Jeff Brinkley, Tim Mang among local inductees into CIF Southern Section Hall of Fame

Former longtime Newport Harbor High football coach Jeff Brinkley, as well as former Edison and Corona del Mar tennis coach Tim Mang, were among 15 inducted into the CIF Southern Section Hall of Fame on Wednesday during a ceremony at the Grand Conference Center in Long Beach.

Bob Johnson, who started his football coaching career at Los Amigos in 1970 before building El Toro and Mission Viejo into powerhouse programs, was another of the inductees.

Mark Cunningham, a Costa Mesa resident who was University’s longtime head football coach and athletic director and is currently a defensive backs coach for CdM, also was honored with a distinguished service award.

Brinkley retired as the Sailors’ football coach in January after 32 years. His teams made eight CIF Southern Section title games during his tenure, winning three of them, and he led Newport Harbor to 23 playoff appearances.

Brinkley went 244-130-3 with the Sailors, and the 244 wins rank fifth in Orange County history.

Brinkley finished with 273 career wins, which rank No. 19 in California. He spent his first three years at Norwalk Excelsior, which closed in 1981, and the next five at Norwalk. Brinkley won 29 games during his time coaching in his hometown of Norwalk.

“Getting honored for something that you love to do, it’s a pretty humbling experience,” said Brinkley, 66. “It’s something that I enjoyed every day. Really, it’s not just about me, it’s about having a great coaching staff over the years … and having a bunch of great players that bought in and believed in the philosophy.”

Newport Harbor won the 1994 Division V title under Brinkley, as well as Division VI titles in 1999 and 2005.

Mang served 16 years as Edison boys’ tennis coach beginning in 1972, and 15 years at CdM starting in 1993. He led the Chargers boys to nine league titles and the CdM boys to 10 league crowns, as well as three CIF championships. Mang also served three years as the CdM girls’ tennis coach, and the Sea Kings won the 1997 Division 1 title.

Mang, 76, has stayed involved in high school tennis after resigning from CdM in 2008. He serves as the executive director of the National High School Tennis All-American Foundation, which he founded in 1998, and each year he puts on the highly regarded National High School Tennis All-American Tournament in Orange County. Earlier this year, Mang also was inducted into the National High School Tennis Coaches Assn. Hall of Fame.

“It’s not over for me,” Mang said. “I’m in the middle of doing a very important thing right now. My goal is to get high school tennis on the map.”

Johnson, who retired at Mission Viejo after the 2017 season, coached at Los Amigos for three years. He retired with 339 wins in his high school football coaching career, the most in Orange County history and third-most in state history.

matthew.szabo@latimes.com

Twitter: @mjszabo