Mike Ritchie, Millennium Hall of Fame

Richard Dunn

Retiring before your 30th birthday has its advantages in life.

For former Costa Mesa High football wide receiver and track and field

standout Mike Ritchie, he breathes the fresh air at the Colorado River

and lives at his former vacation spot on the Arizona side, not far from

Blythe.

“It’s beautiful out here,” Ritchie said. “You can see the stars at

night and you don’t hear any traffic. It’s very peaceful.”

Ritchie sold his business, R&S; Computers in Costa Mesa, two years ago

after 10 years on the job, while some other investments have paid off for

him.

“I’ve been pretty blessed,” said Ritchie, who enjoys the Colorado

River lifestyle with his family, and is currently building a house in

Cibola, Ariz.

“We play on the river and do a lot of four-wheeling,” added Ritchie, a

1987 Costa Mesa graduate. “I guess I’ve just been lucky as all hell.”

Ritchie moved out to the river about a year ago, and about four months

later, sold his Costa Mesa house. “I used to just come out and play at

the river on the weekends between work and stuff,” he said.

Ritchie was a 6-foot, 175-pound senior for the Mustangs in the fall of

1986, when he caught 43 passes for 822 yards and seven touchdowns from

quarterback Mike Crowe.

Ritchie, who also played safety on defense, was an All-CIF Southern

Section Desert-Mountain Conference selection for Coach Tom Baldwin’s 5-5

squad.

Having never played organized football prior to his junior year,

Ritchie played basketball and competed in track his first two years at

Costa Mesa, then, at Baldwin’s request, gave football a chance.

“I never considered playing football,” said Ritchie, who caught four

passes, including the Mustangs’ only touchdown, in his first game as a

junior and immediately became a full-time starter in the fall of 1985.

Ritchie, however, got off to a late start that year, because of a

serious virus in the lining of his heart, which hospitalized him most of

the summer in ’85.

“I recovered, thankfully,” said Ritchie, who added that his favorite

gridiron moments were the fun times enjoyed with his teammates under the

Friday Night Lights.

“We had a really good team (in ‘86) and went 5-5, but the games we

lost were by small margins. What I remember most about playing was the

camaraderie and having some good buddies and friendships on the team.

Some of those friends I still have to this day.”

Ritchie’s highlight was beating Laguna Beach, 49-18, in Week 7 of his

senior year, because the Artists and Jonathan Todd were among the Pacific

Coast League favorites. A melee also broke out on the field in the heated

PCL game, and a Laguna Beach player reportedly apologized for his part in

the fight a few days later at the Mustangs’ practice facility.

In track and field, the latest honoree in the Daily Pilot Sports Hall

of Fame still holds the school record in the high jump at 6 feet 8

inches. Ritchie also competed in the triple jump and long jump, and ran

hurdles and relays (in which Baldwin, also an assistant track coach,

discovered Ritchie and recruited him for football).

In Ritchie’s junior year in the spring of ‘86, he finished second at

the CIF 3-A Finals at Cerritos College to Estancia’s Eric Dorn, who

cleared 6-9 to win the section title.

Ritchie went to Orange Coast College for a year, but realized football

wasn’t in his future. He competed in track for the Pirates, however, and

once did the decathlon.

These days, Ritchie is building a house in Cibola, Ariz., with his

wife, Christine, and two boys: Blaine, 6, and Kline, 1.