There are highs and then lows

It was a week of highs and lows.

First, the highs: Some things do not change.

As an example, the 42nd annual Athletic Awards Breakfast presented

by the Commodores Club of the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce on

Thursday at the Hyatt Newporter Hotel.

Honored were 15 boys and girls from Corona del Mar High, and 15

from Newport Harbor, and like clockwork, yet another group of

high-achieving, record-breaking champions were put on display. What

beautiful kids.

Rich Saul, substituting for Irrelevant Week founder Paul Salata,

once again showed why some refer to him as “The pin-dropper,” as he

explained the difference between “famous” and “great.”

These champions, their parents and coaches mirrored a previous

group of honorees when the former Los Angeles Rams great did his

thing at the awards breakfast.

Had a pin been dropped as he told of the ultimate quest for an

athlete, or anyone else for that matter, it would have sounded like a

sledgehammer.

Every student should hear his message, often. Not just the blue

chips.

The Pilot profiled each of the honored athletes in Thursday’s

edition, but here they are again, in case you’ve been on the moon or

something the past few days:

Corona del Mar’s awesome 15 included Claire Allen, Brittney

Bowlus, Matt Cooper, Becky Cummins, Blake Dillion, Artie Dorr,

Christina Hewko, Paige Janes, Keith Long, John Mann, Jackie McCoy,

Taylynn Snyder, Garrett Snyder, Amy Tyson and Bart Welch.

Newport’s best were Amy Burlingham, Amanda Campbell, Andrew Cole,

Dartangan Johnson, Nicole Mackey, Kristin McClune, Michael McDonald,

Jenna Murphy, Nedim Pajevic, Hayley Peirsol, Ross Sinclair, Michael

Toole, Athena Vasquez, Nathan Weiner and Annie Wight.

Over a third, 11 of the 30, were aquatics standouts.

*

At the other end of the spectrum were two lows - the losses of

Beverly Salata, Paul’s wife of 52 years; and a former Corona del Mar

High boys soccer coach named Bill Ashcroft.

Beverly’s life was memorialized at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian

Church in Newport Beach on Friday with some 900 in attendance, and

later celebrated in Newport Center.

A native of Los Angeles, 78 and the mother of Melanie (Fitch) and

Bradley, she was like all “moms,” the heart of the family.

Her photo was adorned with the cardinal and gold of USC and she

left with “all her bases covered.”

*

Ashcroft, a 92-year-old Costa Mesan and a native of England, died

on Wednesday of heart failure, which is ironic inasmuch as he was

“all heart” from days as a soccer, squash and track and field

standout.

He initiated club soccer in Costa Mesa in the early ‘60s, coaching

the Coast Rangers to three straight unbeaten seasons, and had

coaching stints at UC Irvine, UC Riverside and Corona del Mar High.

Once a bobby with the London police and a trainer with the Royal

Air Force, he was often intertwined with Daily Pilot Sports during

the heyday of Pilot Sports Editor Glenn White (1968-78).

White, who could charm the skin off a rattlesnake one moment, than

write a column so scathing that it would make T.J. Simers appear like

a career choir boy, was devoted to Ashcroft and his sense of fair

play.

So much that White traveled some 3,000 miles from his home in

Cuautla, Mexico (some 70 miles southeast of Mexico City) to Costa

Mesa in April to deliver an anticipated eulogy.

After some conversation with White (and perhaps others) Ashcroft

appeared to have risen from the death bed with a miraculous recovery,

but he finally succumbed.

White, who read Ashcroft his eulogy in April, returns to do it

again on Wednesday at noon at the Pacific View Mortuary.

*

Finally, it’s June, the month of sorrow.

If I had my way there would be no proms, diplomas would be mailed

out and every senior, and junior, would be grounded until July 5.

There’s not much chance of that, obviously, so I would settle for

just finding some seniors to remind their peers that although they

think they’re indestructible, facts and figures don’t bear it out.

Hey! See you next Sunday!