It was like an episode from that CBS drama "The White Shadow." Remember? The caucasian guy coaches the all-black high school basketball team?
The difference here was that my 13-year-old son was the only caucasian on an all-black AAU basketball team coached by four black men. They played in a tournament up in northern Sacramento and southern Placer County -- in the Rocklin, Roseville area.
Things were cool playing at Foothill High just off I-80, not far from the ghetto that stands where McClellan Air Force Base once stood proudly. It's a mixed-race area and the only racial delineation came on the court where 10 white kids from Rocklin ran and passed circles around my kid's team.
The little kids on my son's team are told to do one thing and one thing only when they get the ball, "Push it! PUUUUUUSH it! Run! Faster!" Great concept, but lack of body control and plan really makes the balls-out fastbreak problematic. Then, on defense, they press -- for 32 minutes. They're a quick, scrappy bunch but, again, lack of body control and an incredibly well coached team from Rocklin routinely beat the press without the ball ever touching the court...pass...pass...pass...layup! Impressive.
My son looked like Shaquille O'Neal out there. He's 5-foot-1, 155 pounds and he's gone through puberty...he's going through the tail end right now. When he was in the game, it just didn't look right. Everything changed. He seemed too strong and seemed like he got too much higher than the other kids. Not in a good way, either, it got me to thinking because...my son should never, not for one second, dominate a basketball game involving kids his age.
Ah, then I remembered...the guy who recruited him hemmed and hawed about ages and birthdates and said, "Oh, every team has one or two bigger, older kids." My son's a seventh grader. The Rocklin team plays in the sixth-grade division.
"He's illegal," the coach said, thus explaining why my son looked like he was so much bigger, stronger and older.
It didn't matter if he was a year too old, the team's not very good. So, they headed for Rocklin -- an affluent, almost solely white enclave just off I-80. It's a sea of cookie-cutter homes, in sparkling new subdivisions. Rocklin High School is beautiful and clean and ... it's not like Fairfield or any school in Fairfield.
The Warriors played another well-coached bunch of white kids. I got to see why, sadly, normally clear-thinking white folks are put off by equally well-intentioned black folks. There's a societal difference -- we're all just people, but...we're different in how we communicate and how we, oh, cheer at a kids basketball game.
The black folks, and their kids, cheered and played like teams from inner-city black neighborhoods. The coaches yelled a lot, and really loud, and the kids couldn't understand them. They knew, "Push it!" and "Pressure!" That was it.
What comes off as everyday speak between the coaches and kids sounds really harsh to the people who live in Rocklin or Lincoln or Auburn, you know?
Hey, we all speak some form of broken English. Bloggers have made broken English into a writing style. But, when the Rocklin fans heard the coach shout, "C'mon, use your head! Come over and sit on the bench. You're not giving full effort," it came out sounding like:
"What'chew doin' out there! Git yo'self on the bench where you belong! You ain't even tryin'!"
And, it echoed in the gym.
Parents in the stands shouted advice to my son. "Get your arms up. You're so big ... can't nobody get the ball from you!" (But, can't always get that ball and hold on to it when you haven't played much basketball either.) I got the distinct impression that my Fairfield-based peers feel that every kid on their team should know how to play basketball and should play it well. And, they seemed to give the white kids (yeesh, I know this sounds racist) no credit for moving the ball around, being dead-eye shooters and playing a disciplined brand of basketball that some high school teams couldn't manage. (When you pay $1,000 to get your kid good coaching...you get really good coaching.)
The poor little point guard from Fairfield felt he'd been fouled...a lot. When his dad finished hollering at him and the lady behind me finished shouting that her son, "Needs his minutes" -- the kid stormed off the floor and blurted, "This is bullshit!"
The fans from Placer County let out an audible gasp. It didn't phase me or my son. We curse, er, I curse around him and he's heard and said every curse word imaginable. Yet...he's an honor student, so...go figure.
I just knew those affluent, white adults were thinking, "Typical! That's why I moved out of the city! Those people are ..." Then they added what they think minorities in general, and blacks specifically, are doing to society.
They're making it ... more colorful. They're no different and it pissed me off thinking the people looked down on them.
Then, after a huge loss, the coaches did a deal that you would see in a Will Ferrell movie, or maybe something where Jonah Hill plays a team manager. The kids were all sitting on the curb, tired and defeated...and a father who likes amazingly like the comic Cedric the Entertainer started talking...and, I've heard him talk...he's a really bright, articulate man. He explained the basketball team's offense to me and I couldn't have understood every word more clearly. Somehow, though, in front of all those kids in public...he started shouting things like, "Lemme' axe you sumthin'..." and, "Ya gotstuh' represent Fairfield" and...other stuff white kids in Placer County say to emulate the black kids in Fairfield who, once they hit high school dominate the teams from Placer County.
My son might never been in a team meeting where's urged to "represent," but those Placer parents will hear another coach talk to another group of players and completely misunderstand everything they hear.
I think basketball in the inner city is a bit of a lifestyle choice, maybe an avenue out of bad times. If my son's see an NBA game...they see hope and they see heroes...they only see guys who look like them. You know? We have a black president, but it's going to take time for sixth-grade kids to start aspiring to become Barack Obama. They will, some do now, but it'll take time. For now, they all want to be Kobe and LeBron -- and their parents are digging the idea.
So, basketball's just another game...another activity to the folks in Placer County. It's a lifestyle...it's THE game...to the folks who run with the Warriors.
It's too bad we judge each other without knowing each other.
It's also too bad I sort of expect my son to follow the rules and that, thus, his time with the Warriors was brief. There's no misjudging breaking the rules in youth sports.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
Former Star Feels H-DNL Coaches Could Do More
This note from former Eureka High football star Cardedrick Foreman (Class of 1998), says the things that I've long believed about the challenges even the most gifted athletes face on the North Coast.
Cardedrick lives in Utah, with his family, now. He spent four years playing Weber State — and I actually heard some knothead who follows H-DNL football try to say that Weber State doesn't play big-time football. Those, I think, are the type people Foreman addresses:
"Thanks so much for the consideration...People don't know I didn't play my sophomore year (at Eureka High) because my grades weren't good and my parents said 'no-go' to teach me a lesson! Now I have a 4-year degree and had a great career. I'm a proud father and husband. I often wonder how much better I could have been if the coaches didn't hold me back and just let me play and supported the fact that I wanted to go to a bigger college program. There is plenty of talent in Nor-Cal just little support...talk about a guy who put up numbers and got zero credit/support Reggie Menniweathers would be a great story!"
Foreman played wide receiver as a freshman on the Eureka High JV team where, at that time, the JV club passed for far more yardage than the varsity. The majority of the pass yards came on passes to Foreman. Then, he sat out his sophomore years when his peers who'd starred on the JV team were called up to play varsity football. He was, honestly, by far the best of those sophomores. How many parents would keep their sophomore off the team, over grades, if they were keeping them off the varsity team?
In his junior year, with Eureka play 22 different starters on offense and defense, Foreman was a full-time defensive back. He was the quickest, most elusive player on the team -- but, Eureka used 22 different starters, so Foreman didn't play a down on offense. That would, for modern-day fans, be the equivalent of Mo Purify only playing defensive back in his junior year. Foreman was the team's best receiver, too, but he only played defense.
Well, when injuries hit the running backs before the North Coast Section semifinal game between Eureka and Amador Valley, Foreman finally got the call and got some reps at flyback in the playoff game. Before his senior year, Eureka's starting quarterback (my oldest son) transferred to St. Bernard -- and Foreman spent his final year at EHS playing quarterback. And, he ran the complicated fly offense well -- as the best running quarterback the Loggers had ever had.
Foreman could've played both ways -- and starred. He had the speed and strength to have wowed college scouts -- especially once he got to the college camps and combines. But, it didn't happen that way. He played wherever he was told. It seems like the result should've been coaches helping showcase him on both sides of the ball -- and then at camps and combines. If Foreman had his 1,000 yards rushing -- or his 50 catches -- and his inate ability to play DB ... he'd have been a big-time recruit. If he'd gotten to camps and combines, there's no telling how far he could've gone.
He got to Weber State, which is clearly commendable, on his own. And, he's making a nice life for himself on his own.
