Ken Millard

Bryce Alderton

He might give his allegiance to Woodbridge High in baseball these

days, but Ken Millard remains a Costa Mesa fixture.

A 37-year resident of the city, Millard, who guided the Estancia

baseball program during its heyday from 1978 to 1993, works part time

as a bartender at the Costa Mesa Golf & Country Club, alongside the

club’s starter Kyle Wilson, who played under Millard.

Wilson was a two-time All-Pacific Coast League selection before

playing two years at Orange Coast College and then Long Beach State.

“I don’t know how [Wilson] didn’t get drafted, he got

[shortchanged],” Millard said. “I can see him now, he just physically

matured as time went on. Just give him the ball and you had a chance

to win.” This from a man who coached future major leaguers in Rich

Amaral and Jeff Gardner.

One of Millard’s most satisfying memories of his days coaching and

teaching physical education at Estancia was raising “thousands of

dollars” to revamp the baseball field in 1982.

“Things like dugouts don’t come cheap,” Millard, who lives with

wife Jean, said. “The kids pitched in and sponsored dances and car

washes. We were fortunate to have a great group of parents to help

get that field done in a year.”

Millard, 70, teamed with the late Paul Troxel to lead the Eagles

to the CIF playoffs eight times through 1994.

With difficulties fielding enough players for lower-level teams

along with struggles raising money to fund the Eagles’ program,

Millard said it was time for him to leave the Costa Mesa campus and

coach elsewhere.

Having formed friendships with current Woodbridge coaches Bob

Flint and Bruce Ickes, Millard, a native of Chicago, decided to take

a chance with the Warriors. He has made the adjustment just fine.

“[Flint] and I used to be arch enemies, but now we’ve become

friends,” Millard said.

From the time he grew up playing the game with his buddies in

Chicago to spending a year in the minors with the White Sox, Millard

has kept baseball at the forefront.

The man who spent two years in the U.S. Navy and who has

bachelor’s and master’s degrees in physical education remembered the

freedom and challenges of trying to find a field to play on in the

blue-collar section of the city.

“Three or four kids learned to play baseball by being with each

other ... shagging balls and hitting to one another,” Millard

recalled. “The neighborhood businesses would sponsor us so we could

reserve the fields. We had to scrounge, but that was the way life

was.”

Millard, who occasionally substitute teaches in the Irvine Unified

School District, “rode the coattails” of a close friend who urged him

to focus on the game.

“I put every moment into being a crappy ball player,” Millard said

with a chuckle.

A laugh that followed with many more stories and memories, of

which Millard maintained his modesty.