Obrey Brown – Page 8

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 20, 2022March 20, 2022

PART 2: 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 somewhere between Los Angeles and Palm Springs on Interstate 10 has its share of local sports connections. – Obrey Brown

Villanova’s Allan Ray hit for 38 points, Randy Foye had 25, Will Sheridan 23 and Mike Nardi had 19 in the Wildcats’ 114-103 triumph over the University of Redlands. The date was Nov. 22, 2003.

Amir_Mazarei (Photo by University of Redlands) — Amir Mazarei, who is the University of Redlands’ all-time leading scorer, had 15 as a Bulldog freshman in his game against Villanova in Nov. 2003. (Photo courtesy of the University of Redlands.)

Amir Mazarei kicked off his college career with 15 points. Eventually, Mazarei became Redlands’ all-time leading scorer, even leading the entire NCAA – that’s D-1 through D-3 – with an average of 6.2 three-point field goals per game in 2005. That season, he was second in Division 3 with a 28.6 scoring average.

He was only part of Redlands’ counter-attack against Villanova on that date in 2003.

Redlands, playing its up-tempo defensive and offensive brand of organized mayhem, led 50-49 at halftime and really put the scare into the onetime NCAA champions (1985). It was a game that included six ties and five lead changes.

Afterward, Wildcats’ coach Jay Wright reflected that Redlands “put the scare into us.”

“They should’ve been scared,” said Bulldog coach Gary Smith, moments after the game.

Smith, for his part, rotated his much larger roster in and out of the game against the eight-man Wildcats’ squad. Villanova needed every ounce of skill and discipline to knock off the physically smaller Bulldogs.

“I started my career coaching at Division 3 University of Rochester,” said Wright, “so I know how good those players are – very skilled, very talented. They maybe aren’t as big or as athletic.”

Redlands’ Donald Brady remembered his first play in the game, “coming down the court with Randy Foye guarding me. He deflected a pass. I couldn’t believe how quick he was. Luckily, someone came up with it. I almost committed a turnover.”

Wizards v/s Clippers 03/12/11 — Randy Foye, the No. 1 draft pick by Boston in 2006, scored 25 points at Currier Gymnasium in Villanova’s win at the University of Redlands. Here, Foye is shown when he played for the Los Angeles Clippers from 2010-2012. (Photo by Wikipedia Commons.)

Villanova had more turnovers (23) than Redlands (18).

Redlands led by 10 points with nine minutes left. Ray hit a pair of difficult baseline jumpers, eight-footers that helped lift the Wildcats back into the game. “We missed a lot of lay-ups,” said Redlands’ Carson Sofro, whose team shot 36 percent to Villanova’s sizzling 63 percent.

“We might’ve had the advantage on talent,” Wright told me afterward, “but you and I know that. It doesn’t matter what a coach tells his players. What matters is what they hear.”

In that 2003 game, Derek Flegel and Billy Shivers combined for 51 of Redlands’ points. Mazarei’s 15 was joined by Ryan Pelo’s six. Brady and Sofro barely saw action.

Flegel hit a game-opening three-pointer, lifting the smallish-gym’s capacity crowd to its feet. “The place erupted,” said Sofro, “after he hit that shot.”

That Currier Gym crowd was ready for anything.

In a way, I guess some of Redlands’ players were saying, it might’ve been an honor to lose such a game.

Fast forward some 27 months: The Wildcats, at times ranked No. 2 in the nation in 2005-2006 season, were a No. 1 seed in the following year’s NCAA Tournament.

Villanova is still coached by Wright, who has led the Wildcats to national championships in 2016 and 2018. Now that Roy Williams, Mike Krzyzewski and Bobby Knight are no longer coaching, Wright may well be considered college hoops’ top current coach — Kansas’ Bill Self, Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim and Michigan’s Tom Izzo, among others, also included in that list.

Off that 2003-2004 Villanova team, Nardi, Ray and Sheridan were still playing when Villanova lost to Florida in the Elite Eight two seasons later.

Foye, a 6-4 senior, and Ray, a 6-2 senior, were the team’s top scorers at 20.3 and 18.9 points a game. Nardi, 6-2, a junior, was hitting at 11.5. Sheridan, a 6-foot-8 junior, netted five points a game. Ross Condon was another current Wildcat who played at Redlands.

Baker Dunleavy, son of then-Los Angeles Clippers’ coach Mike Dunleavy, was then a freshman. Dunleavy, a 6-5, red-shirt junior, was held scoreless at Redlands in a limited role. The brother of Golden State Warriors’ onetime No. 1 draft pick Mike Dunleavy, Jr., had played limited roles throughout his career.

In 2005-2006, Villanova, ranked No. 2 behind Duke heading into a Big East loss at Connecticut, was 22-2 after that game. Wright’s team was gunning for an NCAA Tournament championship to cap the March Madness.

The Wildcats (18-17 in 2003-2004) failed to reach the NCAA Tournament field that season, eventually losing to Rutgers in the NIT quarterfinals. “They’ve come a long way,” said Brady, a couple years later, “since they played us.”