Reggie Menniweathers was a great running back, with great speed and power. He ran for over 1,000 yards a year for three years on raw talent. He played fullback, halfback, flyback...but never a down on defense. He was built to run over and tackle kids in high school. Playing defense would've helped give him that extra edge if a college came calling. He wasn't nearly as gifted as Foreman, but he was a raw talent who could've used his ability as a running back to play in college. And, if he could've been coached into a serviceable defender -- and, really, it wouldn't have taken much -- he'd have been one of those guys everybody talked about for years.
I believe after rushing for over 3,000 yards, Reggie spent a year at College of the Siskiyous. Then, that was it.
There's no doubt that there are great athletes up there now, but ... there couldn't be athletes better than Foreman. There wasn't a running back in the H-DNL the last 3, 4, 5 years as good as Menniweathers. I saw the best back this year and, honest, Menniweathers was at other-worldly by comparison. Give him the ball, teach him to tackle...get him that college attention...and he'd have played four years and, maybe, everything would've been different for him and his family.
We'll never know, though.
Cardedrick lives in Utah, with his family, now. He spent four years playing Weber State — and I actually heard some knothead who follows H-DNL football try to say that Weber State doesn't play big-time football. Those, I think, are the type people Foreman addresses:
"Thanks so much for the consideration...People don't know I didn't play my sophomore year (at Eureka High) because my grades weren't good and my parents said 'no-go' to teach me a lesson! Now I have a 4-year degree and had a great career. I'm a proud father and husband. I often wonder how much better I could have been if the coaches didn't hold me back and just let me play and supported the fact that I wanted to go to a bigger college program. There is plenty of talent in Nor-Cal just little support...talk about a guy who put up numbers and got zero credit/support Reggie Menniweathers would be a great story!"
Foreman played wide receiver as a freshman on the Eureka High JV team where, at that time, the JV club passed for far more yardage than the varsity. The majority of the pass yards came on passes to Foreman. Then, he sat out his sophomore years when his peers who'd starred on the JV team were called up to play varsity football. He was, honestly, by far the best of those sophomores. How many parents would keep their sophomore off the team, over grades, if they were keeping them off the varsity team?
In his junior year, with Eureka play 22 different starters on offense and defense, Foreman was a full-time defensive back. He was the quickest, most elusive player on the team -- but, Eureka used 22 different starters, so Foreman didn't play a down on offense. That would, for modern-day fans, be the equivalent of Mo Purify only playing defensive back in his junior year. Foreman was the team's best receiver, too, but he only played defense.
Well, when injuries hit the running backs before the North Coast Section semifinal game between Eureka and Amador Valley, Foreman finally got the call and got some reps at flyback in the playoff game. Before his senior year, Eureka's starting quarterback (my oldest son) transferred to St. Bernard -- and Foreman spent his final year at EHS playing quarterback. And, he ran the complicated fly offense well -- as the best running quarterback the Loggers had ever had.
Foreman could've played both ways -- and starred. He had the speed and strength to have wowed college scouts -- especially once he got to the college camps and combines. But, it didn't happen that way. He played wherever he was told. It seems like the result should've been coaches helping showcase him on both sides of the ball -- and then at camps and combines. If Foreman had his 1,000 yards rushing -- or his 50 catches -- and his inate ability to play DB ... he'd have been a big-time recruit. If he'd gotten to camps and combines, there's no telling how far he could've gone.
He got to Weber State, which is clearly commendable, on his own. And, he's making a nice life for himself on his own.
Reggie Menniweathers was a great running back, with great speed and power. He ran for over 1,000 yards a year for three years on raw talent. He played fullback, halfback, flyback...but never a down on defense. He was built to run over and tackle kids in high school. Playing defense would've helped give him that extra edge if a college came calling. He wasn't nearly as gifted as Foreman, but he was a raw talent who could've used his ability as a running back to play in college. And, if he could've been coached into a serviceable defender -- and, really, it wouldn't have taken much -- he'd have been one of those guys everybody talked about for years.
I believe after rushing for over 3,000 yards, Reggie spent a year at College of the Siskiyous. Then, that was it.
There's no doubt that there are great athletes up there now, but ... there couldn't be athletes better than Foreman. There wasn't a running back in the H-DNL the last 3, 4, 5 years as good as Menniweathers. I saw the best back this year and, honest, Menniweathers was at other-worldly by comparison. Give him the ball, teach him to tackle...get him that college attention...and he'd have played four years and, maybe, everything would've been different for him and his family.
We'll never know, though.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
H-DNL athletes to DI schools: 2008
D-I Athletes Since mid-1980s...Updated 5/8/08
fw1997 asked about Humboldt-Del Norte League athletes other than Mo Purify and Ray Maualuga who've gone onto NCAA Division I athletics in the last 20 years...here's a list that I don't claim is complete...it's close, though:
Here's the list...
Maualuga, Eureka/USC, football
Purify, Eureka/Nebraska, football
Cardedrick Foreman, Eureka/Weber State, football
David Sharp, St. Bernard/Virginia Military Institute, baseball
Gregg Reynolds, Arcata/University of Pacific, baseball
Travis Fleming, McKinleyville/University of Pacific, baseball
Matt Nielsen, McKinleyville/Sac State baseball
Gary Wilson, Eureka/Sac State, baseball
Mark Gorge, Arcata/Sac State, baseball
Jeff Borghino, Arcata/Sac State, baseball
Mitch Walter, Arcata/Kansas State, baseball
Ryan Johnston, McKinleyville/U. of Arkansas, baseball
Matt Tomlin, St. Bernard/University of Nebraska, baseball
Brandon Marcelli, Eureka/Fresno State, baseball
Mo Charlo, Eureka/Nevada, basketball
Trina Bindel, Eureka/Wake Forest, track and field
Brandon Bieber, Del Norte/U of Alaska-Fairbanks, basketball
Vicky Fleschner, Fortuna/Oregon, cross country & track
Heidi Bowman, South Fork/Marquette, basketball
Trina McCartney, McKinleyville/Oregon, basketball (She graduated in '87)
Matt Creason, Eureka/Georgetown, cross country & track
Debbie Templeton, South Fork/Stanford, track and field
Megan McMillan, Del Norte/Oregon State, volleyball
Morrie Roe, Arcata/Hawaii, football
Scott Eskra, Eureka/Mississippi, baseball
Gina Loechl, Eureka/Wisconsin, swimming
Dustin Smith, golf
Ashley Curry, McKinleyville, UC Davis
Buck Pierce, Del Norte/New Mexico State, football
While the general belief is that it's no big deal to go from the H-DNL to college sports unless one jumps to D-I, stop and consider how many H-DNL athletes go on to play four years of college athletics at any school. Not that many, right? In my world, at my age, it remains noteworthy to play at any college or university.
Here's the list...
Maualuga, Eureka/USC, football
Purify, Eureka/Nebraska, football
Cardedrick Foreman, Eureka/Weber State, football
David Sharp, St. Bernard/Virginia Military Institute, baseball
Gregg Reynolds, Arcata/University of Pacific, baseball
Travis Fleming, McKinleyville/University of Pacific, baseball
Matt Nielsen, McKinleyville/Sac State baseball
Gary Wilson, Eureka/Sac State, baseball
Mark Gorge, Arcata/Sac State, baseball
Jeff Borghino, Arcata/Sac State, baseball
Mitch Walter, Arcata/Kansas State, baseball
Ryan Johnston, McKinleyville/U. of Arkansas, baseball
Matt Tomlin, St. Bernard/University of Nebraska, baseball
Brandon Marcelli, Eureka/Fresno State, baseball
Mo Charlo, Eureka/Nevada, basketball
Trina Bindel, Eureka/Wake Forest, track and field
Brandon Bieber, Del Norte/U of Alaska-Fairbanks, basketball
Vicky Fleschner, Fortuna/Oregon, cross country & track
Heidi Bowman, South Fork/Marquette, basketball
Trina McCartney, McKinleyville/Oregon, basketball (She graduated in '87)
Matt Creason, Eureka/Georgetown, cross country & track
Debbie Templeton, South Fork/Stanford, track and field
Megan McMillan, Del Norte/Oregon State, volleyball
Morrie Roe, Arcata/Hawaii, football
Scott Eskra, Eureka/Mississippi, baseball
Gina Loechl, Eureka/Wisconsin, swimming
Dustin Smith, golf
Ashley Curry, McKinleyville, UC Davis
Buck Pierce, Del Norte/New Mexico State, football
While the general belief is that it's no big deal to go from the H-DNL to college sports unless one jumps to D-I, stop and consider how many H-DNL athletes go on to play four years of college athletics at any school. Not that many, right? In my world, at my age, it remains noteworthy to play at any college or university.
