Some Sadness and a Lot of Joy

Friday, December 13 -

Tuesday, December 17, 2019

This has been a bittersweet few days to say the least. The highs have been wonderful but the lows have really been depressing.

Let's progress with the post as best we can . . .

On Friday, on the way to lunch in Burbank

with die-hard blog fans Paul Sabloic

and Mike D'Antuono, I saw this street

sign dedicated to one of my favorite

actors from days long gone

After another of our, as always, fun lunches I stopped in Moorpark on the way home for an espresso and tiramisu with Rio Mesa H.S. teacher/friend Martha Jimenez-Ito.

She took this picture of the espresso, tiramisu and me. 

I was voted Most Photogenic for

the St. Francis H.S. Class of 1965

On Saturday, our son Mike joined

me for the Noon kickoff of the California

State 2-A Championship American Football

game at Cerritos College in Norwalk

The game was being played between Oakland's three-time defending State Champion McClymonds H.S. Warriors (11-0) and Oxnard's Pacifica H.S. Tritons (14-1).

Pacifica's Head Coach is Mike Moon who I had the good fortune to work with for many years while we were both assistants at Rio Mesa H.S.

Mike's assistants include others with Rio Mesa ties, former Spartans' assistant coach Dean Litten and former RMHS players Tomek Czerwinski and Marcus Alford are all on Mike's staff at Pacifica.

Four aces to be sure who do the right things for kids both on and off the field.

When we arrived in the Cerritos College parking lot after an In-N-Out double-double hamburger with grilled onions for breakfast, we found a motorcycle parked next to us with a fine helmet attached.

  

 The helmet had one white

Los Angeles Rams horn on one side and . . .

 . . . a yellow one on the other side

With Swanson Nunnery

Swanson played football and basketball at Rio Mesa with both of our sons back in the early 1990s. He was an amazing two-way athlete on the gridiron Probably the best all-around athlete that I ever coached.

His son was one of Pacifica's key players this year.

Mike and I sporting our shared

Varese Skorpions' Pride sweatshirts!

Here come the Tritons!

Every game starts with a Kickoff

 Pacifica's Offense was

DOMINANT on this day!

Pacifica moved the ball with a

physical running game

The Triton Defense was

DOMINANT as well!

The Warriors had averaged 48 points per game on the way to their 11-0 record.

They would not score a point today on offense.

McClymonds only points of the day came late in the Fourth Quarter on a scoop and score fumble recovery when Pacifica's back-ups were on offense and the game had been long ago decided.

 Coach Mike Moon firing up his

troops in the locker room

Run Pacifica Run!

One of many Triton QB Sacks

on the day

Lots of hugs on the Pacifica sidelines

during their day of dominance

Other QB Sack about to happen

Triton QB R.J. Maria threw

four TD passes on the day

The Final Score was

34-6 in Pacifica's favor

What an amazing accomplishment!

Coach Moon was a hugging machine

after the game

He's got my vote!

Those are two of Mike and his wife Starr's proud children in the photo.

 Mike Moon hoisting the trophy

 Assistant Coach Tomek Czerwinski

got a HUGE present on his birthday!

Hardworking Coach Dean Litten

and the hardware

After the game with Rio Mesa alumni

and current H.S./College referee

Diego Renteria

What a GREAT day to be a Triton!

Meanwhile, on Sunday on the frozen tundra in Italy . . .

 The 6-0 Varese Skorpions team

hosted their counterparts, the

Giaguari Torino (3-3) in a U16 National

Championship Wildcard Playoff game

Wear your mittens!

 It was close but our

U16 Skorpions advanced!

Next up for our 7-0 Skorpions is a U16 semi-final battle in Florence this coming Saturday against the 6-0 Guelfi Firenze.

The other U16 semi-final contest will also take place on Saturday as the 6-0 Seamen Milano host the 5-2 Daemons Cernusco.

The Championship Youth Bowl will take place on Sunday, January 5, 2020.

