Uncategorized – Page 2

December 10, 2024January 31, 2025

DONOVAN? ALDAMA? REDLANDS’ BIGGER USA TEAM MEMBER?

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 couldn’t have been a better sports Redlands reporting summer in 2001. It was, at least, glamorous for a local sports editor, that’s myself, who sought sports news for a local reading public that rejoiced over such information.

Heather Aldama was playing pro soccer for the Boston Breakers.

Landon Donovan was up in San Jose, playing for the Earthquakes. Donovan, for his part, would eventually become arguably Team USA’s greatest player.

Aldama had been a strongly amazing scorer before graduating Redlands High just as Donovan was arriving at that campus 1995-1996. The Lady Terriers, built around Aldama’s goal-scoring and goal-producing passes, won four league championships with plenty of hard-commencing CIF-Southern Section playoffs.

In one season alone, she racked up a phenomenal 38 goals and 22 assists. Over four seasons at Redlands, Aldama was All-CIF Southern Section each year. Her Lady Terrier teams reached the CIF quarterfinals twice and the semifinals once. That post-season play usually stood in the top tier of Division 1.

Redlands’ Heather Aldama (photo by Santa Clara University).

Aldama, surrounded by terrific talent along with talented coach Rolando Uribe who had been a scoring phenom for RHS’ boys side a few years earlier.

Part of a Southern California Blues side that won a state Under-19 title is, most likely, what landed Aldama in the collegiate spotlight; and, eventually, a professional move.

Besides the Olympics and those American male stars in the World Cup, Donovan racked up U.S. pro time in San Jose, Calif.

That summer of 2001 was great for a small-town daily sports editor – Aldama and Donovan.

SUMMER STOPS: ALDAMA, DONOVAN

The way it works on a small daily newspaper basis is simple. Real simple. You’re obligated to produce as much local copy as possible. Such a routine wasn’t necessarily so simple during non-school summer athleticism. High school – Redlands, Redlands East Valley and a growing Arrowhead Christian Academy – was holding off between June and September.

Due to shrinking budgets, the Associated Press wire services were all but unavailable to produce a sports section. Local copy was becoming even more mandatory.

You’d have to make up for it with all-star baseball results, country club golf results, bowling scores from the local House, maybe some Junior Olympic swimming results courtesy of Redlands Swim Team, while we followed the exploits of that year’s Redlands Bicycle Classic racists throughout their summer seasons.

But when that pair of soccer-playing, midfield scorers put on their professional uniforms, they attracted plenty of attention.

That summer, though, was great. For me. For readers. You rarely read much in the county or regional newspapers about either player. Each time in that summer 2001 Aldama, or even Donovan took the field – Aldama’s first season Boston, Donovan’s first season for the San Jose Earthquakes.

It was an opportunity for local coverage.

It almost defied the odds when AP would often staff plenty of shots for both Aldama and Donovan. A handful of photos from their matches would come across the wire on game nights. Both players, Aldama and Donovan, showed up in photos of those local sports pages in their hometown.

In a way, it almost defied the odds. At any point on a soccer pitch, there are 22 players. One AP photographer. It seemed like every match included a shot of those Redlanders. It’s not hard to really imagine. Aldama and Donovan were playmakers. Photographers like action. Their lenses are usually aimed toward those making plays.

Those AP shots filled at least one-third of that sports page. It’s one way to fill a local sports section.

ALdama - Washington Freedom wins FreedomWinSemi

This is an example of a photo that was available to the local sports desk in Redlands during summer play in WUSA. While Redlands’ Heather Aldama walks off the field in disappointment, the Washington Freedom is celebrating a playoff semifinals triumph (photo by Women’s United Soccer Association).

SANTA CLARA, A COLLEGE CHOICE

Unlike Donovan, who skipped college to play the European pro leagues in his midteens, Aldama chose NCAA powerhouse Santa Clara University as her collegiate stop. Four seasons of varsity play as a Lady Terrier attacker, plus her club-playing roots, she left for a top-collegiate program.

There were some highlights for this Lady Bronco. As a freshman in 1997, Aldama nailed a game-winning goal against West Coast Conference rival Loyola-Marymount.

She played against No. 3 Florida in the 1998 NCAA semifinals, against No. 19 Brigham Young University, playing in virtually every big Santa Clara match during her 1997-2000 collegiate career.

Aldama netted a 16-yarder against third-ranked Nebraska in a 2-1 win over the Lady Huskers on Sept. 19, 1999. In an NCAA playoff match against UCLA that same season, she scored in the 23rd minute, assisting on another goal in a crucial win.

Against Connecticut in the NCAA quarterfinals one match later, Aldama assisted on a pair of Aly Wagner goals, helping produce a 3-0 triumph.

In other words, Aldama always seemed to find herself in the mix – scoring, setting up goals and other plays, streaking downfield to work her way open.

Once college was over, though, so what next?

REPLACING TEAM USA

Aldama was part of a replacement for Team USA at a Jan. 13, 2000 match in Adelaide, Australia. In an event called the Australia Cup, Aldama surfaced as a substitute in the championship match, 3-1, over the Matildas.

Team USA’s main side had boycotted the match.

Sherrill Kester, Danielle Slaton and Wagner, Aldama’s college teammate, scored in front of 3,500 at Hindmarsch Stadium.

Playing against a more experienced Matildas’ squad, the U.S. held a 20-6 shots advantage, plus a 10-5 edge in corner kicks. It was in the 82nd minute that Aldama fed Wagner for Team USA’s final goal.

Mandy Clemens was part of that team, plus Jenn Mascaro, Michelle French and Veronica Zepeda with Lakeyshia Beene in goal.

Team USA, 2-0-1 in the four-nation tournament, had the same record as Sweden – playing to a 0-0 draw– winning on goal differential, holding a plus-nine to Sweden’s plus-four. The Czech Republic and host Australia made up the remaining tournament qualifiers.

It was that 8-1 win over the Czech Republic that did it for Team USA.

Up next was the Sydney Olympics of 2000. Considering that Sydney, Australia would be the host of that year’s 2000 Olympics, it had to occur that Aldama could see Team USA action when the Summer Games started.

That American’s co-coach, Lauren Gregg, noted the team’s approach – contract protests. She told Associated Press that Team USA achieved its objectives.

“First,” Gregg told the media, “we won by playing some exciting, attacking soccer. Second, these players invested in their development every minute they were on the field and took every advantage of this opportunity.

“Finally,” she said, “these games gave us a chance to evaluate our young personalities against much more experienced players, which gives us extremely valuable information as we go forward toward the Olympics.”

Team USA, Olympic gold medalists in 1996, 2004, 2008 and 2012, took silver in the 2000 Sydney Games. That team was largely built around the same group of historic women that notched World Cup triumphs in Pasadena a couple years earlier.

Team USA beat Brazil, 1-0 in that semi final duel, the Americans reached the finals against Norway. Norway, a 1-0 triumph over Germany, got three goals in its 3-2 triumph over the Americans. Curious that that USA side knocked off Norway, 2-0, during Group F play.

Aldama, incidentally, was not part of that Team USA side.

SQUARING OFF AGAINST ’99 CUP

While USA’s women were forming a global powerhouse at the international stage, Aldama was on the bubble to crack onto a formidable national team that included the likes of Mia Hamm, Michelle Akers, Carla Overbeck, Kristine Lilly, Brandi Chastain, Cindy Parlow, Tiffeny Milbrett, Clemens, Tisha Venturini, Joy Fawcett, Shannon MacMillan, Julie Foudy and goalkeeper Brianna Scurry – huge stars among those American players.

Brandi_Chastain_ESPN_Weekend_2010 — Brandi Chastain, a 1999 World Cup hero, was a Heather Aldama rival during their days in the Women’s United Soccer Association (photo by Wikipedia Commons).

Its most famous World Cup triumph in 1999 came in a 5-4 shootout win over China after a 0-0 draw through extended time. Chastain’s famous goal-winning shot was celebrated, spotted dropping to her knees, whipping off her jersey and photographed in her sports bra.

That match was played at the Rose Bowl in front of nearly a packed house while shown on live international TV. The U.S., who knocked off North Korea, Nigeria and Denmark in pool play, had beaten Germany, Brazil and China, all world soccer powers.

By contrast, Team USA’s men had never been able to produce a winning equation during World Cup play – with Donovan.