6 comments:
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Thanks Ted!
Amazing list.
Is there any athletes of note that you were surprised never made it to the D-1 Collegiate level? - May 7, 2008 1:58 PM
- This post has been removed by a blog administrator.
- May 7, 2008 3:27 PM
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not sure if it's D-1, but john thurston from ferndale is wrestling for UC Davis.
hope you don't mind if we copy and use your list!
Thanks, Ted
It's exciting that you started this blog. Finally someone in the blogosphere who talks about North Coast sports. Can't wait for the discussions to be had here
Sean - May 7, 2008 6:16 PM
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It's great if the North Coast media uses the lists I put together...but, I'd like to be credited...unless a list just falls to me out of the sky with no research, then I don't expect any credit.--ts
- May 7, 2008 8:45 PM
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How about the ones from Humboldt that have played pro ball? Gary Thompson of Eureka is one of very few NFL players to just play JC ball then make the Bills as a starter in the 80's!
Al Erickson played Basketball in the Australian league for over 15 years? He just retired last year. - May 7, 2008 9:41 PM
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Shawn Sorenson, Eureka/Rice, track
Eureka High Hall of Famers
It's become clear that H-DNL "history" is defined as the period of time members of the area's working media and the current group of really avid fans can remember. So, sadly, "history" seems to start in about 1991 -- it's rare that we read anything about athletes who actually made history in the H-DNL.
So, credit the folks who started the Eureka High School sports hall of fame for reaching out to lots of different folks from lots of different backgrounds -- and a variety of age groups -- because they came up with a near perfect list of initial inductees into the EHS shrine.
Coach Jay Willard and former Olympic sprinter Elta Cartwright were no-brainers. They pre-date me. Olympic sprinter and a guy who had such impact that the gymnasium and the walkway to the football are both named after him? Ideal selections.
There are generations of people who don't know how amazingly gifted Rob Harrison was, in three sports, in the 1980s. The people who bicker about which modern-day football running backs are bound for college have no idea how truly unique Harrison was carrying the ball. And, obviously, few no he was a state-level wrestler, hurdler and jumper.
It figures that even fewer people know what a fantastic athlete John Burman was in the 1960s. He was a state-level sprinter who really left an indelible mark on the North Coast by leading Humboldt State to a win in the 1968 Camellia Bowl against Fresno State. Yes...Humboldt played Fresno State and beat Fresno State -- and it wasn't really that close.
Rich Mayo was a multi-sport star who wound up starting at quarterback for the Air Force Academy team that played in the Cotton Bowl. I remember being a kid ripping through an older friend's old "Sport" magazines and stumbling onto mention of "Air Force quarterback Rich Mayo, from Eureka, Calif." I had no idea it was even possible to go from Eureka to mention in sport magazine, let alone big-time college football stardom. It's cool he can be inducted along with Ralph Mayo.
Katrina Bindel was the best female athlete I saw in my 1,001 years on the North Coast. She won state track and field medals when it was really rare for H-DNL athletes to even get to the state meet. She was on course to become, most insiders thought, a star in the international heptathlon competition. Then, an injury sidelined her in the early 1990s. She was magnificent.
Billy Olson is the former Eureka High baseball pitcher who, in my opinion, is the most overlooked of any truly fantastic former Logger athlete. The guy was a flame-throwing lefthanded pitcher who was virtually, almost literally, unhittable in the late 1960s. He went directly from pitching in high school to being the Humboldt Crabs' ace -- back when the Crabs were playing the elite semi-pro teams, filled with stars from major colleges. And...Olson handled those Alaska summer college teams just fine at an age when, honestly, most pitchers would've quaked at the thought of facing stars from Southern Cal, UCLA, Stanford, etc.
It's not exactly an accident that Olson hasn't spent 40 years having his baseball accomplishments recounted every spring and summer. I tracked him down to do an interview once in the 1990s. It wasn't like I ever forgot the guy, but I just never knew where to look for him. You know how some guys slip really easily into talking about their accomplishments? It wasn't at all easy for Olson to talk about being, I think, the best pitcher in H-DNL history. He was clearly more comfortable listening to me tell him things I remembered seeing him do on the field. (Yeah...I was interviewing my "hero" and I was nearly 40 years old.)
His wife, I believe, pulled out a small scrapbook with some stories about Olson's baseball heyday. I was struck by how he clearly was remembering some of those games and teammates and opponents for the first time in years. I was also struck by him being that humble even when I admitted from the start that I brought my sons along on the interview just so they could meet the guy I'd spent so much time telling them about.
And ... now ... I'm rambling on like a school boy about Billy Olson again. Hey...he was really, really good and not a pitcher who's come along in the 40 years since came close to being as dominant as he was before he injured his pitching arm. (Well, St. Bernard grad Greg Shanahan was amazing, too, he was a righthander who wound up pitching for the L.A. Dodgers. He and Olson had a couple epic matchups I remember reading about.)
How much of a fan am I of Olson? Hmmm? My youngest son's a tall, lanky 12-year-old pitcher...he's a lefty. Pretty good, too. He asked me who my favorite lefty pitcher was and I said, "You...of course." Then, I swear, I paused and said, "Well, actually a guy named Billy Olson's my favorite lefty of all-time, so you're No. 2 ... but ..."
and from there, a 12-year-old heard all the Billy Olson stories that simply must remaining a vivid part of H-DNL history.
I hope Olson and the others can all take part in the homecoming ceremony. They have places in H-DNL history that, I fear, is becoming increasingly lost.
---------------
Ted's Opinion: People gripe and moan that athletes are forced to pick one sport, or one position, far too early in life. So, I nominate for the EHS Hall of Fame -- Joe Denbo, Class of 1974, and Cardedrick Foreman, Class of 1998.
Denbo played three years of varsity quarterback at Eureka for some good teams -- played some receiver, too. He played two seasons of varsity basketball -- and was darn good. His three years as a varsity baseball outfielder were productive and prooved that great athletes can do as many sports as they could handle. Even in 1971-1974...there weren't many 8-time varsity letterman who started in three sports. Joe deserves an honor for a time we miss greatly.
Foreman was a football star who played receiver as a freshman, defensive back as a junior (with a little running back tossed in -- because he was the most elusive runner on the team)...then he capped his career by converting to quarterback as a senior. That's unheard of and...get this...Foreman was really exceptionally gifted at all those positions for truly outstanding EHS teams. He deserves a Hall of Fame nomination...and, here it is...
So, credit the folks who started the Eureka High School sports hall of fame for reaching out to lots of different folks from lots of different backgrounds -- and a variety of age groups -- because they came up with a near perfect list of initial inductees into the EHS shrine.
Coach Jay Willard and former Olympic sprinter Elta Cartwright were no-brainers. They pre-date me. Olympic sprinter and a guy who had such impact that the gymnasium and the walkway to the football are both named after him? Ideal selections.
There are generations of people who don't know how amazingly gifted Rob Harrison was, in three sports, in the 1980s. The people who bicker about which modern-day football running backs are bound for college have no idea how truly unique Harrison was carrying the ball. And, obviously, few no he was a state-level wrestler, hurdler and jumper.
It figures that even fewer people know what a fantastic athlete John Burman was in the 1960s. He was a state-level sprinter who really left an indelible mark on the North Coast by leading Humboldt State to a win in the 1968 Camellia Bowl against Fresno State. Yes...Humboldt played Fresno State and beat Fresno State -- and it wasn't really that close.
Rich Mayo was a multi-sport star who wound up starting at quarterback for the Air Force Academy team that played in the Cotton Bowl. I remember being a kid ripping through an older friend's old "Sport" magazines and stumbling onto mention of "Air Force quarterback Rich Mayo, from Eureka, Calif." I had no idea it was even possible to go from Eureka to mention in sport magazine, let alone big-time college football stardom. It's cool he can be inducted along with Ralph Mayo.
Katrina Bindel was the best female athlete I saw in my 1,001 years on the North Coast. She won state track and field medals when it was really rare for H-DNL athletes to even get to the state meet. She was on course to become, most insiders thought, a star in the international heptathlon competition. Then, an injury sidelined her in the early 1990s. She was magnificent.
