Tournament name is meaningful

Edison High girls’ basketball Coach Sara Brown remembers all too well the events of Oct. 26, 2015.

The season was fast approaching, and Brown, then an assistant coach with the program, was getting set to carry out practice.

She did not normally arrive at practice early, but that day, she did. It was to be somewhat of a surprise to head coach Dan Wiley, except that day, he did not show up.

Practice began without Wiley. After 30 minutes, the players and assistants began to worry. After 45 minutes to an hour had passed, the phone calls started being placed.

Wiley’s phone kept going to voicemail, and when the team was able to reach his wife and daughter, it was to find out that the beloved coach was found unresponsive at his home.

At the age of 61, Wiley had died of a heart attack.

The whole team found out together at that practice, and from that point forward, it was intent on honoring his memory.

A well-attended celebration of life ceremony was held at the school, and for the remainder of the season, a seat was left unoccupied at the Edison bench where Wiley would have sat.

Those are just some of the steps that were taken to celebrate the man who touched so many lives.

Wiley’s name is one that won’t soon be forgotten.

Nor should it be.

An enduring tribute was made to Wiley when his name was added to the title of the Larry Doyle/Dan Wiley Tournament last year.

Edison Athletic Director Rich Boyce said that the decision was made to add Wiley’s name by the head coaches of Edison and Marina, the host schools of the tournament.

“To kind of carry on this tradition, it means everything,” Brown said. “It’s an honor, really, because of what he stood for, not only as a person, but how he wanted to run his program.”

“Since I played for and coached with him, I know through thick and thin what he wants done and things like that.”

Brown played on Wiley’s travel ball teams from the seventh to the ninth grade, later reuniting with him as an assistant at Edison.

In the time that they spent with their programs, Doyle and Wiley made profoundly positive impacts on the Huntington Beach basketball community.

Their reputations preceded them as well-respected mentors that were in coaching for the right reasons.

“From everything that I’ve heard, they’re two peas in a pod,” Boyce said of the two late coaches. “They had the kids’ best interest at heart. That’s all you can ask from a coach.”

“The X’s and O’s are great, but they’re looking after the kids. They had the kids’ best interest at heart, and that’s the kind of person that you want coaching your child.”