Redlands finished 8-14 overall in 2003-2004, taking fifth place in the Southern California Interscholastic Athletic Conference.

“A lot of us became Villanova fans after we played them,” said Mazarei, adding with a chuckle, “If they beat someone (like Duke or North Carolina), it makes us look better.”

Foye was a No. 1 pick in the 2006 NBA draft by the Boston Celtics, but started his career with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Ray had a full NBA career that started in Boston.

And A Redlands Connection was struck forever.

March 2, 2019July 5, 2020

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

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

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.

November 26, 2018April 4, 2022

BEEMAN’S COACHING ‘BUG’ STARTED DURING HER REDLANDS DAYS

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 San Bernardino County city that sits around halfway between Los Angeles and Palm Springs on Interstate 10 has its share of sports connections. – Obrey Brown

I remember Laura Beeman, barely.

I knew her dad, Jerry, a lot better.

The guy lifted San Gorgonio High School into the highly competitive boys’ soccer world.

During those days, Laura was probably hanging around a gym, dribbling, shooting, learning to play basketball. No soccer for this kid, I’m guessing.

Jerry Beeman, competing in a hard-nosed Citrus Belt League soccer world, probably showed up in the Spartans’ gym every so often – San Bernardino High in Laura’s final seasons. Little did anyone realize, perhaps, is that Jerry’s little girl might’ve been laying the groundwork for her own coaching career.

She was a terrific player.

After a playing career that shifted from UC Riverside to Cal State San Bernardino between 1987-91, Beeman’s career eventually settled into coaching.

A Hall of Famer at Cal State, she had been that good of a player during the Lady Coyotes’ NCAA Division 3 days.

Laura Beeman Hall of Fame plaque — Laura Beeman, a homegrown San Bernardino basketball player, went on to become an All-American, a school record-holder and an eventual Hall of Famer (photo by Cal State San Bernardino).

Fast forward a few years: Beeman led Mt. San Antonio College to a myriad of women’s state championships and powerhouse status – 390-110, 4 California championships between 1995-2010.

Alongside Laker legend Michael Cooper, Beeman held a key role on the WNBA Los Angeles Sparks. She was Cooper’s assistant coach. Beeman had a hand in coaching the likes of Tina Thompson, Candace Parker (though on maternity leave one season) and the sensational Lisa Leslie.

One footnote: It wasn’t until Cooper’s second season, the Sparks going 10-24 in 2007, that he brought in Beeman as an assistant. The team responded with back-to-back playoff seasons in 2008 and 2009, losing in the conference finals both years.

By 2010, the Cooper-Beeman coaching combo wound up at USC, where the Women of Troy responded with 19-12 and 24-13 seasons with that duo running the sideline.

Laura_Beeman_and_USC_basketball_players_in_2011 — This was March 2011. During her two-year stint as a USC assistant coach, Laura Beeman stands in a group of Women of Troy players. Left to right: Briana Gilbreath (15), Jacki Gemelos (23), Beeman, plus Cassie Harberts (11) (Photo by Flickr).

In 2012-2013, Beeman took an open coaching position at the University of Hawaii, the goal of turning around its women’s hoops program beckoning her to the islands.

All these coaching gigs, dreams and all, had all started in Redlands.

Don’t get me wrong. I’d seen her play – first in high school, later at Cal State. Never interviewed her. Never got her aside to talk about her future. Never even saw a feature story on this dynamic player who turned basketball into a nice academic career – a graduate at Cal State, plus two Masters degrees.

Mickey McAulay, hired by Redlands in 1989 to try and turn the Lady Bulldogs into solid-class contenders, went from 7-19 to 16-9 in one season. A year later, Redlands took second place in a conference long since dominated by other schools.

By 1992, Beeman had been invited to join the Lady Bulldogs’ staff as a graduate assistant. It was a chance to get her first Master’s degree, this in counseling.

“When I started coaching,” she told Hawaii media in recalling her roots, “the basketball coaching bug; it bit. You know, I loved playing, but I had no idea I would want to coach.”

Jerry, the soccer coach, had his own pharmacy. Soccer was only a sideline for him. But his daughter worked the pharmacy, probably sharing no desire to ever become a pharmacist.

Watching McAulay, among others, coach – what worked, what didn’t, how kids responded, how they didn’t respond – Laura was thinking, “Okay, this is kinda cool.

“You know, I can kinda figure this out as I go.”

Before she left Redlands, the Lady Bulldogs notched their first-ever SCIAC championship. McAulay, her recruiting and coaching style – she had huge success at Anaheim Katella High before showing up at Redlands – probably deserves most of the credit.

Beeman’s presence at Redlands, however, deserves some attention.

It’s curious that, after her departure, the Lady Bulldogs’ yearly records started to get worse.

She spent two seasons as Mt. SAC’s assistant before she took over as head coach. Those stops with the Sparks and USC only added to her coaching resume.

At Hawaii (102-84, six seasons), in Beeman’s first four seasons, there was a third place finish, two ties for second place and an outright 2015 Big West Conference championship.

So far, only one trip to the NCAA Tournament has come for the Rainbow Wahine. No success in the post-season, but she’s working on it.