Billy Olson is the former Eureka High baseball pitcher who, in my opinion, is the most overlooked of any truly fantastic former Logger athlete. The guy was a flame-throwing lefthanded pitcher who was virtually, almost literally, unhittable in the late 1960s. He went directly from pitching in high school to being the Humboldt Crabs' ace -- back when the Crabs were playing the elite semi-pro teams, filled with stars from major colleges. And...Olson handled those Alaska summer college teams just fine at an age when, honestly, most pitchers would've quaked at the thought of facing stars from Southern Cal, UCLA, Stanford, etc.
It's not exactly an accident that Olson hasn't spent 40 years having his baseball accomplishments recounted every spring and summer. I tracked him down to do an interview once in the 1990s. It wasn't like I ever forgot the guy, but I just never knew where to look for him. You know how some guys slip really easily into talking about their accomplishments? It wasn't at all easy for Olson to talk about being, I think, the best pitcher in H-DNL history. He was clearly more comfortable listening to me tell him things I remembered seeing him do on the field. (Yeah...I was interviewing my "hero" and I was nearly 40 years old.)
His wife, I believe, pulled out a small scrapbook with some stories about Olson's baseball heyday. I was struck by how he clearly was remembering some of those games and teammates and opponents for the first time in years. I was also struck by him being that humble even when I admitted from the start that I brought my sons along on the interview just so they could meet the guy I'd spent so much time telling them about.
And ... now ... I'm rambling on like a school boy about Billy Olson again. Hey...he was really, really good and not a pitcher who's come along in the 40 years since came close to being as dominant as he was before he injured his pitching arm. (Well, St. Bernard grad Greg Shanahan was amazing, too, he was a righthander who wound up pitching for the L.A. Dodgers. He and Olson had a couple epic matchups I remember reading about.)
How much of a fan am I of Olson? Hmmm? My youngest son's a tall, lanky 12-year-old pitcher...he's a lefty. Pretty good, too. He asked me who my favorite lefty pitcher was and I said, "You...of course." Then, I swear, I paused and said, "Well, actually a guy named Billy Olson's my favorite lefty of all-time, so you're No. 2 ... but ..."
and from there, a 12-year-old heard all the Billy Olson stories that simply must remaining a vivid part of H-DNL history.
I hope Olson and the others can all take part in the homecoming ceremony. They have places in H-DNL history that, I fear, is becoming increasingly lost.
---------------
Ted's Opinion: People gripe and moan that athletes are forced to pick one sport, or one position, far too early in life. So, I nominate for the EHS Hall of Fame -- Joe Denbo, Class of 1974, and Cardedrick Foreman, Class of 1998.
Denbo played three years of varsity quarterback at Eureka for some good teams -- played some receiver, too. He played two seasons of varsity basketball -- and was darn good. His three years as a varsity baseball outfielder were productive and prooved that great athletes can do as many sports as they could handle. Even in 1971-1974...there weren't many 8-time varsity letterman who started in three sports. Joe deserves an honor for a time we miss greatly.
Foreman was a football star who played receiver as a freshman, defensive back as a junior (with a little running back tossed in -- because he was the most elusive runner on the team)...then he capped his career by converting to quarterback as a senior. That's unheard of and...get this...Foreman was really exceptionally gifted at all those positions for truly outstanding EHS teams. He deserves a Hall of Fame nomination...and, here it is...
North Coast Fans Are Angry
Sunday, February 8, 2009
North Coast People Are Angry...etc.
The swirl of controversy surrounding Eureka High's boys basketball team resulted in one North Coast fans suggesting that criticism of individual players indicates how poorly the boys conduct themselves because, he wrote, folks never see area fans being critical of other athletes.
The comment went on to include a list of North Coast athletes like Rey Maualuga, Mo Purify and a who's who of current high school stars. The writer stated that the Loggers basketball kids are deserving of criticism and the proof comes in knowing that Maualuga, Purify and the others never catch flak from area fans.
Virtually every athlete the fan mentioned has, indeed, been criticized in the very public newspaper forums up there. Purify got trashed when he signed with the Cincinnati Bengals. Maualuga gets knocked off and on by people who feel obligated to point out that he might be an All-America football star, but that he was just a kid who got in trouble like everybody else in Eureka. And, with only a few exceptions, high school stars get ripped in the most personal manner as if they're professionals who, in part, earn their paycheck by taking their lumps.
It seems like North Coast sports fans are angry -- or, perhaps, sports fans are angry. Maybe some fans care too much or take it all too personally. Regardless, high school and other small-market athletes don't get that really harsh treatment in many other places.
The other day, I wrote two stories about Justin-Siena High school athletes who'll be leaving Napa to attend college and compete on scholarship in football and track and field respectively. The football player's going to Washington State, while the track athlete's headed for Stanford.
The Napa area treats high school athletes much like they're treated on the North Coast. The newspaper features them, even over nearby professional and major college athletes. The kids in Napa get the star treatment. So, if it was simply a matter of small-market fans resenting small-market "stars," there'd be some backlash when two Napa athletes are featured as a result of accepting scholarships.
There were five reader comments to the stories about the athletes. (And, five comments are about five more than sports stories usually get.) All five were positive and in praise of the athletes. There wasn't one comment aimed at questioning the kids' talents or their GPA. Nobody wrote to mention that they saw one of the kids do something wrong once.
Granted, the kids I wrote about seem to be stellar high school citizens. I'd wager that they've never done anything that would prompt some fan to log on to a public forum and assault their folks for being bad parents.
Still...if was a "sports fan" anger we note on the North Coast, there'd be some similar resentment to athletes in other places. It seems as though the North Coast sports fans are more angry, more easily, than most. And, they manage to make it all more personal than it is in high school sports circles elsewhere.
==============
Two things can be equally true. High school athletes can be held to the same rules that apply to every other high school student. High school athletes shouldn't be targeted in public forums for vicious personal attacks.
---------------------
I joined Facebook yesterday and, apparently, only two people who attended Eureka High School in the 1970s has the computer knowledge and interest in social networking to have joined what my kids assure me is a really interesting development in Internet content. Or, I suppose, I just don't know how to search Facebook to find people I might have attended school with.
----------------------
There's good and bad living in a metropolitan area like the one we reside in these days. One good thing is that a youngster can escape whatever tags they pick up as they progress through school. Kids aren't necessarily stuck with the "goof-off" tag that followed them from Cutten Elementary to Winship when they get to Eureka High. Kids involved in sports literally get a fresh start when they go from middle school to high school.
Knowing that the middle school experience doesn't dictate the type of high school experience a kid will have makes the middle school sports experience more enjoyable for parents...well, for me. In a larger area, it's easier for parents to enjoy (if we're willing) each team and each sport as an individual entity. Kids move around. Adults don't know everything about every kid's weakness or strength. I know I felt like the first year of Little League was the first step to making the high school team when we lived up there.
It's probably better to give high school coaches the final word on who plays than to give increasingly more clout to coaches from youth ball forward. You know?
The comment went on to include a list of North Coast athletes like Rey Maualuga, Mo Purify and a who's who of current high school stars. The writer stated that the Loggers basketball kids are deserving of criticism and the proof comes in knowing that Maualuga, Purify and the others never catch flak from area fans.
Virtually every athlete the fan mentioned has, indeed, been criticized in the very public newspaper forums up there. Purify got trashed when he signed with the Cincinnati Bengals. Maualuga gets knocked off and on by people who feel obligated to point out that he might be an All-America football star, but that he was just a kid who got in trouble like everybody else in Eureka. And, with only a few exceptions, high school stars get ripped in the most personal manner as if they're professionals who, in part, earn their paycheck by taking their lumps.
It seems like North Coast sports fans are angry -- or, perhaps, sports fans are angry. Maybe some fans care too much or take it all too personally. Regardless, high school and other small-market athletes don't get that really harsh treatment in many other places.
The other day, I wrote two stories about Justin-Siena High school athletes who'll be leaving Napa to attend college and compete on scholarship in football and track and field respectively. The football player's going to Washington State, while the track athlete's headed for Stanford.
The Napa area treats high school athletes much like they're treated on the North Coast. The newspaper features them, even over nearby professional and major college athletes. The kids in Napa get the star treatment. So, if it was simply a matter of small-market fans resenting small-market "stars," there'd be some backlash when two Napa athletes are featured as a result of accepting scholarships.
