April 19, 2023 • 49 mins
Episode 77 of the 1544 Miles to Omaha podcast features a conversation with former Titan Baseball player, Assistant Coach and Head Coach, George Horton.
On Friday, April 21, 2023, George Horton's number 8 jersey number will be retired during a pre-game ceremony prior to the opening of the Cal State Fullerton vs. Cal State Bakersfield series.
As player, Horton wore the number 8 from 1975 and 1976 and as a coach from 1991 to 2007. After Horton departed in 2007, a handful of players have worn the number 8 but no one ever will moving forward.
We took this opportunity to speak with Coach Horton and give him the opportunity to thank those that have helped him get to this point, He also reflected on some of his successes as a coach and as a mentor while also thanking those that were integral not only in the team's success on the field but his own.
Highlights include:
🎙️ Reflections on No. 8 getting retired (2:38)
🎙️ Preview of the festivities planned (5:41)
🎙️ Experiences with Team USA (8:39)
🎙️ Retiring number idea came from Coach Dietrich (12:07)
🎙️ Establishing a criteria to get a number retired (16:50)
🎙️ Jason Dietrich efforts to welcome in Titan Baseball alumni (21:13)
🎙️ Number retired in Dietrich's second year (23:50)
🎙️ ABCA Hall of Fame induction (28:36)
🎙️ Former players successful outside of baseball (33:39)
🎙️ Thanks to all that brought him to this point (43:05)
▶️ Visit our website: https://www.calstateomaha.com/calstateomaha.com
▶️ Follow us on Twitter: @CalStateOmaha
▶️ Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/calstateomaha
▶️ Follow us on Instagram: @calstateomaha
▶️ Follow George Horton on Twitter: @G_Horton8
▶️ Suggest a guest: CalStateOmaha@Gmail.com
On Friday, April 21, 2023, George Horton's number 8 jersey number will be retired during a pre-game ceremony prior to the opening of the Cal State Fullerton vs. Cal State Bakersfield series.
As player, Horton wore the number 8 from 1975 and 1976 and as a coach from 1991 to 2007. After Horton departed in 2007, a handful of players have worn the number 8 but no one ever will moving forward.
We took this opportunity to speak with Coach Horton and give him the opportunity to thank those that have helped him get to this point, He also reflected on some of his successes as a coach and as a mentor while also thanking those that were integral not only in the team's success on the field but his own.
Highlights include:
🎙️ Reflections on No. 8 getting retired (2:38)
🎙️ Preview of the festivities planned (5:41)
🎙️ Experiences with Team USA (8:39)
🎙️ Retiring number idea came from Coach Dietrich (12:07)
🎙️ Establishing a criteria to get a number retired (16:50)
🎙️ Jason Dietrich efforts to welcome in Titan Baseball alumni (21:13)
🎙️ Number retired in Dietrich's second year (23:50)
🎙️ ABCA Hall of Fame induction (28:36)
🎙️ Former players successful outside of baseball (33:39)
🎙️ Thanks to all that brought him to this point (43:05)
▶️ Visit our website: https://www.calstateomaha.com/calstateomaha.com
▶️ Follow us on Twitter: @CalStateOmaha
▶️ Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/calstateomaha
▶️ Follow us on Instagram: @calstateomaha
▶️ Follow George Horton on Twitter: @G_Horton8
▶️ Suggest a guest: CalStateOmaha@Gmail.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Cal States four tennis done. They'vegone from fifteen and sixteen the championship college
faceball. Welcome to the fifteen hundredforty four miles to Omaha podcast talking about
(00:21):
the past, present, and futureof cal State Bulletin Baseball. Three two
pitch on Davis is a fastball hitsa left in deep blazer, doesn't even
go back on it. It's thatbar out and gone. Looked like it
went over the storeboard. A wholerun by J. D. Davis.
(00:41):
Hold two swinging out of this straight. Three cal State fulle ten is on
to the College World a series.Here's your host, Dave Lamb. Welcome
into episode seventy seven of the fifteenforty four miles podcast. Today's guest he
is former Titan baseball player, assistantcoach and head coach George Horton. On
(01:06):
Friday April twenty first, two andtwenty three, George Horton's number eight jersey
will be retired during a pregame ceremonyprior to the opening of the cal State
Fullerton versus cal State Bakersfield series.As a player, Horton war number eight
from nineteen seventy five to nineteen seventysix and as a coach from nineteen ninety
one to two thousand and seven.After Horton departed in two thousand and seven,
a handful of players have worn thenumber eight, but no one ever
(01:30):
will moving forward. So welcome intothe podcast, George. Yeah, thanks,
Dave. So I wanted to leteverybody know that we're out here in
your backyard. So if we dohear a little construction from the neighbors,
or if the dog comes out,we hear from jangling and jangling, we
might have that, but you know, it's a beautiful day here in your
well into California. So one ofthe reasons what we wanted to talk to
you about the podcast or talked toon the podcast is because whenever thing's like
(01:53):
getting your number retired or induction intoa Hall of Fame something like that,
the recipient usually only has a fewminutes to thank and recognize people who helped
them to get to that point.So during the course of our conversation,
feel free to bring up those thatwere integral and to getting you to this
point and who have helped you alongthe way. But first, did you
ever think that you'd be here gettingyour number eight retired from a university that
(02:14):
you not only played for, buthelped coach to an eventual national championship.
Now, I was actually talking toa couple of actual roommate teammates this morning
about how unbelievable it is and howunbelievable this event will be because of relationships
and bringing, you know, essentiallya reunion for my era of players that
(02:37):
were blessed enough to play at cowState Fullerton. And then of course the
relationship that's maintained itself for fifty yearsand what a blessing that's been to not
only play baseball there but get toknow those guys. And then the great
memories that we were revisiting this morningtalking while we needed there for a set
(03:01):
of legendary coaches and legendary teachers,and who knows at that age would impact
that period of time in your lifemakes But now reflecting back and what it
set me up to do for mycareer and my life today, I pinched
myself and thanked myself. And likemany young people, I could have gone
(03:25):
in many different directions. And that'swhy I think the symbolic part of the
number being retired is all of usthat had the opportunity to play Titan baseball,
people that wore eight before me andafter me, but also everybody that
(03:49):
influenced my life in such a positiveway that I chose the road that set
me up for a career and alifetime of great, great memory. He's
that I'm still experiencing today and theadvantage of those relationships and me and a
coach of a sport with obviously ahigh standard and great young people that we
(04:15):
continue to network and know what eachother doing, and it's a big part
of my life. I have agreat family, and my extended family is
a Titan Oregon family and Sardo's family, and just count my blessings. But
to think that I was going tobe prominent enough that they would single me
(04:39):
out in all the greats that playedtheir coach they're taught there is unbelievable to
me. Can you give us alittle bit of a sneak preview. The
ceremony is going to start at fivethirty there. The Tight Athletics department is
encouraging everybody to be in their seatsby five thirty. That's when the ceremony
is going to start, and thenthe game is for six o'clock that night.
(05:01):
Can you give us a little bitof a sneak peak of what people
can expect. And if people areon the edge of wanting to be able
to try to take the day offof work or get out of work early
so they can be there in time, what can we expect. Yeah,
you and I were talking about youknow, the Friday night represents a problem
for some people that want to getthere at the very beginning. I believe
the ceremony is going to start rightat five thirty. I've talked briefly to
(05:24):
Coach Dietrich and the Fullerton administrators aboutthe concept that they put together. I
don't have all the countdown sheets andso forth, but I think the concept
is great. Hopefully everybody can maybeget off work early or cast aside their
responsibilities and make it for the ceremonypart of it. But they're gonna they've
(05:47):
extended themselves to allow all the Titanlums, which is normal. Anybody that
coach with me played for me getsa special wristband and at four thirty they're
gonna have a VIP ten on thethird base side with beverages and food,
and then they're gonna this is thispart of it was coach Dietrich's idea,
(06:10):
and I was going to suggest thatanyway. I think it's a great idea
that they're gonna march myself and everybodyon the field for the ceremony, and
I think that's very appropriate because theyI share this honor with any of those
guys that impacted me and helped me, and I learned so much for them
over the years. So the factthat they're going to stand side by side
(06:32):
with me on the field I've had. I've dug into my fatness and lost
some weight. I can actually fitinto my old Fulirton pin stripe jersey,
which is a very much of anupset and I can actually breathe when I
have it on. So they're gonnawear pin stripes at night, and Coach
Horton's going to have his pin stripeson, and my kids, Joe Camacho
(06:56):
has loaned us a bunch of jerseys, so my family immediate family are going
to have an eight jersey on andthey're going to stand by my side during
the national anthem, which is extremelyemotional for me and cool because anybody that
ever played for me knows what thenational anthem represents for me and I've cried
a bunch of times already going backto Titan games about the memories when that
(07:23):
anthem plays, and standing with CoachDietrich, the current Titan team, and
my family and my two little leagueteams that I'm an assistant coach for going
to get to run out on thefield like other little league players have done
over the years, and they're goingto be on the field too. So
pretty much everybody in my life that'simportant will be on that field with me,
(07:44):
and that field represents so much tothe Harton family. We're talking about
the national anthem. I mean,this is obviously an audio podcast, but
you're wearing a Team USA sweatshirt rightnow. I just you answered the door
when I came over wearing that sweatshirt. Talk about the connection between why that's
so special and then does it doesit harken back to the fact that you've
(08:05):
been so involved with Team USA oris it just something else? Yeah,
I think it's all of the above. You know, I had a great
opportunity in two thousand and ten,they honored me because of my history at
Rosenblatt, because of the Titan program. Of course, that their last amateur
(08:28):
game in Rosenblad was a game betweenthe collegiate national team USA and the Japanese
national team at Rosenblatt and two ofmy Duck players, Scott McGough and Tyler
Enters and that are still big leagerstoday. We're on that team. Dave
Seranto was an assistant coach on thatteam, and so they honored me to
(08:48):
be put that USA uniform on forthe first time. And I'd heard all
the stuff all of us have abouthow special that is, and of course
I'm I'm American through and through.I love America and everything it represents,
and and everybody's right, you putthat uniform on, And I wasn't a
significant coach. I was just afly on the wall so to speak,
(09:11):
and being honored so to speak thatnight day, and it was special when
that anthem plays and you have theUSA uniform on. As much as the
anthem meant so much to me overthe years, it just took it to
a whole new level. We heardthat from the WBC team this year and
Trout saying it was the greatest experiencein his professional life, and and he's
(09:33):
right. So I had two moreopportunities to do that and assistant coach in
two twelve and the head coach intwenty sixteen, and that group with a
bunch of colleagues, Coach Gill,Coach snow or right arch rival coach from
Longbach State, John Altabellium, MitchCharacter, and Jason Gill were on that
(10:01):
staff and we beat Cuba on Cubansoil for the first time in amateur history,
and that was quite an accomplishment.So I have a lot of pride
for the USA Baseball. I havea lot of pride for America, and
I buy USA stuff and part ofit is kind of leads me into tonight's
(10:22):
opportunity to be on a ESPM plusand do the game, which has been
fun for me. Almost every timea team comes in, I know the
coach or assistant coach or somebody,and so I try to find neutral apparel,
even though maybe I'll say things thatare skewed towards the Titans, because
I'm I'll always be a Titan,But so I representing America, representing my
(10:50):
past and privileges to be a coachon that great team Paul Siler and that
organization, and also try to stayneutral in my athletic guard moments that I
choose. So I'm coaching the Padresand the Rays Too youth team, so
I got to watch what I weararound town. We got American League and
nationally covered. So you're good,Yeah, exactly. Well, talking a
little bit about the ceremony upcoming,and it's fantastic that there's going to be
(11:16):
a lot of a lot of peoplefrom the past coming out in support.
