What’s in a nickname?
To Ray Schaack, there was a lot.
That was just one of the many memories of the former SBCC football coach shared by another legendary Vaquero coach, Bob Dinaberg, at Monday’s Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table luncheon.
Schaack, who spent many a season coaching and teaching in the community, passed away last week at the age of 70.
“He had nicknames for everybody. One person was ‘Hoss’, one person was ‘Crusher’ Spencer Lyman was ‘Panther’, and he kept these names for these people for years and years,” said Dinaberg.
To read more about Schaack’s life, see Dave Loveton’s article at http://sbcc.edu/athletics.
In honor of nicknames, it’s safe to say that this month’s Scholar Athlete Award recipient, Ken Myers of Santa Barbara High, could appropriately be tabbed “Renaissance Man.”
The Dons water-polo player has a 4.77 GPA, was the only freshman in AP Calculus and AP Physics, is a tutor for his peers at SBHS, is a member of the math team, and serves as a captain on the mock trial team.
He’s also a heck of a water-polo player, having been named an All-American at the Junior Olympics and an Athlete of the Month for the Santa Barbara Water Polo Club.
“He’s a coach’s dream,” said Dons mentor Mark Walsh from the back of the room.
Myers’ proud parents and grandparents were at Harry’s to share the moment with him.
Male Athlete of the Week Randy Person should simply be dubbed “Six” as in six points for a touchdown. He appropriately had six touchdowns in Saturday’s 57-34 8-man win against visiting crosstown rival Laguna Blanca.
Cate Athletic Director and assistant football coach Wade Ransom also brought along quarterback Michael McMahon, who had 36 carries on Saturday and played offense, defense and kicker.
“He knew he played a heck of a game when he woke up Sunday morning,” said Ransom of his sore star.
Female Athlete of the Week Anna Samson could be called “The Big Drop” for her achievements on the golf course. The Dos Pueblos senior has shaved 20 strokes off of her nine-hole score since her sophomore season, something that coach Rob Schiff described as “ridiculous.”
She shot even-par and one-over in two weeks for the Chargers this week.
Riley St. Clair merits the common nickname “Clutch” for his magical toe, which has produced two game-winning field goals for the SBCC football team in the past two weeks. This one, a 46-yarder, gave SBCC its first-ever victory at Santa Monica as well as the first road win for the Vaqs in two years.
Coach Craig Moropoulos offered condolences to Schaack’s family and had some heartfelt thoughts about the late coach.
“Anyone who was fortunate to play on a team coached by Ray understood what passion in coaching is all about,” he said.
Moropoulos was accompanied by Jeff “Workaholic” Santarosa and a duo that deserves the title “pick twins” as they both had interceptions in the win. They are safeties Lamont Dupree and Matt Rakowski.
San Marcos coach Dare Holdren’s moniker should be “Chuckles,” because that’s what he draws nearly every time he stands behind the podium. This week, he began by discussing how much larger Ventura was than the Royals in Friday’s loss. Running back Cody Clark had a county-record 99-yard run in the contest.
“Our guards are as big as their quarterback… I see one of their tackles is here too today,” he said, pointing to the large bison’s head mounted on the wall above him.
Holdren was accompanied by standout receiver Austin Nichols and offensive lineman Austin Allain. The Royals host Dos Pueblos on Friday.
Carpinteria was also facing a bigger opponent on Friday—well, bigger as far as roster size. The 21-man Warrior brigade should be called “The Ironmen” for what they’ve been going through on the field, with Friday night’s 21-14 loss after a taking a 14-0 lead no exception.
Tony Sanchez, whose father and grandfather also played for Carpinteria, was inside the lines for all 114 plays in the game, while Graham Craddock saw action on 104.
They certainly deserved an extra helping at the Harry’s buffet.
Unfortunately for coach Pete Kirkwood and the UCSB women’s tennis team, Jill Damien is not an iron woman. The potential top singles player is recovering from wrist surgery, but has been at every practice helping Kirkwood as much as possible. Damien’s competition for the No. 1 spot is Natalia Lozano, a freshman from Spain who had not left her native country before her recruiting trip to UCSB. She also added a trip to Hawaii last week in the teams tournament on Oahu.
