A Look Back at 1985: San Diego Sports’ Highs and Lows

As the San Diego sports curtain drops, there is always the ensuing review.

The critics can certainly find fault. The Padres pennant scene ended too soon and nearly cost manager Dick Williams his leading role; the Chargers defensive cast certainly didn’t support the offense and Don Coryell’s long reign was nearly ended. The Sockers had too much dialogue at times and the Aztecs were inconsistent in football and basketball.

But there are highlights as well: a girls’ high school basketball team that refuses to lose and a myriad of prep excitement.

As in any major production, the sports theater in San Diego featured happiness and gloom, cheers and tears, winning and losing.

Here’s a look at 1985:

CHARGERS

The drink that stirs the tight end: Reggie Jackson had his candy bar. Now Kellen Winslow has a soft drink.

When the veteran tight end disappeared for two days in early November, there was concern for his well-being. Not to worry. He had flown to Vancouver, B.C., to promote a Gator Ade-like beverage in which he has invested.

Winslow rejoined the team, his billfold slimmer by $500, the sum he was fined by Coach Don Coryell.

No kicks for critters: Rolf Benirschke suffered a groin injury in August and missed the entire regular season, leaving his beloved animal friends without the financial contributions they once received after every field goal.

The Chargers suffered, too. Bob Thomas replaced Benirschke and had a mediocre season. Particularly forgettable was an overtime sequence in Denver, when the Broncos blocked two field goals, returning the second for a touchdown that won the game.

Emotional parting: A host of familiar faces departed over the summer. Included in a pre-training camp purge were veterans Cliff Thrift, Ron Egloff, Jewerl Thomas, Ray Preston, Ken Greene, Bob Gregor, Reuben Henderson, Andre Young and Chuck Loewen.

Thrift, who wound up winning a job with the Chicago Bears, was bitter about leaving San Diego. He decried the “pressure-cooker atmosphere” that he felt had been created under the Alex Spanos regime.

“And I’m not through yet”: Those words seemed to accompany every personnel move instituted by Spanos.

Raiding the USFL, he landed running backs Tim Spencer and Gary Anderson plus wide receiver Trumaine Johnson, among others. He also traded a former No. 1 draft pick, Mossy Cade, for a No. 1 in 1986. Spanos signed offensive tackle Jim Lachey, the team’s first-round selection in 1985, to a multi-year contract, and picked up a valuable backup quarterback, Mark Herrmann, in return for a conditional 10th-round draft choice.

Cleaning up: Linebacker Mike Green agreed to submit to random drug tests in the aftermath of his arrest on charges of possession of cocaine in July. His was the only reported instance of drug involvement by a Charger this year.

Open wide, insert foot: Rookie defensive back Wayne Davis amused some and irritated others with his boasts during training camp.

Reality set in early in the regular season when Seattle’s Daryl Turner and Steve Largent burned him for four touchdowns in one game.

Davis, however, was unchanged.

“This is going to make me a greater player,” he said. Greatness was delayed when he was demoted to backup status a few weeks later.

Beat me, whip me: Quarterback Dan Fouts had another All-Pro year despite injuries to each knee.

A month into the season, his right knee was damaged when struck by the helmet of a Cleveland lineman. Late in the year, his other knee was damaged in a game against Philadelphia.

Fouts, who was pleased with his quick recovery from the first injury, expects to be as fit as ever in 1986, a belief seconded by team physician Gary Losse. Only the strong survive 14 years.

And now a few words from our leader: A week after criticizing the team’s defense for lack of innovation and aggressiveness, Spanos dumped Tom Bass as defensive coordinator and named Dave Adolph to the post.

Coryell, a close friend of Bass, had to break the news. Afterward, he reportedly went to his office and cried.

Millions well-spent: The lengthy pursuit and signing of Gary Anderson to a $2.5 million contract was eminently justifiable in the eyes of one scholar, Lester Hayes of the Raiders.

“He is the best back in the National Football League right now,” Hayes said after the Chargers’ 40-34 win. “He’s the second coming of Gale Sayers, only faster. He’s unbelievable. He’s stupendous. If he stays healthy, his destiny is Canton, Ohio.”

