Hall of Fame: Tim Bandel (CdM)

Richard Dunn

Understanding how much weight you carry as a sibling can be

important growing up in a big family.

So when it came to wrestling for Tim Bandel, the former Corona del Mar

High and Orange Coast College two-sport standout never believed in

relinquishing poundage, for in football’s trenches and on wrestling’s

mats, strength wins.

“I think it’s a misnomer that people believe in cutting weight (in

wrestling),” Bandel said. “The thinking is that you want to be stronger.

I’ve never believed in cutting weight, and I still don’t.”

Once rated the No. 2 community college wrestler in the state of

California at OCC, Bandel finished as the 1971 CIF Southern Section

runner-up at 168 pounds, losing in the CIF finals to Dan Lewis of

Fountain Valley. Lewis became a gold medalist at the Pan Am Games and an

alternate on the 1976 U.S. Olympic wrestling team.

Bandel was the eighth of 17 children, raised in a good Catholic home

“that was probably the fourth house built in Corona del Mar in the

1940s,” he said. “Any of the (Newport-Mesa) kids who are old-timers know

the Bandels in Corona del Mar. There were so many of us (nine boys and

eight girls).”

An offensive guard in football, Bandel (Class of ‘71) had plenty of brothers to wrestle on the carpets at home growing up. “We had boxing

gloves in our family,” he said. “And whenever I’d get whipped by one of

my little brothers, you’d have to take them down on the mat, and that’s

how I started wrestling.”

At OCC, Bandel placed fifth in state his freshman year (‘72) and

fourth the following winter, but was disappointed with his sophomore

finish. Bandel entered the state meet undefeated and seeded second, but

lost in the championship semifinals.

“That’s the way it goes,” Bandel said. “But the most memorable times I

had were at Coast.”

Bandel, who earned a wrestling scholarship to Utah State but injured

his knee competing for the Aggies, eventually transferred to Long Beach

State and got married soon thereafter as the final buzzer sounded on his

collegiate athletic career, which included OCC Athlete of the Year honors

in 1973.

“I enjoyed playing football more than wrestling, but I was a better

wrestler than a football player at OCC,” said Bandel, a 6-foot, 190-pound

offensive guard under former Coach Dick Tucker, whose teams went 13-5-1

in Bandel’s two years with the Pirates, including a South Coast

Conference championship in 1971 as Alvin White played quarterback.

Throughout his prep wrestling career, Bandel and former CdM Coach Dick

Morris talked about winning an individual CIF title and neither ever

stopped believing. But Bandel met Lewis five times his senior year and

came up short each time, including twice in overtime and once in the CIF

title match.

In football, Bandel played defensive end, as well as offensive guard,

under former Sea Kings Coach Dave Holland in the old Irvine League.

Bandel’s three sons have followed in his footsteps and taken even

bigger strides on the gridiron.

His oldest son, Nathaniel, 24, played quarterback in high school and

was the field-goal kicker at Mt. San Jacinto College; his second son,

Joe, 21, is 6-foot-4 and the starting tight end at UC Davis; his youngest

son, Benjamin, 18, is 6-7 and a tight end at Murrieta Valley High.

Bandel and his wife, Candace, live in Murrieta and have been married

for 25 years.

“We moved out here 12 years ago from Costa Mesa, and we’ve been out

here ever since,” said Bandel, the latest honoree in the Daily Pilot

Sports Hall of Fame.

A general contractor, Bandel’s company focuses on concrete and

structural framing, working mostly in San Diego County.