Catching up with ... Judy Ayers

Barry Faulkner

Judy Ayers can handle the constant chaos, the flooded switchboard,

impacted “in” basket, even the most insensitive insults spewed forth from

the other end of the phone.

Just don’t ask her to pick sides if Newport Harbor High ever competes

against Trabuco Hills.

“Oh, I hope that never happens,” Ayers said of pitting two decades of

bleeding Newport Blue, against her own flesh and blood, in the form of

three grandsons who play several sports for the Mustangs.

But while Ayers relishes watching her grandsons compete, the Newport

Harbor athletic secretary is no less zealous about supporting the

Sailors, whom she also has come to regard as family.

“I’m lucky to be here,” said Ayers, completing her 17th year as master

administrator, mother hen, friendly face and No. 1 fan at Newport Harbor.

“I really have the feeling I’m cared about here, which makes it a

wonderful place to come every day.”

Effervescent, endlessly efficient and energetic, Ayers makes things a

great deal easier for Harbor coaches and athletes, or anyone else she

interacts with. Coaches regularly sing her praises and student-athletes

often poke their head inside her office door, located just west of the

entrance to the school’s main gymnasium, to say hello, share a laugh, or

direct an inquiry straight to the source.

“The coaches are a great bunch to work with and the kids are a lot of

fun to be around,” Ayers said. “The kids all know me by Judy.”

Ayers said the best part of her job is interaction with the coaches,

even if it’s merely listening in when they trade humorous barbs, or

relate the latest tales from the trenches.

“I get a lot of good chuckles out of that,” she said.

The worst part?

“Probably listening to irate parents, especially when the things they

say aren’t true. I just don’t like to see anyone mistreating my coaches.

That’s the mother hen in me.”

Ayers, who came to Newport after a stint at Estancia, said most people

lack a proper appreciation for the time and effort coaches put into

sustaining their programs.

“I try to do everything I can so that all my coaches have to do is

coach,” she said. “I can’t coach, but I can do paperwork and handle a lot

of things that some coaches at other schools have to deal with. I know

coaches aren’t in this for the money, because there’s very little of

that. They work so hard and they’re so committed. They do it for the love

of their sport.”

Ayers, who watches a lot of sports on television, attends dozens of

Harbor athletic contests with her husband, Warren, and sells tickets and

the door at most varsity games and matches held in the gym, said she also

appreciates the lessons athletics conveys to young people.

“My two boys were into sports when they were growing up and they

learned what it is to be totally committed to something and work through

adversity,” she said. “I admire our athletes, because they work so hard

and are so committed.”

Ayers, a Costa Mesa resident, remains committed to her job.

“You have to be able to juggle more than one ball at a time and you

need to be able to fly by the seat of your pants,” she said. “This job is

never boring, which is what makes it fun. A lot of things happen on the

spur of the moment and you can’t allow that to upset you. You never know

what is going to happen, but the good far outweighs the bad.”

Ayers said she has no plans to step aside.

“People ask me when I’m going to retire,” she said. “I tell them when

I get tired of doing what I’m doing, or I don’t think I’m doing a very

good job.”