There were five reader comments to the stories about the athletes. (And, five comments are about five more than sports stories usually get.) All five were positive and in praise of the athletes. There wasn't one comment aimed at questioning the kids' talents or their GPA. Nobody wrote to mention that they saw one of the kids do something wrong once.
Granted, the kids I wrote about seem to be stellar high school citizens. I'd wager that they've never done anything that would prompt some fan to log on to a public forum and assault their folks for being bad parents.
Still...if was a "sports fan" anger we note on the North Coast, there'd be some similar resentment to athletes in other places. It seems as though the North Coast sports fans are more angry, more easily, than most. And, they manage to make it all more personal than it is in high school sports circles elsewhere.
==============
Two things can be equally true. High school athletes can be held to the same rules that apply to every other high school student. High school athletes shouldn't be targeted in public forums for vicious personal attacks.
---------------------
I joined Facebook yesterday and, apparently, only two people who attended Eureka High School in the 1970s has the computer knowledge and interest in social networking to have joined what my kids assure me is a really interesting development in Internet content. Or, I suppose, I just don't know how to search Facebook to find people I might have attended school with.
----------------------
There's good and bad living in a metropolitan area like the one we reside in these days. One good thing is that a youngster can escape whatever tags they pick up as they progress through school. Kids aren't necessarily stuck with the "goof-off" tag that followed them from Cutten Elementary to Winship when they get to Eureka High. Kids involved in sports literally get a fresh start when they go from middle school to high school.
Knowing that the middle school experience doesn't dictate the type of high school experience a kid will have makes the middle school sports experience more enjoyable for parents...well, for me. In a larger area, it's easier for parents to enjoy (if we're willing) each team and each sport as an individual entity. Kids move around. Adults don't know everything about every kid's weakness or strength. I know I felt like the first year of Little League was the first step to making the high school team when we lived up there.
It's probably better to give high school coaches the final word on who plays than to give increasingly more clout to coaches from youth ball forward. You know?
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
All-Time H-DNL Basketball Team
It can't be the North Coast's all-time hoop squad or it would be filled with the number of great players who've been recruited to and starred at Humboldt State. People who don't remember the 1960s and most of the 1970s at HSU have no idea how bad things were, nor will they ever appreciate what Tom Wood's built in his long tenure leading the Lumberjacks.
Without paying a great deal of attention to HSU hoops now that the 'Jacks are on top of the world, I could name 7 guys who'd demolish any All-Time Humboldt-Del Norte League team:
F -- Hooks...Fred? Right? He was as exciting and effective as any player I every saw up there.
G -- Daryl Westmoreland...He was a big, athletic guard on HSU's NCAA Division III powerhouse coached by Jim Cosentino -- who eventually got dinged by a recruiting scandal, thus starting the Tom Wood era.
C -- Ray Beer...he was half-man, half-monster -- D-III style -- in the early 1980s. Just a beast. This Jacks team filled the old East Gym for a regional game against a New Jersey Tech team and, it was unforgettable.
F -- Austin Nichols...based on what I saw and read, Nichols and Hooks were leaders of the greatest team in HSU history...dominating D-II like Westmoreland and Beer overwhelmed D-III 25 years ago.
So, the all-time H-DNL team I arrived at is...all about the H-DNL...local kids who played middle school ball, high school ball and, then, starred in college...
G...Isaac Gildea...he was a basketball player and a winner at McKinleyville and CR -- then starred at Humboldt.
F...Al Erickson...a 6-foot-4 swingman who was, literally, Larry Bird-like on a smaller stage at Eureka High, CR and Humboldt. He could do everything -- by far the best of the Erickson basketball brothers.
G...Gary Mendenhall...starred at St. Bernard in the very early 1980s -- maybe the late 1970s. He could shoot...pass...defend and...win. He still holds University of Santa Clara records.
G/F...Mo Charlo...he starred at Eureka and wound up starring in Division I for Nevada. There hasn't been a better all-around player to come of the H-DNL and, I think, Charlo's success signals the start of a string of H-DNL players who'll eventually overshadow the local kids who starred at HSU. (Although, I tend to think Erickson and Gildea could've played wherever they really wanted to and got a chance to compete.)
C...Jeff Nielsen...there's not a high-scoring, shot-blocking center to call on, but the former Ferndale star from the early '70s anchored the middle for the best CR team in school history that rolled in the Northern California tournament. Nielsen was tough and big enough to handle the middle.
C....Mike Jaentsch...He and Jeff Moon were big (6-7'ish) studs for a 1970-71 Del Norte team that played two of the most memorable games in H-DNL history against Eureka.
Also on the list: Ryan Riewerts is a guy lots of people found reason to knock, but he won wherever he played and his dominating performance for Bill Treglown's CR team that rolled in the Nor Cal tourney was so memorable -- a burly 6-foot-3 power forward domanating the glass...Brandon Bieber and Justin Mora proved that if you played the game correctly and play it really hard all the time, good things will happen and you'll maximize your talent...6-foot-10 John Murray was a star at Eureka in the very early 1960s and merits an all-time spot...It's my team and I'm lacking backcourt help and -- I gotta have the heart n' soul of Hoopa's first champions -- Augie Valdez. ... Finally, I need forward John Poovey who starred on two great Eureka High teams coached by Al Erickson's father Julian Erickson. John passed away too soon not long ago. He could play.
Head coach: Doug Oliveira...he turned Hoopa's program around with a 3-pointing shoot team that played swarming defense, but he was good at adapting to the talent he had, too.
Without paying a great deal of attention to HSU hoops now that the 'Jacks are on top of the world, I could name 7 guys who'd demolish any All-Time Humboldt-Del Norte League team:
F -- Hooks...Fred? Right? He was as exciting and effective as any player I every saw up there.
G -- Daryl Westmoreland...He was a big, athletic guard on HSU's NCAA Division III powerhouse coached by Jim Cosentino -- who eventually got dinged by a recruiting scandal, thus starting the Tom Wood era.
C -- Ray Beer...he was half-man, half-monster -- D-III style -- in the early 1980s. Just a beast. This Jacks team filled the old East Gym for a regional game against a New Jersey Tech team and, it was unforgettable.
F -- Austin Nichols...based on what I saw and read, Nichols and Hooks were leaders of the greatest team in HSU history...dominating D-II like Westmoreland and Beer overwhelmed D-III 25 years ago.
So, the all-time H-DNL team I arrived at is...all about the H-DNL...local kids who played middle school ball, high school ball and, then, starred in college...
G...Isaac Gildea...he was a basketball player and a winner at McKinleyville and CR -- then starred at Humboldt.
F...Al Erickson...a 6-foot-4 swingman who was, literally, Larry Bird-like on a smaller stage at Eureka High, CR and Humboldt. He could do everything -- by far the best of the Erickson basketball brothers.
G...Gary Mendenhall...starred at St. Bernard in the very early 1980s -- maybe the late 1970s. He could shoot...pass...defend and...win. He still holds University of Santa Clara records.
G/F...Mo Charlo...he starred at Eureka and wound up starring in Division I for Nevada. There hasn't been a better all-around player to come of the H-DNL and, I think, Charlo's success signals the start of a string of H-DNL players who'll eventually overshadow the local kids who starred at HSU. (Although, I tend to think Erickson and Gildea could've played wherever they really wanted to and got a chance to compete.)
C...Jeff Nielsen...there's not a high-scoring, shot-blocking center to call on, but the former Ferndale star from the early '70s anchored the middle for the best CR team in school history that rolled in the Northern California tournament. Nielsen was tough and big enough to handle the middle.
C....Mike Jaentsch...He and Jeff Moon were big (6-7'ish) studs for a 1970-71 Del Norte team that played two of the most memorable games in H-DNL history against Eureka.
Also on the list: Ryan Riewerts is a guy lots of people found reason to knock, but he won wherever he played and his dominating performance for Bill Treglown's CR team that rolled in the Nor Cal tourney was so memorable -- a burly 6-foot-3 power forward domanating the glass...Brandon Bieber and Justin Mora proved that if you played the game correctly and play it really hard all the time, good things will happen and you'll maximize your talent...6-foot-10 John Murray was a star at Eureka in the very early 1960s and merits an all-time spot...It's my team and I'm lacking backcourt help and -- I gotta have the heart n' soul of Hoopa's first champions -- Augie Valdez. ... Finally, I need forward John Poovey who starred on two great Eureka High teams coached by Al Erickson's father Julian Erickson. John passed away too soon not long ago. He could play.