Those early coaching years at Redlands was the beginning of the coaching connection – or a Redlands Connection.

October 9, 2018July 5, 2020

WHO’D REMEMBER JOHN BLOCK, AN NBA PLAYER DRAFTED BY THE LAKERS?

This is part of a series of mini-Redlands Connections. This is Part 3 of the series, Quick Visits. Magic Johnson and John Wooden showed up at the University of Redlands as part of a Convocation Series. This piece on Tom Flores was another one. Hall of Fame pitcher Ferguson Jenkins, former NBA player John Block, legendary high school coach Willie West showed up. There are others. Cazzie Russell, for instance, came to Redlands with an NCAA Division III basketball team from Savannah, Ga. Russell, out of Michigan, was the NBA’s overall No. 1 draft pick by the New York Knicks in 1966.

Today’s feature: Former NBA player John Block.

By the early 1980s, I was a student of NBA history. I vividly remember those rabid NBA playoffs from the late 1960s — the Lakers and Celtics, the Warriors and 76ers … all those Russell vs. Chamberlain matchups … Kareem taking over Russell’s duels against Chamberlain.

When John Block, UC San Diego’s coach for a time (1980-83), brought his Tritons’ squad to the Redlands Tournament one year, I knew his NBA background.

It wasn’t hard to forget a former NBA player that spent a decade going up against the world’s greatest players.

Milwaukee coach Larry Costello brought Block in for a season, hoping his 6-10 bulk could take a little pressure off Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

At Redlands, I said to him, “Give me a status report on small-college basketball for the Tritons.”

He laughed. Block was just starting a coaching career. There was a lot to learn.

“Where do I start?” he asked.

This guy had been teammates with Kareem and Oscar Robertson with the Bucks.

1966 file photo of Lakers John Block. — John Block, a 6-foot-10 forward who played with a variety of NBA teams after being drafted by the Lakers, brought his UC San Diego team in to play at the Redlands tournament in the early 1980s (photo by NBA Retired Players Association).

After his USC days, he’d been an original draft choice (third round, 27^th pick), of all places, the Los Angeles Lakers. Teammates with Elgin Baylor and Jerry West. He didn’t have far to travel. USC and the Lakers both played home games at the Sports Arena.

Traded to the San Diego Rockets where Hall of Famer Elvin Hayes was an NBA scoring champ.

He didn’t last long with the Bucks. He wound up with one of the NBA’s all-time worst teams in Philadelphia, where he won a spot on the NBA All-Star team.

Teammates with Nate “Tiny” Archibald at Kansas City-Omaha.

A year later, he was at New Orleans, playing alongside “Pistol” Pete Maravich.

In his final season, 1976, he was with a Chicago Bulls’ squad that included Artis Gilmore.

This 6-foot-10 guy could shoot — 11.9 points a game, plus nine rebounds and four assists over 10 pro seasons.

All of a sudden, a guy with all those credentials showed up coaching against Redlands.

Those uneventful years at UCSD — 32-46 covering 1980-83.

Redlands beat his team in its own tournament.

“Nothing to report, really,” said Block. “I’m just getting this team going. I’ll know in a year, or so.”

It was tough recruiting at an NCAA Division III campus, he told me.

Redlands’ recruits beat his recruits that night in Currier Gymnasium.

September 15, 2018July 5, 2020

EX-TERRIER COULD BE ON ROAD TO MAJOR COLLEGE HEAD COACHING SLOT

Keep your eyes on Louisiana State University. The Tigers’ win last weekend kind of underscored something taking place in Baton Rouge.

LSU, once the softball home of former Redlands East Valley softball stud Sahvanna Jaquish, is also the home of another local product.

David Aranda, whose brother, Mike, has long been a key basketball assistant coach at REV, always seemed to be injured during his playing days at Redlands. Longtime Terrier defensive coach Miguel Olmeda loved this guy during his prep days.

Technique. Attitude. Warrior mentality. All grade-A.

David Aranda is LSU’s high-achieving defensive coordinator.

DAVID ARANDA (photo by LSU) — David Aranda, a Redlands High School football player, once roomed with current Texas head coach Tom Herman at Cal Lutheran. These days, Aranda is defensive coordinator at Louisiana State University (photo by LSU).

When LSU fired a highly-regarded head coach Les Miles a couple years back, they kept Aranda. He’s paid dividends at whichever campus he’s been — Utah State, Hawaii, Southern Utah, Texas Tech, Wisconsin — in a typical life of a career college coach.

Aranda, meanwhile, might be among the hottest coaches in college football.

LSU’s head coach is Ed Orgeron, the same guy that slotted in as USC’s head man a few years back. In order to keep Aranda at LSU instead of going with Jimbo Fisher to Texas A&M, he got a 4-year, $10 million deal (the highest among assistant coaches) to stay in Baton Rouge.

QB Joe Burrow transferred from Ohio State. LSU also picked up a strong placekicker, Cole Tracy, from NCAA Division 2 ranks.

