Year-end coverage: Top 10 sports stories of 1990s

Barry Faulkner

Measured in decades, the Newport-Mesa sports scene in the 1900s

definitely saved its best for last. Indeed, the 1990s were stacked with

individuals who made national and international impact, big-time events

which brought headliners to town, and enough local high school

championship teams to drape a few gymnasium walls with banners.

Here are the to Top 10 Newport-Mesa sports stories from the last decade

of the millennium, as selected by the Daily Pilot sports department.

1) Newport Harbor football - Coach Jeff Brinkley’s Sailors capped a

decade of dominance by going 13-0-1 and winning the CIF Southern Section

Division VI championship.

The Tars went 14-0 in 1994 to win CIF Division V and also made trips to

the finals in ’92 and ’96. In addition, they advanced to the semifinals

once (‘97), the quarterfinals twice (’90 and ‘91) and missed the playoffs

only twice in the decade.

Their 92-31-1 record equates to a .745 winning percentage. They have had

winning streaks of 16 and 12 and have not lost to a non-Sea View League

team since Oct. 5, 1995. Included among the 31 losses are 11 setbacks to

eventual CIF champions (at least one in every season the Tars did not

claim the crown), as well as three defeats by section runners-up.

Since 1992, only one Orange County public school (Los Alamitos) has more

wins.

2) Toshiba Senior Classic - The Senior PGA Tour event, comprised of

golfers at least 50 years old, debuted in Newport-Mesa in 1995 at the

Mesa Verde Country Club.

The first senior tour event held in Orange County moved the following

year to the Newport Beach Country Club, where it has flourished as one of

the tour’s featured stops.

In addition to the opportunity to see legendary figures in the sport, the

tournament has provided local galleries with some memorable finishes.

In 1997, Bob Murphy prevailed in a nine-hole playoff, a record at the

time.

In 1998, Hale Irwin shot a course-record 62 in the final round to pass 11

players and claim the $160,000 first prize. He was saved a two-stroke

penalty on No. 17, when a sand trap rake stopped his ball from carrying

into a water hazard.

In 1999, Gary McCord, in his senior tour debut, prevailed in a five-hole

playoff which began with four players.

The tournament has also contributed millions to charity.

3) Lindsay Davenport - Though she was born in Palos Verdes and grew up in

Murrieta, this women’s tennis sensation has spent her professional life

as a resident of Newport Beach.

She initiated a flag-waving frenzy from local fans when she won the gold

medal at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.

A commitment to fitness, as well as the coaching of local guru Robert

Van’t Hof, accelerated her progress to the top of the women’s game, a run

that included winning the U.S. Open in 1998.She finished that season

ranked atop the Women’s Tennis Association.

Her crowning achievement in ’99 was a victory at Wimbledon over

seven-time champion and soon-to-be-retired Steffi Graf. She became the

third American-born woman in 40 years to win on the grass courts of

London and spent much of the year ranked No. 1.

4) George Yardley joins Basketball Hall of Fame - Though he had escaped

the limelight for decades, this Newport Harbor High and Stanford alumnus

rekindled nostalgic reflection on a landmark basketball career when he

gained induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in

1996.

He was a six-time all-star in his seven-season NBA career, during which

he averaged 19.2 points per game. A 6-foot-5 forward for Fort Wayne,

Detroit and Syracuse, the man nicknamed “Bird” was the first NBA player

to score 2,000 points (2,001 in 1957-58).

“He was a superstar with exceptional talents,” said Dick McGuire, a

fellow Hall of Famer who played against Yardley as a member of the New

York Knickerbockers.

5) CIF State basketball finalists - The Estancia High boys team, without

a future four-year college player, defeated Washington High of Fremont,

82-72, in Oakland to claim the 1991 Division III state crown, the only

state title in Newport-Mesa basketball history.

Coach Tim O’Brien’s squad, led by future Stanford volleyball All-American

Matt Fuerbringer, future minor league baseball player Paul McDaniels and

starters Mike Haas, Son Ly and Torrey Hammond, finished 29-5.

Two seasons later, the Costa Mesa girls posted an identical record, but

fell in the Division III state title game, 50-43, to St. Francis High of

Sacramento.

Coach Lisa McNamee’s Mustangs were led by four-year All-CIF star Olivia

DiCamilli, who went on to play at San Diego State, Heather Robinson

(Miami and UC Riverside) and Yool Kim (Cal State Los Angeles), as well as

starters Jessica Lurmann and Neiar Kabua.

