Year-end coverage: Top 10 sports stories of 1999

Barry Faulkner

The spotlight that shone on Newport-Mesa athletes, teams, events

and issues in 1999 ranged from international in scope to one so tightly

focused, it was imperceptable outside a specific neighborhood.

From Lindsay Davenport’s SportsCenter-leading Wimbledon victory to the

spectatorless confines of high school releaguing meetings and sparsely

occupied bleachers of a local Little League diamond, it remains the Daily

Pilot sports department’s challenge to describe, distill and often

celebrate the stories that touch the Newport-Mesa Community. It was a

challenge undertaken more than 300 times the past 12 months.

This perennial task produced these Top 10 Newport-Mesa sports stories of

1999, as chosen by the Pilot staff.

1) Lindsay Davenport wins Wimbledon - The Newport Beach resident added

another crowning victory to her young career, topping seven-time champion

Steffi Graf, 6-4, 7-5, in a 90-minute final July 4 at the All-England

Lawn & Tennis Croquet Club.

Only the third American-born woman in the last 40 years to win the

sport’s premier event, the 23-year-old Davenport added the traditional

silver plate trophy to her 1998 U.S. Open crown and her 1996 Olympic gold

medal.

She became the first player since 1990 to sweep all her Wimbledon

opponents.

Davenport, coached by Robert Van’t Hof, spent much of the year atop the

Women’s Tennis Association tour rankings and later won the Bank of the

West Classic at Stanford University with a 7-6, 6-2 triumph over Venus

Williams.

2) Newport Harbor High Football - Coach Jeff Brinkley’s Sailors earned a

dramatic 19-18 come-from-behind victory over Sea View League rival Irvine

in the Dec. 10 CIF Southern Section Division VI title game at Orange

Coast College.

The win capped a 13-0-1 season, which allowed the Tars to join the 14-0

CIF Division V title team of 1994 as the only CIF champions in the

program’s 69 varsity seasons.

A strong running game, keyed by record-setting senior Andre Stewart and a

powerful offensive line, combined with a stifling defense to help Harbor

outscore opponents, 442-117.

The Sailors tied Marina, 21-21, in Week 2, then won their final 12,

collecting the second Sea View title in Brinkley’s 14-year tenure along

the way.

3) Toshiba Senior Classic - A five-hole playoff, which eliminated half of

its four-player field with a pair of eagles on the first playoff hole,

ended when Gary McCord, more famous, perhaps, for holding a microphone

than a putter, rolled in a birdie to claim the $180,000 first-prize check

March 14.

McCord, in his senior tour debut, edged John Jacobs, Al Geiberger and

Allen Doyle, all of whom finished 9-under-par (204) over 54 holes at the

Newport Beach Country Club.

It was the second playoff in three years at the event, but McCord, a

television golf analyst who did not win in 376 PGA events as a player,

ended the prolonged drama.

The event, held locally for the fifth year, played before galleries which

were 15% bigger than 1998. It also raised $800,000 for charity.

4) Releaguing creates league title windfall - Wrapping up a process which

began two years before and promised reform eagerly anticipated by four

Newport-Mesa District high schools, Orange County principals realigned

athletic leagues Jan. 28.

Though changes were not implemented until this fall, the results were

overwhelmingly favorable to Newport-Mesa teams, which claimed a whopping

14 league championships in football, boys water polo, boys and girls

cross country, girls tennis and girls golf.

The changes took parochial power Santa Margarita out of the Sea View

League and shifted Aliso Niguel and Laguna Hills from the Pacific Coast

League to the the Sea View. The also moved Corona del Mar from the Sea

View to the PCL.

5) Battle of the Bay for CIF title - For the first time in the 25-year

Back Bay prep boys volleyball rivalry between Newport Harbor and Corona

del Mar, the two traditional powers squared off for the CIF Southern

Section Division I title May 29 at Cypress College.

The two teams split in Sea View play. But, before a raucous crowd of

2,200, the No. 3-seeded Sailors avenged their only best-of-five loss of

the season with a 16-14, 12-15, 16-14, 15-3 triumph to claim their first

section crown since 1987 and finish 22-1.