TIGERS GETTING A-PLUS DEFENSE

Here’s what LSU has gotten ever since Aranda came down from Wisconsin in 2016:

On Sept. 1, LSU’s defense stood off No. 8 Miami, an offensive powder keg, 33-17, holding the ‘’Canes to 342 total yards, picking off two passes, including a 45-yard interception return for a TD, four QB sacks. It was 33-3 entering the final quarter.

In five seasons of Aranda-coached defenses, including three seasons at Wisconsin, his teams have been ninth twice, second, fifth and 12^th overall in the nation for total defense.

There were a handful of 2017 NFL draft picks, including two first-rounders, plucked from Aranda’s LSU defense from 2016. Linebacker Duke Riley, who was spotted in last Thursday’s NFL opener for Atlanta, was one.

It might say something that when Aranda’s Wisconsin defense was second in the country in 2015, there wasn’t a single Badger taken in the following spring’s 7-round NFL draft.

Yes, there some underclassmen in ’15, but there were no superstar leaders — just a sound defensive system under Aranda’s watch.

All it takes is one quick glance at the Southeastern Conference. You’d note that it’s split into two divisions, Eastern and Western. The West includes No. 9 LSU, not to mention Top 10 teams Alabama and Auburn.

Talk about being in the fire pit of a red-hot fireplace inferno.

By the way, Fisher’s Texas A&M plays in that same division.

Lost for the season in that Miami win was a promising pass rusher, K’Lavon Chaisson. Aranda countered with a trio of replacements in last Saturday’s win over Southwestern Louisiana.

ESPN TALK CENTERS AROUND ARANDA

During ESPN’s televised coverage, announcers gave Aranda thumbs up.

“Highest paid coordinator in college football … sharp guy … he lit the room up … he’s got the air of a guy who could run a program. … just a joy to talk to.”

After Redlands, Aranda played at Cal Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks. The Kingsmen play in the same conference as the University of Redlands. In a sense, they got him from under the noses of the Bulldogs’ hierarchy. It’s more complex than that, of course, but he wore purple instead of maroon.

While at CLU, he roomed with a guy named Tom Herman. If you google Herman’s name, you might discover he’s head coach at Texas. That’s Univ. of Texas, the famed Longhorns of Earl Campbell, Darrell Royal, Vince Young, a ton of college football legends.

Wait a minute: Aranda and Herman in one dorm room?

August 21, 2018July 5, 2020

CHUCK RIGGS: SWIM COACHING HALL OF FAME HONOR LONG OVERDUE?

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, 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

It’s a growing club, one that began assembling in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. beginning in 2002.

There’s Bob Bowman, the Arizona State University coach who helped guide Michael Phelps to a myriad of Olympic gold medals, who joined that exclusive list in 2010.

Add George Haines, who notched 26 women’s national AAU championships, plus another nine men’s titles at Northern California-based Santa Clara Swim Club before becoming head swimming coach at UCLA before heading off to Stanford.

Throw in Ron Ballatore, the five-time U.S. Olympic team coach who took over at UCLA upon Haines’ departure — 10 gold medalists amid a myriad of achievements that included 26 NCAA individual champions.

All three men, among a few dozen more, are part of the American Soccer Coaches Association’s Hall of Fame.

Redlands’ Chuck Riggs’ inclusion into ASCA’s Hall of Fame this year might be considered long overdue.

Coming to Redlands as its club coach in the early 1980s, Riggs has a lifetime of swim-coaching achievements that keep adding up even at age 71.

Riggs, a diver during his competitive days in the midwest, is currently operating on the deck at Beaumont High School. That team, plus heading up the PASS Dolphins, is his latest test after spending a few years coaching at the University of Hawaii.

Beaumont was a nice landing spot — willing athletes and a nice facility.

“I’ll do it,” he said, “until I’m not having fun anymore.”

In his early coaching days, he took 11 Riverside Aquatics Association swimmers to the 1972 Olympic Trials.

Let’s see — 1972. Wasn’t that the year Robin Backhaus claimed a bronze medal at the Munich Olympics, better known as the Mark Spitz Swimming Invitational?

Riggs admits to a small role in Backhaus’ training.

Riggs met the Hall of Fame criteria long ago. Some criteria off that list:

Placing two teams in the Top 10 at the USA Swimming Nationals, or NCAA Division I (top 10), II or III (top 2).
Personal coach for two, or more years, of two individual USA summer national champions.
Personal coach for two years, or more, of two individual USA Olympic or World Championship (long course) medalists.
Personal coach for two, or more, years of two world record holders.

Around these parts, Riggs has made more than a contribution to swimming.

ASCA’s Hall of Fame missed selecting him for years.

“All it took,” he said, “was someone to nominate me.”

RIGGS, RST HAD QUITE A RUN

Riggs could be excused for wincing every so often over another top-flight swimmer — Shannon Cullen.

A likely Olympian, Cullen was a contemporary — an outright competitor — of multiple Olympic medalist Amanda Beard. On the road to an Olympic career out of Riggs’ Redlands Swim Team program, Cullen took off on a full-ride scholarship to swimming-rich USC.

That sport might’ve been awaiting a major showdown between the two medley specialists, Beard and Cullen. It couldn’t have been set up any better.

Beard went on to international acclaim. Cullen chose a different path.