Aldama had a few national team appearances. The timing of her departure from Santa Clara, however, was met with the formation of a new pro women’s soccer league.

DONOVAN: TEAM USA’S BEST

It cannot be held back.

Donovan’s career has carried a long way, perhaps considered one of this country’s top male players, perhaps even through 2024. It’s hard to make it that Aldama, USA’s women’s side, doesn’t even compare to the men’s side.

It can’t compare. To this day, Team USA’s women has worked itself way past the men, regardless of, say, Donovan versus Aldama. Seems like he played plenty for sides in Europe, plus huge brilliance over nearly two decades as U.S. professional at both San Jose, but more at Los Angeles.

He played at plenty of growth for Americans – scoring hundreds of goals, setting up with dozens of assists, brilliant attacks against virtually every major opponent.

Unlike Aldama, Donovan was an Olympian, a Team USA part of the World Cup appearances – never champions.

Unlike Donovan, however, Aldama came close to reaching USA’s women’s highly-smoked international attack.

SETTING STAGE FOR WUSA

In 2001, the Women’s United Soccer Association, or WUSA, was created. One of the founding eight teams was the Boston Breakers. That league lasted three seasons.

Aldama was part of that Breakers’ side that included Lilly, plus Kate Sobrero and Tracy Ducar. International players came over from Germany – Maren Meinhart and Bettina Wiegmann, plus Norway’s Dagny Mellgren and Ragnhild Gulbrandsen.

Lilly-2010-stl — Kristine Lilly, another of the 1999 USA World Cup heroes, was a Boston Breakers teammate of Redlands’ Heather Aldama (photo by Wikipedia Commons).

Aldama showed up in Boston, courtesy of being the 28th player selected in a 2001 draft, that being a fourth-round pick by the Breakers. They played the former Redlands High/Santa Clara scoring gem on defense.

It was tough beginnings for Boston, which played to an 8-10-3 mark in its inaugural season, following that up with a 6-8-7 mark in 2002 – but no playoffs.

Matches were played at Nickerson Field in Boston. The team was owned by Amos Hostetter, Jr., who had served as chairman of C-SPAN Network.

That third and final season, though, under coach Pia Sundhage, former Norwegian scoring playmaker, was a little different. Boston finished 10-4-7 and reached the semifinals before a shootout against the Washington Freedom ended the Breakers’ season.

Aldama, wearing jersey No. 12, missed a shot in the penalty kick phase. Eventually, when WUSA suspended operations because of cash slowness, that was about it for the 25-year-old Aldama.

The Breakers reappeared, however – twice.

In 2007, they showed up as part of the Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS), folding in 2012. After that, the Breakers became part of the Women’s Pro Soccer League Elite.

Who was Aldama playing against in WUSA?

It was that same core group of 1999 World Cup players.

Mia_Hamm_corner — Mia Hamm took her celebrated career into the WUSA ranks, where she competed against the likes of Redlands’ Heather Aldama (photo by Wikipedia Commons).

Aldama was attacking the likes of Scurry, plus defending against the all-star talents of Fawcett, MacMillan, Akers, Parlow, Milbrett, Venturini, Foudy, Hamm, Chastain and Clemens, among others, perhaps considered among America’s best players.

In a July 3, 2003 match between Aldama’s Breakers and the Washington Freedom, Aldama notched her first professional goal in the 66th minute. There were 8,105 fans at Boston’s Nickerson Field to witness the two sides play to a 1-1 draw.

That shot was a curving, 25-yarder into the upper right hand corner of the net.

Such brilliance of such a shot lifted from Redlands.

December 10, 2024January 31, 2025

TRACK GOLD MEDALIST CAME TO REDLANDS, SET WORLD RECORDS

It’s now, these days, over 100 years from a brilliant run in Redlands.

There was a guy who took a Golden Streak of the Golden West. A USC superstar. He was Sir Charles. Also known as the Winged foot of Mercury. Let’s not forget that Charles Paddock was part of Team USA.

At the 1920 Antwerp Olympics, Paddock was a gold medal sprinter, winner at 100-meter and part of the USA’s winning 4 x 100 relay. Overall in his career, Sir Charles wound up with two golds and two silvers during his Olympic appearances.

That 1920 Olympian was, in fact, that same Olympiad at which Redlands-based hurdler William Yount had participated.

Paddock was likely the track’s version of baseball’s Babe Ruth. Or boxing’s Jack Dempsey. Or tennis’ Bill Tilden. Or golfer Robert Jones. But he was a decorated sprint champion.

On April 23, 1921 – less than a year after he’d won the gold medal in Belgium – Paddock showed up at the University of Redlands. That day, Paddock broke four world records and equaled another one.

Charley Paddock (Photo by Pasadena Sports Hall of Fame) — *Charles Paddock, a 4-time Olympic medalist, two gold and two silver, showed up in Redlands and set four world records, tying another on April 23, 1921 (photo by Pasadena Sports Hall of Fame).*

Paddock, whose historically significant role in a 1981 motion picture, “Chariots of Fire” – portrayed, incidentally, by Dennis Christopher – had shown up at Redlands for an exhibition within that USC-Pomona dual. That day, he reached no less than five world records.

In “Chariots of Fire,” there was nothing about Redlands, of course. Paddock had just a brief appearance next to those great Englanders, not to mention his USA mates. There was, in fact, nothing about those world marks he’d set on that April 23, 1921 afternoon in that San Bernardino County city.

Paddock, in fact, was a mere character at the 1924 Paris Olympics – a favorite who was chased down by Britain’s Harold Abrahams in the 200-meter.

Still, Paddock was part of America’s winning 4 x 100 relay that year.

FOUR RECORDS SET, ANOTHER TIED AT REDLANDS

Let’s not forget on that April 23 day at Redlands, that Pomona College outscored USC, 39-33, in a dual track meet. Paddock? Well, no. He was not a collegiate athlete, just making a high-level appearance at this meet not including that local university.

That same April 23 day, the four marks – 100-meter, 200-meter, 300-yard and 300-meter – while equaling the world mark at 100 yards, made that tiny little San Bernardino County city a mark in international track history.

Paddock was clocked at 9 and three-fifths seconds in the 100-yard dash.

For the close-by 100-meters, he sped 10.40, cracking 1912 U.S. Olympian Donald Lippincott’s mark by a fifth of a second.

Multiple Olympic gold medalist – St. Louis in 1900, Athens, Greece in the original 1896 – Archie Hahn’s 21 3/5-seconds over 200-meters fell to 21 1/5 via Paddock. That was more in Redlands on that April 23 day.

The world’s fastest human, Bernie Wefers’ 300-yard mark of 30 3/5 seconds was broken by two-fifths – Paddock in 30 1/5 at Redlands.

As for the 300-meter mark, held by 1912 Olympian Pierre Failliott of France in 1908 and equaled by Frigyes Mezei of Hungary in 1913 at 36 2/5 seconds was smashed by Paddock’s speed – 33 4/5 seconds.

That 220-yard mark, incidentally, was a mere three-fifths of a second for that world mark.

No, this April 23 field did not include the likes of Abrahams, Wiefers, Hahn, Lippincott, Failliott, Mezei – nor even Yount of Redlands.

IN REDLANDS, PADDOCK WAS WELL-KNOWN

Much-later Ted Runner, the longtime athletic director at the University of Redlands, was careful to point out Paddock’s connection to Redlands. Long before Runner’s time, but as a lifetime devotee of track & field, Runner was aware of Paddock of his lore that preceded him on that venerable university’s grounds.

No less than Guy Daniels, Jr. – whose dad, Guy, Sr. was a Redlands coach of that era – and another ex-Bulldog, Terry Roberts of Yucaipa, who was a student of Olympic history, knew of this Paddock legend. Throughout the years, a few weighed in with me on Paddock’s visit to Redlands.

Of course, neither Runner, Daniels, Jr., nor Roberts were present for Paddock’s 1921 appearance. They were in high admiration, however.

At Redlands that day, there were two races. Bob Weaver, president of the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), was the starter.

No less than a reporter from the old Los Angeles Examiner had shown up that day to record the events. The local newspaper from Redlands was also on the scene. Weaver, president of that AAU, was the starter. That the AAU president, Weaver, was in attendance helped make it official.

Those records were verified.