“When we get on these road trips to Northridge and Stockton, she’s going to a little dose of reality,” said Kirkwood.
Coach Kara Warkentin and the San Marcos girls tennis team have a tough week ahead, with Santa Barbara on tap for Tuesday and Cate on Wednesday. The Royals are 9-4 on the year with much thanks to a pair of 4.5-GPA players who have formed quite a doubles squad. Amy Ransohoff and Christine Pearson are 30-7 in sets on the year.
Bishop Diego’s tennis team has clinched its first Frontier League title since 1979, and athletic director Dan Peeters extended kudos to coach Suzanne Petrie for her four years with the team and the success the Cardinals have had. Let’s call the Cardinal players in attendance the “Three Amigos” for their three years of involvement with the program. They are Brittany Gignac, Mary Breen and Devon Stein, and all have strong work ethics that have helped make the team what it is.
Ray Robitaille’s team is in a similar situation to Carpinteria in that the roster could use a little inflation. The Owls also had a halftime lead against rival Cate, but simply couldn’t keep up in the second half. Robitaille is nonetheless thankful that the 8-man scene Laguna brought to town 10 years ago is what it is with thanks to quality programs like Cate.
“They have probably the nicest facilities north of Oaks Christian. It’s just a beautiful place,” he said. “That Saturday was everything we’ve talked about as getting the 8-man scene back in the Condor League.”
Robitaille was accompanied by quarterback Connor Murphy, and on the receiving end of one of Murphy’s three touchdown passes was Chris Bremner.
Bishop Diego had the undesirable task of facing Oaks Christian this week, and the score against the Lions is almost never the story, as the powerhouse program is just a bit too much for the rest of the Tri-Valley League to handle. Having Joe Montana’s son as a starting quarterback hints at what kind of program is being run down there.
Assistant coach Mark Capritto said there are certain things to take away from the game, nonetheless.
Carpinteria coach Hazelton actually pointed out one of those things that he noticed when watching tape of the game, and praised freshman Brandon Gonzales, who stepped in to fill in at guard just before the game. He also played defensive back and linebacker.
“Oaks Christian is the best I’ve ever seen them. They’re a fabulous football team,” said Hazelton. “Bishop had a freshman quarterback playing on the defensive line, and we watched him jump up on a play and run full-tilt into a couple of 275-pound lineman and just fearlessly try to hold himself in front of those guys… My hat’s off to that kid.”
Freshman J.D. Yonke also played some valuable minutes against Oaks Christian, having joined Gonzales in playing Oaks Christian’s JV on Thursday and the varsity on Friday.
“They got two days and two games against Oaks Christian, which is pretty rough,” said Capritto.
Coach Jeff Uyesaka’s DP Chargers were in a much closer game, but ultimately fell in a crosstown showdown with Santa Barbara 29-17.
“It was consolation for us that we held them to under 30 points,” said Uyesaka of the Dons’ high-octane offense, which is averaging over 30 points per game.
Tyler McGahee, a receiver and defensive back, is part of the leadership program as is Leo Ybarra, who starts at receiver and is also an excellent holder.
“He takes a snap and puts it down as well as anyone I’ve ever seen,” said Uyesaka.
Dons coach Will Gonzales called it “an honor” to be playing in crosstown games against the Royals and Chargers, praising the DP defense for doing a great job.
Gonzales highlighted the defensive game plan of coach Jaime Malgoza, and brought along receiver/defensive back Andrew Mendoza and offensive guard Luis Obispo.
DPs tennis team is 14-2 and is coming off of a big win against Calabasas. She brought along “The Perseverance Pair” of Oriane Matthys and Nicoletta Bradley, who were thrown together at the beginning of the season and have overcome many deficits since then.
If there were a nickname for a story highlighting all of these athletes’ many achievements, it would be “Impossibly Long.”
