Bob Wetzel, Millennium Hall of Fame

Retirement days, by tradition at least in America, are golden

moments with family and friends, long trips and new landmarks.

But for Bob Wetzel, his phone rings constantly, his passion is

brighter than ever and he’s trying to achieve even greater feats than

during his 31 booming years at Orange Coast College or bonus-baby minor

league baseball career.

Once the athletic darling of Newport Harbor High (Class of ‘53) and

OCC in baseball and basketball, and a longtime volleyball coach and

referee, Wetzel retired in May 1995, but he certainly isn’t acting like

it.

These days, Wetzel’s busy investigating companies, researching bottom

lines, following the stock market and making investments like a daring

Wall Street tycoon.

Not that Wetzel is trying to gloat, but his life is much different

now. He’s 64 but hustling like 34. He’s the Pied Piper of retired

community college professors. He only wishes he’d started earlier.

Does Wetzel miss coaching? Well, he misses the relationships with

other coaches, good athletes and night games.

“I miss looking down at the other end of the bench to the other coach

and thinking we’re going to kick your (butt) tonight,” Wetzel said. “I

still have that competitive nature.”

Wetzel, though, said he doesn’t miss having to show up early in the

morning to teach classes, the long and grueling hours needed to build a

consistent winner and the paychecks -- once a month for OCC employees.

Sometimes, “you’d be looking at your bride and wondering what you’re

going to do for the (final) 10 days (of the month),” Wetzel said.

Now, he watches CNBC instead of ESPN. He’s more interested in stock

splits than jump shots in the paint.

Wetzel coached Orange Coast basketball players like John Vallely and

Bruce Chapman, and volleyball standouts like Steve Timmons and Brian

Lewis, going 231-61 (a .791 winning percentage) in 11 volleyball seasons

and 58-38 (.604) in three years as the Pirates’ basketball coach, which

was during the height of the program’s throne in terms of the gym rocking

and points flowing.

“We’d run and run and run,” said Wetzel, whose 1967-68 hoops team

averaged more than 97 points per game and won its second straight Eastern

Conference championship. “Our guys liked to call it the vomit offense.”

Vallely and a host of former Costa Mesa High standouts, led by

Chapman, were the focal points as Wetzel’s squads created long ticket

lines and packed Peterson Gymnasium.

In 11 seasons as OCC’s volleyball coach -- or when the school decided

to have a program -- the Pirates won seven conference titles and four

state championships, including three in a row from 1989 to ’91. Chuck

Cutenese, one of his former players, replaced Wetzel as volleyball coach.

Timmons went on to win two Olympic gold medals and one silver, while

Lewis, the pride of the 1987 and ’89 state title teams, is a longtime

star on the pro beach tour.

Wetzel got into officiating indoor and beach volleyball, and, often,

bumped into many he’d taught. That wasn’t always a good thing. Said

Wetzel: “You climb the (referee’s) ladder and there are your former

athletes saying, ‘What’s this call!”’

But at OCC, there wasn’t all glory. From 1983 to ‘86, there was no OCC

men’s volleyball team. Only Golden West had a program from the district.

“It was a real downer for every high school in the county having

outstanding boys volleyball programs, and there was no place for them to

go at the intermediate level,” Wetzel said. “Golden West was one team and

it couldn’t handle the interest and turnout.”

Wetzel, who enjoys following the teams of his former volleyball

players who now coach, was first hired at Costa Mesa High in 1960 and

served as a lower-level baseball coach and assistant basketball coach

under Jules Gage, one of Wetzel’s four mentors (a list that includes Rod

MacMillian, Wendell Pickens and his father).

Once a spring training holdout because the Cincinnati Redlegs only

offered him $25 more per month after a great season in 1957, Wetzel

played parts of four years in the minor leagues following a stellar

career at OCC, where he played under Pickens and was team captain in

1955.

The Pirates went 21-7 and won the Southern California championship

that season as Wetzel, a slick-fielding second baseman with great bat

speed, hit a team-high .434 with 30 RBIs and 41 runs scored. His batting

average was a school single-season record that stood for 16 years.

In basketball, Wetzel played under Coach Miles Eaton at OCC (before

any stats were kept).

When Wetzel arrived at OCC to teach and coach, following his four-year

Costa Mesa stint, he served as an assistant hoops coach under Alan

Sawyer. “Those were fun years, and I learned a lot,” said Wetzel, the

latest honoree in the Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Fame, celebrating the

millennium.

All those years court side apparently prepared Wetzel to deal with the

“players” he interacts with now.

“Now I’m comfortable talking to millionaires or billionaires about a

product or company,” said Wetzel, who lives in Costa Mesa with his wife,

Mary Kay.

Wetzel, married more than once but close to his former wives and their

families, has one son, Tim, seven stepchildren and 13 grandchildren.