Those on-the-scene reporters had shown up that day to record the events. They described conditions as “bitter” cold. Overcast, a little wind, some rain sprinkles, but it had died by race time. In other words, it was a likely surprise that Paddock could set any world records.

*****

Paddock, the racing, the background, some 3,000 to 5,000 attendees, was part of Southern Pacific’s AAU on that April 23 gathering. It was, according to that local paper, “shivering weather and a cold west wind.” Over a 20-minute period, this star-studded sprinter was ready.

best-pictures-of-charley-paddock This was a typical Charles Paddock finish, turning his left shoulder to the left as he crossed a finish line. This was the scene on April 23, 1921 at the University of Redlands when Paddock, 33 on his jersey, set world records in four events, tying another mark that same day (photo by USC sports information).

That highly significant Olympic sprinter ran two events, each extending events in both meters and yards with dual timers for each point. Familiar leaps across the finish, Paddock pulled off a straightaway siege in that 100-yarder, tying the world record in 9.6-second mark, winning a world mark with 10.4 seconds over 100-meters.

It wasn’t 20 minutes later, call it the 220-yards, then 200-meters, then 300-yards and 300-meters for Paddock – those further events going around a turn of that far different track spot that eventually faced on Brockton Ave.

Sure, Paddock was from Pasadena – close to where the University of Redlands’ top collegiate duelists Occidental and Cal Tech existed – he capped 300-meters in tiring form, described as collapsing into arms of a friend.

Here were the marks: a 21.1-second world mark in the 200-meter, 30.1-second world mark in the 300-yard, then cracked the 200-meter record by more than two full seconds.

That 220-yard mark was a mere three-fifths of a second for that world mark.

Paddock’s main competition came from the likes of Vernon Blenkiron, a 17-year-old from Compton High School, second against Redlands High’s Bob Allen, that year’s 1921 state 220 high school champion. Forrest Blalock, who spent two seasons on USC’s track team, also ran.

Paddock was described as “two yards in front of Blenkiron.” At one point, Paddock was “20 yards ahead of Blalock.”

TRACK & FIELD NEWS REDLANDS ACCOUNTS

According to Track & Field News, “with one jump he passed the 200-meter and 220-yard marks.

“On the sharp turn he ran, he seemed to weaken and slow down. Finally, he reached 300 yards. His sprint was nearly gone. Fighting every inch of the way he raced on toward the last tape, the 300-meter mark. He was now on the straightaway again. Pulling with eyes half shut and mouth open he passed the finish line and fell in a heap into the arms of waiting friends.”

On the shorter run that day, T&F News reported it this way:

“Down the stretch they came, Paddock seemingly unable to increase his lead. Fifteen feet from the tape Paddock gave a mighty bound and fairly flew over the finish line two yards ahead of Blenkiron. He came down heavily. Recovering, he took two quick strides and leaped for the tape at 100 meters.

“His first leap had enabled him again to equal the record for 100 yards. The two together gave him the record for 100 meters. Two such leaps as these made it appear that the boy must have had wings or a kangaroo hoof.”

Three years later, in Paris, it was Jackson Scholz who outdueled the Golden Streak of the Golden West in that for the gold. Paddock took the silver medal back to America – losing only that 100-meter to a fellow American.

There was a third Olympics in 1928 at Amsterdam. No medals. No finals. By 1943 at Sitka, Alaska, Paddock perished in an airplane crash. Nearly 43. Born in Texas, having moved to California as a child. He was a U.S. marine. Thirty-eight years later, his memory flashed forward in “Chariots of Fire.”

By 1976, Paddock was inducted to the National Track & Field Hall of Fame.

It’s curious that Paddock was California’s prep 220-yard champion in 1916, 1917 and 1918 for Pasadena High, then supplanted by Redlands’ Bob Allen in 1919, then again in 1921. By that point, Paddock was USC’s Golden Streak.

It brought back that Redlands Connection.

December 6, 2024January 31, 2025

GEORGE YARDLEY WAS NBA’S FIRST 2,000-POINT KING

Curiously, there was a direct link from the NBA to the University of Redlands basketball program. Rob Yardley came in the form of a role player in the late 1979s, early 1980s. Upon examination, Yardley, an outgoing, intelligent and seemingly Christian-living soul, stood 6-foot-6 in a Bulldog uniform. Basketball historians, incidentally, might recognize the name of Yardley.

It was George Yardley, believe it or not, scoring a seasoned 2,000 points for the first time NBA history. From the past: Newport Harbor High School. Stanford. Seventh pick, NBA draft, 1950. Didn’t start playing until the 1953-54 season.

George_Yardley, 1959 — George Yardley, wearing the NBA uniform of the old Syracuse Nats, was the league’s top scoring threat until Wilt Chamberlain came into the league. Yardley was the first NBA player to surpass the 2,000-point milestone. (Photo by Wikipedia Commons).

In 1958, Yardley, then of the Detroit Pistons, scored 2,001 points. The NBA’s previous scoring mark came in 1951 when Minneapolis Lakers’ 6-foot-10 center George Mikan racked up 1,932 points. At 6-5, Yardley was a good-sized forward in 1950’s NBA hoops, and was “an offensive-minded player with a knack for scoring,” he noted on himself. Described as a “flamboyant” and “gregarious” player who “never did anything without flair,” Yardley had a stellar seven-year career, making the NBA All-Star team every year except for his rookie season.

He led the Fort Wayne Pistons to two NBA Finals before the team moved to Detroit in 1957. In 1957-58, that being these Pistons’ first season in Detroit, Yardley led the league in scoring, averaging 27.8 points.

That year, named All-NBA First Team the lone time over seven season, Yardley set NBA records with 655 free throws on 808 attempts. There was a curious trade by the Pistons to the Syracuse Nationals, the future Philadelphia 76ers. Following his sixth all-star season with Syracuse in 1959-60, averaging 20.2 points, George Yardley retired at the age of 31. He was the first player in NBA history to retire after averaging at least 20 points in his final year.

Although Alex Groza had a 21.7 scoring average in his final NBA season in 1951, his career ended as a result of a lifelong ban for point shaving, instead of a voluntary retirement like that of Yardley’s.

A year later, 1959, St. Louis Hawks’ center Bob Pettit broke Yardley’s mark. By 1962, Chamberlain’s single-season total in 1962 eclipsed that of Yardley and Pettit combined. Chamberlain wiped every scoring record off the books, averaging a shade over 50 points a game.

Who was this Yardley guy again?

George Yardley, incidentally, was Rob’s dad.

Rob Yardley (Photo credit, LinkedIn) — Rob Yardley, looking a little older and grayer than in his University of Redlands days in the early 1980s, was the son of an NBA great (Photo credit: LinkedIn.)

“No,” said the younger Yardley, who stood 6-foot-6, “he never did (pressure me) to play basketball. I thought I was going to be a tennis star, and he introduced me to tennis. I think he likes tennis more than basketball, anyway.”

One night, Yardley came off the bench to score eight points – hardly in Chamberlain’s class, or that of Pettit, or even his dad – in a 63-52 win at Occidental College, a campus located just outside Pasadena. But he did hit all four of his shots, eventually fouling out. He said, “I was a butcher out there. I kept leaning. Coach (Gary) Smith has told me a thousand times to keep my hands off the guy on the baseline.”

George was in Eagle Rock, Occidental’s home city, to watch his son play that night. In fact, that brilliant ex-NBA star was often seen at Currier Gym, the Bulldogs’ home gym in Redlands.

Think about it: George Yardley played against the likes of Chamberlain, Pettit, Bill Russell, Bob Cousy and Elgin Baylor, Mikan — you name it. There were wire service photos of George Yardley going up against Russell and Cousy. Retired at 31, George played a little in 1961-62 with the Los Angeles Jets, a much-forgotten team from the old American Basketball League.

By contrast, Rob Yardley was neither an NBA player or even an All-Conference player at Redlands. Like his dad, both were wport Harbor High. Then it was off to Orange County Junior College, then a two-year stint at Redlands.

For locals, it was an interesting Redlands Connection.

December 4, 2024January 31, 2025

BOB KARSTENS: A LOCAL HARLEM GLOBETROTTER … IN REDLANDS?

BACK IN THE LATE 1990s, an older man was spotted shooting baskets at the outdoor courts at Redlands High School. A few feet away, a high school baseball game was about to take place. The man shooting baskets, who looked around his 80s, was shooting hook shots from half court. Repeat that: Hook shots from half court. A man in his 80s? Remarkably, if they didn’t swish through the net, his shots at least hit the rim.

