Tears were shed, laughs were shared and poignant stories were told at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony Saturday and it made me proud to be a part of the Orange Coast College athletics program.As a student athlete and the sports editor at the school paper, it was moving to hear about an athlete who would’ve lived a different life without a coach’s suggestion, a coach who continued teaching despite his physical limitations, a faculty member who was at Coast for 46 years and an athlete that became great because of his work ethic.
I was especially moved by inductee Zoila Gomez’s story about almost going back to Mexico until OCC track and field coach Dave Fier convinced her otherwise.
Fier, who introduced Gomez at the induction ceremony, visited her at Costa Mesa High School and asked her to continue her education and running at Coast.
Gomez said that Fier called her about a million times after her graduation and eventually convinced her to come to Coast — and this became the place where she experienced her first sleep over, her first love and the value of education.
“That’s when athletics and academics got together,” Gomez said after failing English 100 the first time. “Because you are so motivated and you want to make it to the next level. But without that grade, you’re not going to make it anywhere.”
Inductee Al Irwin, on the other hand, decided to share a comical story about the person that introduced him at the induction ceremony.
“I remember saying, ‘Hey you kid, get your butt back in the pool and start working out,’” Irwin said to Dave Grant, a former present and long-time OCC veteran, when he was a student. “And now, David, I can say thank you for all the help you’ve given me down through the years.”
But inductee Jim Carnett, who is nicknamed Mr. OCC for being a part of the school for 46 years, might have shared the funniest experience at Coast.
“I said something like, ‘Well the Cerritos wrestler just got awarded the bout — if you can believe that,” Carnett said of the time he got kicked out of a game as an announcer. “Fortunately it was a pro OCC crowd. They gave me a standing ovation.”
The last inductee, Dan Quisenberry — who died in 1998 to brain cancer, was introduced by Barry Wallace, a scout for the Kansas City Royals, and his brother Marty Quisenberry.
Carnett, who knew Dan Quisenberry as a Coast athlete in 1971 to 1973, shared a moment he had with Dan Quisenberry after he retired from baseball and came back to OCC to visit him.
“I still have it,” Quisenberry said to Carnett of the feature article he wrote about him. “He said, ‘It was the best story ever written about me. Nothing in my Major League career could match it.’”
As corny as this may be to say, I imagined myself on that wall as an athlete who won a state title for Coast and came back to win more as a coach. If you’re an athlete or coach, I believe many of us want to be remembered as someone great.
This was the first Hall of Fame ceremony I’ve attended and, if others are like this one, I hope this won’t be my last because it is emotional, heartfelt and reminds us the positive effect sports has on people.
“For me, when I say the word family, that’s what I had at Orange Coast,” Gomez said. “A family within my family. I had great friends and I have no words to explain how grateful I am and still make them proud in the years to come.”
[Photo courtesy of Hank Schellingerhout]
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