“She got a boyfriend,” said Riggs, “who she later married.”

Some two decades later, Riggs was asked to reminisce about the fabulous Cullen.

“She’s still married to the same guy,” he said, “and they have three beautiful kids.”

Riggs’ RST club produced well — in the water and out.

Vicky West went to Northwestern.

Steve Messner went to Cal-Berkeley.

Alicia Wheelock? Arizona State.

Evan Castro showed up at Utah.

Temple Cowden splashed in at Fresno State.

Yale got Erin Carlstrom and Cole Heggi.

Auburn landed Heather Kemp and Karl Krug.

Speaking of Auburn, Ben Worby went to arch-rival Alabama.

Then there’s Krug.

Krug, along with another Redlands sprinter, Joey Hale, became the first prep tandem in history to record sub 20-second clockings in the 50-yard freestyle at a high school championship meet.

In 2008, Krug, Hale, Tyler Harp and Mike Perry combined for a 1:21.94 clocking in the boys 17-18 division at the U.S. National Championships.

Dozens of swimmers through the years reached U.S. Senior and Junior Nationals, plus the Olympic Trials.

SETTING UP CHAMPIONSHIP WORKOUTS

Then there’s Cynthia Woodhead, who’s known to the swimming world as “Sippy.” At one point, Woodhead held no less than 16 world records.

Woodhead would have been an Olympian in two Summer Games if not for the U.S. boycott of 1980 when she was just 16. By 1984, the Los Angeles Games, she was still in racing mode.

Cynthia “Sippy” Woodhead in a familiar pose — winning a race. The onetime 16-event world record holder initially trained under Chuck Riggs, whose coaching career was just getting underway during his days as Riverside Aquatics Association coach (photo by Sippy Woodhead).

Woodhead won Olympic silver in the 200-meter freestyle.

There were seven world records, plus 18 American records.

Multiple medals at the 1978 World Championships, three gold and a silver.

Five gold medals at the 1979 Pan American Games.

In the 1983 Pan Am Games, Woodhead picked up a gold and silver medal.

There was a total of 18 U.S. national championships, ranging from the freestyle, medleys, butterfly and multiple relays.

Not all of Woodhead’s marks were associated with Riggs. She swam in Mission Viejo — Hall of Fame coach Mark Schubert — for a couple years before landing at USC.

Riggs, however, set up her initial path.

At age 11, Riggs had Woodhead in his senior group in 1975.

The plan was simple, yet complex. It was always early-morning workouts balanced by late-day sessions.

Riggs was stoking the fires of a 12-year-old Woodhead who set a U.S. record in the 1650-yard freestyle. Woodhead was a world record holder at age 14.

Workouts included 20,000 yards daily.

There were 11 workouts each week.

Throw in weight training.

At Christmas one year, she did 30,000 yards that week — 5 ½ miles in the water!

While the athletes log the workload, it’s the coach that sets the tone, schedules, outlines the pathway and formulates a motivational approach. Non-swimmers probably have no idea what it takes to become a swim champion.

Riggs, throughout his lengthy career, took notes all along the way.

Thirty-seven years in the classroom — Riverside Rubidoux High, mostly — as an English, history and philosophy teacher, Riggs coached two Pasadena City College divers to All-American status.

On Woodhead, said Riggs: “She never argued about the workouts. I sat down with her parents one time and we hashed out a plan when she was very young. She stuck to it.”

Riggs’ Hall of Fame induction, set for Sept. 6 at the World Clinic, scheduled for Anaheim. It’s an hour’s drive from Riggs’ Redlands home.

August 14, 2018July 5, 2020

PRO GOLFER DAVE STOCKTON GAVE A LESSON OF A LIFETIME

Here it is, August 16, 2018. On this date in 1976, another major golf championship was awarded. On Aug. 13, 1970, a previous major title had been awarded.

Pro golfer Dave Stockton taught me a lesson about sports I never forgot.

I’d never met the San Bernardino native. I’d interviewed him a couple times – years ago – by telephone. A onetime Pacific High School star, who won the 1959 CIF-Southern Section championship, had a stalwart golfing career.

Dave StocktonJACQUELIN DUVOISIN SI — Dave Stockton, a San Bernardino native now living in Redlands, holds the Wanamaker Trophy, symbolizing victory in one of professional golf’s grandest prizes — the PGA Championship (photo by Wikipedia Commons).

He’s won the PGA Championship twice, in 1970 and 1976. He’s a Senior U.S. Open champion. There have been other championships, including the Los Angeles Open and a few other prominent tournament titles. Around these parts, Stockton’s considered a General among those who’ve achieved at the highest levels in any sport.

The seeds of my life’s lesson were planted in August 1970. That’s when Stockton, who was in contention at the 1970 PGA Championship at Southern Hills Golf Club in Tulsa, Okla. was taking on a rather large challenge.

Arnold Palmer – not to mention Arnie’s Army – was the hurdle standing in Stockton’s pathway.

(A curious note, perhaps: About 15 miles from Redlands, the city of Beaumont includes a housing complex dubbed Tournament Hills. Street names include Trevino Trail, Woods Way, Casper Cove, Hogan Drive, Nicklaus Nook, Palmer Ave.