It was startling to meet Bob Karstens.

There he was, from the top of the key, he hiked the ball through his legs – in the manner of a football center – at the hoop. Again, if his shots didn’t go in, they were close.

At one point, he broke out three basketballs, dribbling them simultaneously, as if he were a hoops-playing magician. I was waiting to cover a high school baseball game a couple hundred feet away. Something was up with this elderly man, though. I couldn’t take my eyes off his activity.

Friendly. Outgoing. Gentle. The man spoke in respectful terms.

“I’m Obrey Brown. I write for the local newspaper, about to cover that baseball game over there. Saw what you were doing and decided to come over.”

BOb Karstens - 2 — Bob Karstens, photographed around 1942 and ’43, during which time he was one of three white men to play for the all-Black Harlem Globetrotters. (Photo by Harlem Globetrotters.)

Yes, he introduced himself. “Bob,” I told him, “it’s nice to meet you.”

“Thanks. Likewise.”

There was something different. I had an eerie, inner sense. We continued to chat, this smallish man who stood a couple inches shorter than my 5-foot-10 height, seemed to brighten up when I told him I was from the local newspaper.

“You might be interested in this …” he started saying.

After three decades in the newspaper business, it’s a phrase I heard often enough from folks seeking publicity. Usually, it might come from a pushy parent, or a publicity-seeking coach, or a public relations/Sports Information Director informing me about a once-in-a-lifetime story that I just couldn’t miss. Hey, I came after him, though. Okay, Bob, finish what you were saying. “I might be interested in this – in what, Bob?”

Karstens, who was standing in front of me, was not Black. As a matter of fact, without his shirt on, I could tell that he needed a little sun. It pays to listen, though. Outwardly, his sunless white guy mentioned he spent a season playing for the Harlem Globetrotters.

In case you’re wondering, the Globies were a dedicated Black man hoops squad.

“I spent a year with them back in the 1940s,” Karstens explained, “during the war.” It was, he told me, legendary Reece “Goose” Tatum was taken into the Army. The Globetrotters needed a clown prince.

Abe Saperstein, the Hall of Fame founder and orchestrator of the ‘Trotters, apparently tapped Bob on the shoulder and said, “You’re it.”

Karstens himself had been a gifted ball handler from the House of David (Benton, Mich.), the famous traveling bearded baseball team that barnstormed the country. Not much known for anything in sports beyond baseball, Karstens told me, the House of David had dabbled in some hoops play during the late 1930s and into the 1940s.

Here’s the rub: I didn’t necessarily believe Bob, not at first. In my business, you’ve got to hold people at arm’s length when they tell you curious stories. I could, literally, share experiences about people that turned out to be half-true. Or true for a week, but not the next. Or outright false. Still, there was something genuine about Bob.

Suddenly, I placed covering that high school baseball game in my back pocket. Bob invited me over to his house a couple blocks away – down Roosevelt, across Cypress, over onto Lytle. When Bob opened his garage door, he led me to three huge boxes full of stuff.

It was full of Harlem Globetrotters’ memorabilia. Suddenly, all my doubts about this guy ended in a hurry. Karstens, I could see, was standing in photos with Saperstein, Tatum, Meadowlark Lemon, a bunch of well-known Globies … and WILT CHAMBERLAIN!

Suddenly, my notebook was produced. Pen in hand, scribbling madly, all the ramblings and utterings he’d voiced over at the high school – you know, when I didn’t originally believe him — started getting recorded. I had a lot of catch-up to do, including asking a bunch more questions.

“How long have you lived in Redlands?”

“Where’d you learn to play basketball?”

“What kind of money did you make?”

“Did you really start that pre-game Magic Circle routine?”

Truthfully, I didn’t have to ask many questions. Bob was spinning tale after tale. Just follow along, Obrey. Keep listening. Keep writing. What a story – and I had it! My pen just had to keep up with his stories. Reporters came along later and fabricated the idea that they’d uncovered this man, somehow sniffing out a story that I had handed to me by the man himself.

Karstens, who was from Davenport, Iowa, took over for that Army-bound Tatum on the ‘Trotters’ 1942-43 roster. Any memory of the ‘Trotters will instantly recall their legendary pre-game introductions at center court, dubbed the Magic Circle pre-game routine.

It’s recorded: This was Karstens’ invention. He organized this ritual. He played on the all-Black ‘Trotters eight years before even the NBA was integrated. Part of the ‘Trotters’ history is that playing doubleheaders with those early NBA teams, thus allowing this relatively unknown league to grow into prosperity.

Also this: Karstens invented the “goof” ball, the ball that bounces in all different directions because of various weights placed inside, plus he invented the “yo-yo” ball. Seasoned ‘Trotter fans know the routines well.

This guy lived in Redlands?

He loaned me some photos from his stash for my next day’s sports section. I had a gold mine of a notebook – quotes, stories, photos and prime history. I sent our photographer, Lee Calkins, over to Bob’s house for an updated mug shot of my new best friend; the guy I had originatedly cynically, though silently, doubted. I made up with myself, though.

Karstens. The Globetrotters. Tatum. Saperstein. Chamberlain. A bunch of brilliant players. Once Tatum returned from the service, Karstens returned to the sidelines. Leave it to the ‘Trotters, though, to promote someone on their all-Black team that wasn’t Black!

Karstens, for his part, stayed on as ‘Trotters’ team manager until 1954, having coached the infamous Washington Generals along the way. That team was the ‘Trotters’ nightly opponent. After leaving the ‘Trotters (changes in management, pay, plus family, always on the road), Karstens went into construction. By 1994, he was inducted into the ‘Trotters’ Hall of Fame.

At 89, Karstens died on Dec. 31, 2004. I covered his Redlands funeral that was attended by former ‘Trotter players Geese Ausbie and Govonor Vaughn. When that pair of retired Globies took their turn at Karstens’ services, Ausbie looked down at Bob’s widow, Pauline, asking, “Did anyone bring a ball?”

It was classic clowning, a special moment for a departed member of their legendary team. A wife, three sons and four grandchildren were among Karstens’ attending survivors in a fully side service. There were plenty of funeral onlookers. This man had quite a following at the Church of the Nazarene.

The ball? Vaughn smoked his former teammate, Ausbie, a shadow ball pass. To those in attendance at this church — corner of Citrus and Grove — this couldn’t have been a better sendoff. Shadow ball, incidentally, is an invisible ball. One guy pretends to throw it, another guy pretends to catch it. If the right group of guys are performing this, it’s highly entertaining. This was, apparently, Bob’s ball entry into Heaven.

Looking back, there were personal stories about track legend Jesse Owens and baseball’s amazing Jackie Robinson — Karstens right in the middle of everything. Bob told me that he ran into both of those sports legends on the railroad. A railroad conductor once asked him to depart from the Blacks-only section of the train. The Globetrotters were the most powerful basketball team in the world during the 1940s, long before the NBA produced its eventual gold mine of hoops-playing legends.

It was, of course, always a delight to watch them play. Probably few know the full history of Saperstein’s original creation from the 1920s.

The ‘Trotters are a full century old. A small portion of their rich history had surfaced about an hour’s drive east of Los Angeles, in Redlands – a long way from Harlem, a New York City suburb.

“I had the skills to fit in and do the tricks,” Karstens said.

Showed at an old age on that outdoor court at Redlands High.

April 15, 2023March 17, 2023

HIGHLAND, APRIL 15, 2004 — JACKIE ROBINSON DAY

Three generations of Jackie Robinson descendants are pictured, including his oldest nephew, Ted Colbert, right, Colbert’s daughter, Jennette, center, and his granddaughter, Kristina, front left, a freshman at San Gorgonio High School. The trio live in Highland. Photo by Obrey Brown

* From my files: Eighteen years ago, three generations of Jackie Robinson descendants living in Highland

It was April 15, more than just the deadline for filing income taxes.

On that date in 2004, Kristina Williams, a freshman member of San Gorgonio High School’s track & field team, couldn’t attend her dual meet against San Bernardino.

“Family,” she said, “is more important.”

Family, in this case, means Jackie Robinson.

Williams is the great, great niece of baseball’s pioneer player who broke the color barrier in the major leagues in 1947. On April 15 across the land, it was Jackie Robinson Day at every major league stadium hosting a game.