But how did how did the ideaget started? Did did the athletics department
approach you and say, hey,we're coming up with this idea or you
know, how did was it allcoach Dtrich coming? Or maybe I'm just
putting words in your mouth? Imean, how did how did? How
did the ball get rolling to tocome to when we're gonna get to Friday?
(11:37):
I think the impetus came directly fromcoach Dtrich. You know, I
think he's got a certain respect forme. We worked together. We weren't
going to Omaha together, unfortunately,but the relationship was great. Our families
got to know each other. Hesaid some very complimentary things to me about
his experience of working with me andhow that's prepared him for what he's doing
(12:00):
today and I think I've fooled somepeople on my tree that I've worked with
that they have admiration and respect andlike me, opened some doors for them
to be the best parent they canbe, and the best coach they can
be, and the best educator theycan be. And so I think it
(12:20):
was his initiative of why is numbereight still being used. We've had some
political things over the years that beganin my tenure, was some discs that
we had up, and you know, we just took it upon ourselves because
we were kind of a sovereign nationamongst the academics of cal State Fullerton and
(12:45):
certainly the parking people. Was alwaysa struggle there, and so we took
it upon ourselves to recognize the giantsof Titan baseball. And so back when
I was coaching, nobody wore sixteen, Nobody war seven, nobody wore twenty
one, nobody wore eleven, twentynine was obviously a huge one. Tim
(13:07):
Wallick's a great friend of mine,and so those were the dicks. And
then there was some discussions about someof those guys didn't come back and get
their college degrees, and we're nevergoing to come back and get their college
degrees because two of them are managersin MLB and our millionaires. So you
(13:31):
know, somebody set the precedence thata number couldn't be retired unless these criteria
were met, and so it kindof dissipated a little bit. The number
eight started to get worn because ofRick Branderhood's competitive nature. He actually called
me and warned me that he wasgoing to use eight again out of respect,
(13:52):
because Justin Garza made it a bigdeal in his recruitment that he wanted
to number eight, and so beinga Titan fan and Titan I understand those
kind of recruiting demands and asked,and so there's been a lot of back
(14:13):
and forth. You know, Ican't answer the question. I should know
the answer to this, whether anybody'sworn seven since Mark's played there, or
twenty nine since Tim's played there,or twenty one since Phill's played there,
I hope not. You might knowthe answer to that, but those guys
deserve you know. You know,Aggie's and Bob Caffrey are the only two
(14:37):
official numbers retired by the university atthis point, and I become the third,
I believe. So I think Dietrichis pushing the initiative, and I
know he's had several discussions with JimDonovan, and Jim's on board with establishing
(15:00):
a criteria so that we can it'sTitan baseball going to have the crazy amount
of numbers retired that the Yankees do, or is it going to be a
real select elite group. And certainlythere has to be a big picture of
what the criteria of those honorees haveaccomplished beyond the baseball field. Well,
(15:24):
and no one's asking me, sotherefore I'm going to volunteer my opinion.
But if I was making the criteria, I would say, as a coach,
you win a national championship, youget your number retired. You're a
Golden Spikes Award winner, much likewinning the Heisman trophie. I mean,
look at like the University of Oklahoma, they build a statue. If you
win a Heisman, they build astatute. University of Alabama, same thing.
(15:46):
You win a national championship, youwin a Heisman there, do you
get a statue built to you?I would compare number retirement because obviously kel
State Fullerton doesn't have noodles and noodlesof money like Alabama and Oklahoma to build
statues to these guys. But Iwould say, if you want your number
retired and you want a national championshipor you are a Golden Spikes Award winner,
I would say that's probably the criteriabecause you don't want the Titans to
(16:08):
be like the New York Yankees,where you know, every single single digit
is gone. You know it's DerekJeter and you know Babe Ruth go down
the list. Yeah, and thesame thing pops up with the Titan Athletic
Hall of Fame. You know,I've I've heard some rumblings about some of
our greats that aren't in that Hallof Fame at this point, and certainly
(16:30):
I would guess that they will be. But then you go back and you
look at the selection process and thepeople that have been deemed worthy of that,
at least in the baseball world,it's a pretty tough group, you
know, to feel like you're worthyof that accomplishment. You know, when
(16:51):
you start breaking it down, whatdoesn't make sense to me, Dave sometimes
is that we've all bragged about usedthem, asked them. They've supported the
program in emotional ways, financial ways. Administrators, presidents aren't afraid to ask
for their help in some way,shape or form, but then they sit
(17:15):
on their decision making high horse andsay, oh no, they don't qualify
for that kind of recognition. Soit would be frustrating for me if I
was a person that thought I wasworthy of that somebody else was being recognized.
I had contributed in many ways andbeing asked for things, and then
(17:40):
they play a card that I don'thave my college degree. That would be
disappointing to me. And you know, again, I'm not making those decisions,
but I look at it from myperspective and understand why some guys elected
not to come back and get theircollege degrees. But they still are everything
(18:02):
to do with the history of ourprogram. And like you said, a
Golden Spikes winner, a player ofthe Year's Zuki, those kind of things,
National Championship, Phil was the MVPof the College World Series in a
losing effort. Those guys certainly areeverything that I know about Titan baseball.
(18:23):
On a personal note, I happento think the seventy five team that I
was a part of that went tothe College World Series in their very first
year of Division one baseball is certainlyworthy of a team recognition for the athletics
Halliday. I think that'll come intime. Coach Dietrich's on the same page
with that as well. So again, I don't think we need to widen
(18:48):
the plate, so to speak,to let everybody in. But I think
there's some guys missing on that retirementpart. And hopefully coach Dietrich has done
a tremendous job, not only onthe field, but he's really digging in
and this event Friday will be ahuge step forward for marrying the old guard
if I'm a part of that theearly seventies with the current Titan group,
(19:12):
and that's what Titan baseball is allabout. Back in those days, we
didn't have much We had a baseballfield, we had some balls, we
had some bats, we didn't havemuch money, we had each other,
and we had great people and greatcoaches, and so you know that coming
together again to bring Titan Nation backtogether as one nation is very exciting to
(19:33):
me. And if they can usemy number being retired as part of that,
that's that's even better. Well,I know, I know coach Teatrich
has really put an emphasis on makingeverybody feel welcome to come back to the
point where he says, hey,this this program was built on the shoulders
of those that came before us.And I know it's kind of cliche,
(19:56):
but Titan Baseball in particular, thatdoesn't have a whole lot of money,
didn't have the big budgets dressed inthe parking lot. We've heard all those
stories. So it clearly a foundationis those ones that came before the ones
that are currently there. And hehas been tremendous in trying to make everybody
(20:17):
feel welcome, whether it be parentsor fans or alumni or whomever happens to
be. He wants to make surethat everybody's just a part of this and
is you know, hey, everybody, just come on, jump on board.
And from a former player and aformer coach standpoint, you can probably
attest to the fact that it seemslike he's really really gone now I don't
want to say overboard, but he'sreally gone to the next level and making
(20:41):
sure that everybody feels welcome. Yeah, and yeah, I've told him that
directly. I tip my cap tohim. I know how he's wired,
and you nailed it. He's anawesome human being from an awesome family.
He's very easy going and he hashigh standards and I think he's and I'm
(21:03):
not saying this in a complimentary wayto me, he's a little bit more
like my personality that he has linesand if you cross the lines and you're
going to shove a penalty and standards, and he's really trying to grasp,
like you said, not only theemotional part of the greatness of Titan baseball
history, the fans and how thatfan base has grown and including them,
(21:27):
but he's also kept his phone opento anybody his office door, and he's
not wired like that. And atcal State Fullerton, it's so much different
than the halves of the world OregonSEC, where you have a staff of
(21:48):
so many that volunteers, managers,administrators, graphic people, you can delegate
some of your responsibility. At Fullerton, guess what, you're just wearing different
hats some days. And it takesa commitment and time. And he actually
hit him and I broke it downon what his day is going to look
like and how do you get througha day like that? It can be
overwhelming, and he has made adefinite commitment to take in a very large
(22:15):
part of his busy schedule to addressthe greatness of the program and the alums.