Other streets are named Crenshaw, Bean, Miller, Mickelson, Runyan, Irwin, Bean, Venturi, Shore (as in Dinah) and Pepper (Dottie), among others, plus parks named for Trevino, Palmer and Nicklaus.

Get it?

I happen to live on the corner at Stockton Street.)

At age 15, I’d only caught a minor glimpse on how formative Arnie’s supportive fans could be. I also had no idea how rugged they could get against a player who was challenging Palmer’s run to a memorable golf championship.

The PGA Championship is the fourth major golf tournament, following the Masters, U.S. and British Opens. I believe only Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and, eventually, Tiger Woods have won the Grand Slam of Golf.

Jack Nicklaus, who is receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom (photo by Wikipedia Commons), was very close to Dave Stockton in both of his PGA Championship victories, which came in 1970 and 1976.

Nicklaus and Woods are multiple ’Slam winners.

My Dad, Neal Brown, and I watched Palmer go after that elusive fourth major in 1970, a title he’s never won despite an otherwise illustrious career. Dad was such a fan of Palmer’s that he actually fashioned his own golf swing after Arnie’s, whose swing was often a source of discussion among the sport’s purists during his days.

In August 1970, Dad and I sat and watched, rooting for Arnie. We were definitely part of Arnie’s Army, TV-style.

Stockton stood up under the heat and the pressure.

Pressures of a major golf championship are immense. It included the likely possibility that gallery members – Arnie’s Army supporters – were doing things to irritate him.

Like Dad, I was disappointed that Arnie didn’t win.

INSIGHT INTO THAT 1970 PGA TITLE

Fast forward a decade, or so.

I was now working for the Redlands daily sports section.

The Stockton family had moved back to Mentone, a neighboring community next to Redlands. I got the telephone number where Stockton was staying while he was playing at a tournament in Canada.

He was obliging, honest and frank in his answers. I could hardly wait to hit him up with my remembrance on how he knocked off Arnold Palmer at the 1970 PGA Championship.

I was certain he could fill in some of the gaps from that experience.

It was likely the highlight of his career. When the subject came up, the onetime Pacific High and University of Southern California golf star was ready.

Arnold Palmer? The missing link in his trophy case? The destiny with history? Golf’s Grand Slam?

Arnold_Palmer_(cropped) — Arnold Palmer’s chances of winning golf’s Grand Slam was cut off by Dave Stockton at the 1970 PGA Championship in Tulsa, Okla. (Photo by Wikipedia Commons).

“My family,” said a serious Stockton, without missing a beat, “needed it more.”

Palmer, who was a remarkable golfer for decades, had won four Masters titles, two British Opens and the 1960 U.S. Open. He tied for second at the PGA Championship on three occasions — including 1970.

For the record, veteran golfer Bob Murphy tied for second with Palmer at one-over par. Stockton was two-under.

Jack Nicklaus was four shots back.

Johnny Miller held the first-round lead.

Stockton shared the second-round lead with Larry Hinson.

After three rounds, Stockton held a three-shot lead over Raymond Floyd heading into the final 18 holes. Palmer trailed by five.

Stockton, who shot a final round 73, shared the experience of holing out a 125-yard wedge shot.

He’d also shared that the media referred to him as an “unknown.”

After he notched the victory, he was no longer that unknown.

“I hit a tee shot into the trees,” he recalled, “and I heard (an Arnie Army reserve) holler, ‘go get ’em, Arnie.’ That made me hot.”

Said Stockton: “I had some work to do. That (final round) wasn’t easy.”

That was the lesson, folks. Who cares if there was a blank spot in Palmer’s trophy case? Palmer needed that championship about as much as the Yankees needed another World Series trophy.

The esteemed Palmer seemed to do quite well, I noticed, never having won that fourth major. It might be a blank space on his trophy case in 1970, but no matter. His bank account probably didn’t suffer all that much in 1970.

Neither did his career.

ONE MORE WANAMAKER TROPHY ADDITION

Stockton, however, added a jewel to his trophy case, which also included the L.A. Open. At Riviera Golf Club, Stockton outdueled another golf legend, Sam Snead a few years earlier.

Since learning that lesson from Stockton, I don’t necessarily root against the Yankees. Or against Notre Dame’s football machine. Or against the Lakers or the Celtics pulling out another NBA title.

I love the Final Four when a mid-major like Gonzaga or Marquette or George Mason or Butler, challenges for that elusive prize ahead of North Carolina or UCLA or Duke or Kentucky.

What I do love are the good stories coming from unexpected winners.

That lesson came via Stockton.

“My family needed it more,” keeps shooting through my mind.

The Wanamaker Trophy, symbolizing the PGA Championship, found its way back into the Stockton family six years later.

On the 72^nd hole in 1976 at Congressional Golf Club, Stockton connected on a 15-foot par putt to beat Floyd and Don January by a single shot.

The ever-dangerous Nicklaus, defending champion and looming closely to the top, was beaten by two strokes.

Let’s not overlook Stockton’s other top finishes at major championships.

