Playoff game with Serra brings back memories for Redell

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Heading into Oaks Christian‘s Northwest Division quarterfinal with Gardena Serra, Lions Coach Bill Redell, pictured left, can’t help but reminisce a little about his brief tenure as a defensive back on the Los Angeles Rams close to four decades ago.

That’s because Serra’s nine-year coach, Scott Altenberg, is the son of Redell’s late friend, Kurt Altenberg, pictured below. Both Redell and Altenberg were Southern California collegiate football standouts in the 1960s and both played together for a brief time on the Rams. Kurt also worked as an assistant coach under his son at his alma mater.

‘I’ve always been really impressive by the job Scott has done over there,’ said Redell, a 2001 College Football Hall of Fame inductee. ‘I always think of his dad when I think of Serra.’

Kurt passed away in 2005 after a long battle with cancer, and Redell wishes his old gridiron buddy was still around to see the first-ever meeting between the two teams.

‘Scott has a great program over there, so we know it’s going to be a battle,’ Redell said. ‘But like I’ve said before, I think this team turned a corner four weeks ago and that still holds true. Overall, I like where we are at.’

And if you’ve seen my predictions, so do I.

-- Austin Knoblauch

-- Images from www.collegefootball.org and www.uclabruins.cstv.com