Two-a-Day Has a New Meaning : Sonora’s Blakeley Will Coach Football and Baseball Teams

Gordon Blakeley’s life-long dream of playing major league baseball ended in the Detroit Tigers’ minor league system nine years ago.

Blakeley, playing for the Tigers’ Double-A team in Montgomery, watched gifted teammates Alan Trammell, Dan Petry, Steve Kemp and Jason Thompson and realized that “I wasn’t good enough to play major league baseball, that it was time to get on with my life.”

Blakeley returned to Chapman College to earn his degree in physical education and did his student-teaching at Canyon High School. It was at Canyon where then-football Coach Chuck Wood gave Blakeley some good advice.

“Chuck told me that if I wanted to get a teaching job, I better know how to coach football,” Blakeley said. “Baseball was always my first love. I only played one year of football in high school, so I tried to learn as much as I could about football while I was at Canyon.”

Today, Blakeley, 31, is the only coach at an Orange County public high school who is in charge of two major sports. He was recently selected to replace Vince Senik as Sonora’s varsity football coach, adding to his duties as varsity baseball coach. He had served as Senik’s defensive coordinator for the past three years.

The football season is still nine weeks away, but Blakeley is working daily with the Raider players in preparation for their opening game against Dana Hills. He’s also teaching two driver education courses, conducting baseball workouts and coaching an American Legion team on weekends.

“There’s no way I could coach both sports if I didn’t have some great assistants,” Blakeley said. “My assistant baseball coach, John Link, will also be helping me on the football staff.

“I already have him working on getting all the equipment ready for the fall. I’m trying to get everything organized early. I’ve met with the boosters to set up the weekly meetings. I have two assistants handling our summer weight program.”

Blakeley, a special education instructor, says he will handle all the paper work, which includes grade checks and eligibility cards.

Although Blakeley has no experience as a varsity head football coach, few can question his enthusiasm. On a 100-degree day in La Habra earlier this week, he conducted batting practice for six Sonora players at 12:30. He was on the football field at 5:30 for a two-hour workout.

“I’m sure a lot of people are wondering why I’m doing this or even if I can do this,” Blakeley said. “I took a lot of ribbing from the coaches at the county all-star baseball game. But I thought this was a good opportunity for me.

“I decided when Vince resigned to go for it. They prolonged the hiring process for so long, I thought we might not get a coach until after spring football, and that would have put us way behind.”

Senik’s vacancy was opened outside the Fullerton Union High School District and was advertised with a teaching position. But Blakeley said only 10 coaches applied.

“I think our principal (David Test) had some reservations about hiring me when he realized that if I decided to leave coaching, he would have two vacancies to fill,” Blakeley said. “I was very honest with him and told him I couldn’t give him a guarantee on how long I’ll be coaching.”

If Blakeley is able to transfer some on his baseball success to the football field, Sonora could make its first playoff appearance since 1978. Blakeley’s Raider baseball teams have qualified for the playoffs in all five seasons he has coached and won the Freeway League title in 1984.

“One of the pluses I have going is that I know all the kids in the football program,” Blakeley said. “We had 130 players turn out for our three teams, which is the largest turnout since I came here in 1978.

“Vince did a great job of getting the weight program going, now we’re working to improve our agility and speed. We have a lot of work to do. We were basically a senior-oriented team last year, so we’re young.”

Sonora was one of the favorites to win the Freeway League football title last year and was impressive while winning four of five nonleague games. But quarterback Mark Hamo injured his knee prior to the league opener, and Sonora managed to win only one league contest.

“We went from being one of the top teams in the Central Conference to one of the worst teams in two days,” Blakeley said. “The team never got over the loss of Mark.”

The player affected most by Hamo’s absence was junior wide receiver Steve Stamper. He was one of the top receivers in the county at midseason, but caught only two passes after Hamo’s injury. Blakeley plans to utilize Stamper’s skills more often this season.

“We’ve moved Steve to tailback,” he said. “We want to get the ball in his hands as much as we can because he has the ability to make the big plays.”

So despite his hectic summer schedule, the burden of administrating two major sports and the prospects of a relatively young team competing in one of the county’s best football leagues, Blakeley is optimistic.

“I think there is a perfect blend with football in the fall and baseball in the spring,” he said. “I know it’s going to be a lot of work. A lot of people have asked me if I can do both. Well, we’re going to find out real quick.”