It’s said that what goes around comes around. In my case, nearly four decades of journalistic endeavors have paid off.
The Metro Conference honored its second Hall of Fame Class of 2025 Sunday at Olympian High School. I feel deeply honored to be part of it along with 11 other inductees this year, among them educators, coaches and athletes. All are deserving.
I do feel a special connection to this latest group as many, if not most, of the individuals honored were among the first student-athletes and coaches I encountered and became acquainted with nearly 40 years ago when I started my journalism career at The Star-News.
Yes, it’s true, time flies!
They were an amazing group then and still are, their exploits standing the test of time in the record books.
Tracy Crawford (Southwest track & field), Christina Murguia (Castle Park volleyball, basketball, softball), Nicole Meyer-Sandez (Mar Vista volleyball, basketball, softball) and Andy Sanchez (Castle Park football, baseball) were enshrined in the athlete category.
Coaches inducted included Michael Collins (Chula Vista basketball), Jim Knox (Mar Vista/Eastlake volleyball) and Lori Morris (Montgomery basketball).
Athlete-Coach inductees included Gene Alim (Mar Vista), Ron Pietila (Sweetwater) and Gil Warren (Sweetwater).
Former Sweetwater Union High School District Superintendent Dr. Ed Brand and I were inducted for distinguished service.
It was an evening to be recognized for lifetime achievement.
•A three-sport athlete at Mar Vista High School, Alim coached Sweetwater High School to CIF football titles in 1983-84 and a “mythical” state championship in 1984. He logged an 80-11-2 record with the Red Devils, including a 36-game winning streak.
•A three-sport athlete at Sweetwater High School, Pietila was known as the “godfather” of girls soccer, coaching teams at Southwest and Bonita Vista high schools to 506 wins, 107 losses and 75 ties. He won 23 consecutive league titles at BVHS, setting a state record with more than 300 consecutive league matches without a defeat.
•A Sweetwater high School standout in football and track, Warren played under Don Coryell at SDSU and as a coach led Castle Park to CIF football titles in 1968, 1994 and 1996. His 1996 team finished 13-0 as “mythical” state champions.
•An eight-time Metro Coach of the Year, Collins led Chula Vista High School to 15 CIF playoff appearances and a runner-up finish in the 1984 finals.
•Knox built men’s and women’s volleyball programs at Mar Vista and Eastlake high schools, capturing 12 league titles and the Division II boys CIF title in 1999.
Personal perspective
Newspaper stories just don’t materialize out of thin air. It’s a lot of hard work and somewhat under-appreciated, in my opinion.
Attending a game or event is only about 10 percent of the equation. Production takes up about 90 percent of the time from actually writing the story, to fact checking, spell-checking and proof-reading. If photography was involved, photos had to be printed at a lab from roll film, then picked up and converted to a half-tone.
Layout involved paste-up where the story was printed onto strips of paper, cut and run through a waxer, then arranged into columns with an x-acto knife to stick to the board, leaving a hole for the headline and photo.
That took time and other personnel to complete. Then it was finally off to the press.
The process is a lot faster now, especially with desktop publishing. But it is still a process.
I look back and remember things were a lot different than now. What we take for granted in everyday life today didn’t exist then or wasn’t mass-marketed.
There was no Internet. There were no cell phones, no I-pads or digital cameras. Computers were too bulky and heavy to sit on one’s lap.
You had to rely on your memory and familiarity with the subject matter.
There was no Wikipedia.
In my early days as a cub reporter covering water polo games at the Southwestern College pool, I had to call in stories on a rotary phone. Someone at The Star-News office would pick up the receiver and took dictation — it was only about 150 words — and passed on their notes for someone else for data entry. By the time that first story came out in print, the names of the players who scored the goals were misspelled and comments from the coach were attributed to the wrong school.
Well, that happens.
I remember in the fourth grade we tried something like that. The teacher whispered something to a student at the front of the class and we were then expected to repeat the sentence to the person behind us. By the time it reached the back of class, the sentence was unrecognizable.