It corresponds with the date, April 15, 1947, when Robinson stepped onto a major league field for the first time in a regular season game.

Rachel Robinson, Jackie’s widow, stood on the field at Shea Stadium in New York — center stage for the heritage day. Robinson has plenty of relatives spread across the land.

That includes Highland, a city located next to San Bernardino, Calif.

Williams lives with her mother, Jennette, in Highland. Jennette Williams’ father, Ted Colbert, is the oldest nephew to the onetime Brooklyn Dodger star who retired after the 1956 season. Robinson’s family legacy lives on.

“I see him,” says Williams, who has played JV volleyball and varsity basketball for the Lady Spartans prior to the spring track season, “as an inspiration. In our family, we talk about him a lot.

“It took up a lot of courage to stand up against a lot of animosity.”

The Williams family moved to Highland from Glendale, Ariz., due mainly to Jennette Williams’ bout with cancer. She is a patient at the City of Hope. They have been around Highland for about six months. They may be gone soon; possibly to Pasadena — closer to her medical center.

On that April 15 date, Jennette Williams, along with her mother, Ola, attended the Jackie Robinson Day ceremony at Anaheim Stadium. “I got to see a lot of people I hadn’t seen for a long time. I saw my uncle Mack’s family,” she said.

Mack Robinson, a fairly famous athlete before Jackie Robinson’s prominence started on the American baseball scene, was his older brother . “You’ve got to know, I grew up with this, all this talk,” said Jennette Williams.

Neither Colbert, nor Kristina Williams attended in Anaheim. At first, the notion seemed to be that Colbert was ill. Or that Williams wasn’t dressed properly for the pre-game event.

But Colbert spilled the true facts. “There are certain family members they’d allow on the field for something like this. I’ve done it a lot. Kristina wasn’t going to be allowed on the field for the ceremony.

“I stayed home with her. I let her go out with her friends.”

A shrug of the shoulders. Yes, she feels bad. Kristina , an ailing travel softball player suffering from a rotator cuff injury, said, “I’d be out playing softball instead of track.”

In class, it’s a different story. When it comes to writing essays about famous Americans, she didn’t have far to go for anyone. “I’m related to him,” she said.

Of course, she wrote about Jackie Robinson.

“Everyone (at San Gorgonio High) thinks I’m lying about all this.”

Before that April 15 Mariners-Angels game in Anaheim, representatives from both teams said they were delighted to take part in the celebration of a great life and a greater legacy. Garret Anderson and Chone Figgins, said Jennette, each expressed great admiration for what Robinson did.

Colbert, 64, says there are players in this generation who don’t know the name of Jackie Robinson. “I really believe that,” he said. “There aren’t very many, but there are a few. I’m disappointed in that.”

Being a nephew of baseball’s great legend didn’t bother Colbert, who noted there were still barriers for Black players, even after Jackie’s MLB debut in 1947.

“That kind of thing (racist reactions) happened every day when I played a game. It was O.K. with me. Other players would give me their best.”

His memories of Robinson are immense. “I was a bat boy in a lot of the games he played in,” he said. “I remember a game at Wrigley Field in L.A. when Satchel Paige pitched against Bob Feller. There were 43 strikeouts in that game.

“I think Jackie went 0-for-3.”

Colbert talked about a time Robinson returned from Brooklyn after his 1947 rookie season. “He must’ve had 30, 40 cousins who were at his (Pasadena) home, ” said Colbert, “and he gave them all a dollar. That was a big deal.”

Colbert recalled the patience Robinson had with fans. Colbert said, “We went to the theatre one night to see the Ten Commandments. We walked up to the mezzanine level. All of a sudden, everyone started coming at him for autographs.

“He was just as cool as anyone I’ve ever seen.”

If Robinson hadn’t broken the color barrier, said Colbert, “I don’t know who’d have done it.”

Colbert doubted that it would have been Larry Doby, the first American League black player. Nor could Roy Campanella, the famous Dodger catcher, an eventual teammate of Robinson’s in Brooklyn.

“It would’ve probably been Willie (Mays),” he said. “Nothing bothered Willie.”

Kristina Williams has learned her family history well. She said, “He didn’t play baseball just to be the first Black player. He wanted to play baseball.”

Right, said Colbert. “He wasn’t out for that. They had to get the right man for that. He was that man. He went to college. He was in the military. He was a little older. He had everything they needed.”

Seventeen years after Robinson’s 1972 death, Kristina Williams was born. She started figuring out who her famous relative was in about fifth grade.

Williams had one elite memory about Robinson before moving to Highland. During an eighth grade basketball game in Arizona, Williams said she was walking down the hall at a rival school. She spotted a poster of Robinson in a classroom, walked in and told the teacher she was a relative of the Hall of Famer.

“The teacher took the poster off the wall and gave it to me,” she said. “Right now, it’s on my wall at home.”

April 10, 2023March 17, 2023

PART 2: WILLIE … ALMOST MICKEY … AND THE DUKE

Redlands Connection is a concoction of sports memories emanating from a city that once numbered less than 20,000 people. From the Super Bowl to the World Series, from the World Cup to golf’s U.S. Open and the Olympics, plus NCAA Final Four connections, NASCAR, the Kentucky Derby and Indianapolis 500, Tour de France cycling, major tennis, NBA and a little NHL, aquatics and quite a bit more, the sparkling little city that sits around halfway between Los Angeles and Palm Springs on Interstate 10 has its share of sports connections. – Obrey Brown

Subbing for the Cashman part of the song, “Willie, Almost Mickey and the Duke.”

I never came close to chatting with The Mick. I’d only seen him play in person a couple times. That came in 1968, his final season, but only because the Oakland A’s had moved to the Bay Area. It meant the Yankees had a few stops to make out there.

About a decade later, during the 1977 season in Oakland, I got a press pass to a mid-week afternoon game with the visiting Yankees, a team managed by Billy Martin. These were the Reggie Jackson Yankees who, incidentally, wasn’t in the lineup against his old team.

Billymartin1 — For some reason, Billy Martin, one of baseball’s fiercest managers, showed up in Redlands sometime in the early 1980s (Photo by Wikipedia Commons).

It was Vida Blue against Ron Guidry.

The world champion A’s had long since been disbanded – trades, free agency, you name it. The Yankees, meanwhile, had picked up Jackson and Catfish Hunter from those old A’s teams.

Guidry, leading 2-0, had tamed the A’s for 8 1/3 innings before he gave up ninth inning home runs to Manny Sanguillan and Dick Allen to knot the score at 2-2. Martin replaced Guidry with Sparkly Lyle, who was the Cy Young Award winner one season earlier.

The game went 15 innings. Blue lasted 13. Finally, in the 15^th, the Yankees broke through for three runs, winning, 5-2. There weren’t even 10,000 fans in Oakland’s park that day.

I couldn’t wait for the post-game chat in the clubhouse. I wasn’t really working for anyone. I’d gotten a media credential through my college, Chabot. There was no difficulty getting a pass – not like it is today.

As a budding reporter, I wanted to watch the New York reporters talk about the game with Martin. I wanted to experience the give and take between media and manager. I’ll never forget that as long as I live. I figured that was part of my “education.”

With Martin, the media discussed Guidry’s brilliant game, despite giving up the ninth inning HRs. There was expected second-guessing: Why didn’t you bring Lyle in to start the ninth. Martin, a little annoyed, told them he felt Guidry had “enough gas left.”

There was some discussion of Jackson not being in the lineup on his return to Oakland. He’d played the day before and struck out three times. Martin said, “We just wanted to give him a day off.”

Vida Blue, he told reporters, looked sharp and strong.

The chat lasted, maybe, 20 to 30 minutes. It started to break up. Guys had deadlines. Martin probably had plans, too, especially since he was a Bay Area guy. I was one of about a dozen guys that circulated in the visitor’s office.

I won’t ever forget how he looked right at me, saying, “Something I can do for you, son?”

In all honesty, I had a couple questions for him. I’d hesitated to ask. After all, I was a nobody.

“That play (Graig) Nettles made in the ninth, the double play,” I said, “was unbelievable. Went to his left. Sort of a semi dive. That bailed Lyle out of a tough spot.”

