Orange Coast College stalwart retiring

Barbara Bond, dean of Orange Coast College’s physical education and athletics department and the campus’ athletic director, is retiring after 35 years at the college.

“I’ve literally loved every day on the job,” said Bond, 61, a Laguna Beach resident. “Orange Coast College has always been my life. The best thing about it is the people I’ve worked with “” the faculty and the students.”

Since 1975, she has helped make OCC one of the highest-ranking athletic junior colleges in the country.

Year in and year out, the college has ranked in the top five in athletics by winning some state or national championship in one of the dozens of sports it offers.

The college’s men and women’s rowing team, for example, is consistently phenomenal, and OCC is the only community college in the country to offer such a program.

The college also has one of the best tennis teams around. Same goes for its cross-country runners, and the baseball and soccer squads have enjoyed lots of success.

OCC won the Supremacy Award 26 times, a feat in which all the championship titles are added up by a total number of points, then compared alongside the thousands of other community colleges across the country.

Bond has the big, shiny, heavy trophy to prove it. It sits in the corner inside her office, a testament to what hard work and dedication can achieve on the field.

It’s no secret or surprise, then, that Bond herself is somewhat of a jock. Born in Santa Ana, she graduated from Santa Ana Valley High School before attending Cal State Long Beach.

She played volleyball in her earlier years as a college student and had the opportunity to play alongside four Olympians.

It was Jane Ward, captain of two Olympic teams and a now member of the Volleyball Hall of Fame, who came recruiting her one day.

At 5 feet 6, Bond had some great backup with her teammates, four of whom were more than 6 feet tall, she said.

“Let’s just say that they were easy to set for,” Bond said inside the confines of her office, a work zone for more than three decades.

These days, Bond is playing softball, with a ball that’s a little bit smaller than 12 inches. She plays shortstop and second base.

When she’s not out on the field, she’s either in the gym working out or focusing on her children.

She said her job never would have been the same were it not for the administration’s steadfast dedication to sports and the unwavering commitment from students. But now it’s time to pack up her things and start a new life.

Bond has two immediate plans for the near future: her son Kai’s wedding in May and then a trip to Europe with her partner.

After that, anything is possible.

“I’m going to miss this place,” she said.