James Bergeson, Millennium Hall of Fame

Richard Dunn

Olympic fans can be harsh. Come home with anything less than gold,

and people ask, “Who won?”

With headliners like “Go for the gold,” it is cruel and unusual

punishment for athletes, who have sacrificed so much in life to merit

Olympic honors, to return to shame if a parade or celebration is not in

order.

The thrill of victory and agony of defeat goes on every summer

quadrennium for two weeks -- this year in Sydney, Australia -- and former

Newport Harbor High and Stanford water polo All-American James Bergeson

had it both ways, sort of, during the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea.

Bergeson was the star everywhere he played, including on the U.S.

Olympic team.

Team USA settled for a silver medal when the Bill Barnett-coached ’88

Olympic squad lost to Yugoslavia in the gold-medal game.

“I’m not saying winning the silver medal in the Olympics wasn’t fun,

but there was a lot of pressure ... from people back home you felt wanted

you to win,” Bergeson said. “You’re playing for yourself, but you’re

playing for them, as well. There’s a little more stress to go out and win

(in the Olympics) ... winning the silver was obviously very nice. But we

didn’t win the silver, we lost the gold.”

Bergeson, a two-time CIF Southern Section 4-A Player of the Year for

Newport Harbor in 1977 and ‘78, starred in the field in ’88 along with

former Stanford All-Americans Jody Campbell and Alan Mouchawar, while

Jeff Campbell, Peter Campbell, Chris DuPlanty, Terry Schroeder, Kevin

Robertson (Newport Harbor) and Greg Boyer (Newport Beach) were also part

of Barnett’s first Olympic team.

In the first round at Seoul, the U.S. knocked off Yugoslavia in the

last four seconds when Bergeson scored on a “lucky shot.”

“If you related it to golf,” Bergeson said of his game-winning shot,

“it would be like sculling it to the green and you wind up 18 inches to

the pin, or banking in the 8-ball (in billiards). The shot was very

lucky.”

But Bergeson, a four-time All-American at Stanford who led the

Cardinal to NCAA team titles in 1982 and ‘83, his sophomore and junior

years, might have felt the urgency to win the Olympic gold medal more

than others.

“When you go to the Olympics, you don’t want to let people down,”

Bergeson said. “Obviously you’re playing for yourself and your team, but

we felt if we didn’t at least medal, we’d be letting a lot of people down

... I don’t know if we all felt that way on the team, but I did. Maybe it

was self-induced pressure.”

Much-ballyhooed advertising, media hype and black tie fund-raising

events all increase the Olympic pressure of finishing with positive

results, but at times, it can be overbearing.

“Everything’s go for the gold, and if you fall short, you feel like

you’re letting people down,” Bergeson said. “That’s why, when you asked

about high school, I feel it’s my most memorable time. High school was

pretty easygoing and fun.”

Bergeson, Tom Taylor and Mike Grier led Barnett’s Sailors to CIF 4-A

championships in 1977 and ’78. From 1975 to ‘80, the Tars won five

section titles.

“Not to take anything away from the Olympics, but the most fun I had

playing water polo was my senior year in high school, because we were

playing for ourselves. We were young,” Bergeson said.

Bergeson, the son of former Orange County Supervisor, state senator

and assemblywoman Marian Bergeson, played for Barnett in high school,

then after college, had four more years of him on the U.S. national team.

“After four years of two-a-days with Barnett, a lot of people were

wiping the sweat off their brow,” Bergeson said. “For me, it was another

four years of two-a-days with him. But Barnett was a good coach. I think

(the older Olympians) were a little more grown up, which was probably

easier for him to manage.”

Of Stanford’s 51 All-Americans in 24 years of water polo, only seven,

including Bergeson, were All-Americans all four years of their collegiate

career.

Bergeson, who grew up in Newport Beach, started playing water polo at

age 5. “It’s a good beach sport, like volleyball,” he said.

For several years, Bergeson kept his Olympic silver medal in an

“underwear drawer,” until his wife, Fran, made a plaque for it to hang in

the den.

“She did it to remind me that I did something, rather than just hack

around golf balls,” said Bergeson, who plays to a 14 handicap these days

and is a member at Dove Canyon Country Club.

To make a living these days, Bergeson owns and operates two

equipment-rental businesses -- one for construction based in Mission

Viejo, the other for weddings and parties in Laguna Hills.

Bergeson, 39, graduated from Harbor in ’79 and is the latest honoree

in the Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Fame. He lives in Dove Canyon with his

wife and three daughters, Kimberly, Andrea and Danielle, who was born May

19.