Catching Up With: Jane Hilgendorf

Steve Virgen

When Jane Hilgendorf punches the snooze button in the morning, it

no longer signifies a long day at the office. In the 10 minutes before

the alarm goes off again, she now doesn’t have to ponder the tasks of the

day.

Instead, Hilgendorf, the former Orange Coast College athletic director

and women’s volleyball coach, reflects on the opportunities and moments

that have made her stronger -- the memories that cause her to be

grateful.

“Always in the last nine minutes (before the alarm goes off again),”

says Hilgendorf, 59, who retired officially on Jan. 5. “I remind myself

how grateful I am for having had the opportunities that I’ve had. It’s

like a nine-minute reality, gratitude check. And that’s important for me

to do.”

Days of golf, yoga or improving in her hobby of photography have

replaced the 15-hour work days. She now has time to relax. She has the

opportunity to focus.

She can breathe again and display, in full effect, the secret to her

success: positive thinking. Hilgendorf is the ultimate optimist.

“Everyone asks the question,” she says. “Is the glass half empty or

half full? I’m one of those that has the glass half full and it’s usually

a full glass. This half empty stuff, I have no use for it. I don’t have a

worry in the world.”

Her worries began to disappear in the days leading up to her

retirement. She went to Australia and saw the action of the 2000

Olympics. She witnessed six days of volleyball competition and stood with

the multitudes to watch the track and field events.

As soon as she retired, she took to the golf course. Later, she began

to use her camera, then invested in a pair of walking shoes and,

sometimes, she’ll sit with a pen and write about the reasons for the

contentment in her life. There’s plenty to write when she thinks of the

friends she has made and the lasting impression she has left with so many

people, including her assistant coach Chuck Cutenese, who is now the head

coach of the men’s and women’s volleyball teams.

“She’s amazing,” Cutenese says. “For me, she’s been a mentor from the

start. I came on as an assistant in 1990 and later realized she was

grooming me to take over. She had a plan of preparing me to put me in

that position. That shows how much she cares for the program. She didn’t

want someone not knowing what to do from start.”

When Cutenese took over he was pressurized with maintaining OCC’s rich

volleyball tradition. But, Hilgendorf never added to the pressure. On the

contrary, she made the job a bit easier.

“She just stepped back and let me do all the work,” Cutenese says.

“She is by far the most positive person I know. And as a coach, I hope I

have the effect on the athletes the way Jane had the effect on them.”

Just as the process of passing the torch to Cutenese, Hilgendorf

carried over that mentality to her work as OCC’s athletic director.

She used her gift of mentoring as her main approach to taking on the

job as Athletic Director. She says she wanted to lead by example and such

is her legacy.

In 1970, OCC hired Hilgendorf as a physical education teacher, not a

coach. She began coaching the Pirates’ volleyball program the next year.

When she first started the team was co-ed. She then coached the women’s

team from 1973-91 as she compiled a 233-100 overall record and guided the

Pirates to three state championships in 1978, ’80 and ’82.

“I actually wasn’t hired to coach,” Hilgendorf says. “I was hired just

as a physical education teacher. (The teachers then) were generalists,

not specialists. Over the years, I taught archery, bowling, softball,

tennis, badminton, track and field, volleyball, fitness and

conditioning.”

Hilgendorf’s experience as a coach is a big cause for her gratefulness

today. She remembers the days of traveling in “rickety, old station

wagons,” with the co-ed volleyball teams.

She laughs when she thinks of the one time she used a swear word while

coaching.

“We were losing to a team we shouldn’t have been losing to,” she says.

“I called a timeout and said, ‘Serve the damn ball in the court.’ That

was the shortest timeout in the world. We won the match. That was the

only time I ever used a swear word.”

Hilgendorf also has fond memories of the “great kids” she coached and

mentored.

Her influence not only fortified the volleyball program, but brought

strength to the athletic administration. She offers simple explanation to

the arrival of OCC’s new facilities, including a weight room, sports

medicine rooms, resurfaced tennis courts, a rubberized track, a

retrofitted gymnasium, offices for coaches and locker rooms. She says,

she just asked the state for the money.

“It was worth a try,” she says.

So now she is able to relax. She misses her friends at OCC, but she

doesn’t miss the work, she says.

“I hate to say that, but I don’t,” she says.

Next month, she will “vacation” in Florida, enjoying seven days of

golf on five different courses while spending time at the PGA National

Golf Complex.

Yet, while Cutenese continues his coaching career at OCC, he knows

Hilgendorf will always be around for advice.

“I still call her and ask her questions,” Cutenese says. “She’s still

working according to my schedule.”