And I think that's critical because I'vecoached with other people in my career
that don't deem that as important,and it's been a little bit disastrous for
him. Well, sticky with talkinga little bit about coach Dietrich is is
that how special is it to haveyour number retired in Jason Dietrich's second year
(22:40):
as head coach at Cols Kate FullertonAnd the fact that he was your pitching
coach at Oregon from seventeen through nineteenand now he's the head coach of the
program that you were a head coachat and it's kind of come full circle
and the program is now really kindof on the ascension. On the trajectory
is in a positive direction to thepoint where, yes, last year was
(23:02):
a losing season, but this yearwe still have half a season to go,
but things to be looking to beI had a schedule in just his
second year on campus, So talkto me a little bit about having it
done now while the ascension of theteam is on the rise. Yeah.
On a personal note, you knowalso have Neil Walton as soon a tremendous
(23:23):
job as a recruiting guy, andJosh Spiloski that I have a background with
and as a scout, and goodfriends of mine and Neil played for me
of course and the national championship teamand we tell stories all the time.
They've asked me to come back andconsult in some areas. And the fact
that I have familiarity with the players. Jack Hayley is a guy that I
(23:48):
recruited to play at Oregon and wouldhave played for me had I not retired,
And so just that feeling of welcomeback for me, the familiarity with
the players and certainly the staff,from the relationship. Coach Dietrich and I
got along great and I learned fromhim and he learned from me when we
worked together. And the fact thathe made it a you know, in
(24:08):
a second year, like you said, everyone, you know, it's not
Titan Baseball yet. But he's gota lot of traction. I'm hearing from
a lot of the old guard mymy era, how proud we are of
the trajectory of the program now.And he looks like he's got that old
culture back with his team. He'sgot some older guys that have bought in.
(24:30):
So yeah, it'll be even morespecial than just let's compare it to
Oregon. You know, I don'thave the same you know, I was
a duck and I was emerging inthat for twelve years, but I didn't
go to school there, and Ididn't live there, didn't grow up there,
and I've gone back there of somebut I don't have the same feeling
when I go back there. Soyeah, it's even more special. It
(24:51):
would have been special anyway, butbecause of the relationship part of it.
And you know, I sound egotisticala little bit, but I'm proud of
what coach Walzikowski's doing up there,beyond what he was already good at.
Meaning he's a recruiting machine. He'sintense, and he's a different personality than
Coach Dietrich the way he carries himself. But he's brought into the community outreach
(25:18):
and the donors, and he's donea lot better job of recruiting the community
into the program up there, andhe's doing well. And so now he's
got it going on, and nowI see the same things happening with what
Titan Baseball was all about. Youknow, our fan base or fan base
is the best. I didn't realizehow good they were until I left,
you know, and had to comeback and play there. And then some
(25:42):
other environments like Goss Oregon State fansare a lot like Titan fans because they're
not the halves and they were alwaysDavid versus Goliath until now, and so
they've got an edge to him,like the Titan fans have a good edge,
a friendly edge, and it givesyou an advance. I didn't realize
that. I thought it was allme, coach, and until those players
(26:04):
left and the fans weren't there.But yeah, and how did that get
built. It got built by campsand Augie's camps, and Bill Kernan and
Larry Coachell and Dennis Rogers, greatbaseball people, and then of course Toronto
and his staff and Hooking and hisstaff and people in the community bought into
(26:27):
Titan Baseball because they kids came tocamp and they recruited their parents to come
to Titan games, and then theygot the bug, you know, and
just generations of friendships. So whatthat program has done not only for the
Horton's, the Vanderhooks. I'm visioningnow my dad, Sam Soronto will be
there on Friday Day's dad, RickBanner Hook's dad was up there, Francy,
(26:48):
my wife's dad. What it didfor me, but also what it
did for my coaches families, theplayers families. They still hang out together,
I mean the players families from travelingand rooting and are still the best
of friends. So baseball brings that, and Titan Baseball brought it at the
highest level. So couldn't be anycooler to have your be singled out on
(27:11):
a program and a culture and somethingthat. Of course Aggie and Snow and
Snedden and Wilson started it, andso many added to the greatness of Titan
Baseball. So I'm just thrilled tobe a part of it. We'll talking
about all the greats that have kindof come through those halls. I mean,
(27:33):
you were recently inducted into the AmericanBaseball Coaches Hall of Fame. Guys
like Aggie Grito, Don Snedden,those guys are already in there along with
you. Is that kind of theculmination of your coaching career is to be
inducted into that hall of fame thatyou know includes all those greats you got,
Yeah, I mean, I meanyou think of all the all the
(27:56):
great college coaches out there from thepoint where I'm trying to think of the
name on top me how the LSUskip Bertman is there. The Mississippi State
coaches in there, My mentors arein there. You know, every Mike
Gillespie's in there. Any Lopez isin there. Guys, I competed against
Jim O'Brien at the junior college levelart Mathmanian Mount JC coach. All those
(28:18):
guys I learned so much competing againstor competing with, And yeah, it
was surreal. I talked about thisin my speech. You get by six
minutes, you know. And soit's hard. You know, you start
with your family and the impact thatthe sacrifices they made. Being the coach's
(28:41):
daughter or a wife of a coachis difficult because of the demands of coaching,
and but also what it did formy family vantages, communication, lines,
relationships. Uh. You know,as a parent, you'd like to
take the credit for how well aroundyour kids are when they grow up,
but guess what their friends or theirfuture. And so their friends became my
(29:06):
players when they were kids, andthey modeled themselves after my best players,
and I'm proud of that. Youknow they, whether I like to admit
it or not, my players andcoaches helped mold my family and and what
I think is a great family today. And then you go to that event
or I've been blessed enough to speakat the clinic there at the national convention,
(29:27):
you know, which is eight thousandpeople. There was eighty five hundred
people there this year and the banquetthat they award you at was the largest
in history at eight hundred fifty people. And probably a hundred of those people
are the old guard, previous generationthat I grew up wanting to be,
like the Bertman's and the Bubbo Brayton'sand the Rod Dado's, and those are
(29:53):
those are the guys Augie Garridos ofcourse, and Wally Kincaid's, and they
were there in the room, andso it hit me as you know,
there's a quote that you you know, a good coach can win a game,
a great coach will influence a lifeforever, right, and so that
(30:14):
responsibility and that blessing is generational,right, And so those guys influenced me.
And I could have gone on anypath like any young person I could
have been. My brothers chose adifferent path, and neither one of them
are alive today, some of itbecause of their social choices. Kids I've
coached have made choices right, andso that kept me on the path of
(30:40):
hopefully being a patriarch and a teacher, an educator, a role model for
many generations, just like the guysthat were in that room. So it's
mind boggling to do the math andunderstand how many people they influenced, generations
of players that are now influence andtheir kids and their kids are influencing their
(31:03):
grandkids. And I'm a part ofthat, you know, to have athletics,
how that influences people from what Ithink the world should be today instead
of being what race are you?What are your Republican? You, Democrat?
Left winger? Right? What areyou? I'm a guy that likes
(31:25):
the Golden rule, and I'm lawabiding. You know, that's what I
want, and I answer to standards, and my standards are high, and
so I the blessing is that I'ma part of that the great you know,
I'm in that fraternity of greatness andthinking about the thousands that all of
us collectively together maybe impacted in apositive way, and I think that's the
(31:48):
way people should live their lives.You know, and you'arn what you get
and if you cross the line,you serve the penalty. That's kind of
the way I roll. And Iwould assure you that most my guys,
whether they like it or not,just like being a kid to your dad
that raises you hard, you didn'tlike it very much, but then you
catch yourself when you're you get yourturn to discipline your kids. Just like
(32:13):
that. So I think that's greatness. I think we all know the names
of the players that you coaches,that you coached that have gone on to
good success on the baseball field,with Bikases and Nevins who are now managers
in the major leagues, or KirkSarlos who's now a head coach at TCU,
or Justin Turner who's still playing balland Suzuki who just recently retired,
(32:38):
or whatever it is. So Titanfans will know those stories of those former
players that have gone on to havesuccess in baseball, but share some some
of the guys that were good playersor maybe even not just decent players,
that were role players or whatever itwas, that have on to great success
(33:00):
in the business world. That you'dbe just as proud of as say a
Justin Turner who's had a long storycareer, or a kurtzer Zuki or somebody
else like that. Yeah, andyou know, some of that reveals itself
in the real world too, whetheryou're Phil Nevin manager, Mark Katze manager,
Gabe Kapler, the manager of theGiants, tried to be a Titan,
(33:20):
was an absolute disaster as a youngperson, making a lot of bad
choices as far as going to classand behavioral and he wasn't a good fit
because of his behavior at that timeand didn't last. He lasted one semester
in our program. And I think, you know, he landed on his
feet in a big way because insteadof Gabe blaming us and putting it on
(33:46):
us and it was our fault,he took the thumb and said it's on
me. I deserved that, andI blew a golden opportunity, which speaks
volumes about what Gabe became and istoday and being a leader that he is.
He grew up and I had someguys that were real brunken broncos in
(34:06):
high school that had made some baddecisions that we didn't look the other way,
but we consoled them and brought himin any way, that became some
of our greatest warriors and became verysuccessful high school coaches and leaders in the
community. And you take it.You know, a Justin Turner not only
(34:27):
is success beyond what he did athis generation at cal State Fullerton, but
not only his numbers and what hedid for the Dodgers and hopefully what he'll
do for the Red Sox now,but his commitment to outreaching the community and
being the Roberto Clementi Award winner forthe Dodgers. You know, and there's
so many good Dodgers that get it. You know, it's more than just
(34:50):
being a baseball player. That they'rehelping the youth of America and given back
and all those kind of things.I'm proud of those kind of things.
