Hermstad, Hamdorf and Haas: Three Kings Give Up Their Thrones

They have 109 years of coaching experience among them, 37 state titles and 68 conference titles. Their combined record is 1,534-257-29, a winning percentage of 84%. They built their community college programs from scratch and turned them into legends.

But the winning streaks, titles and awards can be forgotten. What their athletes went on to achieve after their tutelage is the preferred legacy of three of the most successful coaches in state community college history, who all announced their retirement in a three-day span earlier this month.

Golden West’s Tom Hermstad and Ken Hamdorf and Cypress’ Ray Haas all consider the true benchmarks of their success to be the unmatched number of scholarships to four-year universities their athletes earned, and the dozens of their former players who went into coaching throughout Southern California.

“The most gratifying thing is when guys come back and tell you something you taught them carried over,” said Hamdorf, who is retiring after 33 years of coaching water polo and swimming at Golden West.

Hamdorf recalled receiving a letter from a former player that simply said, “Thanks for the life lessons.”

And recently he ran into two former players who are now firemen.

“They thanked me for the 6 a.m. workouts and the discipline I taught,” Hamdorf said. “They said it had really helped them in their life today.”

While all three coaches are looking forward to retirement and spending time with family, they still plan to help out in the transition of the programs. Their acts will be tough to follow.

“I can’t think of any other coaches that have been around as long as they have. Those are really hard shoes to fill,” said Rick Rowland, aquatics director and men’s water polo coach at Cal Baptist.

The paths the three coaches took are varied.

Athletes from around the world came to Golden West to play for Hermstad and Hamdorf, who have been linked since college when they were co-captains of the Long Beach State water polo team. After graduating, Hermstad became Golden West’s first men’s water polo coach in 1966. The following year he took over the men’s swimming program, and in 1978 the women’s.

His water polo teams finished no better than fifth in their conference the first three seasons, but went on to win 17 consecutive titles. In 1985, after compiling a 425-106-3 record, he stepped down and became the school’s athletic director. His teams won seven state titles, 17 conference championships and eight Southern California titles. His swim teams won eight conference championships. And, Hermstad saw more than 40 of his athletes named All-American.

Hermstad once took a one-semester sabbatical from Golden West to spend time studying other teams and learning new tricks.

“He wanted to see what everyone else was doing,” Rowland said. “As many years as he had been coaching, and he was still a student of the game.”

Hamdorf joined Hermstad’s staff as an assistant in 1977, after coaching high school for 10 years. He took over when Hermstad became athletic director.

Hamdorf carried on the tradition, as his water polo teams advanced to the state tournament in every season of his 14-year tenure. He led them to nine consecutive state titles from 1989 to 1997, winning 12 conference championships. The men’s swim team, under his direction for 13 years, won 12 conference and three state titles.

“The thing about those guys is, the kids loved playing for them,” said Rowland, who started his program at Cal Baptist from scratch with four Golden West graduates.”The kids that come out of that program always present themselves so well. I am always so impressed with them.”

Hamdorf said there were three basics he taught his athletes. First, be on time and be honest. Second, take responsibility for your actions, and third, take responsibility for someone else.

Those lessons are ingrained for dozens of former athletes who went on to coach throughout the area.

“It’s because of those guys that I’m coaching now,” said Dave Carlson, a former water polo player at Golden West and now coach at Los Alamitos High. “They could take a bunch of selfish, cocky kids and get them to work together for a single cause. I wanted to be able to do that.”

At Cypress College, the halls echo with the same sentiments for Haas.

He started his career in 1967, coaching the Cypress wrestling program. Over 23 years, he compiled a 293-48-3 record. He helped produce 57 All-Americans and 16 state champions, winning 11 conference titles and earning a spot in the Orange County Wrestling Coaches Assn. Hall of Fame.

In 1991, looking for a new challenge, Haas volunteered to take over the new women’s soccer program. He knew nothing about the sport going in. In his first season the team went 11-5-3, but the Chargers lost only nine more games over the next nine years. He finished with a record of 205-14-18.

In 1999, the Chargers went 27-0, the best undefeated season record in all of women’s intercollegiate soccer, according to the NSCAA College Soccer Almanac. His teams from 1998-2000 were unbeaten in 79 games. Haas’ career winning percentage is 91%, second only to North Carolina’s Anson Dorrance (95%).

“His strength was that he was able to admit his weaknesses and surround himself with coaches to fill in where he was weakest,” said former All-American defender Wendy Polnaszek. “I have so much respect for him because of that.”

Polnaszek, who played for Cypress in 1994-95, credits Haas with her scholarship to UCLA. And although she played there for Joy Fawcett, currently a member of the U.S. national team, Polnaszek said Cypress is where she learned the most.

“There was just something about Ray. I never learned more at any school than I did from Ray,” she said.

April O’Brien, who played for Haas in 1993-94 and went on to graduate from Cal State Dominguez Hills, concurs.

O’Brien remembered Haas for his pep talks, when he would go around and say something positive about each player, and the time he spent making sure athletes were progressing academically. She was shocked when she began receiving letters from four-year universities inviting her on recruiting visits.

“He sent out letters to a bunch of colleges on my behalf,” O’Brien said. “I had no idea he was doing it, and all the sudden I just started getting tons of letters. He cared so much.”

He also raised the standards of community college soccer, said Tino Ray Younger, an assistant to Haas for six years.

“All the other community colleges aspire to take their programs to the level Ray did at Cypress,” Younger said.

So what happens to these programs now?

Haas hopes that one of his former assistants will “step forward and take the challenge” and continue the legacy he built at Cypress. And Hamdorf and Hermstad are looking to former players Scott Taylor and John Wright to keep Golden West on track.

Hamdorf said both Wright and Taylor embody what he and Hermstad tried to teach. But it isn’t going to be easy.

“It’s not impossible, but it’s going to be tough,” Hermstad said. “We had a huge advantage. We were full-time and they are only part-time.”

All three outgoing coaches say they look forward to seeing their records broken.

“There wouldn’t be a better success for a coach than to have your athletes or assistants achieve more than you did,” Haas said. “I hope they do.”

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A WINNING BUNCH

Ray Haas

Tom Hermstad

Ken Hamdorf