San Marcos track loses a beloved coach in Watkins

With 200 athletes, San Marcos High’s track program is no small fish. 

It wasn’t always that way. 

There were well under half that many kids who came out for the program in the mid-1990s, but Richard Watkins took the reins in 1996 and built it to what it is today. 

“I think it was just his love of the sport. He wanted to include all kids regardless of their abilities. He basically got the program up and running again,” said current Royals track coach Marilyn
Hantgin, who was brought to San Marcos by Coach Watkins in 1997. 

Sadly, Watkins passed away on September 10th at the age of 41 after a long and courageous battle with Multiple Myeloma. It was a battle that began six years ago, when he walked into Dr. Mark Brisby’s office in search of some chiropractic and physical therapy work on a painful area in his back. As it turned out, the pain was being caused by a tumor. 

“He talked to me on several occasions throughout the illness about just trying to get stronger, but he just couldn’t,” said Brisby. “Every time you’d see him you didn’t think of him as being sick, but he very much was.” 

He had to give up his post at San Marcos after the diagnosis, but his legacy is something that the program’s current coaches still carry strongly. Cross-country coach Lawrence Stehmeier was choked up immediately when he began speaking of his friend at this week’s Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table press luncheon. 

“We lost a good friend, a great coach, and my mentor,” he said. “He was the first person I coached with, and my program is what it is today because of him. I just want to publically say that we miss him and we appreciate all he did for our sport and for our school.” 

Kellie Pearson, mother of former Royal and current University of Oregon sprinter Lyndsay Pearson, recalled fondly what kind of coach he was. 

“He stressed the importance of hard work and personal growth, choosing not to focus on winning but rather the PR, personal record of the athlete,” she said. 

Pearson also said that Coach Watkins was known for his music collection, and would often try to pick “the perfect song” to play on a team van ride or right before a race. 

“He once picked the song ‘Superman’ (by Five For Fighting) for Lyndsay right before she raced for the 2005 state track meet. It was a song that could have fit his life and battle with cancer,” she said. 

Hantgin said that Watkins always left a lasting impression on the athletes he coached, and that many graduates would return to the high school to see him later on. 

“He really just touched these kids in a special way,” she said. “He hired a coaching staff that he knew would really care about the kids. He was really a great guy.“ 

Coach Watkins, a San Diego native and UC San Diego graduate, married wife Shannon in 2003, and the two had two young children. Daughter Mackenzie was born in 1996 and son Cooper two years later. 

Services will be held Saturday, September 26th at 10:00 AM at the Free Methodist Church on Cliff Drive in Santa Barbara. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to area Santa Barbara Bank & Trust branches for Mackenzie and Cooper Watkins, c/o Richard Watkins.