Bill Lux, Millennium Hall of Fame

With Lux on its side, Costa Mesa High’s potent offensive machine

could pass or run while climbing to No. 1.

Once described in these pages as “the talented junior southpaw with

the quick release and quick legs,” Bill Lux lifted the Mustang football

program to Sea View League prominence in 1978 and ’79.

Arguably the best quarterback in Costa Mesa history, Lux was the crown

jewel of Coach Tom French’s league championship squad in 1978, running

the option behind a solid offensive line of center Matt Hendricks, Dave

Pelichowski, Gerard Armstrong, Mike Mills, Mark Chapman, Frank Elbourn,

and tackles Brad Millar and Mike Ziegler.

“We weren’t big, but we had hearts bigger than the stadium,” said Lux,

a 6-foot, 165-pounder who completed 103 of 198 passes for 1,298 yards and

eight touchdowns, while rushing for 331 yards and four touchdowns in the

autumn of ‘78, when the Mustangs knocked off previously unbeaten Corona

del Mar in the regular-season finale, 10-7, to grab a share of the Sea

View title.

When the chips were down, it was Lux who carried the Mustangs to key

wins over El Toro and CdM as they earned No. 1 status going into the CIF

Southern Section Central Conference playoffs, in which Mesa defeated

Ontario, 39-7, before bowing to fourth-seeded El Dorado, 35-24, in the

quarterfinals at Valencia High. “All the glory should go to the

offensive line and to the guys around me,” said Lux, a second-team

All-CIF choice that season, as well as the Sea View League’s Most

Valuable Player and a third-team All-Orange County selection.

Lux’s favorite target, wide receiver Dan Bauer, was a first-team

all-league pick, while tackle Chris Monahan, linebacker Mike Scarlett and

defensive back Scott Miller led the Mustangs’ defense.

As a member of the sophomore football team in ‘77, Lux threw 24

touchdown passes and ran for eight others, giving the Mustang varsity

much hope heading into the next season. In addition to Lux, Mesa returned

15 starters and gained momentum by staggering CdM, 14-6, in the ’77 finale.

“We feel we have a helluva shot at winning the Sea View League,”

French said in early September 1978.

A second-team All-Orange Coast area pick by the Daily Pilot, Lux threw

for over 100 yards in nine of the Mustangs’ 11 games that year, as Mesa

finished 7-4 after starting the campaign 0-2. Lux, who shared the

backfield spotlight with tailback Mike Teregis, rushed for 59 yards or

more in four games, including a 14-carry, 65-yard performance against the

Sea Kings in the title-clincher at Newport Harbor High.

“I think that was the highlight of my career, beating Corona del Mar

my junior year, because we were the underdogs going in,” Lux said. “It

was a great feeling being league championships, and it kind of put Costa

Mesa on the map again.”

Also a basketball and baseball player at Mesa, Lux suffered a

brainstem concussion in Week 3 of his senior year against San Clemente,

after a sensational start to the campaign.

“It was a scary time,” said Lux, who missed the next two games, then

returned to the lineup against Irvine, a 28-6 Mesa win as he completed 11

of 20 passes for 181 yards and two touchdowns, rushing for 33 more yards

in a dozen carries.

On a 1979 squad that included Bennet Swift, Chris Starkman, Mike

Field, David McAllister and Cliff Elbourn, the Mustangs once again won

seven games and reached the CIF quarterfinals, but it was a tough year

for Lux, who tore a thigh muscle in the Irvine game and never fully

recovered.

“I couldn’t get healthy, and I felt real bad about that,” said Lux,

who finished the season completing 89 of 184 passes for 1,353 yards and

eight touchdowns, earning All-CIF again, along with second-team

All-Orange Coast area and third-team all-county honors.

Lux opened the ’79 season by passing for 156 yards and rushing for 106

more against Santa Ana in a 9-3 win, then merited Player of the Week

distinction in Week 2 against Capistrano Valley, a 24-14 Mesa victory as

he threw for 297 yards and two scores on 16-of-21 passing.

The Sea View’s No. 3 representative in the CIF Central Conference

playoffs, the Mustangs upset fourth-seeded Aviation in the first round,

23-21, then lost to San Clemente, 7-3, on a controversial play.

“(The officials) took a touchdown pass away from us,” Lux said. “They

said Danny (Bauer) was out of bounds, but the film showed (later) he was

in the end zone. That was a tough one to swallow. I remember it was a

corner route to Danny, and he made it into the right corner of the end

zone.”

It would be Lux’s last football game.

Lux accepted a football scholarship to Southern Utah, but returned

home before the ’80 season even started.

“I ended up realizing, at that point, that I really didn’t have the

desire to play,” he said. “But it’s a decision I regret to this day. I

should’ve stuck it out and I didn’t. It was a tremendous opportunity and

I didn’t follow through with it.”

Lux, who grew up playing Junior All-American football in Costa Mesa,

was also a little homesick, a contributing factor in his return.

“A lot of kids out there would have given their left or right arm to

get the opportunity I was given, but that’s one of the issues I have to

deal with, even up until today,” said Lux, who entered the police force

and later endured greater issues, when he was involved in a car accident

in the line of duty and suffered serious injuries that still effect him

to this day.

Lux injured both shoulders, his hand and hip in 1988, then was retired

by the Riverside Police Department shortly thereafter.

“I just started to really like (being a police officer),” said Lux,

who included playing basketball in high school with his brother, Steve,

as one of his athletic highlights.

Lux, who coached quarterbacks at Santa Ana Valley in the mid-1980s and

at Ocean View in 1993, has returned to the sidelines this year as

quarterbacks coach at Calvary Chapel.

In addition to his stellar football career, Lux was a catcher and

outfielder on the Mesa baseball team and center/forward on the basketball

team, often banging bodies with former prep stars such as Steve Van Horn

(Estancia) and Jeff Pries (CdM).

“I did all the dirty work -- defense and rebounding,” said Lux, a

member of the Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Fame, celebrating the

millennium.

Lux, 38, lives in Costa Mesa with his wife, Theresa, and four

children: Son Ryan, 16, and daughters Mikyla, 10, Brooke, 6, and Anna, 4.