MATT TOMLIN

Steve Virgen

When he was not playing soccer at Corona del Mar High, Matt Tomlin

was running and jumping for the track and field team, strengthening

his special bond with his father, the head coach.

The values he learned from sports, and the fitness he received,

helped him later in life. One day, he had to let go of soccer and

follow a different path. In Tomlin’s life, he has had two major

decisions in dealing with sports and his goals.

After high school, he played soccer for Navy. Then, he decided he

wanted to totally concentrate on being in the Navy SEALs. The main

reason he went to the Naval Academy in Maryland was to be part of

that elite sea, air and land commando team.

After one season of soccer, Tomlin prepared himself for the

rigorous selection process that included competition in swimming,

running, push-ups, pull-ups and sit-ups. He also went through a

character evaluation and was selected for Navy SEALs training in

Coronado, Calif.

There were 10 selected from the Navy Academy to train and Tomlin

was No. 6. In 1993, Tomlin made the Navy SEALs.

“You do what you think is right at the time and I felt that was

the best thing for me,” Tomlin said of giving up soccer, which he

also played as a sweeper in 1987 and ’88 for Corona del Mar’s varsity

team. “It was hard for me [to stop playing]. I had been playing my

whole life. But I had to look at what my true goal was for being

there.”

After five years of service, in which he traveled basically all

over the South Pacific, Tomlin made another major decision. He ended

his time with the Navy SEALs to become closer with his family. In

1994, he and his girlfriend, Lonie, married. And, in 1996, they had a daughter, Samantha.

“I was done with traveling 80% of the time,” Tomlin said. “I was

gone for weeks, sometimes six months. I decided to get out and it was

time to move on.”

He now lives in Trabuco Canyon with his wife and Samantha, who has

two younger brothers, Tyler, 4, and Trey, 1. Tomlin, the latest

honoree of the Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Fame, works as a national

sales manager for a computer and cellular phone equipment company.

Obviously, he still keeps in touch with his father, Jim, who

coached the Sea Kings when his son went there.

Matt Tomlin competed for two years on the varsity team at Corona

del Mar. He competed in the triple jump, long jump and, if his father

instructed him, would also run in the 1,600-meter relay.

“I enjoyed it a lot,” Matt Tomlin said of being on the team with

his father as coach. “Just growing up sometimes, you take your

parents for granted. As a teenager, you’re trying to break away from

your parents. But I was with my Dad a lot. I spent a lot of time with

him and have some great memories.

“You don’t realize all there is about your parents,” he continued.

“But being around him, I realized how special my father is, with all

the students that come back and keep in touch with him. I’m very

proud of him and I feel special, too, that I got to share my time

with him. It was just fun to be with him.”

It was also fun to win for the Tomlins. In Matt’s junior and

senior years, the Sea Kings won the Sea View League championship.

“In my junior year, we won by 10 points [at league finals],”

Tomlin said. “I was an OK triple jumper and in [league finals] I had

my best triple jump by two feet. I went from fifth place to second

place and that was one of the differences for winning [the league

title].”

The two league championships read like a storybook ending. Growing

up, Tomlin would watch the Sea Kings’ track and field team.

“I saw him win so many Sea View League championships,” Tomlin

said. “I got to see all the hard work that really went into that. The

heart and soul of what he put into it. Looking back on that, it was

really special stuff and special times.”