Head coach: Doug Oliveira...he turned Hoopa's program around with a 3-pointing shoot team that played swarming defense, but he was good at adapting to the talent he had, too.
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Don Terbush II
When I was sports editor of the Times-Standard in the 1990s, I did a long interview with Lawrence "Scoop" Beal. He was one of the great newspapermen in Humboldt County history. He was the sports editor of one of the two dailies in Eureka...then became the managing editor...yielding his sports duties to Don Terbush.
Scoop was a promoter...a talker...he had stories one would expect from a character in "Guys & Dolls." He ran with former heavyweight champion Max Baer...and actually played a role in the formation and early promotion of the Humboldt Clowns traveling basketball troupe that made routine, and popular, stops in West Coast towns that the Harlem Globetrotters would never visit. Scoop knew everybody and was happy to talk and talk and talk...which was a joy for a kid who can't hear enough stories about things like the old swim stadium at Freshwater Park. (If you cross the water and get up on the bank now covered by trees, you'll see remains of old-fashioned stadium seating where residents used to enjoy aquacade water shows.)
Beal died not long after I did the interview and ran a three-part story about his life in sports.
Don Terbush would never, ever, offer to sit down and tell a writer stories about his time as sports editor of the Times-Standard. It took me knowing him for decades to learn that he was a champion sprinter...in Compton, Calif....in high school. He was involved in athletics at Humboldt State after he got out of the military. He didn't talk about himself and, I imagine, will never want to talk about himself. In fact, Don doesn't like people who make themselves the star of the story. Nothing made Don cringe like hearing somebody taking credit for, say, making the Humboldt Crabs a nationally-known summer baseball program.
"Louie built the Crabs," Don told me, referring to Lou Bonomini. "If it wasn't for Louie, there'd have been no Crabs...not like they were. What a laugh! (Somebody else) saying he helped Louie build the Crabs."
The late Lou Bonomini wouldn't have promoted himself either.
As written previously, Don probably tolerated working with me...as I tolerated being a kid working for a guy I thought was too old-school for modern newspapering. (I didn't just start being an idiot. I've been an idiot for years!)
Then, a funny thing happened, I was all of a sudden a married man, with two kids who worked as sports editor of the Times-Standard. All of a sudden, I saw Don in a different light. He wasn't just the guy who was the timekeeper at the epic amateur fight cards at Municipal Auditorium or the guy who traveled with Humboldt State College's football teams in their glory years -- including the 1968 Camellia Bowl season when the Lumberjacks beat Fresno State. Don stopped being my boss and the Crabs scorekeeper, announcer and vice-president. Don was suddenly sort of a role model.
Since I was always right and everybody else was wrong, I took the job offer from a Southern California newspaper in the 1980s and left Eureka. Remember, Don passed on job offers to stay in Eureka, keep a low profile and live a quiet, productive life with his wife Tina and three children. After a couple years on what was the comparative newspaper fast track, I had a stack of clips from covering Magic's "Showtime" Lakers and the Los Angeles Rams. I'd covered the Rose Bowl and a Super Bowl -- and stopped thinking it was all that big a deal to stand in line at the Dodger Stadium media buffett behind Vin Scully.
When my kids were in school and I realized I couldn't take a five-mile run without the air quality in SoCal wrecking me for days, I realized...the big-time wasn't what it was made out to be. It hit me that, sure, I was on track to be a beat writer for some team -- just like I'd wanted to be -- but, that beat writers travel and travel would take me away from my kids. How could I coach my kids in youth sports or go to their school functions if I was covering the L.A. Clippers in Detroit in December?
That's when I realized that the guy I thought was wrong turned out to be absolutely right. Don Terbush did what I didn't realize I wanted to do...he put his lifestyle and his family ahead of the need to be in what is perceived as a more glamouros job. I never asked Don where could have worked, but just about any newspaper offers more perceived glamour than the T/S offers, right?
I didn't return to Eureka to work in newspapers, but that's where I wound up. I stumbled, almost literally, back into the sports editor's job. I was happy to have gotten a second chance at getting my priorities straight. I'd never cover the major sports, but I'd never miss a parent-teacher conference either. I'd have to listen to parents mock me for how I did my job, but I still got to coach my kids and their friends. It wasn't exactly as smooth as Don made it look but I did wind up using his career and choices as a model for my own.
It was a revelation when I admitted that, after years of thinking he was old-fashioned and not really interested, I admitted...I'd followed in Don's footsteps because I decided that he made choices that were really wise.
Don put up with all the same headaches other small-market editors face. He just handled it with more dignity than, well, I did. We were generations apart. So, he put friendships with coaches and players first...he got along with everybody I ever saw him deal with. If he didn't get along with them, you wouldn't know it unless he said something well after he'd dealt with folks. Me? I was intent on putting a premium on opinion and more pointed feature stories and ... making myself a target for people who don't like opinions or pointed features.
Don avoided those critical pieces and wrote "Sideline Slants." I used to cringe at the formula he used to write that column, but one day I realized that one of the true highlights of my young life was when I got mentioned in a Sunday "Sideline Slants." So...I forgot my roots. I forgot what was so cool about the Times-Standard. Nobody read my column and thought, "Oh, gosh...Ted Sillanpaa mentioned me!" But, when I was playing briefly on the baseball team at College of the Redwoods and broke my finger, Don mentioned the injury and quoted coach Tom Giacomini about my being sidelined and when I might return. Truly...that was a highlight in my life! I made "Sideline Slants."
Of course, I didn't remember the wonderful place "Sideline Slants" had in Humboldt County until I'd already become a target...often on purpose. My bad! I couldn't go back to write "Sideline Slants: 1997," you know? I had a reputation that, I guess, lots of people hated. But, it was mine and I stuck to it. I secretly wished I had a reputation like the one Don built.
I used to talk to Don when he'd come in to write that fishing column that, by God, cannot be his legacy, you know? He'd ask about my kids. I'd talk and he'd listen. And, eventually, I noticed he wasn't giving me advice...but he was giving me a chance to learn from him if I really paid attention.
And...no...I'm sure Don didn't stop and think, "Ted's really messed up! I'll try to help him out." Don wouldn't impose his beliefs on anybody. But, I know I learned about being a dad and dealing with life and the profession just talking to him when I was, finally, able to hear what other people were saying.
I have little discipline and, sadly, give up easily on tough tasks. Don is disciplined and diligent to the point I used to see him walking the same course...around his neighborhood and along a street that bordered my neighborhood...ever day, at the same time. He never walked faster. He never walked slower. But, by God, Don Terbush always walked. I started to think that just doing it ... everyday...the same way...was really commendable. I admired that in Don.
Don and I weren't close enough for me to know if he was a good, great, average or indifferent father. He'd never talk about that stuff. It was private. But, his daughters Merriedawn and Kathy always spoke highly of him. And, he spoke proudly of his son Don and never said a bad thing about his wife Tina. (And, you'd be surprised how hard it is to spend a full day in a newspaper office without hearing somebody bitch about their spouse.)
My ex-wife did daycare for Don's granddaughter Crystal, who is the same age as my son Trent. I thought that, perhaps, Trent and Crystal would someday date and that Don and I would, perhaps, watch a football game on TV at Thanksgiving or something. I've had some crazy dreams.
Since Don's not going to get a big feature story splashed all over the T/S...because he wouldn't want to sit and talk about himself...I can leave this legacy for him...save him the hassle after causing him so much hassle over the years...
Don Terbush is a good man. He's a fine, fine writer who understood his craft and the business that is now dying. When the business started losing guys like Don, it figured that the business was headed toward its demise. If my sons had, more or less, the same virtues I saw later in life in Don ... I'd be proud of them.
Somebody, maybe the North Coast Journal, should corner Don and talks to some of his peers. His story should be told in a forum much bigger than this little thing. But, in the interim...I just want to say that Don Terbush was a solid man I am proud to have worked for and with. I owe him a debt of gratitude I could never repay...and he probably has no idea he had any impact on me at all.
That's how Don is and will always be...
