It was quite a streak, especially when Von L had played behind such stalwart pitchers as Hollowell and that sensational Finch.

Jennie_Finch_vs._China — Jennie Finch was a University of Arizona teammate of Ally Von Liechtenstein during a prime time of Lady Wildcats’ softball in Tucson (Photo by Team USA).

Finch was a senior during Von Liechtenstein’s freshman season.

A year after Ally Von L’s departure, Arizona – which had copped five NCAA titles over a seven-year span in the 1990s – won the NCAA World Series title again.

Who knows? Maybe it set the stage for a future NCAA Division 1 softball great. A decade after Ally Von L, Sahvanna Jaquish, also from Highland, showed up at REV. Off she went to Louisiana State University from 2014 through 2017, where she became a four-year All-American.