I was red-faced the next day when I went back out to the pool. But the kids gave it all a good-natured chuckle and went back to thinking about the next game.
Same with me. I was obviously disappointed, but I had to forget it as well and think about my next story.
Nothing stops the presses!
By the time soccer season came around the editor had set me up with a desk of my own in the office. The result was fewer misspelled names and my stories began to attract notice. I was very familiar with the sport after watching it religiously for years on “Soccer Made in Germany” on Channel 15. My knowledge was appreciated by both the players and coaches and I felt rewarded. Awards soon followed. I was on to something exciting.
As the seasons progressed, I was introduced to new sports to cover.
There were still obstacles to overcome, however. Rosters were mostly handwritten and you were lucky to see one with first and last names. Trying to decipher someone else’s handwriting was an adventure, especially at a swim or track meet. Then when I got back to the office, I had to decipher my own hurried scribble.
It was a scramble to meet deadlines, but it was exciting at the same time.
And rewarding to hear the athletes and coaches talking about the stories.
I’m proud to say that The Star-News won two first-place awards for best weekly sports section in the state in 1992 and 1993 after a runner-up finish in 1990. I’m actually amazed at what we accomplished. There was no stopping me. The first time I entered the San Diego Press Club awards, I swept the field with four first-place awards.
My skills have developed both as a writer and editor. I feel I’m still on the top of my game. My name is on this year’s Press Club awards list.
It’s humbling to know that others appreciate your work and dedication to your profession.
And I couldn’t have done it alone. I have to thank the small group of likewise talented and dedicated staff and freelancers
Over the years I’ve felt my job has been to document, dissect and preserve. Document as in reporting a sporting result, dissecting it to get the meaning or significance of the event’s outcome and to preserve it through a written and photographic account for the public record and personal enjoyment.
I think I’ve done a decent job of that.
At Sunday’s awards banquet, I was surprised at how many of the attendees came up to me thanking me for the coverage and telling me they’ve saved all the articles in scrapbooks. Some even saved complete papers.
Memories.
It’s been a fulfilling career documenting the highs and lows of local sports, the CIF championships, league titles, player of the year and coach of the year awards. It’s all been a blast. I just consider myself to be lucky enough to have been along for the ride with all of these amazing athletes and coaches.
What do I remember the most? The boo-boos, actually.
I’ve always been a stickler for detail.
I was agonizing over a Metro Conference championship track and field meet story a few years ago. The bulk of the layout was the story but there was a separate sidebar with the winners of each event listed. I tried over and over to squeeze the text as much as possible to fit into the available space. I finally thought I had and put the page to bed.
The next day I copied and pasted the story on the website only to discover that in getting the story to fit in print, I had inadvertently deleted the name of the person who won the girls high jump. I still feel bad about that.
The web has been a godsend in that regard, instantly fixing errors. That’s one advance in technology I have fully embraced.
What I’m most proud of? That’s easy. Taking the so-called “minor sports” and elevating them into mainstream coverage, making them stars in their own right. Wrestling and roller hockey, water polo and soccer, in particular, grew in popularity because of that I’ve always felt.
The South County region has significantly grown in population over the decades. New high schools have sprouted up as well as new sports.
There’s just so much talent out there now that begs for recognition. I believe I still have a few more headlines to write.
Metro Conference Hall of Fame Class of 2025
Athletes
Tracy Y. Crawford (Southwest High School)
Christina Murguia (Castle Park High School)
Nicole Meyer-Sandez (Mar Vista High School)
Andy Sanchez (Castle Park High School)
Coaches
Michael Collins (Chula Vista HIgh School)
Jim Knox (Mar Vista/ Eastlake High School)
Lori Morris (Montgomery High School)
Athlete-Coaches
Gene Alim (Mar Vista/Sweetwater High School)
Ron Pietila (Sweetwater/Bonita Vista High School
Gil Warren (Sweetwater/Castle Park High School)
Distinguished Service
Phillip Brents (Sweetwater High School, The Star-News community service)
Dr. Ed Brand (Sweetwater Union High School District administration)
Photos by Jon Bigornia