Scoop was a promoter...a talker...he had stories one would expect from a character in "Guys & Dolls." He ran with former heavyweight champion Max Baer...and actually played a role in the formation and early promotion of the Humboldt Clowns traveling basketball troupe that made routine, and popular, stops in West Coast towns that the Harlem Globetrotters would never visit. Scoop knew everybody and was happy to talk and talk and talk...which was a joy for a kid who can't hear enough stories about things like the old swim stadium at Freshwater Park. (If you cross the water and get up on the bank now covered by trees, you'll see remains of old-fashioned stadium seating where residents used to enjoy aquacade water shows.)
Beal died not long after I did the interview and ran a three-part story about his life in sports.
Don Terbush would never, ever, offer to sit down and tell a writer stories about his time as sports editor of the Times-Standard. It took me knowing him for decades to learn that he was a champion sprinter...in Compton, Calif....in high school. He was involved in athletics at Humboldt State after he got out of the military. He didn't talk about himself and, I imagine, will never want to talk about himself. In fact, Don doesn't like people who make themselves the star of the story. Nothing made Don cringe like hearing somebody taking credit for, say, making the Humboldt Crabs a nationally-known summer baseball program.
"Louie built the Crabs," Don told me, referring to Lou Bonomini. "If it wasn't for Louie, there'd have been no Crabs...not like they were. What a laugh! (Somebody else) saying he helped Louie build the Crabs."
The late Lou Bonomini wouldn't have promoted himself either.
As written previously, Don probably tolerated working with me...as I tolerated being a kid working for a guy I thought was too old-school for modern newspapering. (I didn't just start being an idiot. I've been an idiot for years!)
Then, a funny thing happened, I was all of a sudden a married man, with two kids who worked as sports editor of the Times-Standard. All of a sudden, I saw Don in a different light. He wasn't just the guy who was the timekeeper at the epic amateur fight cards at Municipal Auditorium or the guy who traveled with Humboldt State College's football teams in their glory years -- including the 1968 Camellia Bowl season when the Lumberjacks beat Fresno State. Don stopped being my boss and the Crabs scorekeeper, announcer and vice-president. Don was suddenly sort of a role model.
Since I was always right and everybody else was wrong, I took the job offer from a Southern California newspaper in the 1980s and left Eureka. Remember, Don passed on job offers to stay in Eureka, keep a low profile and live a quiet, productive life with his wife Tina and three children. After a couple years on what was the comparative newspaper fast track, I had a stack of clips from covering Magic's "Showtime" Lakers and the Los Angeles Rams. I'd covered the Rose Bowl and a Super Bowl -- and stopped thinking it was all that big a deal to stand in line at the Dodger Stadium media buffett behind Vin Scully.
When my kids were in school and I realized I couldn't take a five-mile run without the air quality in SoCal wrecking me for days, I realized...the big-time wasn't what it was made out to be. It hit me that, sure, I was on track to be a beat writer for some team -- just like I'd wanted to be -- but, that beat writers travel and travel would take me away from my kids. How could I coach my kids in youth sports or go to their school functions if I was covering the L.A. Clippers in Detroit in December?
That's when I realized that the guy I thought was wrong turned out to be absolutely right. Don Terbush did what I didn't realize I wanted to do...he put his lifestyle and his family ahead of the need to be in what is perceived as a more glamouros job. I never asked Don where could have worked, but just about any newspaper offers more perceived glamour than the T/S offers, right?
I didn't return to Eureka to work in newspapers, but that's where I wound up. I stumbled, almost literally, back into the sports editor's job. I was happy to have gotten a second chance at getting my priorities straight. I'd never cover the major sports, but I'd never miss a parent-teacher conference either. I'd have to listen to parents mock me for how I did my job, but I still got to coach my kids and their friends. It wasn't exactly as smooth as Don made it look but I did wind up using his career and choices as a model for my own.
It was a revelation when I admitted that, after years of thinking he was old-fashioned and not really interested, I admitted...I'd followed in Don's footsteps because I decided that he made choices that were really wise.
Don put up with all the same headaches other small-market editors face. He just handled it with more dignity than, well, I did. We were generations apart. So, he put friendships with coaches and players first...he got along with everybody I ever saw him deal with. If he didn't get along with them, you wouldn't know it unless he said something well after he'd dealt with folks. Me? I was intent on putting a premium on opinion and more pointed feature stories and ... making myself a target for people who don't like opinions or pointed features.
Don avoided those critical pieces and wrote "Sideline Slants." I used to cringe at the formula he used to write that column, but one day I realized that one of the true highlights of my young life was when I got mentioned in a Sunday "Sideline Slants." So...I forgot my roots. I forgot what was so cool about the Times-Standard. Nobody read my column and thought, "Oh, gosh...Ted Sillanpaa mentioned me!" But, when I was playing briefly on the baseball team at College of the Redwoods and broke my finger, Don mentioned the injury and quoted coach Tom Giacomini about my being sidelined and when I might return. Truly...that was a highlight in my life! I made "Sideline Slants."
Of course, I didn't remember the wonderful place "Sideline Slants" had in Humboldt County until I'd already become a target...often on purpose. My bad! I couldn't go back to write "Sideline Slants: 1997," you know? I had a reputation that, I guess, lots of people hated. But, it was mine and I stuck to it. I secretly wished I had a reputation like the one Don built.
I used to talk to Don when he'd come in to write that fishing column that, by God, cannot be his legacy, you know? He'd ask about my kids. I'd talk and he'd listen. And, eventually, I noticed he wasn't giving me advice...but he was giving me a chance to learn from him if I really paid attention.
And...no...I'm sure Don didn't stop and think, "Ted's really messed up! I'll try to help him out." Don wouldn't impose his beliefs on anybody. But, I know I learned about being a dad and dealing with life and the profession just talking to him when I was, finally, able to hear what other people were saying.
I have little discipline and, sadly, give up easily on tough tasks. Don is disciplined and diligent to the point I used to see him walking the same course...around his neighborhood and along a street that bordered my neighborhood...ever day, at the same time. He never walked faster. He never walked slower. But, by God, Don Terbush always walked. I started to think that just doing it ... everyday...the same way...was really commendable. I admired that in Don.
Don and I weren't close enough for me to know if he was a good, great, average or indifferent father. He'd never talk about that stuff. It was private. But, his daughters Merriedawn and Kathy always spoke highly of him. And, he spoke proudly of his son Don and never said a bad thing about his wife Tina. (And, you'd be surprised how hard it is to spend a full day in a newspaper office without hearing somebody bitch about their spouse.)
My ex-wife did daycare for Don's granddaughter Crystal, who is the same age as my son Trent. I thought that, perhaps, Trent and Crystal would someday date and that Don and I would, perhaps, watch a football game on TV at Thanksgiving or something. I've had some crazy dreams.
Since Don's not going to get a big feature story splashed all over the T/S...because he wouldn't want to sit and talk about himself...I can leave this legacy for him...save him the hassle after causing him so much hassle over the years...
Don Terbush is a good man. He's a fine, fine writer who understood his craft and the business that is now dying. When the business started losing guys like Don, it figured that the business was headed toward its demise. If my sons had, more or less, the same virtues I saw later in life in Don ... I'd be proud of them.
Somebody, maybe the North Coast Journal, should corner Don and talks to some of his peers. His story should be told in a forum much bigger than this little thing. But, in the interim...I just want to say that Don Terbush was a solid man I am proud to have worked for and with. I owe him a debt of gratitude I could never repay...and he probably has no idea he had any impact on me at all.
That's how Don is and will always be...
Sunday, February 01, 2009
Don Terbush
If you've spent years gnashing your teeth of things I've written that appeared in North Coast publications, blame Merriedawn Terbush.
For being one of the nicest girls/women I've ever known, and for having known her since we were in high school, I should know how to spell her first name. But, see, Don Terbush's daughter was "Merd" to her friends. So, I called her "Merd," too. She sort of outgrew "Merd" and I once gave great thought to calling her by her given name. (Boys were aware of being stuck in the dreaded "Friend Zone" in the 1970s, too, and I didn't want to be pigeon-holed as just her pal at one point. And...now I've spilled a deep secret...moving on...)
I should know her married name, too. But, I haven't seen her much over the years so...I probably shouldn't have brought up the whole "Friend Zone" thing and ... never mind.
Where was I?
Oh, my mother died when I was going to College of the Redwoods. I was 17 1/2 and working at Cutten Supermarket when Merd came by to tell me that her dad was going to be looking for a part-time sports writer. She said I should go talk to him. And, oh, did my mom love Merriedawn! She routinely, from the time she got to know her, would mention that I was a "jackass" for messing around with other girls and date with "Merd." I never argued the point, never disputed it. I just pointed out that there was the small problem of other boys, other girls and having to ask somebody I actually liked on a date ... out of the blue ... at which point my mom mumbled, "You are such a (*&^%^ jackass" and walked off.
