Daily Pilot Chalkboard Series: Bill Sumner

Tony Altobelli

An important piece of advice for anyone who dares to ask Corona del

Mar High cross country coach Bill Sumner a question about running.

Pack a lunch.

The often verbose Sumner takes his raw enthusiasm and love for his

sport and instills it into his athletes, producing exceptional results.

“I had a student tell me that if I was a used-car salesman instead of

a coach,” Sumner joked. “They would say, ‘You always trick us into doing

stuff we don’t want to do,’ “but after the season is over, the results

proved that the hard work paid off and they would be happy.”

There was no better example of Sumner’s talent-squeezing than at last

year’s CIF Southern Section Division III girls track and field finals,

where the Sea Kings won their second CIF-SS championship.

“I had 40 coaches come up to me and say, ‘You don’t have a chance,’ ”

Sumner said after the May 20 meet. “I gathered all my kids and told them

not to listen to them and that we did have a chance. It was a longshot,

but we had a shot and we took it.”

After growing up in the San Gabriel Valley, Sumner started his

coaching at Edison High, where he tried to boost a struggling boys track

program.

“I wanted to get a booster club going and really get the program

headed in the right direction,” he recalled. “I had eight appointments to

meet with the athletic director and he flaked out on all eight

appointments. On the ninth try, I left him a note giving him my

resignation.”

From there, Sumner came to CdM and the rest, as they say, is history.

Sumner’s record in dual meets is 117-31 and he has coached five

individual state champions and nine top-three state finishes.

As the Sea Kings cross country coach, Sumner has produced a 154-17

record, three girls team CIF Southern Section and state champions, two

boys team CIF-SS and state champions. He has coached numerous individual

standouts such as Tracy Clark, Liz Morse, Jim Robbins, Brian Slingsby and

Eddie Lavelle, among others.

“Sometimes, you have to be at the right place at the right time,”

Sumner said. “I’ve been lucky to be at that right place on occasion.”

Cross country, as well as track and field, forms just one chapter in

the rather colorful autobiography that is Bill Sumner.

“I’ve owned construction companies, insurance agencies, I’ve had some

military service,” Sumner said. “But I realized that all the money in the

world doesn’t equal happiness. All I need to make me happy is a good pair

of shoes, shorts and a clean T-shirt.”

Don’t get the wrong impression of Sumner. He’s a guy who believes that

hard work is the only way to get what you want.

“I remember working a paper route and my manager told us if we got

seven new subscribers, we would get a trip to Disneyland,” Sumner said.

“I ended up getting 42. My manager asked me why I had gotten so many and

I told him that I had two brothers, two cousins and two sisters that I

wanted to take, too.”

The key to Sumner’s success is not only hard work, but using all

available avenues to make a successful program.

“I have an open-door policy with the parents,” Sumner said. “Some

coaches don’t do that and I can’t understand why they don’t. In my 17

years or coaching, I’ve had maybe four or five bad apples, but the other

97% have been helpful, supportive and without them, our program would not

be where it is.”

As for the students who cross his path, Sumner tries to teach one very

important lesson.

“There’s a big difference between the words, ‘want’ and ‘need,’ ”

Sumner said. “Once a kid decides on what he wants, I’ll do whatever I can

to help him get it. If it’s a ‘need’, I’m out of it.”

So how does Sumner want to be remembered to his athletes? The answer

is simple.

“I want to be known as a coach who cares,” he said. “I want my

students to say, ‘Hey, I can talk to Coach Sumner at any time and

anywhere about anything because I know he cares.’ Once you’ve made that

impression, you know you’re doing something right.”