CdM, the No. 4 seed which elected to move up from its enrollment-dictated

Division III designation, finished 16-3.

6) Newport Harbor girls volleyball - Coach Dan Glenn’s Sailors became the

first school to ever win three straight CIF Southern Section major

division titles by dominating the Division I-AA competition.

The Sailors then rolled to their second consecutive CIF State Division I

crown to finish 37-2, with only one loss in a best-of-five match.

Senior April Ross, a 6-foot-1 senior outside hitter bound for USC, shared

CIF Division I Player of the Year laurels and was named Sea View League

MVP for the second straight season.

Senior Duke-bound middle blocker Krista Dill was MVP of the state

tournament.

7) Corona del Mar High Diamond Kings - Coach John Emme’s Sea Kings shared

the Sea View League title, then the fourth-seeded squad got hot in the

CIF Southern Section Division IV playoffs.

After playoff victories over St. Paul, San Dimas, Chaminade and

top-seeded La Quinta, CdM rallied from an 8-4 deficit with five runs in

its last at-bat to win the CIF title game over third-seeded El Segundo

June 5 at Edison Field. Alex Bottom’s two-run single was the game-winning

blow.

Senior Ty Harper, a three-time All-CIF selection and twice the

Newport-Mesa District Player of the Year, finished with school and

district career records for hits (132), home runs (24) and RBIs (99),

while posting a .514 career average. His 12 homers tied teammate Eric

Wiethorn for the district single-season record.

8) CIF title haul - In addition to the aforementioned CIF championships

won by Newport Harbor football, as well as boys and girls volleyball,

Newport-Mesa schools collected section and state championships in several

other sports.

CdM girls cross country won section and state spoils in Division IV.

Southern Section water polo titles were obtained by the Newport Harbor

girls (Division I) and the Corona del Mar boys (Division II). It was the

10th section crown for the CdM boys, matching Harbor’s total.

CdM boys tennis won the CIF Division I crown, its eighth section

championship in the sport, but its first since 1983.

9) Prep coaching milestones - Within a four-month span, two 14-year head

coaching veterans moved atop the Newport-Mesa District career victories

list in their respective sports.

Newport football’s Jeff Brinkley surpassed former Corona del Mar head man

Dave Holland by earning his 107th win Oct. 1. He added 10 more and is now

117-50-1 at Harbor.

CdM boys basketball coach Paul Orris earned victory No. 200 on Dec. 15 to

surpass former CdM coach Jack Errion. Heading into post-Christmas

tournament action, Orris was 202-174.

Costa Mesa football coach Jerry Howell is the school’s career wins leader

after the Mustangs’ 8-3 campaign made him 35-20 in five seasons at the

helm.

10) Jane Hilgendorf named OCC athletic director - Yielding to the

encouragement of colleagues, as well as her own desire to rejuvenate the

athletic program which has been her professional passion, the 58-year-old

Corona del Mar resident made the transition from interim to full-time AD

and dean of physical education early in 1999.

A member of the California Community College Volleyball Coaches

Association Hall of Fame, after her 19 seasons at OCC women’s coach

produced a 233-100 record and three state championships, Hilgendorf

helped the Pirates regain the Orange Empire Conference Supremacy Award

for the 1998-99 school year.

Her mission statement includes improving campus facilities as well as the

image of OCC athletics in the Newport-Mesa Community.

Extra point) Paul Troxel’s death, legacy - One of the most revered

figures in Estancia High history, the veteran baseball and football coach

lived by the philosophy that kids don’t care how much you know, until

they know how much you care.

Troxel, who died of a heart attack and brain aneurysm May 2 at age 40,

cared deeply about his athletes, as well as the students he interacted

with and encouraged daily as the school’s gregarious athletic equipment

attendant.

He coached baseball for 20 years, 17 at Estancia, his alma mater, but his

legacy transcends the boundaries of the diamond.

He coached the last two seasons under longtime friend Kirk Bauermeister

at Costa Mesa.