ROGER CARLSONIt was about what I have...

ROGER CARLSON

It was about what I have come to expect when it comes to coverage on

the prep level from the Los Angeles Times, but nevertheless, when I

saw the information in a “notes” section below some CIF football

scores Saturday that Saddleback High football coach Jerry Witte had

announced his retirement from the game after a 30-year career, I

still felt a jolt.

One line of small type in “notes” is the recognition devoted to

one of Orange County’s best-ever coaches?

I’ve long felt there was a need for the CIF Southern Section to

step up and begin a “Coaches’ Hall of Fame” for football, as well as

all sports, and if there was one, Jerry Witte would surely be one of

the members.

In terms of sheer numbers, well, 149 wins, 161 losses and 8 ties

doesn’t measure up to a .500 reputation, but in the areas which

really count, style, class and reputation, few could match it.

The 56-year-old Witte will continue on as Saddleback’s athletic

director for another five or six years, so it would seem very little

will change on the Roadrunners’ campus, one known for always carrying

itself above the rim.

“We all kind of bought into the same philosophy,” said Witte. “We

knew our kids and community were people who could be looked at with

negative feelings and worries and we did everything we could to make

people realize we were good people and that we played for the love of

the game.”

Over the years I never saw a Saddleback player, team or fan in a

poor light.

It began, according to Witte, with the man who hired him, a

principal named Ed Kraff, a Marine Corps colonel who came up through

the ranks at Saddleback and eventually became the Santa Ana School

District’s superintendent.

Combined with a playing experience under Clare Van Hoorebeke at

Anaheim High in the early ‘60s, Witte generated an aura of enthusiasm

and respect at Saddleback that put his school in a very select class.

“We never got the real Division I kids,” said Witte. “But we tried

to match up with what they could do and make them successful. We

never really wanted to force things on our kids and ask them to do

things they couldn’t.”

The glory years were in the mid-80s when Saddleback won the Sea

View League championship in ‘82, ‘84, ’85 and ‘86, and were CIF

champions in ’85. Danny Ontiveros was CIF Player of the Year in ’86

in the Southern Conference, and among a short list of eventual

college players were George Arceo, (Oklahoma State), Antwon Lark

(Notre Dame) and Glenn Campbell.

Among the more memorable individuals to play for Witte was Costa

Mesa’s Blake Smith, a deaf player who excelled on the ’82 team.

Witte had decided this past season was to be his last before the

season began, but held off officially revealing it until the season

was over, because he didn’t want his players and their

accomplishments playing second fiddle.

It was a rather typical decision by Witte, whose team philosophy

grew from the days as an All-CIF lineman for Van Hoorebeke at

Anaheim, and through four years at the University of Colorado.

His first year on a high school staff was as a “Cee” coach for

Santa Ana under Tom Baldwin in 1969 when Isaac Curtis was blazing a

trail for the Saints.

A year later he was at Saddleback under the late Ben Haley and

became the head coach at Saddleback in 1974 at the age of 26. Overall

this was Witte’s 34th football season on the Saddleback campus.

It would not really be until his “All-Star Game” year in 1985,

just prior to Saddleback’s run for the CIF title, that he realized

how well the glove fit.

“That summer, when we had the all-stars,” recalled Witte, “was

when I learned what I had at Saddleback.

“I realized I was really glad I was where I was at. Here were all

these talented kids from different places and different programs, all

going on to colleges, and they were all telling me when they could

practice, what plays they didn’t want to run, the kind of kids who

were pretty much full of themselves. It was really difficult coaching

them, and it made me [appreciate] the place I was at, where the kids

were so receptive to discipline and leadership.”

It was during the ‘80s that the Daily Pilot included Saddleback as

one of its schools of coverage, and the reasons were two-fold. (1)

Seven of the eight schools in the league were in the Pilot’s normal

coverage; and (2) you could hit the campus with a rock from the city

limits of Costa Mesa, it seemed.

There was a third reason, which I kept to myself: The Roadrunners

had Jerry Witte.

During the Mike Giddings’ era at Newport Harbor, the Sailors were

2-1-1 against Saddleback, losing in 1982, 21-20; defeating Saddleback

in 1983, 21-0; tying in ‘84, 26-26; and winning in ‘85, 24-21.

Memories are still fresh with my conversation with Giddings on the

field after the memorable tie in ’84 at the Santa Ana Bowl.

Newport had rallied with a last-ditch drive and very long field

goal to salvage the standoff.

I asked Giddings if he was thinking “field goal” from the outset

of the drive [playing for a tie], and he turned and barked in an

exasperated tone, “Well, Roger, I don’t have a whole lot of 80-yard

plays in my playbook!” I crawled away as best I could.

For Witte, it was but another adventure at the Santa Ana Bowl

where he and the Anaheim Colonists had played with a different venue

(in the Sunset League), even at a different time and scene (the games

started at 8 p.m. before packed crowds).

“The Sunset League was king, then, that was high school football

at its best,” recalled Witte, whose play as a senior earned him a

scholarship to Colorado.

He started a few games as a junior, but was limited to special

teams and reserve roles as a senior when coaching changes dictated

different methods.

Still, Witte used his situation to his advantage. He got the

education he needed to become a teacher and the doors were opened.

Witte responded by opening doors to hundreds, every year, and

he’ll be sorely missed on Friday nights.

He said the Roadrunners will open up the position for the head

coaching job and are “hopeful of getting the best person we can.”

Chances are the guy will have to fill size 16 shoes.

Hey! See you next Sunday!

* ROGER CARLSON is the former sports editor for the Daily Pilot.

His column appears on Sundays. He can be reached by e-mail at

rogeranddorothea @msn.com.