It came in the ninth. Sanguillan and Allen had homered. Wayne Gross drew a one-out walk off Lyle. Earl Williams, a home-run hitting catcher, was looking to drive one out, too. But he cracked a shot into the hole toward left field. Nettles, reacting quickly, got the ball to Willie Randolph at second in a hurry.

Double play, ending the threat.

I also asked him about a couple of steal attempts that catcher Thurman Munson had shut down. A’s speedster Bill North was one of those. There was some dispute on the call at second by North, but he was called out.

There were a couple other plays I wanted to ask about, but I didn’t want to press my luck.

Martin took those questions on with a full head of steam. Those N.Y. reporters ready to depart instead hung around. On Nettles and Munson, Martin rhapsodized about how “this game wouldn’t have been won without those plays. Big keys to the game.”

Was I done? He wanted to know. Yeah, I said.

“You know, we’ve got a lot of high-priced talent here from New York that didn’t even pick up on those plays,” said Martin. “You keep asking questions like that, young man, you’re going to go a long way in this business.”

Where was my Mom? My friends? A tape recorder?

I couldn’t believe this.

Billy Martin said that to me? In later years, I wondered if he was just picking away at his regular press corps.

SHOWING UP AT A REDLANDS AMERICAN LEGION

Seven or eight years later, I was sitting in my Redlands newsroom office. I got a call from an area baseball-lover, Fred Long. Guy had been a scout for Montreal, maybe Kansas City or Milwaukee. Can’t remember each of Fred’s affiliations.

“O.B.,” he said, “Billy Martin’s here.”

He was drinking beer at a local American Legion Post.

What the hell was Billy Martin doing in Redlands?

I dropped everything. Rushed over to the legion post. Sure enough, there was Billy Martin, a beer in front of him, four guys sitting around him, a bar tender hanging out. Talking baseball. I snuck myself into the mix, listening, hearing the chat back and forth.

For nearly three hours, I watched him down one beer after another. He never cracked. Kept talking baseball. There was talk of Mickey Mantle, his good buddy. “No one,” said Martin, “could come close to his power … or speed.”

How he shouldn’t have lost his jobs in Minnesota or Texas or even the Yankees. He’d just gotten finished managing in Oakland, of all places – Billy Ball!

It was the off-season, I should report. Martin was in the Redlands area because he’d married a gal who had Yucaipa connections. Yucaipa was the city just east of Redlands. While she was visiting friends and family, Billy visited the legion post. He’d had a little military in his background. He felt comfortable in such a place.

Finally, when I felt comfortable enough, I mentioned that Yankees-A’s game in Oakland from a few years earlier. How he’d been real classy to me in the clubhouse after the game. I asked him, despite all the beer he’d downed, if he’d remembered.

He stared right at me. Took a swig of beer. He even grabbed a pretzel and stuck it into his mouth, kind of smiling as he thought. I figured he was getting ready to say he’d remembered.

“No,” he finally said, “I can’t quite remember anything like that. It’s been a few years, right?”

Oh, yeah.

Said Martin: “A lot’s happened since then.”

Part 3 of Willie, Almost Mickey and The Duke next week.

April 8, 2023March 17, 2023

PART 1: “WILLIE … ALMOST MICKEY … AND THE DUKE”

Talkin’ baseball. Terry Cashman. His song, released in 1981, seemed to summarize a special part of baseball. A musical contribution to baseball history. It surrounded the great center fielders in three New York boroughs – the Bronx, Brooklyn and Manhattan.

Cashman wrote about … “Willlieeeeee … Mickey … and The Duke.”

Duke Snider came to Redlands.

Mickey Mantle came to … well, as far as anyone knows, he didn’t come to Redlands. But his longtime friend, Billy Martin, showed up here at least once.

Then there was Willie Mays. I can’t honestly say that the “Say Hey Kid” ever set foot on Redlands soil. But me, the sports editor from Redlands, took part in a rare discussion that probably never came up in baseball circles.

It would’ve made a nice little change in Cashman’s song, “Willie … Almost Mickey … and the Duke …”

Say, hey!

Willie_Mays_cropped — Willie Mays talked about a “trade” that could’ve happened regarding a Dodger pitcher named Koufax? (Wikipedia Commons photo)

It was in the early 1980s. Bob Hope Desert Classic. Deep in the heart of Coachella Valley. Willie Mays, a golf lover, was playing in the celebrity Pro-Am, along with plenty of others from music, film and sports.

There we were in the VIP tent. Food was being served. It was the middle of the day. Willie had played his round. I was talking a break. Other than the serving staff, no one else seemed to be around.

Sitting at a table near him, I could just feel the opportunity. I grew up in the Bay Area watching this guy play in the twilight of his career in the late 1960s.

What should I ask him? Finally, I came up with something out of sheer desperation.

“Willie,” I said, “tell me something about your career that didn’t get much attention.”

He responded crudely, which shouldn’t have come as a complete shock. In sports, you often run into replies like that. In the clubhouse. In a locker room. On a field or court. Willie had probably been approached by thousands of media guys looking for something – stories, opinions, recollections, you name it.

He wouldn’t be talking – at least to me. It’s okay. I tried. No big deal.

Suddenly, out of the blue, he blurted, “We almost got Koufax.”

Huh? What? Say that again!

Yeah, he said. A year, or two, before Dodger southpaw Sandy Koufax really hit his Hall of Fame stride, the fireballing southpaw was stewing about how the Dodgers were using him.

Translation: Or not using him.

Apparently in Willie’s presence in San Francisco – likely at Seals Stadium – Koufax approached team general manager Buzzie Bavasi to request a trade.

Said Willie: “He told Bavasi, ‘you’re not using me. Why even keep me? It’s better to let me go. Trade me somewhere so I can pitch.’ ”

Willie said he jumped right into the discussion. “Trade him to the Giants,” he remembers telling Bavasi. “Trade him to us.”

There was some discussion. Wow! The Giants’ star player was discussing a trade with the GM of their chief rival, the Dodgers.

Willie was told by Bavasi to tell Horace Stoneham, the Giants’ owner who made all deals for the San Francisco-based team.

“Did you do it?” I asked him.

He nodded. “I talked to Mr. Stoneham. Didn’t hear much about it for awhile.”

Willie was chewing his food. Some guys were entering the VIP tent. Hoping that it wasn’t people looking for Willie – which would interrupt our chat – I prodded him a little.

“Any discussions take place about Koufax going to the Giants?”

Willie Mays nodded again. He was chewing. Swallowing. Didn’t seem to be in much of a hurry to answer.

“They wanted Cepeda.”

Orlando Cepeda, one of baseball’s younger star sluggers, was a San Francisco favorite. He was an established star.

Koufax had yet to reach that portion of his career that would get everyone’s attention. At that time, Cepeda-for- Koufax might not have seemed logical for San Francisco.

(Funny thing, though, was in 1966, the Giants sent Cepeda to St. Louis for southpaw Ray Sadecki – not quite the same caliber of pitcher that Koufax had been. At least Sadecki had won 20 games a couple years earlier.)

Koufax had a little success in his early years, but had yet to really hit his consistently Hall of Fame stride. In his mind, apparently, the Dodgers weren’t treating him respectfully.

Between 1961 and his final season, 1966, Koufax was unhittable, unforgettable and, evidently, untradeable.

I summarized this for Willie Mays.

“Are you telling me that you guys almost had Sandy Koufax, Juan Marichal and Gaylord Perry on the same pitching staff?” It would have been a couple of years before Perry joined the Giants’ staff.

Wow!

Willie didn’t answer. Just kept chewing. I wasn’t all that much of an interest to him. At the moment, though, I was the only one sitting near him to chat about this remarkable trade possibility.

“How close do you think this came to happening?”

I should mention this: During this entire chat, Willie Mays never looked at me. Not once. Didn’t have to, though. This was more than I’d bargained for. I don’t even know if he had even heard that last question.

At that point, more people started entering the tent. Food was being served. Willie Mays acknowledged some of the people he’d played golf with that day. My time with him was apparently over.

It was exciting, to say the least. I was practically finished with my sandwich and potato salad. I was nursing my drink when Willie Mays got up to leave. My heart kind of sank. I’d have really liked to get more conversation with him.

I watched him shake hands with a few guys.

“Nice to see you again, Willie.”

“Thanks, Willie.”

“Let’s get together soon, Willie.”

You know, typical sendoff lines.