And Hope Lee. I'll give youan example. Ronnie Printyman, who became
a in oh three. He camefrom Schreedle's Junior College and we coached him
hard, and he was like aSega third baseman Rick Banner. Rick would
(35:13):
yell at him every pitch from thedugout, and he'd moved to the left,
moved to the right, and Ronniehad a good year, but not
a great year. And then inOH four he became Brooks Robinson. He
got Rick out of his ears andcoach Horton out of his ears, and
he's a smart player, a greatplayer, and was our third baseman on
the OH four national championship team.So fast forward to two weeks ago and
(35:34):
I hear from Ronnie he can't cometo the event, and he can't come
to the event because he's made hislifetime dream vacation plans at his Sandals in
Jamaica with his bride, Tiff,And he goes on to explain to me
that that's been his bucket list dreamever since he heard me brag about coming
back from Sandals on Francy and Ihis vacation. We had the resources to
(35:59):
go to a piece Sandals back inthe day. I think we bought him
from Larry Zooker, originally from theTitan auction and we loved Sandals, and
so I'd come back from those vacationsbragging about how cool it was. And
he told me, he said,since I was bragging about that forever,
this was his first chance to doit. So you never know. My
(36:20):
point is, you never know howyou impact somebody with what you say to
them, how you coach them,good or bad, and the decisions they
are going to make for the restof their life, you know. And
I have so many that were kindof in my category where the unusual thing.
I just listened to a podcast thatKirk Sarlos did with Dave Soronto and
(36:45):
something Beaty Guy does Tyler Beaty's daddoesn't, and and Kirk brought this out.
It's unusual for a guy with Kirk'ssuccess level of play feel same mark.
The best managers and coaches aren't alwaysthe best players because things came easier
(37:06):
for them, and they don't havethe patience because they played the game at
such a high level that they havethose demands and those expectations. As soon
as they tell one hitter or pitcherone thing, they expect them to play
like them. More common is theguy like me that had to grind for
every inning they had, every atbat they had. Rick Randerha was like
that. Dave Serrano was like that. We weren't the best, We were
(37:29):
maybe the worst guys on the teamand happy to be on the team,
and we had to learn about allthe things to allow us to be good
enough to play on the team.We had so many more guys like that
that became good players in the systemin their commitment. Read Johnson, Read
Johnson, here's a great story forthose youngsters listening today. In the transfer
(37:49):
portal era, Reid would have probablynever been a Titan except for he's read
Johnson, meaning read walked on.He was more of a soccer gymnast kind
of athlete than he was a baseballplayer. And Aggie and we made the
decision that particular year. I talkedabout this before, I think on a
podcast that X number of guys becausewe didn't want too many guys in the
(38:12):
dugout, would take batting practice,and then we didn't have locker rooms.
Of course, they'd take their uniformoff and sit in the stands while we
competed. I mean that, whata class distinction. That is, what
a slap in the face. Howembarrassing for those guys to go up there.
What are you doing up here?Aren't you on the team. Yeah,
but I'm a red shirt, soI'm sitting up here today. They'd
be in your office in five minutessaying I got to get out of here.
(38:36):
This is terrible for me. Myparents want me to leave because I'm
not playing every day, and somuch of that going on today, and
well read. Chris Beck was anotherone of those guys that became an All
American that was in that same category. They said, I want to be
a Titan, and I get it. There's these really good players there.
It's not my turn, and I'llwait my turn and I'll bust through it.
And we had so many guys likethat. PJ. Pilitaria that's assistant
(39:00):
hitting coach with the Rockies right now. I told him twice in his career
that he probably should transfer if hewanted playing time. He said, no,
thank you, I'd like to proveyou wrong, coach, and he
did and it became I think.I think when we were sitting out here
with Rick Vannhook, you said thesame thing about Jim Betzel. Jimmy Betzel,
another great name like that. There'sso many that you know on the
good side and the batside. Thenthere was that young man that would come
(39:22):
into your office and say, hey, I'm a gamer and put me in
there. I know I had abad fall, but I deserve playing time,
and you'd kind of wait your timeand he'd get his chance and guess
what he'd revealed that he really wasn'tready, you know. And so one
of my favorite quotes is what youdo is so loud, I can't hear
what you say. You know,you earn playing time and that and that's
(39:42):
what Dets has going on. Now, that's the old culture. There's some
guys that weren't weren't good fits withthe current Titan team. They were really
good talented players, but they weren'tTitans, and so he's weeded that out
and that's why they're winning the onerun games. They're coming from behind the
things that we used to do beyondour talent level, where guys would play
(40:04):
beyond what scouts would identify. Untilthe end of the year. Going into
the year, we didn't have thehighest recruiting class all the time. They
weren't Area COO guys. But atthe end of the year, guess who
got the most guys drafted. Wedid because of performance, not because of
hype. And you know Mel Franks. Mel Franks, you know, for
him to run that media relations departmentwith his resources and Mike Rain and building
(40:30):
the temporary press box in nineteen ninetytwo, that thirty one years ago and
it was built temporary. So I'mstill going to sit in tonight doing the
ESPN games. And you know,that's what Titans do. We have each
other. It's and again back tomy being singled out me really as one
(40:52):
of the greats of the greats,and I think, you know, I
hate to give credit to Oregon State, but they're pro gram resembles ours a
little bit. Rice when when whenGraham went in there and building that program.
Uh, you know, they hadstuff, but they had no business
being a nationally prominent baseball team becauseand Wayne did that, you know,
(41:15):
and because he's a great coach,and they had great people. And that's
what's really cool, you know aboutbaseball. I don't think you can do
that. I Augie couldn't have doneit, and I don't think in basketball,
and he couldn't have done it infootball, But I think in baseball
it's a sport that you can overcomea lot of things. And the cal
State Pullarton programs all about that andit and it. You know, we
(41:37):
always tend to talk about the GoldenSpikes guys, the national players of the
Year. And I'm glad you askedthat question, because really the program was
made up of the frank Sts ofthe world. Who doesn't get as much
credit as he should have of beinga tremendous All American player in the seventies,
(41:58):
Don Snedden, that was on apioneer and a great player before we
turn Division one, and and thenmany many more that didn't get the national
accolades that really established the foundation ofthe great program. So, I know
we're kind of winding things down here, but who are some of the people
that you'd like to think that youvery well may not have been able to
(42:19):
recognize in the six minutes when you'reout there for the Hall of Fame induction
or for the you know, howevermany minutes you're going to get on Friday.
I mean, who, who aresome of the people that you might
not be able to get an opportunityto think that you now have the floor.
Yeah, you know, obviously theadministrative Neil Stoner just recently passed away.
(42:42):
God bless him. You know whathe what he did. His name
isn't talked about synonymous with Aggie,but he hired Aggie. He didn't give
us everything, but he gave usenough to be a Division one program and
put lipstick on a pig, soto speak, to start it, and
Aggie ran with it. And thenhe did that with you know, hold
(43:05):
on to football as long as hedid. And at Fullerton and having the
great Jean Murphy, Lynn Rogers,great gymnastics coach, Gene Adams h director
of or taught exercise physiology and tothis day, my greatest example of how
I tried to teach when I hadmy opportunity to be a teacher professor at
(43:29):
Curritos and La Valley and Don Matson, the bursting coach back when I played
there, established some of my foundationsas a coach and a human being that
I learned from. And then,of course, you know the wisdom of
Steve Deatola and when he was associatead and had the wisdom to bring Aggie
(43:57):
back from Illinois, Aggie got meto be the associate head coach. I
think it was Steve's vision that Aggiewould coach for a few more years and
then George would be there if hewas worthy to take over, and that
came to fruition and probably I wouldthink very proud of the fact that from
ninety one to seven, which wasmy ten years an assistant coach and head
(44:21):
coach. That you look at successin those years was probably the heyday of
Titan baseball, not taking anything awayfrom the seventy five, seventy nine,
eighty four groups at did so muchand their generations, you know, the
Warlike generation, Martelli generation, theirfriendship Mike Garcia War eight. He was
(44:45):
the second baseman and captain on thatseventy nine team, and you know,
it was kind of funny. ThenJohn Easterbrook, you know, he was
my athletic director. I reported toSteve on a daily basis and he was
my friend and mentor and some ofthe daily obstacles or challenges we worked through
together. And John Easterbrook was influentialto me and great friend and he helped
(45:08):
me through a rough patch in ninetynine when we had an incident with some
guys misbehaving and he helped me nailthat as far as the penalty and we
got through it and made our wayto Omahan. Different things like that.
Brian Quinn was a great mentor andleader. Doctor Gordon was limited in what
(45:29):
he could do, but you knowdid his very best to give cow State,
put the give us the lipstick everyyear to hold, you know,
host regionals, which became a transcendalkind of period of time for me,
and the difficulty that Aggie had.We had to win regionals on the road
in sixteen regionals, which is very, very difficult because of the hostile environment.
(45:53):
And then in two thousand and wegot the host if we earned it
our own regional and super you know, and it made it a longer road,
but it was a little easier playingon the confines of Goodwin Field.
And even though it extended the effortit was it was a big deal to
(46:14):
not have to travel that weekend.And of course our win percentage was conducive
to what it is nationally. AndI think we only lost one super and
that was a five, and that'sstill a nightmare to me. We didn't
get that done with arguably a betterteam than we had the year before.
So I all on that one Ishould have. We haven't had Coster there
(46:36):
that game, and he was rootingthe fans on. I'd be remiss if
I didn't give credit for the influenceof my assistance and the sacrifices they and
their families made. And you know, Coach Harton if any if you asked
anybody is very demanding, very detailed. I heard them talking about Buck Showalter
last night on TV watching the Dodgergame, and they were describing Buck,
(47:01):
and I said, they're talking aboutme and talking about how cd O is
cdo is OCD only the letters oralphabeties like they should be. So I
mean every little thing in the lockerroom and every little thing. And it
came an obsession with me a littlebit. But everybody knew that if you
(47:22):
didn't dot the iye, coach wasgoing to call you out on that.
