2014-15 James H. Jenkins Boys’ Athlete of the Year: Gadsby completes stellar tenure with one last honor
On a very warm August afternoon, having just returned from a summer in Washington as an Apple Sock, Brian Gadsby returned to the campus of Crescenta Valley High.
A campus that he had called home for four years was hustling and bustling with the new school year underway.
Whether it’s La Crescenta or anywhere else, time marches on upon every campus, but it’s hard to fathom that Gadsby’s exploits, talents and tales won’t live on long past his days as a Falcon.
Make no mistake, the brilliance within his right arm and the jaw-dropping angles in which he’s able to deliver that greatness – whether on the gridiron or diamond – can’t be understated.
Alas, talent has been seen before and will be seen again.
But in three varsity seasons, Gadsby made history. He was a winner that led the way to some of the most riveting and successful seasons in not just Crescenta Valley, but area, chronicle.
Upon the football field, he was an incredible 24-2 as a starting quarterback. From his days as a wide-eyed sophomore to a sensational senior, a sub-par season, a CIF postseason snub and an unprecedented championship added up to see Gadsby walk off the field as a winner in the last game of each of his Falcon autumns.
A quick release, a strong arm and the uncanny ability to astound onlookers by so routinely rolling left and throwing back across the field led Gadsby to 6,558 career yards passing and 74 touchdown passes in 26 games. As a senior, he led the Falcons to a season that will live on for decades to come.
Crescenta Valley went 14-0, claimed its first Pacific League title since 2004 and, after returning to the playoffs for the first time since 2011, won the program’s second CIF championship, claiming a 21-14 victory over Downey to win the CIF Southern Section Southeast Division title.
Having already secured a baseball scholarship to UCLA before his senior year, Gadsby was uncertain he would even play football. Instead, he returned and Crescenta Valley had a CIF plaque to show for it. Following a campaign in which he had 48 total touchdowns and 3,780 yards passing, he was the All-CIF Southeast Division Offensive Player of the Year and All-Area Football Player of the Year.
Months later, he was back at home on the diamond, baffling batters, winning games and leading the Falcons all the way to the CIF Southern Section Division II semifinals. After a 2014 run to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2007, Crescenta Valley advanced to the semifinals for the first time since 1998.
Gadsby, who tied for the Crescenta Valley career record of 29 wins, grabbed all-state honors after throwing an eye-popping 109 innings while tallying a 12-4 record, two saves, a 0.578 earned-run average and 104 strikeouts to just 13 walks.
For a second straight year, he was the All-Area Baseball Player of the Year and it’s believed he’s the first athlete to ever be voted the area’s top football and baseball player.
Now, for a second straight year he has been voted the Glendale News-Press James H. Jenkins Boys’ Athlete of the Year.
What lies ahead are excerpts from an interview between Gadsby and Glendale News-Press sports editor Grant Gordon and, perhaps of greatest importance, one last celebration of one of the finest athletes the community has ever had the fortune to watch.
Grant Gordon: Graduating from high school, transitioning to college, that’s a pretty big deal and yet you left the day after you graduated to play with the Wenatchee AppleSox (of the West Coast League). What was that like? Did you feel like you missed out on a lot?
Brian Gadsby: I definitely missed out on a lot. I didn’t go to grad night; I didn’t get to spend the summer with my friends. I finally come back and a lot of them are leaving. ... Basically, I still have a month and a half of summer because I don’t start [school at UCLA] until Sept. 24, but nobody else does, everyone else is busy. I’m a lone soldier for the summer I feel like. I definitely missed out on a lot.
GG: Do you regret it at all?
BG: No. It was a fun summer. It was good to be up there. Maybe I could’ve taken a week off before I went up. I think it was good that I went up early, though. My first day was our first exhibition game. So I think it was good that I went up and good that I played in the league, but I definitely missed a lot.
GG: So what was the whole experience like, being an Apple Sock?
BG: Just Wenatchee itself is a different kind of place. It’s nothing compared to L.A. People would always ask me, ‘How is going from L.A. to small Wenatchee?’ It’s a lot different, just cause it’s so small, there’s nothing to do.
GG: Well, how does it compare to it La Crescenta?
BG: La Crescenta, you’re still in a place where 10, 20 minutes away, you can almost do whatever. But with Wenatchee, if you want to go bowling, it’s like an hour and a half away. Mini-golfing’s an hour and a half away. There’s no beach, there’s a lake and it’s an hour and a half away. There’s stuff to do there, it’s just a nice drive to get there.
GG: Going from the summer all the way back to the fall, you were close to not even playing football. Obviously you don’t have the regret of not playing, but do you ever look back and think what if I didn’t play?
BG: Yeah, just now that football is starting up, I miss it a little bit, I miss the Friday night lights. If I didn’t play, I definitely would’ve regretted it. Senior year, I’d been playing for three years, there’d be no point in not playing, especially since I already knew I was going to college. Thinking back like what if I still didn’t play, it would’ve been pretty sad, just bummed out because who knows how the season would’ve went. They probably would’ve still done just as good and I would’ve missed out on it.