Willie Mays was leaving. He’d walk right behind where I was sitting. When he walked past me, he said into my good ear (I only hear out of one ear), “Stoneham would’ve never traded Cepeda.”

One-third of the Cashman song – done.

Part 2 of Willie … Almost Mickey … and The Duke next week.

December 4, 2022December 6, 2022

IT WAS A PRE-OLYMPIC SHOWDOWN IN REDLANDS

REDLANDS — It was a race worth waiting for, but only few people really knew about it. That race took place after a lengthy schedule of track & field events. Of all places to launch an Olympic showdown. Check that: A pre-Olympic showdown.

Innocent Egbunike, at far right, races to the finish against gold medal-winning Alonzo Babers at the 1984 Los Angles Olympic Games. Babers won the 400-meter in a race against Egbunike. The two raced against each other over a year earlier in Redlands, California.

It took place in the spring of 1983 at the University of Redlands, its annual T&F invitational attracting a number of small college squads, though a couple of interesting programs showed up.

Azusa Pacific, coached by legendary Terry Franson, would win that year’s NAIA team championship in June, was on site. So was the U.S. Air Force Academy.

The meet, which featured men’s and women’s events – jumping, all throws, pole vault, every conceivable distance race, sprints, plus relays – took over eight hours to complete.

By the time both finishing relays took place, the hour was close to 9 p.m.

There they were, Azusa Pacific University squaring against the U.S. Air Force Academy team in a 4 x 400 men’s finale.

It would be memorable, especially since 1980 Nigerian Olympian Innocent Egbunike would be racing the anchor lap for APU. His opponent for that lap was senior Alonzo Babers, already a lieutenant in the USAF. Babers still holds his school’s indoor 400 (46.86) record from 1982.

Throw this in: In that 1983 season, Babers ran 45.36, still the school’s outdoor mark. He took fourth (45.51) at the NCAA Division I finals later that June.

Against much easier competition at the NAIA finals, Egbunike sprinted to national championship wins in the 100 (10.34), 200 (20.94) and anchored the winning 4 x 400 relay – John Shalongo, Doug Laisel and Ted Campbell, plus the Nigerian, in 3:09.77.

***

At the Redlands Invite, Egbunike’s Azusa Pacific teammate Mike Barnett, a future Olympian, ripped off a winning 275-foot javelin mark – still the Ted Runner Stadium record – on that day. Oregon State’s Mark Fricker, from nearby Hemet, posted a still-existing 5,000 record of 14:09.30 on that 1983 date.

USAF’s Bret Hyde, a winner at Redlands, still holds his school’s mark over 3,000 meter steeplechase (8:31.87). Hyde, incidentally, also placed at the 1984 L.A. Games.

For good measure, APU sent discus and hammer competitor Christian Okoye, the future NFL “Nigerian Nightmare” with Kansas City. In this same stadium, Okoye would terrorize the University of Redlands’ football team.

There was even a Redlander on the USAF women’s squad, NCAA Division II All-American Laureli Mazik, who won that day and stands on the school’s indoor mile (4:53.9) all-time list at No. 9. She’s No. 16 outdoors (4:32.09).

All of which is a reminder how relevant the Redlands Invitational seemed at the time.

***

By race time, hardly anyone remained inside Ted Runner Stadium’s grandstand. It was late, after 9 p.m. Interest had long since waned when most events were finalized. Most participating teams departed for their Southern California campuses.

A few teams remained, including Azusa Pacific and Air Force.

When the batons were exchanged for that memorable anchor 4 x 400 lap, Egbunike and Babers were in full stride. That duo raced side by side for their entire 400-meter run. At the midway mark, Egbunike and Babers were seen bumping in their one-on-one duel.

The APU sprinter edged the USAF officer, though both runners had plenty of season left – Egbunike in the lower level NAIA ranks while Babers had top NCAA runners like Bert Cameron and Antonio McKay to square off against later that season.

It was that very season that Babers ran the third leg with Ted Holloway and Todd Scott with Rick Goddard anchoring, setting the school record (3:10.11) – currently the school’s eighth best.

Babers? The dude still holds the school mark over 500-meters, a discontinued event in which he posted a 1:01.7.

All of which was just preparation for the 1984 Los Angeles Games. He’d come across Egbunike again.

At Redlands, the Nigerian Olympian, escorted to the final handoff by Shalongo, Laisel and Campbell, got his triumph over Babers that night. The real race was over a year away.

***

In fact, there were two events in L.A.

At the L.A. Coliseum, both wound up in the open 400-meter finals. There was plenty of buildup, much of the spotlight falling on Antonio McKay, that year’s NCAA champion. Babers prevailed over McKay. Egbunike finished last in the seven-man finale.

As for the 4 x 400 relay, Babers needed McKay’s help. The two were mixed in with a lineup that included Ray Armstead and Sunder Nix. The USA won the gold ahead of Great Britain (silver) and Nigeria’s bronze medal finish behind Egbunike and his three running mates, Rotimi Peters, Moses Ugbusien and Sunday Uti.

Unlike that Redlands finale, it was Egbunike against McKay in the final lap. Babers had taken a 7-meter lead after his portion of the relay, handing off to McKay.

Beyond the bronze medal, Nigeria got another consolation – the African continent record.

***

While training for and competing in the 1984 Olympics, Babers held the rank of lieutenant. Just one month after his double-gold performance in Los Angeles, Babers reported to flight training school and began his career as a pilot. His athletic career was over. He was an active duty officer in the United States Air Force from 1983 to 1991, continuing to serve as a member of the Air Force Reserves. As of 2019, he was a 777 pilot for United Airlines.

Egbunike? He’s currently the track coach at Pasadena City College – a campus just a few miles from those Azusa Pacific digs. As head coach of the 2008 Nigerian Olympic team (coaching also in 1996 and 2000), Egbunike appeared in the winner’s circle again, having coached gold medalist Angelo Taylor.

These two world-class speedsters brought an Olympic showcase to Redlands in March 1983.

March 20, 2022March 20, 2022

PART 1: VILLANOVA PLAYED TEMPLE, GEORGETOWN, SIENA … AND REDLANDS?

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

Villanova University basketball coach Jay Wright seemed perfectly content to discuss why the Wildcats were playing at Redlands – a major college program with full-ride athletic scholarships against a small-college team that isn’t allowed to offer athletic scholarships.

As open-minded as anyone, Wright spoke openly and honestly about the Wildcats’ trip to Redlands. Nineteen years later, Wright is still coaching the Wildcats. Villanova has since won two NCAA championships (2016, 2018). This past Sunday, Villanova outlasted Ohio State in lifting itself to a 2022 Sweet 16 spot.

Philadelphia-based Villanova University, way back in November 2003, showed up to play a 10 a.m. Saturday matchup at Currier Gymnasium. It’s the home court of the University of Redlands.

In a rarely-seen duel between a major-college, athletic scholarship-backed program against a small-college, non-athletic scholarship team, Villanova beat the Bulldogs in that showdown. But it was close and memorable. That game had since taken on additional significance. Four of the Wildcats’ starting five played prominent roles in that game at Currier Gymnasium.

The Wildcats, who would be the No. 1 seed one season later at the Minneapolis Region (eventually losing to fabled North Carolina in the Sweet 16), seemingly had a strong shot at a national championship. It was a far cry from that Nov. 22, 2003 showdown at Redlands.

For a Redlands-Villanova game to have taken place at all was an unlikely scenario.

“It was,” said Bulldog senior Carson Sofro, then a sophomore, “the craziest, most memorable time I’ve ever had in basketball.”

“That was my first college game,” said Amir Mazarei, who scored 15 against Villanova, third highest among the Bulldogs. “I didn’t know what to expect going in.”

“I’ve played in a few big games,” said Bulldog player Donald Brady, “and I’ve been to The (Anaheim) Pond (site of high school’s championship games). But nothing compared to playing Villanova.”

Adding to the flavor was major media coverage – TV, radio and large daily newspapers.

“We brought eight kids,” Wright told me that day. “Five are on scholarship. The other three are walk-ons (non-scholarship players).”

At Redlands, every Bulldog player is a “walk-on.” There are no athletic scholarships.

Yes, it was a game completely out of the ordinary, a middle-of-the-road small college team taking on a powerful presence in college basketball.