6) Ila Borders - The first female pitcher to post a complete-game college

baseball win, she drew a worldwide media spotlight to the cozy campus

diamond of then-Southern California College Feb. 15, 1994.

The Whittier Christian High product, recruited by former Vanguards Coach

Charlie Phillips, turned 19 just three days after her triumphant SCC

debut.

She has remained in the game long enough for the novelty of cross-gender

competition to wear off, which in itself, is quite a feat.

She finished her third season in the Northern League last fall and,

though she has drawn no closer to the major leagues, she has won legions

of fans who admire her pursuit of big-league dreams.

7) Davis Cup fever - Nearly 16,000 spectators crammed the Palisades

Tennis Club in Newport Beach for three April days in 1997, to watch the

U.S. Davis Cup team, led by Andre Agassi, win a quarterfinal tie with the

Netherlands.

Nationalism reigned in the grandstands as American rooters exchanged

verbal warfare with numerous orange-clad Dutch fans.

Agassi and Jim Courier won opening-day singles matches, but Agassi was

forced to come from behind two days later, defeating Jan Siemerink, 3-6,

3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3, to clinch the victory for Captain Tom Gullikson’s

hosts. The Americans went on to lose in the final to Sweden.

8) Misty May - A four-year varsity starter at Newport Harbor High, she

led the Sailors to the CIF Southern Section and CIF State Division I

titles, as well as the mythical national championship as a senior in

1994. She was the o7 USA Todayf7 National Player of the Year, before

moving on to Long Beach State.

As a collegian, she was twice the NCAA Player of the Year and led the

49ers to a 36-0 record in 1998. She capped her college career with 70

assists in a four-game NCAA title-match win over previously unbeaten Penn

State to help Long Beach become the only unbeaten champions in NCAA

women’s volleyball history.

Expected to join the national team, she instead elected to focus on the

pro beach game.

9) CIF title haul - Newport-Mesa high schools claimed a whopping 47 CIF

Southern Section, CIF State and mythical national championships in team

sports.

Corona del Mar: National titles in girls volleyball (1992 and ‘93) and

girls tennis (‘97); state crowns in girls volleyball (‘90, ’92 and ‘93),

girls cross country (‘99); and section championships in girls volleyball

(‘90, ‘92, ‘93, ‘97), boys basketball (’93 and ‘95), girls cross country

(’98 and ‘99), baseball (‘99), boys volleyball (‘98), boys water polo

(‘99), boys tennis (‘99) and girls tennis (‘97).

Newport Harbor: A national title in girls volleyball (‘94); state

championships in girls volleyball (‘92, ‘94, ‘98, ‘99) and boys cross

country (‘92); section crowns in girls volleyball (‘94, ‘97, ‘98, ‘99),

football (’94 and ‘99), boys volleyball (‘99), boys cross country (‘92),

girls water polo (‘99) and girls track and field (‘93).

Estancia: A state crown in boys basketball (‘91); and section titles in

boys golf (’90 and ‘91); coed badminton (’91 and ‘92) and boys basketball

(‘90).

Costa Mesa: A state title in girls cross country (‘97); as well as

section championships in girls basketball (’90 and ‘93) and boys water

polo (’92 and ‘95).

10) Back Bay girls volleyball - Corona del Mar (1992-93) and Newport

Harbor (‘94) high schools won three straight mythical national

championships and the two combined to win 15 additional section and state

crowns in the decade.

CdM was 34-0 in ‘92, and returned four starters the following year to

repeat with a 31-3 record. Coach Lance Stewart’s ’93 squad defeated the

Sailors in the section and state finals.

Kim Coleman (UCLA), Jennifer Stroffe (UC Santa Barbara), Kristen Campbell

(Duke) and Caitlin Pickart were starters on both CdM national champions.

Newport followed up in ’94 with a 33-1 season, keyed by national player

of the year Misty May. Melissa Schutz (Colorado), Sara Fairborn

(Georgetown), Jeannette Hecker (Loyola Marymount) and Tina Bowman

(Southern Florida) also started.

Extra point) Big-league dreams - Local products Brent Mayne (Costa Mesa

High), Rich Amaral (Estancia) and Jeff Gardner (Estancia), all of whom

attended Orange Coast College, defied the odds and became major league

baseball players.

Mayne has caught for the Royals, Mets, A’s, and Giants and signed

recently for next season with the Rockies.

Amaral, a utility man, made a run at Rookie of the Year honors in 1992

with the Mariners and played last year in Baltimore.

Gardner, now a scout, played second base for the Mets, Padres and Expos.

b