Ross Still the Boss at Santa Ana : After 27 Years, Coach’s Methods Produce Results

Some day, when Santa Ana High School baseball Coach Bill Ross decides to hang up the spikes and put down the fungo bat, his friends will probably throw a retirement party for him at his home in Orange.

You can bet Herschel Musick, who has known Ross for more than 25 years and is currently his assistant at Santa Ana, will be there, as will long-time friends Larry Arason, Earl Engman and Noel Sweeney, and fellow Century League coaches Gerry Sedoo (Foothill), Dan Sheehy (Tustin) and Dave Ochoa (Villa Park).

A bunch of Ross’ former players will probably be lounging by the pool, reflecting on their playing days at Santa Ana and the Southern Section 3-A championship the Saints won in 1982.

But the group probably won’t be exchanging Bill Ross stories. There simply aren’t enough of them to last through the afternoon.

“Bill is a great family man, he loves his wife and kids, but he’s not the kind of guy who’s gonna go out and give you those great stories,” said Arason, who was Ross’ athletic director at Santa Ana for 19 years and today is the AD for the Santa Ana Unified School District.

Ross may not have any mannerisms to liken him to the late, legendary Casey Stengel, former manager of the New York Yankees and Mets. He may not be able to reel off those hilarious, memorable quotes like Yogi Berra, and he doesn’t even smoke cigars.

But that hardly lessens the impact Ross has had during his 27 years at Santa Ana.

Perhaps, Musick paid Ross the ultimate compliment when he said, “He’s the kind of guy they’ll name a baseball field after.”

To that, Ross replied: “That would be nice. I just hope I don’t have to die to have one named after me.”

Ross won’t be remembered for any outrageous, on-the-field antics, but, rather, for his dedicated service to his school and his athletic teams, for his even temperament on the field and for his fairness in dealing with his players.

“I don’t know if I’m predictable--I’m just not a controversial type of guy,” said Ross, who runs the driver education department at Santa Ana. “I’ve always gotten along with the people I’ve worked with, because I’m easy to get along with. I bend, and the people I’m with seem to bend with me.”

Ross hasn’t changed his coaching style much over the years. The kids are now using aluminum--not wooden--bats, batting helmets and batting gloves, and they like to wear their stirrups high. But Ross’ approach is the same.

“If you’re a good disciplinarian, you treat them fairly and you set up good rules, and if your lower-level coaches do the same, by the time I get the players, I don’t have many problems,” Ross said.

“I’ve never had to throw a kid off the team. I’ve had some kids quit, but I can’t remember any kid ever walking off on me before.”

With Noel Sweeney retiring at Katella last year after coaching 29 years at the high-school level, Ross, 51, is the dean of Orange County baseball coaches. He has a record of 410-231 in 27 years.

The former Pepperdine College second baseman started coaching baseball and lower-level football at Santa Ana in 1958, when he was only 24. He quit coaching football in 1976 (after 18 years) but has remained as baseball coach.

“He’s the old man of the county now,” Sweeney said.

He doesn’t act like it.

Even after 27 years of raising funds to buy equipment and maintain the Saints’ field, of coordinating transportation to away games, of worrying about players’ eligibility, Ross has not lost his zeal for the game.

While many of his contemporaries have burned out on coaching and are retired, Ross continues to center his life around sports.

Two years after he quit coaching football, he began officiating football and is still a referee. He’s been a basketball official for more than 20 years. He loves watching sports on television and going to games, and one of his hobbies is fishing.

You get the feeling he could go on coaching forever.

“I’ve always felt coaching is a disease and that some day you’d be able to arrest it and become an administrator,” said Sweeney, who still works with the Katella freshman team. “Bill Ross and I had the disease and we’ve never been able to arrest it. It’s just a love of the game and working with young people.”

Said Ross: “Sometimes you think it isn’t worth all the hassles, but then you go out and have a good time. I still love to coach, and I never have any second thoughts about it. There will come a time when I’ll quit coaching, but I don’t know when that will be. I’m already looking forward to next year.”

The Saints have some business to attend to before they move on to next year. Santa Ana, which recently won its fourth league title under Ross, opens the 3-A playoffs today against South Hills. It’s the seventh time in the past nine years the Saints have been to the playoffs.

Santa Ana (21-3) is the fourth-seeded team in the tournament, so it shouldn’t be much of a surprise if the Saints advance to the later rounds. But they’ll have to do it without their cleanup hitter, left fielder and No. 2 pitcher, John Torres, who was ruled academically ineligible this week.

Ross will start ace John Schilling today, and senior right-hander Tim Nelson, a relief pitcher who is 2-0, will move into the No. 2 slot in the rotation.

The loss of Torres puts the Saints at a disadvantage, but they probably won’t mind being underdogs should they advance to the second round. That’s what they were in 1982, when Santa Ana shocked everyone on the way to the 3-A championship.

The Saints barely made the playoffs, as they had to win their last regular-season game to earn third place in their league. Then, they went on to upset fourth-seeded Pacifica, Glendora, Cerritos and Fullerton for the title.

Ross called the last two games “probably the two best high school games I’ve been involved in.” Santa Ana came from behind to defeat Cerritos, 6-5, in the semifinals and scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to beat Fullerton, 3-2, in the final at Dodger Stadium.

After 24 years, Ross had finally won a CIF championship.

“It took a long time, but then again, some people never get it,” Ross said.