You know, And and I hopeyou know, I get some credit from
some of the guys that are outthere because they keep brains, what they
call brains. They're Steno pad andjournals, and they're meticulous a little like
me. I hope they're not overboardlike me. But so it worked for
(47:43):
me, and some of the guysthink it worked, thinks it works for
them. So that's how I've beeninfluenced. That compulsion, that level of
detail didn't come from Augie. Itcame from Coach kinkaid I what I learned
coach snow as a coach and thenbeing able to work for him and then
coach against him our different thing,different set of skill sets that I said,
(48:08):
I want to be like that withinmy personality, you know. And
so Aggie taught me so much aboutdifferent things. And Aggie's the best at
As I've said, there's nobody inthe universe that could have done what he
did with what he had, andwe all learned from them, you know.
And now a lot of us weregiven more than he had, and
(48:31):
I was given more that he had, and I was a blessing in my
I wake up every day driven toleave the program at least as good as
what he handed over to me,and hopefully we accomplished that together. Thanks
(48:52):
for listening to the fifteen Miles toOmaha podcast. Feel free to visit our
website, cal State Omaha dot com. While there, you can order an
official Cal State Omaha T shirt fromthe Merch Store. Want to help others
find this podcast, please add afive star review wherever you are listening.
(49:12):
It really does help. The fifteenhundred forty four Miles to Omaha podcast is
an on the Lamb Enterprises production andis not affiliated with cow State, Fulletin
or Titan Baseball
Cal States four tennis done. They'vegone from fifteen and sixteen the championship college
faceball. Welcome to the fifteen hundredforty four miles to Omaha podcast talking about
(00:21):
the past, present, and futureof cal State Bulletin Baseball. Three two
pitch on Davis is a fastball hitsa left in deep blazer, doesn't even
go back on it. It's thatbar out and gone. Looked like it
went over the storeboard. A wholerun by J. D. Davis.
(00:41):
Hold two swinging out of this straight. Three cal State fulle ten is on
to the College World a series.Here's your host, Dave Lamb. Welcome
into episode seventy seven of the fifteenforty four miles podcast. Today's guest he
is former Titan baseball player, assistantcoach and head coach George Horton. On
(01:06):
Friday April twenty first, two andtwenty three, George Horton's number eight jersey
will be retired during a pregame ceremonyprior to the opening of the cal State
Fullerton versus cal State Bakersfield series.As a player, Horton war number eight
from nineteen seventy five to nineteen seventysix and as a coach from nineteen ninety
one to two thousand and seven.After Horton departed in two thousand and seven,
a handful of players have worn thenumber eight, but no one ever
(01:30):
will moving forward. So welcome intothe podcast, George. Yeah, thanks,
Dave. So I wanted to leteverybody know that we're out here in
your backyard. So if we dohear a little construction from the neighbors,
or if the dog comes out,we hear from jangling and jangling, we
might have that, but you know, it's a beautiful day here in your
well into California. So one ofthe reasons what we wanted to talk to
you about the podcast or talked toon the podcast is because whenever thing's like
(01:53):
getting your number retired or induction intoa Hall of Fame something like that,
the recipient usually only has a fewminutes to thank and recognize people who helped
them to get to that point.So during the course of our conversation,
feel free to bring up those thatwere integral and to getting you to this
point and who have helped you alongthe way. But first, did you
ever think that you'd be here gettingyour number eight retired from a university that
(02:14):
you not only played for, buthelped coach to an eventual national championship.
Now, I was actually talking toa couple of actual roommate teammates this morning
about how unbelievable it is and howunbelievable this event will be because of relationships
and bringing, you know, essentiallya reunion for my era of players that
(02:37):
were blessed enough to play at cowState Fullerton. And then of course the
relationship that's maintained itself for fifty yearsand what a blessing that's been to not
only play baseball there but get toknow those guys. And then the great
memories that we were revisiting this morningtalking while we needed there for a set
(03:01):
of legendary coaches and legendary teachers,and who knows at that age would impact
that period of time in your lifemakes But now reflecting back and what it
set me up to do for mycareer and my life today, I pinched
myself and thanked myself. And likemany young people, I could have gone
(03:25):
in many different directions. And that'swhy I think the symbolic part of the
number being retired is all of usthat had the opportunity to play Titan baseball,
people that wore eight before me andafter me, but also everybody that
(03:49):
influenced my life in such a positiveway that I chose the road that set
me up for a career and alifetime of great, great memory. He's
that I'm still experiencing today and theadvantage of those relationships and me and a
coach of a sport with obviously ahigh standard and great young people that we
(04:15):
continue to network and know what eachother doing, and it's a big part
of my life. I have agreat family, and my extended family is
a Titan Oregon family and Sardo's family, and just count my blessings. But
to think that I was going tobe prominent enough that they would single me
(04:39):
out in all the greats that playedtheir coach they're taught there is unbelievable to
me. Can you give us alittle bit of a sneak preview. The
ceremony is going to start at fivethirty there. The Tight Athletics department is
encouraging everybody to be in their seatsby five thirty. That's when the ceremony
is going to start, and thenthe game is for six o'clock that night.
(05:01):
Can you give us a little bitof a sneak peak of what people
can expect. And if people areon the edge of wanting to be able
to try to take the day offof work or get out of work early
so they can be there in time, what can we expect. Yeah,
you and I were talking about youknow, the Friday night represents a problem
for some people that want to getthere at the very beginning. I believe
the ceremony is going to start rightat five thirty. I've talked briefly to
(05:24):
Coach Dietrich and the Fullerton administrators aboutthe concept that they put together. I
don't have all the countdown sheets andso forth, but I think the concept
is great. Hopefully everybody can maybeget off work early or cast aside their
responsibilities and make it for the ceremonypart of it. But they're gonna they've
(05:47):
extended themselves to allow all the Titanlums, which is normal. Anybody that
coach with me played for me getsa special wristband and at four thirty they're
gonna have a VIP ten on thethird base side with beverages and food,
and then they're gonna this is thispart of it was coach Dietrich's idea,
(06:10):
and I was going to suggest thatanyway. I think it's a great idea
that they're gonna march myself and everybodyon the field for the ceremony, and
I think that's very appropriate because theyI share this honor with any of those
guys that impacted me and helped me, and I learned so much for them
over the years. So the factthat they're going to stand side by side
(06:32):
with me on the field I've had. I've dug into my fatness and lost
some weight. I can actually fitinto my old Fulirton pin stripe jersey,
which is a very much of anupset and I can actually breathe when I
have it on. So they're gonnawear pin stripes at night, and Coach
Horton's going to have his pin stripeson, and my kids, Joe Camacho
(06:56):
has loaned us a bunch of jerseys, so my family immediate family are going
to have an eight jersey on andthey're going to stand by my side during
the national anthem, which is extremelyemotional for me and cool because anybody that
ever played for me knows what thenational anthem represents for me and I've cried
a bunch of times already going backto Titan games about the memories when that
(07:23):
anthem plays, and standing with CoachDietrich, the current Titan team, and
my family and my two little leagueteams that I'm an assistant coach for going
to get to run out on thefield like other little league players have done
over the years, and they're goingto be on the field too. So
pretty much everybody in my life that'simportant will be on that field with me,
(07:44):
and that field represents so much tothe Harton family. We're talking about
the national anthem. I mean,this is obviously an audio podcast, but
you're wearing a Team USA sweatshirt rightnow. I just you answered the door
when I came over wearing that sweatshirt. Talk about the connection between why that's
so special and then does it doesit harken back to the fact that you've
(08:05):
been so involved with Team USA oris it just something else? Yeah,
I think it's all of the above. You know, I had a great
opportunity in two thousand and ten,they honored me because of my history at
Rosenblatt, because of the Titan program. Of course, that their last amateur
(08:28):
game in Rosenblad was a game betweenthe collegiate national team USA and the Japanese
national team at Rosenblatt and two ofmy Duck players, Scott McGough and Tyler
Enters and that are still big leagerstoday. We're on that team. Dave
Seranto was an assistant coach on thatteam, and so they honored me to
(08:48):
be put that USA uniform on forthe first time. And I'd heard all
the stuff all of us have abouthow special that is, and of course
I'm I'm American through and through.I love America and everything it represents,
and and everybody's right, you putthat uniform on, And I wasn't a
significant coach. I was just afly on the wall so to speak,
(09:11):
and being honored so to speak thatnight day, and it was special when
that anthem plays and you have theUSA uniform on. As much as the
anthem meant so much to me overthe years, it just took it to
a whole new level. We heardthat from the WBC team this year and
Trout saying it was the greatest experiencein his professional life, and and he's
(09:33):
right. So I had two moreopportunities to do that and assistant coach in
two twelve and the head coach intwenty sixteen, and that group with a
bunch of colleagues, Coach Gill,Coach snow or right arch rival coach from
Longbach State, John Altabellium, MitchCharacter, and Jason Gill were on that
(10:01):
staff and we beat Cuba on Cubansoil for the first time in amateur history,
and that was quite an accomplishment.So I have a lot of pride
for the USA Baseball. I havea lot of pride for America, and
I buy USA stuff and part ofit is kind of leads me into tonight's
(10:22):
opportunity to be on a ESPM plusand do the game, which has been
fun for me. Almost every timea team comes in, I know the
coach or assistant coach or somebody,and so I try to find neutral apparel,
even though maybe I'll say things thatare skewed towards the Titans, because
I'm I'll always be a Titan,But so I representing America, representing my
(10:50):
past and privileges to be a coachon that great team Paul Siler and that
organization, and also try to stayneutral in my athletic guard moments that I
choose. So I'm coaching the Padresand the Rays Too youth team, so
I got to watch what I weararound town. We got American League and
nationally covered. So you're good,Yeah, exactly. Well, talking a
little bit about the ceremony upcoming,and it's fantastic that there's going to be
(11:16):
a lot of a lot of peoplefrom the past coming out in support.
