Jim Tomlin, Millennium Hall of Fame

Take an advanced placement history class with teacher Jim Tomlin

and you’ll know why Corona del Mar High students stand in line to sign

up.

Like his Sea King boys track and field teams that went 109-6-2 in dual

meets for 11 years, Tomlin gets everyone involved in the classroom,

conducts team meetings and offers challenges and rewards.

Once dubbed the Pied Piper of Corona del Mar by the Daily Pilot in

1983, because of his ability to attract such a high percentage of the

student body to the track program, Tomlin was known to take pictures at

track meets, go home and write articles about the day’s events, then

publish an in-house newsletter (with all the results) to his

student/athletes the following day.

“In the early years, I had to convince people to be a part of

something that was going to be a winner,” said Tomlin, who retired after

the 1988 season, CdM’s eighth Sea View League title.

Tomlin, who arrived at CdM in 1970 and took over as head track coach

in ‘77, would dig relentlessly on campus for athletes, taking whatever

leftovers he could find and turning them into quality athletes.

Similar to the growth of the advanced placement history program he

started in 1974, Tomlin would draw about 20% of the male student

population at CdM to compete in track.

“I’ve learned a lot about teaching by coaching,” Tomlin said. “There’s

absolutely no better feeling that to see someone perform and succeed as

-- at least in the beginning -- only you thought he could, either in the

classroom or in sports. I always thought there were tons of track stars

on the campus and it was my job to find them and train them to win by

positive, realistic self-esteem based on performance results.”

In track, Tomlin kept large record books, sometimes up to 150 pages,

for his teams. He encouraged every kid and passed out trophies.

“The principles Jim Tomlin used as a track coach, he has carried over

into the classroom,” said fellow CdM teacher Bill Leach, a former Olympic

kayaker.

In the classroom, Tomlin keeps an honor scroll and gives trophies to

students who break school academic records. “We have the AP history

results going back to 1974,” Tomlin said proudly.

Tomlin, who said sharing athletes among other coaches at CdM was a key

element to the program’s success, discovered distance running great Brian

Hunsaker in the early 70s. Hunsaker was an equipment manager for the

freshmen football team, when Tomlin found him and helped turn him into an

8:56 two-miler.

Others, like Robbie Crabb in 1987, were detected after not making the

varsity in other sports. Crabb, a former soccer player, learned the

hurdles in nine weeks and finished second in league his senior year.

Tomlin said the late Jack Errion, CdM’s legendary former basketball

coach, would send high jumpers his way, while football coach Dave Holland

loaded up the track and field program with shot putters and discus

throwers.

“It was a great time to be coaching,” said Tomlin, who added that the

school’s athletic director (Ron Davis) and principal (Dennis Evans) were

enormous supporters of the program.

Tomlin’s teams won Sea View championships in 1979, ‘80, ‘81, ‘83, ‘84,

‘85, ’87 and ‘88, then the ’89 squad captured another title after he

retired from coaching. The Sea Kings competed in the South Coast League

for two years and never lost a Sea View dual meet.

Tomlin said the fewest number of athletes he had in one season was 76,

his first year. “There was never less than 110 in any year after that,”

he said, “even though the (student enrollment figures) shrunk

considerably.”

Tomlin once had 22 students in AP history, a number that grew to 90

within a couple of years.

“It’s just a matter of kids seeing what you’re doing and getting

results,” said Tomlin, who coached several sports, including football,

prior to 1977.

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

the millennium, grew up in South Pasadena and competed in football,

basketball and track at Muir High School, running the sprints for Coach

Jim Brownfield.

At the University of Redlands, Tomlin continued to run, going 9.9 in

the 100-yard dash, 21.9 in the 220 and 49.5 in the quarter-mile.

“Jack Savage and Ted Runner were great coaches (at Redlands),” said

Tomlin, who started teaching at Hemet High in 1965, coaching cross

country and going 19-14 in four seasons there.

Two years after Tomlin arrived at CdM, he started coaching track with

John Blair in 1972. “I had a great teacher in (Blair), who practically

invented the distance boom in Orange County,” Tomlin said.

Tomlin, who lives in Irvine, can still be spotted at CdM athletic

events shooting pictures for the students.