Sunday was also a sad day as we attended a Celebration of Life for one of our former players Glenn Wellman who passed away recently after battling cancer.

On this day, in Italy, the father of key Skorpions leader Enzo Petrillo was laid to rest just adding to the gloom as we lost two good men this past week.

Glenn Wellman, #32, carrying the

ball for Westlake H.S. in 1981

Glenn's outstanding efforts at WHS earned him a football scholarship to the PAC-12's University of Arizona.

I mentioned earlier how great Swanson Nunnery was as an all-around, two way player. That being said, if I had to pick just one running back to tote the ball in a key situation to win a game, Glenn would be my pick.

Easily.

Glenn accepting a handoff from

Scott Winkler at WHS in 1982

Glenn was a quiet, unselfish player with an amazing combination of size and speed. He caught the ball well and was a fine blocker too.

What more could a coach ask for from a player.

Scott Winkler, Gary Wellman,

Charlie Wegher and Steve Chopp

We won a lot of games at Westlake H.S. in the early 1980s thanks to these men.

Gary Wellman and our son

Mike "Herman" Contreras

Gary is Glenn's younger brother who also had a great career at Westlake H.S. in both football as a running back and as a sprinter in track. Despite being only 5'9" tall, Gary received a football scholarship to the University of Southern California as a wide receiver.

When he graduated from USC, he was their second leading all-time receiver.

After college, Gary played in the NFL for five seasons as a wide receiver for the old Houston Oilers who are now known as the Tennessee Titans.

Gary gave Mike the nickname "Herman" when Gary was in high school and Mike was a bit of a star struck coach's son who thought of Gary as a hero and role model when Mike was only about eight years old.

Of course, Mike was much

shorter back then

Oxnard's "old" Santa Clara Church

Dating from 1903, makes it ancient by California standards.

Inside the ornate Santa Clara Church

for the Annual Christmas Pageant

Our grandchildren, Jacob and Mary, are students at Santa Clara Elementary School and would be singing in today's Pageant.

The Singers were all in place

Gloria in Excelsis Deo

Jacob is in the second row from the top, fourth from the right.

Jacob is the one looking

directly at my phone camera

  

Little Mary was an angel

in white today, closest to us

Away in the Manger

The Pageant was WONDERFUL!

It definitely put Laurie and I into the Christmas Spirit.

In the afternoon, we received another round of sad news.

Emmett "Rosy" Nolan

at a 2013 reunion with his

former Pawhuska H.S. players

in Oklahoma

When I first started coaching at Thousand Oaks H.S. in 1970, I was fortunate enough to be mentored by not one but two veteran coaches, Joe Howell and Emmett "Rosy" Nolan both from Oklahoma.

Joe was a quiet, strong man who led by example as our Head Coach. He passed away in 1994.

Rosy was anything but quiet but was also a strong influence on all of the young coaches on our staff in his dual role as Defensive Coordinator and Joe's sidekick.

Rosy served our country in both World War II with the famed 101st Airborne Division and in the Korean Conflict.

During WWII, he and his fellow soldiers were trapped during the Battle of the Bulge at Bastogne, Belgium during severe Winter weather. This stalemate led to his commander, General Anthony McAuliffe's famous response to the German's request for our troops to surrender, "NUTS!"

After his time in the military, he would start his coaching career as a graduate assistant at the University of Oklahoma in the their 1950's glory days under legendary Head Coach Bud Wilkinson.

Rosy would coach high school football in both Oklahoma and California for over forty wonderful, inspiring years.

Rosy was a fantastic story teller and his stories always had a point when it came to improving either the knowledge or spirits of our players and/or our fellow coaches.

Rosy was 93 years old when he passed away this morning.

Sometimes the Holidays can be the most difficult time of the year.

"Hello Vi, this is Cy,

that was . . ."

More on Rosey can be found here: https://www.tulsaworld.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/revered-coach-emmett-rosy-nolan-returns-for-reunion/article_042262c4-4692-5b05-80da-f8f567ceea7b.html