But how did how did the ideaget started? Did did the athletics department
approach you and say, hey,we're coming up with this idea or you
know, how did was it allcoach Dtrich coming? Or maybe I'm just
putting words in your mouth? Imean, how did how did? How
did the ball get rolling to tocome to when we're gonna get to Friday?
(11:37):
I think the impetus came directly fromcoach Dtrich. You know, I
think he's got a certain respect forme. We worked together. We weren't
going to Omaha together, unfortunately,but the relationship was great. Our families
got to know each other. Hesaid some very complimentary things to me about
his experience of working with me andhow that's prepared him for what he's doing
(12:00):
today and I think I've fooled somepeople on my tree that I've worked with
that they have admiration and respect andlike me, opened some doors for them
to be the best parent they canbe, and the best coach they can
be, and the best educator theycan be. And so I think it
(12:20):
was his initiative of why is numbereight still being used. We've had some
political things over the years that beganin my tenure, was some discs that
we had up, and you know, we just took it upon ourselves because
we were kind of a sovereign nationamongst the academics of cal State Fullerton and
(12:45):
certainly the parking people. Was alwaysa struggle there, and so we took
it upon ourselves to recognize the giantsof Titan baseball. And so back when
I was coaching, nobody wore sixteen, Nobody war seven, nobody wore twenty
one, nobody wore eleven, twentynine was obviously a huge one. Tim
(13:07):
Wallick's a great friend of mine,and so those were the dicks. And
then there was some discussions about someof those guys didn't come back and get
their college degrees, and we're nevergoing to come back and get their college
degrees because two of them are managersin MLB and our millionaires. So you
(13:31):
know, somebody set the precedence thata number couldn't be retired unless these criteria
were met, and so it kindof dissipated a little bit. The number
eight started to get worn because ofRick Branderhood's competitive nature. He actually called
me and warned me that he wasgoing to use eight again out of respect,
(13:52):
because Justin Garza made it a bigdeal in his recruitment that he wanted
to number eight, and so beinga Titan fan and Titan I understand those
kind of recruiting demands and asked,and so there's been a lot of back
(14:13):
and forth. You know, Ican't answer the question. I should know
the answer to this, whether anybody'sworn seven since Mark's played there, or
twenty nine since Tim's played there,or twenty one since Phill's played there,
I hope not. You might knowthe answer to that, but those guys
deserve you know. You know,Aggie's and Bob Caffrey are the only two
(14:37):
official numbers retired by the university atthis point, and I become the third,
I believe. So I think Dietrichis pushing the initiative, and I
know he's had several discussions with JimDonovan, and Jim's on board with establishing
(15:00):
a criteria so that we can it'sTitan baseball going to have the crazy amount
of numbers retired that the Yankees do, or is it going to be a
real select elite group. And certainlythere has to be a big picture of
what the criteria of those honorees haveaccomplished beyond the baseball field. Well,
(15:24):
and no one's asking me, sotherefore I'm going to volunteer my opinion.
But if I was making the criteria, I would say, as a coach,
you win a national championship, youget your number retired. You're a
Golden Spikes Award winner, much likewinning the Heisman trophie. I mean,
look at like the University of Oklahoma, they build a statue. If you
win a Heisman, they build astatute. University of Alabama, same thing.
(15:46):
You win a national championship, youwin a Heisman there, do you
get a statue built to you?I would compare number retirement because obviously kel
State Fullerton doesn't have noodles and noodlesof money like Alabama and Oklahoma to build
statues to these guys. But Iwould say, if you want your number
retired and you want a national championshipor you are a Golden Spikes Award winner,
I would say that's probably the criteriabecause you don't want the Titans to
(16:08):
be like the New York Yankees,where you know, every single single digit
is gone. You know it's DerekJeter and you know Babe Ruth go down
the list. Yeah, and thesame thing pops up with the Titan Athletic
Hall of Fame. You know,I've I've heard some rumblings about some of
our greats that aren't in that Hallof Fame at this point, and certainly
(16:30):
I would guess that they will be. But then you go back and you
look at the selection process and thepeople that have been deemed worthy of that,
at least in the baseball world,it's a pretty tough group, you
know, to feel like you're worthyof that accomplishment. You know, when
(16:51):
you start breaking it down, whatdoesn't make sense to me, Dave sometimes
is that we've all bragged about usedthem, asked them. They've supported the
program in emotional ways, financial ways. Administrators, presidents aren't afraid to ask
for their help in some way,shape or form, but then they sit
(17:15):
on their decision making high horse andsay, oh no, they don't qualify
for that kind of recognition. Soit would be frustrating for me if I
was a person that thought I wasworthy of that somebody else was being recognized.
I had contributed in many ways andbeing asked for things, and then
(17:40):
they play a card that I don'thave my college degree. That would be
disappointing to me. And you know, again, I'm not making those decisions,
but I look at it from myperspective and understand why some guys elected
not to come back and get theircollege degrees. But they still are everything
(18:02):
to do with the history of ourprogram. And like you said, a
Golden Spikes winner, a player ofthe Year's Zuki, those kind of things,
National Championship, Phil was the MVPof the College World Series in a
losing effort. Those guys certainly areeverything that I know about Titan baseball.
(18:23):
On a personal note, I happento think the seventy five team that I
was a part of that went tothe College World Series in their very first
year of Division one baseball is certainlyworthy of a team recognition for the athletics
Halliday. I think that'll come intime. Coach Dietrich's on the same page
with that as well. So again, I don't think we need to widen
(18:48):
the plate, so to speak,to let everybody in. But I think
there's some guys missing on that retirementpart. And hopefully coach Dietrich has done
a tremendous job, not only onthe field, but he's really digging in
and this event Friday will be ahuge step forward for marrying the old guard
if I'm a part of that theearly seventies with the current Titan group,
(19:12):
and that's what Titan baseball is allabout. Back in those days, we
didn't have much We had a baseballfield, we had some balls, we
had some bats, we didn't havemuch money, we had each other,
and we had great people and greatcoaches, and so you know that coming
together again to bring Titan Nation backtogether as one nation is very exciting to
(19:33):
me. And if they can usemy number being retired as part of that,
that's that's even better. Well,I know, I know coach Teatrich
has really put an emphasis on makingeverybody feel welcome to come back to the
point where he says, hey,this this program was built on the shoulders
of those that came before us.And I know it's kind of cliche,
(19:56):
but Titan Baseball in particular, thatdoesn't have a whole lot of money,
didn't have the big budgets dressed inthe parking lot. We've heard all those
stories. So it clearly a foundationis those ones that came before the ones
that are currently there. And hehas been tremendous in trying to make everybody
(20:17):
feel welcome, whether it be parentsor fans or alumni or whomever happens to
be. He wants to make surethat everybody's just a part of this and
is you know, hey, everybody, just come on, jump on board.
And from a former player and aformer coach standpoint, you can probably
attest to the fact that it seemslike he's really really gone now I don't
want to say overboard, but he'sreally gone to the next level and making
(20:41):
sure that everybody feels welcome. Yeah, and yeah, I've told him that
directly. I tip my cap tohim. I know how he's wired,
and you nailed it. He's anawesome human being from an awesome family.
He's very easy going and he hashigh standards and I think he's and I'm
(21:03):
not saying this in a complimentary wayto me, he's a little bit more
like my personality that he has linesand if you cross the lines and you're
going to shove a penalty and standards, and he's really trying to grasp,
like you said, not only theemotional part of the greatness of Titan baseball
history, the fans and how thatfan base has grown and including them,
(21:27):
but he's also kept his phone opento anybody his office door, and he's
not wired like that. And atcal State Fullerton, it's so much different
than the halves of the world OregonSEC, where you have a staff of
(21:48):
so many that volunteers, managers,administrators, graphic people, you can delegate
some of your responsibility. At Fullerton, guess what, you're just wearing different
hats some days. And it takesa commitment and time. And he actually
hit him and I broke it downon what his day is going to look
like and how do you get througha day like that? It can be
overwhelming, and he has made adefinite commitment to take in a very large
(22:15):
part of his busy schedule to addressthe greatness of the program and the alums.
And I think that's critical because I'vecoached with other people in my career
that don't deem that as important,and it's been a little bit disastrous for
him. Well, sticky with talkinga little bit about coach Dietrich is is
that how special is it to haveyour number retired in Jason Dietrich's second year
(22:40):
as head coach at Cols Kate FullertonAnd the fact that he was your pitching
coach at Oregon from seventeen through nineteenand now he's the head coach of the
program that you were a head coachat and it's kind of come full circle
and the program is now really kindof on the ascension. On the trajectory
is in a positive direction to thepoint where, yes, last year was
(23:02):
a losing season, but this yearwe still have half a season to go,
but things to be looking to beI had a schedule in just his
second year on campus, So talkto me a little bit about having it
done now while the ascension of theteam is on the rise. Yeah.
On a personal note, you knowalso have Neil Walton as soon a tremendous
(23:23):
job as a recruiting guy, andJosh Spiloski that I have a background with
and as a scout, and goodfriends of mine and Neil played for me
of course and the national championship teamand we tell stories all the time.
They've asked me to come back andconsult in some areas. And the fact
that I have familiarity with the players. Jack Hayley is a guy that I
(23:48):
recruited to play at Oregon and wouldhave played for me had I not retired,
And so just that feeling of welcomeback for me, the familiarity with
the players and certainly the staff,from the relationship. Coach Dietrich and I
got along great and I learned fromhim and he learned from me when we
worked together. And the fact thathe made it a you know, in
(24:08):
a second year, like you said, everyone, you know, it's not
Titan Baseball yet. But he's gota lot of traction. I'm hearing from
a lot of the old guard mymy era, how proud we are of
the trajectory of the program now.And he looks like he's got that old
culture back with his team. He'sgot some older guys that have bought in.
