Sumner seeing beyond boundaries

Bryce Alderton

The cliche “going the extra mile” gets tossed around so much that its

meaning can easily become lost and watered down.

Not so with Bill Sumner.

Physically and mentally, Sumner, who 22 years ago began building

the foundation for one of the most successful cross country and track

and field programs in Southern California and arguably anywhere else

at Corona del Mar, doesn’t believe in getting by.

“I don’t do stuff, I become [whatever he’s working on at the

time],” Sumner, 57, said at his Cal Coast Track Club of Southern

California offices in Newport Beach.

The club welcomes runners on every scale from casual to

competitive and has blossomed to include more than 2,300 active

members.

In February 2004, he shifted to part-time status at Cal Coast and

full-time status with the Orange County Marathon, which celebrated

its first birthday by raising $380,000 for children’s charities.

Sumner said 9,137 runners crossed the finish line on a rainy December

Sunday, nearly 4,000 more than he expected.

He jokes that what he does shouldn’t classify as “work.”

A typical half-day for him equals 12 hours.

“I get in a lot of trouble calling what I do work,” Sumner said.

“I work on the [OC] marathon, which I love doing along with CdM track

and cross country. Where is the job? There is no job. What could be

better than doing what I want for a living? Which came first, doing

it, or getting paid for doing it?”

When Sumner followed his passion in 1982, leaving the world of

insurance sales, he said he made $5,000 combined from Cal Coast,

private lessons and coaching duties at CdM, the first year out.

“I was leaving the [insurance] office at 1 p.m. every day to

coach,” Sumner recalled. “I gave up [money] to be a coach. I never

worried about money. The things I cared about were, ‘Did I have

enough money for gas, to eat and go to the movies?’

“I have never done any project because of the money.”

Sumner, along with countless supporters and volunteers, have often

found themselves on the fundraising end.

The synthetic track at CdM went in six years ago and not without

its share of skepticism.

Sumner, a walk-on coach, said once construction began, the

estimated budget bloomed to $222,000 for renovation of a dirt track

that sat three inches lower than the grass level. Pools of water

covered the area when it rained.

One man whom Sumner said called the idea for a synthetic track

“crazy” made him so angry that Sumner composed two lists: one with

the names of supporters and the other with skeptics.

Sumner then called on the supporters and since then, some $370,000

poured in from booster clubs, running clubs, corporate sponsors, the

Newport-Mesa Unified School District and the foundation, he said.

Sumner said he was hurt more that people took shots at the idea

for a track.

“I went over to a group of people that included Evan Gruber and

Jeff Morse and they said, ‘Why are you listening to [the skeptic],”

Sumner recalled. “I never thought of it that way. I went back and

asked people, ‘How do we do this?’”

They did it and today, the track welcomes runners from dawn to

dusk.

“Not only is it used by the school, but community members are

running on it in the mornings or [physical education] classes or

trainers are using it,” said CdM boys athletic director Jerry

Jelnick, who has known Sumner for more than 20 years.

“Year in and year out, he does an excellent job,” Jelnick said of

Sumner. “In a world of walk-ons, you never know what might happen.

“Every year he has a lot of returning kids who ran for him come

back and help out. That says something about the coach, when kids

want to give something back.”

Through trail, Sumner has learned to see the positive.

“I probably got into 100 fights in high school,” he said.

He comes from a rough upbringing -- at 17 he was stabbed and shot

in the same month. He bounced around five high schools before

graduating from Baldwin Park High.

When the bullet missed, Sumner turned to what he now knows and

loves.

“I had to have eyes around my head to deal with those types of

things,” Sumner said. “But when I got shot at, I was in shock ... I

ran first, then packed my bags and moved.”

And run he does, quite well, actually.

Sumner averages 50 races a year and in the last five years, he has

lost his division, usually the 55-59 bracket, only twice. Now he

enters into the 50-54 grouping.

In May, it will be 50 years since he first started running.

A torn Achilles tendon couldn’t keep him down.

“The key is you never stop and understanding what your limits

are,” Sumner said. “You’ll never see me peddle to the metal. I run

hard, but controlled.”

Sumner ran competitively in high school and was part of Mt. San

Antonio’s state championship cross country team in 1967, a year

before he was drafted for the Vietnam War, which he is hesitant to

talk about.

“I don’t like talking about wars, politics or religion,” Sumner

said. “You can’t win, no matter what.”

The winning is reserved for Sumner’s teams, which have combined

for nine CIF Southern Section divisional crowns with five state

championships. Add a startling 18 straight trips to the state meet

and the program speaks for itself.

“I was planning on staying only two years [at CdM],” Sumner said.

Jim Tomlin, a track and cross country coach in 1982, helped woo Sumner to CdM from Edison.

At the time, Sumner was assisting friend Ruben Chappins with

building the Charger boys distance program.

Tomlin eventually tugged hard enough and Sumner took the challenge

of building the boys program at CdM.

The rest is history, wrapped in a pair of shoes.