GG: Obviously, perfect is a strong word, especially in football; obviously, you threw some incompletions, a couple interceptions, but at the end of the year, you guys had a perfect record. Looking back, what was that season like, being a part of that run, the community, the playoffs, everything?
BG: It almost felt like the perfect season. Even with the downfalls that we had throughout the season, it still almost felt perfect – 14-0. Everything was clicking when things needed to click. It was fun. And just seeing the community rally with us and just everyone on our side and hoping we’d get to the next game and the next game and the next game. It was fun.
GG: You never hesitated to say that baseball was your first love, but what will you miss about football?
BG: Just those Friday night lights. Just under the lights, throwing some deep passes to some receivers, just celebrating with the running back in the end zone, high-fiving my linemen, celebrating the defense. There’s a lot that I’m going to miss about football.
GG: Moving to baseball, obviously you threw a lot of innings, some short days’ rest, you even started hitting everyday in the order, you even played some outfield. A lot of players, or maybe more specifically, a lot of players’ parents of a kid already going to UCLA, would’ve said, let’s hold back. Why didn’t you hold back?
BG: I just love the game too much. As a sophomore and a junior as a PO, a pitcher only, I still pitched a decent amount, but it was more like every other game. ... Just sitting on the bench and just watching, I mean I love to watch baseball, but if I have a chance to play, I’d rather be out there and trying to help my team do what it can to win. Anyway I can get out there is what I want to do and just try to play and just do what I can.
GG: When you’re pitching, is your mind on anything else?
BG: When I’m pitching is when I’m most relaxed, just when I’m most having fun. Just thinking about having fun and just relaxed. Just being where I want to be just on that bump.
GG: You guys went to the semifinals, which is a round further than the previous year, but you guys didn’t win the Pacific League. Is that something that stuck with you guys?
BG: Yeah, it does suck. … Burroughs was a good team and they deserved it, they beat us twice and they deserved to win that league. It does sting, but at the end of the day we did get to the semifinals and a game away from trying to win a ring, so it was still successful.
GG: You’ve built a reputation as being clutch, but you’ve always said you try to think of every game the same. But the big games, are those the ones that you remember the most?
BG: You try to think of every game the same, but no matter how hard you try, the bigger games do compare differently than the smaller games even when you try to think of them the same. The big games do stick out more in my mind, the losses more than anything. That Mission Viejo [CIF semifinal baseball] game I’ll never forget, because we were up, 2-0, in the first inning and just gave it away.
GG: That was actually my next question. With football, you were fortunate to have that rare feeling of walking away as a champion. With baseball, you walked away one game away from playing for a championship. What’s the one that you actually think about more?
BG: I definitely just remember that Mission Viejo game. Just one game away. … It’ll stick out, just one game away and we have a chance at another ring for Crescenta Valley. It’ll be something that’ll stick in my mind for a while.
GG: UCLA’s next. Are you nervous? Has it entered your mind? Are you just trying to enjoy the summer you have left?
BG: I’m always thinking about it. I’m excited. I wouldn’t mind going there now just cause I’m excited and ready to go and I think it’s going to be a pretty good time; pretty fun being a Bruin playing on that Jackie Robinson Field. At the same time, I am a little nervous, don’t’ know what I’m going into yet, don’t know how things work, don’t really know much. I’m excited, but nervous at the same time. More so excited.
GG: Within the sports that are seen by at least the general fan as the biggest, you’re going to go down as one of the most successful players that’s ever donned a CV uniform. When you look back at these last three years of CV sports, is there any one memory that’s more prevalent than any other?
BG: I like to think of it more that I’ve been lucky to be on successful teams. As a team as a whole, I’ve been playing with the same guys for three years. Growing up, a lot of the guys that are in my class, I’ve been growing up with since I was 5, 6 years old. Just playing baseball or playing Crescenta Valley basketball youth league or flag football in Sunland. I’ve been lucky to be on some good teams. Just as a whole, the losses are what really stick out. Football-wise, I lost to Burroughs my junior year to basically take us out of the playoffs. The big game against Muir [in 2013], if we beat them we’re league champions. We could’ve, we just didn’t play our best ball and they played better than us. … Mission Viejo [in baseball] and Valencia Placentia last year. It’s more so the losses that stick out more than anything else. But so does that victory against Downey. That one sticks out, that might be the biggest out of all of them.
GG: Going back to that Downey game, on a personal level, you walked over after and shook my hand while all your teammates were celebrating like you would figure. Obviously you were happy, but you just seemed so calm and cool. What was going through your head? What was that like?
BG: It was a feeling where it was like, ‘Is this real?’ Not many teams finish 14-0 and are CIF champions. It’ll be a season to remember for CV as long as Crescenta Valley football is a sport. It’s just one of those feelings of this is crazy, is this real? But at the same time, I like to think of it as how am I feeling compared to how is the Downey team feeling? … Yeah it’s exciting, of course we just won a championship so it’s OK to celebrate, dogpile, do whatever, but at the same time I try to show as little emotion as possible and save it for when Downey’s not looking.