(24:30):
So yeah, it'll be even morespecial than just let's compare it to
Oregon. You know, I don'thave the same you know, I was
a duck and I was emerging inthat for twelve years, but I didn't
go to school there, and Ididn't live there, didn't grow up there,
and I've gone back there of somebut I don't have the same feeling
when I go back there. Soyeah, it's even more special. It
(24:51):
would have been special anyway, butbecause of the relationship part of it.
And you know, I sound egotisticala little bit, but I'm proud of
what coach Walzikowski's doing up there,beyond what he was already good at.
Meaning he's a recruiting machine. He'sintense, and he's a different personality than
Coach Dietrich the way he carries himself. But he's brought into the community outreach
(25:18):
and the donors, and he's donea lot better job of recruiting the community
into the program up there, andhe's doing well. And so now he's
got it going on, and nowI see the same things happening with what
Titan Baseball was all about. Youknow, our fan base or fan base
is the best. I didn't realizehow good they were until I left,
you know, and had to comeback and play there. And then some
(25:42):
other environments like Goss Oregon State fansare a lot like Titan fans because they're
not the halves and they were alwaysDavid versus Goliath until now, and so
they've got an edge to him,like the Titan fans have a good edge,
a friendly edge, and it givesyou an advance. I didn't realize
that. I thought it was allme, coach, and until those players
(26:04):
left and the fans weren't there.But yeah, and how did that get
built. It got built by campsand Augie's camps, and Bill Kernan and
Larry Coachell and Dennis Rogers, greatbaseball people, and then of course Toronto
and his staff and Hooking and hisstaff and people in the community bought into
(26:27):
Titan Baseball because they kids came tocamp and they recruited their parents to come
to Titan games, and then theygot the bug, you know, and
just generations of friendships. So whatthat program has done not only for the
Horton's, the Vanderhooks. I'm visioningnow my dad, Sam Soronto will be
there on Friday Day's dad, RickBanner Hook's dad was up there, Francy,
(26:48):
my wife's dad. What it didfor me, but also what it
did for my coaches families, theplayers families. They still hang out together,
I mean the players families from travelingand rooting and are still the best
of friends. So baseball brings that, and Titan Baseball brought it at the
highest level. So couldn't be anycooler to have your be singled out on
(27:11):
a program and a culture and somethingthat. Of course Aggie and Snow and
Snedden and Wilson started it, andso many added to the greatness of Titan
Baseball. So I'm just thrilled tobe a part of it. We'll talking
about all the greats that have kindof come through those halls. I mean,
(27:33):
you were recently inducted into the AmericanBaseball Coaches Hall of Fame. Guys
like Aggie Grito, Don Snedden,those guys are already in there along with
you. Is that kind of theculmination of your coaching career is to be
inducted into that hall of fame thatyou know includes all those greats you got,
Yeah, I mean, I meanyou think of all the all the
(27:56):
great college coaches out there from thepoint where I'm trying to think of the
name on top me how the LSUskip Bertman is there. The Mississippi State
coaches in there, My mentors arein there. You know, every Mike
Gillespie's in there. Any Lopez isin there. Guys, I competed against
Jim O'Brien at the junior college levelart Mathmanian Mount JC coach. All those
(28:18):
guys I learned so much competing againstor competing with, And yeah, it
was surreal. I talked about thisin my speech. You get by six
minutes, you know. And soit's hard. You know, you start
with your family and the impact thatthe sacrifices they made. Being the coach's
(28:41):
daughter or a wife of a coachis difficult because of the demands of coaching,
and but also what it did formy family vantages, communication, lines,
relationships. Uh. You know,as a parent, you'd like to
take the credit for how well aroundyour kids are when they grow up,
but guess what their friends or theirfuture. And so their friends became my
(29:06):
players when they were kids, andthey modeled themselves after my best players,
and I'm proud of that. Youknow they, whether I like to admit
it or not, my players andcoaches helped mold my family and and what
I think is a great family today. And then you go to that event
or I've been blessed enough to speakat the clinic there at the national convention,
(29:27):
you know, which is eight thousandpeople. There was eighty five hundred
people there this year and the banquetthat they award you at was the largest
in history at eight hundred fifty people. And probably a hundred of those people
are the old guard, previous generationthat I grew up wanting to be,
like the Bertman's and the Bubbo Brayton'sand the Rod Dado's, and those are
(29:53):
those are the guys Augie Garridos ofcourse, and Wally Kincaid's, and they
were there in the room, andso it hit me as you know,
there's a quote that you you know, a good coach can win a game,
a great coach will influence a lifeforever, right, and so that
(30:14):
responsibility and that blessing is generational,right, And so those guys influenced me.
And I could have gone on anypath like any young person I could
have been. My brothers chose adifferent path, and neither one of them
are alive today, some of itbecause of their social choices. Kids I've
coached have made choices right, andso that kept me on the path of
(30:40):
hopefully being a patriarch and a teacher, an educator, a role model for
many generations, just like the guysthat were in that room. So it's
mind boggling to do the math andunderstand how many people they influenced, generations
of players that are now influence andtheir kids and their kids are influencing their
(31:03):
grandkids. And I'm a part ofthat, you know, to have athletics,
how that influences people from what Ithink the world should be today instead
of being what race are you?What are your Republican? You, Democrat?
Left winger? Right? What areyou? I'm a guy that likes
(31:25):
the Golden rule, and I'm lawabiding. You know, that's what I
want, and I answer to standards, and my standards are high, and
so I the blessing is that I'ma part of that the great you know,
I'm in that fraternity of greatness andthinking about the thousands that all of
us collectively together maybe impacted in apositive way, and I think that's the
(31:48):
way people should live their lives.You know, and you'arn what you get
and if you cross the line,you serve the penalty. That's kind of
the way I roll. And Iwould assure you that most my guys,
whether they like it or not,just like being a kid to your dad
that raises you hard, you didn'tlike it very much, but then you
catch yourself when you're you get yourturn to discipline your kids. Just like
(32:13):
that. So I think that's greatness. I think we all know the names
of the players that you coaches,that you coached that have gone on to
good success on the baseball field,with Bikases and Nevins who are now managers
in the major leagues, or KirkSarlos who's now a head coach at TCU,
or Justin Turner who's still playing balland Suzuki who just recently retired,
(32:38):
or whatever it is. So Titanfans will know those stories of those former
players that have gone on to havesuccess in baseball, but share some some
of the guys that were good playersor maybe even not just decent players,
that were role players or whatever itwas, that have on to great success
(33:00):
in the business world. That you'dbe just as proud of as say a
Justin Turner who's had a long storycareer, or a kurtzer Zuki or somebody
else like that. Yeah, andyou know, some of that reveals itself
in the real world too, whetheryou're Phil Nevin manager, Mark Katze manager,
Gabe Kapler, the manager of theGiants, tried to be a Titan,
(33:20):
was an absolute disaster as a youngperson, making a lot of bad
choices as far as going to classand behavioral and he wasn't a good fit
because of his behavior at that timeand didn't last. He lasted one semester
in our program. And I think, you know, he landed on his
feet in a big way because insteadof Gabe blaming us and putting it on
(33:46):
us and it was our fault,he took the thumb and said it's on
me. I deserved that, andI blew a golden opportunity, which speaks
volumes about what Gabe became and istoday and being a leader that he is.
He grew up and I had someguys that were real brunken broncos in
(34:06):
high school that had made some baddecisions that we didn't look the other way,
but we consoled them and brought himin any way, that became some
of our greatest warriors and became verysuccessful high school coaches and leaders in the
community. And you take it.You know, a Justin Turner not only
(34:27):
is success beyond what he did athis generation at cal State Fullerton, but
not only his numbers and what hedid for the Dodgers and hopefully what he'll
do for the Red Sox now,but his commitment to outreaching the community and
being the Roberto Clementi Award winner forthe Dodgers. You know, and there's
so many good Dodgers that get it. You know, it's more than just
(34:50):
being a baseball player. That they'rehelping the youth of America and given back
and all those kind of things.I'm proud of those kind of things.
And Hope Lee. I'll give youan example. Ronnie Printyman, who became
a in oh three. He camefrom Schreedle's Junior College and we coached him
hard, and he was like aSega third baseman Rick Banner. Rick would
(35:13):
yell at him every pitch from thedugout, and he'd moved to the left,
moved to the right, and Ronniehad a good year, but not
a great year. And then inOH four he became Brooks Robinson. He
got Rick out of his ears andcoach Horton out of his ears, and
he's a smart player, a greatplayer, and was our third baseman on
the OH four national championship team.So fast forward to two weeks ago and
(35:34):
I hear from Ronnie he can't cometo the event, and he can't come
to the event because he's made hislifetime dream vacation plans at his Sandals in
Jamaica with his bride, Tiff,And he goes on to explain to me
that that's been his bucket list dreamever since he heard me brag about coming
back from Sandals on Francy and Ihis vacation. We had the resources to
(35:59):
go to a piece Sandals back inthe day. I think we bought him
from Larry Zooker, originally from theTitan auction and we loved Sandals, and
so I'd come back from those vacationsbragging about how cool it was. And
he told me, he said,since I was bragging about that forever,
this was his first chance to doit. So you never know. My
(36:20):
point is, you never know howyou impact somebody with what you say to
them, how you coach them,good or bad, and the decisions they
are going to make for the restof their life, you know. And
I have so many that were kindof in my category where the unusual thing.
I just listened to a podcast thatKirk Sarlos did with Dave Soronto and
(36:45):
something Beaty Guy does Tyler Beaty's daddoesn't, and and Kirk brought this out.
It's unusual for a guy with Kirk'ssuccess level of play feel same mark.
