Saturday, August 19, 2023
As if Friday's 1973 Thousand Oaks H.S. Football Team 50 Year Reunion was not enough fun, there was more nostalgia on tap Saturday night.
The Best Western Plus Inn in Thousand Oaks was the perfect venue for yet another gathering, this time with members of the 1972 Lancer squad that won the school's first Marmonte League title.
We had a great reunion with this close knit club last August for their Half Century Reunion. Apparently, it was not enough as team leader Chris Pruitt decided to organize this gathering on his own.
I, for one, was all for it!
8-3 during that magical season
This group has always been special to me personally.
In 1970 I was hired to be a teacher/coach at Thousand Oaks H.S. My first coaching duty was to be the Defensive Coordinator/Line Coach for the JV football team made up of what two years later would be the Seniors on that championship club.
Robert Richards, who went on to become one of the best Varsity Head Coaches in Ventura County history, was our JV team Head Coach, Offensive Coordinator and Special Teams Coach. I was fortunate to learn so many lessons from Robert at the start of my career. Robert is now coaching the Offensive Line at Simi Valley H.S., it is his 57th season as a high school football coach!
Talk about dedication to the game and to the young men he coaches. It is truly amazing.
In 1971, the two of us would again coach the JV team but we now had an outstanding coach added to our staff, Rob Elliott. That team would make up the Junior class of the 1972 team.
In 1972, I was made the Varsity's Special Teams, Defensive Line and Guards and Centers' Coach. This gave me the incredible opportunity to again work with all of those tremendous young, selfless, determined and hard hitting men one more time.
We would all get a chance to talk to the group before the night was over to talk about where life has taken us since then and to say what being on this fabled team still meant to us to this day.
One of our team leaders, FB/LB Bart Gudmundson, noted that even though we started the season at 0-2, we never stopped believing in the process, righted the ship, went on an eight game winning streak and won that coveted Marmonte League crown.
With our two starting HBs that
season, Mike Ahtye and Jon Yoshiwara
They were both consummate team players.
Laurie with FB/LB Bart Gudmundson
and OT Stewart Black
C Steve Cameron holding court
Mike Ahtye and Jon Yoshiwara with their backs to the camera.
QB Clay Richardson and SE Ed Canales standing next to Steve.
L. to R.: HB Tim Ahtye, LB Rich Kluck,
DB Steve Rote, OG Ray Hinton and
OT/DT Chris Pruitt
I was so blessed to work with these men as a young coach.
WR John Garofolo, Steve Rote
and Stewart Black
Our well behaved table mates for dinner.
Jon Yoshiwara with OG Bill Breucklander
Bill was simply a tough, gritty player!
Bill's blocking versus a HUGE Burbank H.S. Defensive Tackle in a C.I.F. "AAA" playoff game is the stuff of legends! Bill was outweighed by 100 lbs. but fought, clawed and even reverse body blocked his opponent, completely neutralizing a player who we believed was going to be a problem for us.
As it turned out, there was no need to worry.
Lots of stories were being swapped
at this table all night
Tim Ahtye and Ray "Sugar Bear"
Hinton but who is that mystery
man on the Zoom meeting screen?
Why it was none other than our
AWESOME Tiger Team Defensive
End, Jerry Naegli!
Jerry lives in Oregon and could not make it down to Thousand Oaks tonight.
No problem, tech whizzes Ray Hinton and Chris Pruitt were able to connect him with us via a Zoom Meeting.
With this group, Jerry is LEGENDARY!
Never a starter, always on the practice field sacrificing himself on our Tiger/Scout team. He, along with several other young men like Ray Hinton, Dave Peterson and Dave Paananen gave every ounce they could out of their more than willing bodies for the team's success.
Jerry was our team character/comedian as well.
His confrontations and never back down attitude with our team's toughest players Rich Kluck and Bart Gudmundson certainly earned him tons of respect from all of the coaches and his teammates.
I often refer to Jerry's high school career 50 years ago when discussing the current state of Transfer Portal high school football in Southern California today.
You see, back then ours was a community team. For the most part, our players had all gone the elementary and intermediate school together. They had all played together or against each other in various youth sports.
These facts led to a true family atmosphere as brothers who had known each other most of their lives.
This attitude allowed a young man like Jerry Naegli to be welcomed and nurtured by athletes that had a few more God-given skills but still recognized Jerry's mental and physical toughness.
I'm sure that being around his long time friends is a large part of what kept Jerry coming back every day.
When he spoke to us tonight, he said that he lived for the end of Tuesday and Wednesday practices when the drills were over and he got to scrimmage against the starters for 30-45 minutes.
Today, I don't know how many players like Jerry are still on high school football teams. I don't think that the Transfer Portal is conducive to building the type of relationships that this team enjoyed.
In blue, current TOHS
Head Coach Ben McEnroe joined us
We all believe that he will be a strong, new link in the storied history of Lancers football.
With Robert Richards and Rich Kluck
Robert and I were the only coaches on that long ago 1970 TOHS JV team that would become the Seniors on the 1972 team.
To this day, Rich is still the single toughest hitter that I ever coached.
Many tonight told the story of being in tackling lines and counting to make sure that they would not be paired up with Rich.
It usually fell on Bart Gudmundson, another tough customer, to have to match up with Rich in those drills. When they did, several players breathed a sigh of relief and alertly watched the wreckage.
The biggest thing that I took away from this magical dinner was the stories that our players shared about what being on this high school football team still means to them to this day.
Words like love, family, trust, caring and skills for life kept being retold over and over again.
It was gratifying to hear that, as coaches, we were able, in some small way, to help them all go from athletic young boys to productive men.
Humbling really.
What a GREAT Group!
In attendance from those long
ago Lancer football days were:
Mike Ahtye, HB, 5-10, 164, Senior
Tim Ahtye, HB, 5-8, 141, Junior
Stewart Black, T, 6-4, 201, Junior
Bill Breucklander, G, 5-7, 161, Senior
Steve Cameron, C, 6-1, 174, Senior
Ed Canales, SE, 5-10, 166, Senior
Bob Emerson, QB, 5-9, 158, Junior
Bart Gudmundson, FB/LB, 5-11, 191 Senior
Ray Hinton, G, 5-11, 155, Senior
Mike Hubbard, FB, 5-7, 165, Senior
Rich Kluck, LB, 6-0, 175, Senior
Doug Metzger, C, 5-10, 155, Junior
Jerry Naegli, DE, 5-8, 150, Senior
Dave Peterson, TE, 6-2, 172, Junior
Chris Pruitt, T/DT, 6-0, 191, Senior
Clay Richardson, QB, 6-1, 165, Senior
Steve Rote, SE/DB, 5-7, 133, Junior
Jon Yoshiwara, HB, 5-8, 153, Senior
John Garofolo, SE, 5-6, 128, Junior on
our 1973 team
Coach Robert Richards
Coach George Contreras
Thanks to everyone for
such a fantastic evening!
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