He tied for second place at the 1974 Masters, trailing Gary Player by two shots alongside Tom Weiskopf.

In the 1978 U.S. Open, he tied for second place with J.C. Snead, one shot behind Andy North at, of all places, Cherry Hills (Colo.) Country Club – the site where Palmer notched his only U.S. Open victory.

Stockton’s best finish at the British Open, a tie for 11th place, came one year after winning the 1970 PGA Championship. Lee Trevino won at Royal Birkdale.

As for the San Bernardino native, Stockton moved to Mentone in the 1980s. A couple decades later, his family moved again — this time to Redlands, near the traditional country club.

Along with comedian Bob Hope, President Gerald Ford and Dodger owner Walter O’Malley, Stockton was presented as an honorary member at Redlands Country Club.

He told me, again by telephone, “I had no idea there were honorary members at Redlands.” Stockton seemed moved. This wasn’t an Arnie’s Army remembrance party.

It was part of that Redlands Connection.

July 23, 2018February 2, 2025

A 1952 LETDOWN: KAYAKING OLYMPIC SPOT ELUDED RUTH DEFOREST-COLLEY

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

She taught at Mentone Elementary School for decades, but Ruth Colley was probably never known by any of her students as an Olympian.

The year, 1952.

It was that year when Colley, qualified and trained, setting herself up for being that rare individual – a U.S. Olympian.

Rare? Ruth DeForest would’ve been the first female Olympian in her sport.

She was Redlands’ Mrs. Tennis – the first woman ever to win that distinction in a city of revered participants – in a sport she was totally devoted to during her years. Throw golf into that mix.

Colley, who married Joe Colley, was a lively gal. Athletically-minded and gifted, she has quite a resume.

One of the original organizers of the Redlands Racquet Club, a tennis-based spotlight that sailed high on the local radar for years.

Tennis, golf, track & field, figure skating, basketball, hockey, but kayaking?

It’s not the first sport that comes to mind when discussing Olympics.

That was Colley’s sport of choice when she, apparently, reached her ultimate goal – qualifying for the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. Ruth DeForest was a canoe-racing specialist who attended Newark State College in the 1950s.

She even had a nickname – Woody. She bowled. Played basketball. She shot as a member of the school’s rifle club.

Kayaking shouldn’t seem all that outlandish. It’s been an Olympic sport since the beginning. Older than other Olympic sports, like basketball.

Training was off campus – there were no facilities at Newark State – so she trekked up to the American Canoe Association Camp. When she entered the National Canoe Races, held in the summer of 1951 on the Charles River in Boston, DeForest took second with her team.

There were 75 entries. Four-boat races. She was the lone female.

She took first in a national Ladies Kayak Race in Washington, D.C. in 1951.

Anyone out there believe that kayaking isn’t a sport? Guess again.

It’s beyond challenging. Those things go from 1,000 to 10,000 meters. In women’s, it’s a 500-meter sprint.

The sport is as old as it is traditional – dating back to the 1870s.

You start thinking: Male dominated.

RDF-L-LAWNBOWLING-0215.TLPa.jpg 2-14-2018 — A tennis player, golfer, rifle shooter, bowler and basketball player, Ruth DeForest-Colley might’ve been an Olympic medalist in kayaking if there had been a favorable reception to women on the U.S. squad (photo by permission of the Redlands Daily Facts).

Chatting her up was a blast. I could interview Ruth Colley for a week – and still not finish the conversation. She had plenty to say, all entertaining, pertinent and valued. The Colley name, Joe and Ruth, appeared in the local paper numerous times, perhaps an Olympic record number of times. Golf, tennis and plenty of other items.

By 2007, she was perhaps finally being recognized. That December, she was named “Living Legend” by the Alliance for Aging Research in Washington, D.C. Plenty of influential people, including Colin Powell, were nominated for that award, according to a local newspaper article.

Colley was living longer and loving it. There was enthusiasm attached to her golf and tennis-playing lifestyle.

She’s an honorary lifetime member of the Washington Canoe Club. There’s a trophy that’s given each year – named the Ruth DeForest-Colley Award.

In 1988, when she could’ve been playing tennis or golf in Redlands, she won four gold and four silver medals in kayaking at the Nike World Masters Games.

But that 1952 Olympic kayak spot was questionable.

She beat all the odds – time requirements, all the rigorous training, winning the qualifying events – to make the trip across the Atlantic.

Michael Budrock (1,000 meters) got to go. So did William Schuette. And Thomas Horton. And John Eiseman, plus John Anderson and Paul Bochnewich, John Haas and Frank Krick.

Footnote: None of those guys won medals.

DeForest could’ve competed in the lone women’s event, a 500-meter sprint, won by Finland’s Sylvi Saimo. Austrian and Russian kayakers took the silver and bronze medals.

By contrast, there were eight men’s events.

Talk about needing a MeToo movement.

Gender equity? There was no such thing.

In a word, DeForest wasn’t allowed to compete. She was a woman. It was a world of, perhaps, chauvinistic men. There were rules. A chaperone was required for a single woman headed to Europe. That was, at least, the excuse given. You get the feeling that, perhaps, the U.S. men didn’t want to be upstaged by a U.S. woman.

