Hall of Fame: Pat McClellan -- Corona del Mar

Richard Dunn

When tracing the rich water polo tradition at Corona del Mar High,

you begin with its first coach, Ted Newland, then go straight to Pat

McClellan.

In the autumn of 1965, the Sea Kings captured their first of what

would become 11 CIF Southern Section championships. They repeated as CIF

champions in 1966 as McClellan, a two-meter standout, was the Crestview

League and CIF Player of the Year.

But, because of a coaching change from Newland to Cliff Hooper, the

CdM know-it-all seniors in ’66 didn’t exactly make it easy on their new

coach.

“We were not particularly coachable, and it’s a tribute to a couple of

the guys on the team that we actually won the next year, because we were

fortunate to get by,” McClellan said. “Hooper was a great guy, but he was

just trying to fill in (for the legendary Newland, who became the first,

and only, water polo coach at UC Irvine).”

McClellan was the primary beneficiary (read goals) of the Sea Kings’

vaunted counterattack, as players like Eric Carson and Mike

Martin-Sherrill were the fast swimmers and “workhorses” who tired out

every opponent by the fourth quarter.

In McClellan’s junior year, the ’65 Sea Kings ended the long reign of

El Segundo, which had won 12 of the last 18 CIF titles under Coach Urho

Saari since 1947. CdM edged the Eagles, 8-7, in the CIF title game.

El Segundo, which won its 12th CIF title in ‘64, never won again,

while Back Bay aquatics powers Newport Harbor and CdM would begin an

unprecedented supremacy in water polo with a combined 19 CIF

championships from 1965 to ’89.

Newland formed strong relationships with his players, including

McClellan, and some of the CdM stars from the ’65 title team who returned

the following year didn’t welcome the new coach with open arms.

“We had a stubborn unwillingness to be beaten, even though we weren’t

doing the team workouts like we should have been doing,” McClellan said.

“I think our problems (in ‘66) were unrelated to Hooper. The problems

with us were, we’d been there and knew everything, and I don’t think we

were as inclined as seniors to put in the time and energy of the previous

year. It was not unusual to find some players not at workout, but instead

shooting billiards or bowling or goofing off ... it was an interesting

year. I suspect a lot of high school kids are a little less diligent as

seniors than earlier, having figured some things out and with college

already in the books. I think we had some senioritis going on most of

that time.”

In the 1966 CIF championship game against Downey, McClellan’s shooting

went cold, although CdM won in overtime, 10-9. “I couldn’t make

anything,” McClellan said. “Carson came up to me and said, ‘Don’t shoot

anymore! Give (the ball) to someone else!’ I was fortunate to have guys

around me who were all great, and we were real fortunate to have played

under Newland (from 1963 through ‘65), who taught us how to think in the

water.

“It was a great experience and a great group of guys, all of whom

contributed equally in my opinion. I wouldn’t have traded any of our

guys.”

McClellan, a 6-foot-1, 205-pounder at CdM, followed Newland to UCI,

where he played water polo for three seasons (1967 through ‘69).

But McClellan, a starter for the Anteaters, figured he’d played long

enough and needed a break, so he transferred to the University of

Colorado, which didn’t even have a water polo program and where McClellan

earned his bachelor’s degree in history.

“I wanted a change,” he said. “I wanted to get out in the mountains

and do some fly fishing. I’ve been doing that ever since ... Newland’s

50-weeks a year if you played water polo for him and if it was

year-round. It’s an intense program. I was just at the point where I’d

come to the end of my willingness to continue to put in the time and

energy.”

McClellan moved back to California after two years in Colorado, then

attended law school and has been a practicing attorney ever since.

McClellan, who lived in the Bay area for most of the 1980s and

currently lives on Balboa Island, was encouraged to try water polo by his

father, Gerald, a former CdM High administrator and San Gabriel Valley

football coach who was impressed with Newland’s disciplined teaching when

the family moved to Newport Beach in the early 1960s.

McClellan, the latest honoree in the Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Fame,

has four grown children -- Todd, Brian, Elisabeth and Matthew -- and

four grandchildren.