Don hired me to take the part-time job Merriedawn mentioned and I began making his very, very comfortable professional life a pain. He didn't really want to mentor part-time guys. He was distant, as a man who'd been in the business for many, many years should be when dealing with a 17-year-old who wanted to be Woodward or Bernstein -- or both. I learned to write quickly by having Don tell me, "You have to stop writing now." I learned to write short stories on deadline, without leaving any facts out, by having Don just cut my stories wherever he needed to cut them to fill the hole on the page.
You'd be amazed at how quickly a young writer catches onto the idea that he shouldn't save key facts for way down a story once he picks up a newspaper to read his 15-inch story and sees that only 10 inches of it made it into the newspaper. And, to Don's credit, I completely got it. Write quickly and write to fit.
I used to fight, in a passive-aggressive way, the weekly feature story assignments Don and his full-time guy Mike Jessie came up with for me. It would begin a long fight against authority that, as the song says, authority always wins. I didn't get important enough feature assignments for Don to fight me about them, so if he wanted a story about two Hoopa High wrestlers and I did a McKinleyville boxer -- he would just grunt and remind me that he was still waiting for the wrestlers' story.
Mostly, I didnt talk to Don Terbush because he had what was my dream job. I know. Weird. My dream job, once I realized I wouldn't play center field for the San Francisco Giants, was to be sport editor of the Times-Standard. I grew up reading the T/S and Don's column, "Sideline Slants." People talk about how much local sports news they read in small papers today, but there was a time when our Eureka Midget League baseball game stories appeared in the next day's newspaper. The JV basketball box score ran right below the varsity box score and, honest, they didn't have a bigger staff back then. They just put a premium on reporting the news when it was fresh and honestly believed that "names made news" and, moreover, that names sold newspapers.
I remember hearing that Don passed up job opportunities in bigger towns, at better newspapers. I thought that was about the most ridiculous damned thing I'd ever heard. I was 13, 14 years old at the time. I vowed that I would try to become the sports editor of the Times-Standard first, but that I'd blow town and head for the biggest publication, in the biggest town, the minute I had the chance. I scoffed, as much as a teenager can scoff, at the idea that Don passed those jobs so he could raise his family in Eureka.
Of course, I didn't realize that newspaper guys live a nomadic life. They bounce around and they don't coach Little League or go to dance recitals. The sports editor of the small market paper has the time to live a normal life. The NFL beat writer becomes famous and makes big money, but he doesn't get to many of his kids' functions or spend much time with his family in the fall and winter -- or early spring.
Naturally, I didn't figure that out until I'd bounced around and landed in Eureka...at the Times-Standard...having shunned Southern California and that job market...and wound up as sports editor of the Times-Standard for a second time. I barely filled Don's shoes the first time on the job. I was young and impulsive and not organized. So, when I got a second chance to do my dream job, I was better ready.
This isn't the whole story. I'm going to write more because I haven't spoken to Don since I left Eureka in 2000. And, despite the rocky start, I've learned over time that he had much more of an impact on my life than he would have dreamed or I would've imagined. And, he's just a good guy who raised a good family and did good things in the community and I don't want him to be remembered as the guy who wrote the fishing column.
Don Terbush couldn't care less what people think of him. He's a confident man, cool actually. He was a great athlete in his youth in Southern California and Humboldt State.
For being one of the nicest girls/women I've ever known, and for having known her since we were in high school, I should know how to spell her first name. But, see, Don Terbush's daughter was "Merd" to her friends. So, I called her "Merd," too. She sort of outgrew "Merd" and I once gave great thought to calling her by her given name. (Boys were aware of being stuck in the dreaded "Friend Zone" in the 1970s, too, and I didn't want to be pigeon-holed as just her pal at one point. And...now I've spilled a deep secret...moving on...)
I should know her married name, too. But, I haven't seen her much over the years so...I probably shouldn't have brought up the whole "Friend Zone" thing and ... never mind.
Where was I?
Oh, my mother died when I was going to College of the Redwoods. I was 17 1/2 and working at Cutten Supermarket when Merd came by to tell me that her dad was going to be looking for a part-time sports writer. She said I should go talk to him. And, oh, did my mom love Merriedawn! She routinely, from the time she got to know her, would mention that I was a "jackass" for messing around with other girls and date with "Merd." I never argued the point, never disputed it. I just pointed out that there was the small problem of other boys, other girls and having to ask somebody I actually liked on a date ... out of the blue ... at which point my mom mumbled, "You are such a (*&^%^ jackass" and walked off.
Don hired me to take the part-time job Merriedawn mentioned and I began making his very, very comfortable professional life a pain. He didn't really want to mentor part-time guys. He was distant, as a man who'd been in the business for many, many years should be when dealing with a 17-year-old who wanted to be Woodward or Bernstein -- or both. I learned to write quickly by having Don tell me, "You have to stop writing now." I learned to write short stories on deadline, without leaving any facts out, by having Don just cut my stories wherever he needed to cut them to fill the hole on the page.
You'd be amazed at how quickly a young writer catches onto the idea that he shouldn't save key facts for way down a story once he picks up a newspaper to read his 15-inch story and sees that only 10 inches of it made it into the newspaper. And, to Don's credit, I completely got it. Write quickly and write to fit.
I used to fight, in a passive-aggressive way, the weekly feature story assignments Don and his full-time guy Mike Jessie came up with for me. It would begin a long fight against authority that, as the song says, authority always wins. I didn't get important enough feature assignments for Don to fight me about them, so if he wanted a story about two Hoopa High wrestlers and I did a McKinleyville boxer -- he would just grunt and remind me that he was still waiting for the wrestlers' story.
Mostly, I didnt talk to Don Terbush because he had what was my dream job. I know. Weird. My dream job, once I realized I wouldn't play center field for the San Francisco Giants, was to be sport editor of the Times-Standard. I grew up reading the T/S and Don's column, "Sideline Slants." People talk about how much local sports news they read in small papers today, but there was a time when our Eureka Midget League baseball game stories appeared in the next day's newspaper. The JV basketball box score ran right below the varsity box score and, honest, they didn't have a bigger staff back then. They just put a premium on reporting the news when it was fresh and honestly believed that "names made news" and, moreover, that names sold newspapers.
I remember hearing that Don passed up job opportunities in bigger towns, at better newspapers. I thought that was about the most ridiculous damned thing I'd ever heard. I was 13, 14 years old at the time. I vowed that I would try to become the sports editor of the Times-Standard first, but that I'd blow town and head for the biggest publication, in the biggest town, the minute I had the chance. I scoffed, as much as a teenager can scoff, at the idea that Don passed those jobs so he could raise his family in Eureka.
Of course, I didn't realize that newspaper guys live a nomadic life. They bounce around and they don't coach Little League or go to dance recitals. The sports editor of the small market paper has the time to live a normal life. The NFL beat writer becomes famous and makes big money, but he doesn't get to many of his kids' functions or spend much time with his family in the fall and winter -- or early spring.
Naturally, I didn't figure that out until I'd bounced around and landed in Eureka...at the Times-Standard...having shunned Southern California and that job market...and wound up as sports editor of the Times-Standard for a second time. I barely filled Don's shoes the first time on the job. I was young and impulsive and not organized. So, when I got a second chance to do my dream job, I was better ready.
This isn't the whole story. I'm going to write more because I haven't spoken to Don since I left Eureka in 2000. And, despite the rocky start, I've learned over time that he had much more of an impact on my life than he would have dreamed or I would've imagined. And, he's just a good guy who raised a good family and did good things in the community and I don't want him to be remembered as the guy who wrote the fishing column.
Don Terbush couldn't care less what people think of him. He's a confident man, cool actually. He was a great athlete in his youth in Southern California and Humboldt State.
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Some more college athletes from the H-DNL, courtesy of readers...
Jim Berning, Montana basketball
Mike and Ron Spini, University of Washington baseball
Stacey Morgan U Washington baseball
Rick Lundblade, Stanford baseball.
Rob Harrison, Sac State football
**Harrison initially accepted a full scholarship to play at San Diego State University out of Eureka High School.
Kenny Maire - Cal baseball