No accommodations were made for DeForest in a male-dominated sport.

Frank Havens, the 1948 London Games silver medalist, won the gold medal in 1952. DeForest had trained with Havens, a four-time Olympian.

frank_havens-72 — Frank Havens, said to be Ruth DeForest’s training ally in preparation for the Helsinki Games, won the 1952 gold medal in the 10,000-meter kayaking Olympic event (photo by canoemuseum.wordpress).

Some history: Havens’ father, Charles, missed the 1924 Paris Olympics – where he’d been favored to win a medal – to be home with his wife during Frank’s birth.

None of which should’ve meant anything to Ruth DeForest.

No Olympic trip? It was, perhaps, the disappointment of a lifetime. Train for 1956 in Melbourne?

DeForest instead graduated from Newark State in 1954. She got married, settled down with a family and taught elementary school in the Redlands school district. She didn’t stay away from athletics.

Colley taught tennis around Redlands for nearly two decades.

She goes down as the nation’s first female kayaker at a time when they had been shunned from the spotlight.

You get a strong sense that the men-at-the-club had quite a few conversations about keeping this kid from competing. They couldn’t keep her from graduating with a degree of Childhood Science.

Imagine the Redlands Connection if Ruth DeForest had won a gold medal.

July 16, 2018February 2, 2025

K.K. LIMBHASUT GOLFS HIS WAY FROM REDLANDS TO BERKELEY

For years, Redlands High’s K.K. Limbhasut worked his way into the Terriers’ golf lineup at their No. 1 position — all four seasons, in fact. When he notched a victory at that Ka’anapali Classic in Lahaina, Hawaii in November 2018, he shot his way to collegiate golf’s mecca.

He has just capped his junior season at Cal-Berkeley, shooting just over 71. Limbhasut’s collegiate career includes two prominent wins, a dozen top 10 NCAA finishes, plus a 10^th place at the 2016 NCAA Championships as a freshman.

The Thai-born Limbhasut (pronounced Lip-ah-SOOD) was one of those athletes that showed up as a Terrier, who averaged 68 shots every time he played 18 holes as a prep.

KK LIMBHASUT — K.K. Limphasaut, a Redlands High School product, is playing his way through UC Berkeley on a golf scholarship. The fifth-year senior has won some collegiate events in his time (photo by Cal Bears).

He goes into a list of Terrier athletes that might’ve been surprises in the school’s traditional Blue Line.

Athletes like future Olympic high jumper Karol Damon, plus Brigham Young University tennis’ Hermahr Kaur, soccer’s Landon Donovan, football and track star Patrick Johnson, among others, who showed up, perhaps unexpectedly, to carve out a niche.

Those athletes could’ve easily shown up on some other campus.

When Limbhasut shot a 67 at the CIF-Southern Section championship at Mission Lakes, he’d outplayed Oregon-bound Aaron Wise (now on the PGA Tour), of Corona Santiago, by a single shot to win the 2014 championship.

Names like Tiger Woods (three times, in fact, for Anaheim Western) are on that same winner’s list. So are PGA Hall of Famers like Dave Stockton (San Bernardino Pacific) and Billy Casper (Chula Vista), plus Vista Murrieta’s Ricky Fowler.

Limbhasut probably won’t ever forget that eagle on the 16^th hole at Mission Lakes which lifted him to his win over Wise and an entire field of gifted prep players.

His grades, not to mention his game, got him a shot, literally, at the academically sound Berkeley campus.

He’s paid his dues at Berkeley. There was that 2014-2015 Aggie Invitational triumph in Texas, plus a tie for first place at the John A. Burns Intercollegiate Tournament in Hawaii one season later.

Limphasut has been a three-time All-West Region. Like most top-flight amateurs, he’s played in plenty of major events. He just finished playing at the Arnold Palmer Cup, held in France, losing in match play while representing the International team.

Let’s not forget that any time, he tees up in a collegiate match — particularly in the super talented Pac 12 — Limbhasut’s taking on top-flight future pros. In Cal’s NCAA Regionals, played in Raleigh, N.C., an 11th place finish failed to land a spot in the NCAA Championships.

Limbhasut’s tie for 32nd place, shooting 212, was middle of the road play.

It’s probably far too premature to pronounce a pro future on Limbhasut, which is the likely conclusion to draw from any golfer with such a growing list. It’s probably too premature to rule it out.

His final round 66 at the Royal Ka’anapali Course included three pars on the final three holes, shooting 12-under par for a 200 total, edging South Carolina’s Scott Stevens by a shot. Limbhasut’s Cal teammate Collin Morkiwaka started the final round in first place.

Limbhasut’s patience and iron play held steady.

“I controlled my ball flight this week,” he told an area magazine, “which helped when the trades (infamous Hawaiian winds) picked up.”

Noting a 25-foot uphill putt he sank for an eagle on the ninth hole, Limbhasut seemed perfectly up to that up-and-down part on the 18^th hole to close it out.

Next stop: Limbhasut, a fifth-year senior, will begin play this fall.