For visiting Villanova, it was a glance at small college basketball. Mazerai himself noted that Redlands plays in a 1,100-seat gymnasium – “nowhere close” to the 10,000-plus seat arenas that normally house Wildcat games.

For Redlands, it was a chance to rub elbows against a major college, Big East Conference program.

“They needed to dial up a win,” said Gary Smith, Redlands’ coach through 2007. “Originally, they were going to play Claremont (one of Redlands’ SCIAC rivals) on Friday and then us the next day. But Temple was on their schedule and they forced Villanova to play that game. Claremont got aced out of a chance to play them.”

The game had come about due to a strange set of circumstances. Some Villanova players had unauthorized use of a telephone, making calls that were deemed “extra benefits” by an NCAA ruling. Sanctions were imposed. Some players had been suspended for six games. The school chose to take those suspensions over a six-game stretch – the final three of 2002-2003 and the first three games to start 2003-2004.

Wright spoke to me as if we were old friends – charming, personable, honest, you name it. If there’d been classes for dealing with the media, he’d probably get an A-plus.

“They had asked us to bring a representative team to Maui,” said Wright, meaning a competitive team to that season-opening tournament in the islands. “A lot of our alumni and boosters had bought tickets to that. It was up to us to field a decent team.

“All because of the phone issue.”

In order to carry its full roster in Maui, Villanova needed to get rid of that six-game sanction and clear its suspended players.

When Villanova’s undermanned roster blasted Temple in a late Thursday night game back east, it seemed as if Redlands might be in for a worse beating early on Saturday.

Gary Smith (Photo by NorCal WIldcats) — Former University of Redlands basketball coach Gary Smith — wearing a Wildcats’ T-shirt — led his Bulldogs up against powerhouse Villanova at Currier Gymnasium in Nov. 2003. Redlands lost, but it wasn’t an easy win for the eventual NCAA champions. (Photo courtesy of the NorCal Wildcats.)

“A Big East team, of all things,” said Smith, who coached Redlands over a thousand games between 1971 and 2007. “For them to be (competitive) in the game (against Temple), I think, was just amazing.”

Smith, said Sofro, “had warned us we could blown out of the gym.”

They played at Currier Gymnasium on Nov. 22, 2003. It was, said Smith, “the first time we’d ever played a D-1 (Division 1) school in our gym.”

Nineteen years later, Villanova’s still the only D-1 team to show up and play Redlands.

Part 2 to follow.

March 2, 2019July 5, 2020

T-BALL HAD ITS PLACE IN USA – REDLANDS USA, THAT IS

596px-Tee_ball_player_swinging_at_ball_on_tee_2010 — A little baseball player hitting off a tee. The origin of Tee ball is difficult to trace, but onetime Redlands resident Art Till claimed to have invented the process in his Hawaii workshop. (Photo by Skoch3)

Art Till, inventor of T-Ball? In the military, stationed in Hawaii during the 1970s, Till went to work in his workshop one day and developed a stand on which a baseball could be placed, then hit off. It worked out.

“There’ll be people that will tell you,” said Till, “that someone else invented tee ball. I’m quite certain it was me.”

As youth leagues in both baseball and softball get ready to tee off in 2018, including a barrage of tee ball-based leagues, Till’s invention bears some attention.

It may seem strange to an outsider. T-Ball may have changed the plight of youth baseball forever. In a sport that requires a great deal of hand-eye coordination, placing a ball on a tee for a five- or six-year-old instead of pitching it seemed like a stroke of genius.

Eventually, Till moved to Redlands where the sport caught on in the 1970s. “It was such a simple idea,” he said.

Youth baseball in Redlands used to begin for kids when they were about eight-years-old. But as youth soccer players began surfacing in that sport at age five, baseball needed a gimmick to bring youths into its sport at an earlier age.

“This,” said Till, referring to T-Ball, “did the trick.”

Till says he was the one. There were others who made the claim.

It could have been St. Petersburg, Florida’s John Zareas, who claimed he developed tee ball at Seymour Johnson AFB in North Carolina back in 1960.

During the 1990s, a physician Zareas knows challenged the retired Air Force lieutenant colonel’s claim to the game. Browsing the Internet, the doctor found the name of another man credited with developing tee ball, Zareas said.

Zareas had published a copyrighted tee ball rules book for youngsters in 1965. A copy resides in the Baseball Hall of Fame library in Cooperstown, N.Y., reference librarian Claudette Burke said.

Copies of Zareas’ service records reflect his effort. The governor of New Hampshire nominated him for a presidential Point of Light award during former President George H.W. Bush’s administration. Newspaper articles and television reports have discussed his role in the development of a game now played by an estimated 2.2-million youngsters nationwide.

A Milton, Fla., Reverend, Dayton Hobbs, said he began a local tee ball program in 1960.

The Hall of Fame also has a newspaper article saying an Albion, Mich. man began the game there in 1956.

Bing Broido is president of Tee Ball USA, a non-profit support group for youth organizations. Broido said Branch Rickey, owner of the old Brooklyn Dodgers, had his players use a tee in the 1940s. Later, Broido said, some Canadian players put a ball atop a cow-milking device on a flexible tube.

Who should get credit for inventing the game is a tough call, he said.

Zareas continued to promote tee ball when the Air Force assigned him to Japan, which was where he wrote down rules.

It cost $20 to copyright them. From Japan, the game gradually spread among service families to Hawaii, Southern California, across the southern United States, then to New York and New England, he said.

Hawaii was where Till was stationed. And the onetime Redlander, whose wife Norma was librarian for years at Mentone Elemengary, disputed all of these claims.

Tee Ball USA, a national organization to which Till was not a member, doesn’t charge to belong and sponsors no leagues.

Hobbs, who trademarked tee ball in the 1970s, had been pastor at Milton’s Grace Bible Church for well over 50 years. He said he got the idea to use a tee while reading about college coaching techniques in California. He first used a tee to help a teen team practice its hitting, then started using the tee for the youngest players as a safety measure.

He said he registered a tee ball trademark with the federal government in the early 1970s. “It’s become general because we couldn’t make any claims to tee ball,” he said, crediting the Navy with spreading the game.

Till was sure of himself. “I’m not out to make a big deal out of this. I built the tee and we organized T-Ball games back in Hawaii. I brought it to Redlands when we moved here.”

It was only a possible Redlands Connection.

FROM ART TILL’S DAUGHTER, KELLIE O’CONNOR, March 13:

Please allow me to correct the record on a few of your statements about my father, Art Till and his connection to T-ball in Redlands. You quote Art Till as if you recently spoke to him about this subject. Art Till passed away in June of 1996, almost 22 years ago. Your article makes it sound like Art is very braggadocios with statements such as: “There’ll be people that will tell you,” said Till, “that someone else invented t-ball. I’m quite certain it was me.” My father never made this claim. My father’s claim was that he introduced t-ball to Redlands Baseball for Boys, as it was known then. My father was introduced to t-ball when he was stationed in Hawaii in the 1960s. After we moved to Redlands in 1967 (your article said Art Till was stationed in Hawaii in the 1970s), my father was coaching a farm team that had probably two dozen players. He proposed the idea that the younger players participate in t-ball games on Sundays, so they would not interfere with the Redlands Baseball for Boys regular games and the younger kids would get a positive first exposure to baseball. After confirmation that coaches and parents were on board with the idea, my father went to the hobby shop at Norton Air Force Base to make the first tees. My father, Art Till, never claimed to be the inventor of t-ball but was proud to acknowledge his connection to t-ball in Redlands and was an active coach for many years in town for both his sons and grandsons. May I suggest you refer back to the Redlands Daily Facts article you wrote that was published August 25, 1996, to refresh your memory of the facts.

Hello, Kellie,

First of all, GREAT to hear from you. I’m a little fuzzy on the dates – you write that Art passed away in June 1996, then refer to an article that I wrote in Aug. 1996 about him. Are you sure that article came out two months after he passed away? My recollections, especially since I kept my notes, were that he actually did claim to be the inventor of T-Ball. I kept trying to zero in on that, especially since it’s a relatively spectacular fact (I believed him, incidentally — still do). As for the your assertion that I make it sound like Art is “very braggacodios with statements” … the fact is, he said it exactly that way. He made the claim. I didn’t. I simply wrote it up. I love the additional information about playing T-Ball games on Sunday so not to interfere with Farm games, plus his devotion to his sons and grandsons. Typical good Dad, always willing to pitch in.