The best managers and coaches aren't alwaysthe best players because things came easier
(37:06):
for them, and they don't havethe patience because they played the game at
such a high level that they havethose demands and those expectations. As soon
as they tell one hitter or pitcherone thing, they expect them to play
like them. More common is theguy like me that had to grind for
every inning they had, every atbat they had. Rick Randerha was like
that. Dave Serrano was like that. We weren't the best, We were
(37:29):
maybe the worst guys on the teamand happy to be on the team,
and we had to learn about allthe things to allow us to be good
enough to play on the team.We had so many more guys like that
that became good players in the systemin their commitment. Read Johnson, Read
Johnson, here's a great story forthose youngsters listening today. In the transfer
(37:49):
portal era, Reid would have probablynever been a Titan except for he's read
Johnson, meaning read walked on.He was more of a soccer gymnast kind
of athlete than he was a baseballplayer. And Aggie and we made the
decision that particular year. I talkedabout this before, I think on a
podcast that X number of guys becausewe didn't want too many guys in the
(38:12):
dugout, would take batting practice,and then we didn't have locker rooms.
Of course, they'd take their uniformoff and sit in the stands while we
competed. I mean that, whata class distinction. That is, what
a slap in the face. Howembarrassing for those guys to go up there.
What are you doing up here?Aren't you on the team. Yeah,
but I'm a red shirt, soI'm sitting up here today. They'd
be in your office in five minutessaying I got to get out of here.
(38:36):
This is terrible for me. Myparents want me to leave because I'm
not playing every day, and somuch of that going on today, and
well read. Chris Beck was anotherone of those guys that became an All
American that was in that same category. They said, I want to be
a Titan, and I get it. There's these really good players there.
It's not my turn, and I'llwait my turn and I'll bust through it.
And we had so many guys likethat. PJ. Pilitaria that's assistant
(39:00):
hitting coach with the Rockies right now. I told him twice in his career
that he probably should transfer if hewanted playing time. He said, no,
thank you, I'd like to proveyou wrong, coach, and he
did and it became I think.I think when we were sitting out here
with Rick Vannhook, you said thesame thing about Jim Betzel. Jimmy Betzel,
another great name like that. There'sso many that you know on the
good side and the batside. Thenthere was that young man that would come
(39:22):
into your office and say, hey, I'm a gamer and put me in
there. I know I had abad fall, but I deserve playing time,
and you'd kind of wait your timeand he'd get his chance and guess
what he'd revealed that he really wasn'tready, you know. And so one
of my favorite quotes is what youdo is so loud, I can't hear
what you say. You know,you earn playing time and that and that's
(39:42):
what Dets has going on. Now, that's the old culture. There's some
guys that weren't weren't good fits withthe current Titan team. They were really
good talented players, but they weren'tTitans, and so he's weeded that out
and that's why they're winning the onerun games. They're coming from behind the
things that we used to do beyondour talent level, where guys would play
(40:04):
beyond what scouts would identify. Untilthe end of the year. Going into
the year, we didn't have thehighest recruiting class all the time. They
weren't Area COO guys. But atthe end of the year, guess who
got the most guys drafted. Wedid because of performance, not because of
hype. And you know Mel Franks. Mel Franks, you know, for
him to run that media relations departmentwith his resources and Mike Rain and building
(40:30):
the temporary press box in nineteen ninetytwo, that thirty one years ago and
it was built temporary. So I'mstill going to sit in tonight doing the
ESPN games. And you know,that's what Titans do. We have each
other. It's and again back tomy being singled out me really as one
(40:52):
of the greats of the greats,and I think, you know, I
hate to give credit to Oregon State, but they're pro gram resembles ours a
little bit. Rice when when whenGraham went in there and building that program.
Uh, you know, they hadstuff, but they had no business
being a nationally prominent baseball team becauseand Wayne did that, you know,
(41:15):
and because he's a great coach,and they had great people. And that's
what's really cool, you know aboutbaseball. I don't think you can do
that. I Augie couldn't have doneit, and I don't think in basketball,
and he couldn't have done it infootball, But I think in baseball
it's a sport that you can overcomea lot of things. And the cal
State Pullarton programs all about that andit and it. You know, we
(41:37):
always tend to talk about the GoldenSpikes guys, the national players of the
Year. And I'm glad you askedthat question, because really the program was
made up of the frank Sts ofthe world. Who doesn't get as much
credit as he should have of beinga tremendous All American player in the seventies,
(41:58):
Don Snedden, that was on apioneer and a great player before we
turn Division one, and and thenmany many more that didn't get the national
accolades that really established the foundation ofthe great program. So, I know
we're kind of winding things down here, but who are some of the people
that you'd like to think that youvery well may not have been able to
(42:19):
recognize in the six minutes when you'reout there for the Hall of Fame induction
or for the you know, howevermany minutes you're going to get on Friday.
I mean, who, who aresome of the people that you might
not be able to get an opportunityto think that you now have the floor.
Yeah, you know, obviously theadministrative Neil Stoner just recently passed away.
(42:42):
God bless him. You know whathe what he did. His name
isn't talked about synonymous with Aggie,but he hired Aggie. He didn't give
us everything, but he gave usenough to be a Division one program and
put lipstick on a pig, soto speak, to start it, and
Aggie ran with it. And thenhe did that with you know, hold
(43:05):
on to football as long as hedid. And at Fullerton and having the
great Jean Murphy, Lynn Rogers,great gymnastics coach, Gene Adams h director
of or taught exercise physiology and tothis day, my greatest example of how
I tried to teach when I hadmy opportunity to be a teacher professor at
(43:29):
Curritos and La Valley and Don Matson, the bursting coach back when I played
there, established some of my foundationsas a coach and a human being that
I learned from. And then,of course, you know the wisdom of
Steve Deatola and when he was associatead and had the wisdom to bring Aggie
(43:57):
back from Illinois, Aggie got meto be the associate head coach. I
think it was Steve's vision that Aggiewould coach for a few more years and
then George would be there if hewas worthy to take over, and that
came to fruition and probably I wouldthink very proud of the fact that from
ninety one to seven, which wasmy ten years an assistant coach and head
(44:21):
coach. That you look at successin those years was probably the heyday of
Titan baseball, not taking anything awayfrom the seventy five, seventy nine,
eighty four groups at did so muchand their generations, you know, the
Warlike generation, Martelli generation, theirfriendship Mike Garcia War eight. He was
(44:45):
the second baseman and captain on thatseventy nine team, and you know,
it was kind of funny. ThenJohn Easterbrook, you know, he was
my athletic director. I reported toSteve on a daily basis and he was
my friend and mentor and some ofthe daily obstacles or challenges we worked through
together. And John Easterbrook was influentialto me and great friend and he helped
(45:08):
me through a rough patch in ninetynine when we had an incident with some
guys misbehaving and he helped me nailthat as far as the penalty and we
got through it and made our wayto Omahan. Different things like that.
Brian Quinn was a great mentor andleader. Doctor Gordon was limited in what
(45:29):
he could do, but you knowdid his very best to give cow State,
put the give us the lipstick everyyear to hold, you know,
host regionals, which became a transcendalkind of period of time for me,
and the difficulty that Aggie had.We had to win regionals on the road
in sixteen regionals, which is very, very difficult because of the hostile environment.
(45:53):
And then in two thousand and wegot the host if we earned it
our own regional and super you know, and it made it a longer road,
but it was a little easier playingon the confines of Goodwin Field.
And even though it extended the effortit was it was a big deal to
(46:14):
not have to travel that weekend.And of course our win percentage was conducive
to what it is nationally. AndI think we only lost one super and
that was a five, and that'sstill a nightmare to me. We didn't
get that done with arguably a betterteam than we had the year before.
So I all on that one Ishould have. We haven't had Coster there
(46:36):
that game, and he was rootingthe fans on. I'd be remiss if
I didn't give credit for the influenceof my assistance and the sacrifices they and
their families made. And you know, Coach Harton if any if you asked
anybody is very demanding, very detailed. I heard them talking about Buck Showalter
last night on TV watching the Dodgergame, and they were describing Buck,
(47:01):
and I said, they're talking aboutme and talking about how cd O is
cdo is OCD only the letters oralphabeties like they should be. So I
mean every little thing in the lockerroom and every little thing. And it
came an obsession with me a littlebit. But everybody knew that if you
(47:22):
didn't dot the iye, coach wasgoing to call you out on that.
You know, And and I hopeyou know, I get some credit from
some of the guys that are outthere because they keep brains, what they
call brains. They're Steno pad andjournals, and they're meticulous a little like
me. I hope they're not overboardlike me. But so it worked for
(47:43):
me, and some of the guysthink it worked, thinks it works for
them. So that's how I've beeninfluenced. That compulsion, that level of
detail didn't come from Augie. Itcame from Coach kinkaid I what I learned
coach snow as a coach and thenbeing able to work for him and then
coach against him our different thing,different set of skill sets that I said,
(48:08):
I want to be like that withinmy personality, you know. And
so Aggie taught me so much aboutdifferent things. And Aggie's the best at
As I've said, there's nobody inthe universe that could have done what he
did with what he had, andwe all learned from them, you know.
And now a lot of us weregiven more than he had, and
(48:31):
I was given more that he had, and I was a blessing in my
I wake up every day driven toleave the program at least as good as
what he handed over to me,and hopefully we accomplished that together. Thanks
(48:52):
for listening to the fifteen Miles toOmaha podcast. Feel free to visit our
website, cal State Omaha dot com. While there, you can order an
official Cal State Omaha T shirt fromthe Merch Store. Want to help others
find this podcast, please add afive star review wherever you are listening.
(49:12):
It really does help. The fifteenhundred forty four Miles to Omaha podcast is
an on the Lamb Enterprises production andis not affiliated with cow State, Fulletin
or Titan Baseball
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