Before he makes it to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, however, Anderson will have to spend a few more minutes absorbing Air Coryell in all its complexity. Once he learns all the plays, Anderson may be able to match the feats of teammate Lionel James, who set a NFLrecord for all-purpose yards. Stay tuned.

And a happy new year: It was a suspenseful season for Coryell, who was under an ultimatum to produce a .500 record or face being fired.

A day after the regular season concluded, Coryell’s contract was extended through 1987.

PADRES

Famous First Words: Dick Williams on March 22: “We’ve improved ourselves as much or more than anyone in the division. We should win it.”

A lesson learned: It was April 20, there were two out in the bottom of the 10th, the winning run was on second and first base was open. Tom Lasorda elected to pitch to Kurt Bevacqua rather than walk him and pitch to Alan Wiggins (.091).

Bevacqua singled in the run.

Disappearing act: When Alan Wiggins failed to show at Dodger Stadium April 25, the Padres originally feared foul play. However, it was a relapse of his drug problems.

When Wiggins had been previously involved in 1982, club president Ballard Smith told him a repeat would end his days in San Diego. He stuck by his word and the second baseman was dealt to Baltimore.

The 1985 Padres went on to steal 60 bases. Wiggins stole 70 in 1984.

Picking on the big guys: LaMarr Hoyt’s first major league hit came on May 20 against, of all people, Dwight Gooden. Hoyt would also get hits against Nolan Ryan, Steve Carlton and Steve Howe.

However, those were his only hits. He batted .063.

Of gum, coffee, kicks and sneezes: When Kevin McReynolds left an exhibition game with the Chicago Cubs in the second inning April 2, it was feared he had aggravated the hand he injured against the Cubs in the 1984 National League Championship Series.

However, those fears proved to be groundless. He had developed a pain under his ear from chewing gum too furiously.

Later in April, no one knows exactly when, Eric Show kicked a bat bag and broke a bone in his big toe. It would have been his right big toe, assuming he kicks from the same side he throws.

Terry Kennedy injured his shoulder while sleeping the night of May 16, missed two games, recovered while sleeping May 18 and had four hits, including a home run, on May 19.

Andy Hawkins started the season with 11 straight wins, but was slowed by a tender right index finger. It was revealed that his finger was sensitive to fast balls, caffeine and tobacco.

The biggest of sneezes caused Rich Gossage to be sidelined with a back injury on June 22. He complained that he did not even have a cold.

A lost Saturday: At 1:46 a.m. on July 6, the Padres were 5-4 losers to Pittsburgh in a rain-delayed game which started 6 hours and 11 minutes earlier. It was also extended by the fact that it went 12

innings, and the Padres lost after taking the lead with two runs in the top of the 12th.

At a more conventional hour later that same day, it looked like extra innings again when the Padres scored three times in the top of the ninth to forge a 7-7 tie. However, the Pirates broke the tie with three singles with two out in the bottom of the ninth and won, 8-7.

This was a day which turned a season upside-down.

A lost Thursday: Leading the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-0, entering the sixth and 6-4 entering the ninth, the Padres were 9-6 losers on July 25. The Cardinals scored five runs in the ninth on three hits and three errors.

Dick Williams in the aftermath: “Gentlemen, I have no comment to make. You saw it. You write it.”

All-Star irony: The National League starting lineup included five Padres--pitcher LaMarr Hoyt, catcher Terry Kennedy, first baseman Steve Garvey, third baseman Graig Nettles and right fielder Tony Gwynn.

Three days earlier, they had lost the lead in the NL West. They would never regain it.

Stretch run: With the threat of a players’ strike looming Aug. 6, Dick Williams announced plans for a “stretch run” beginning July 18.

Williams: “We’ll play each game like it’s the last game of the playoffs.”

The Padres lost 12 of those 18 games and gave up 6 1/2 games to the Dodgers in the NL West.

For Pete’s Sake: Eric Show, the starting pitcher when Pete Rose went after Ty Cobb’s record on Sept. 11, did not get a great deal of encouragement from teammate Tim Flannery.

“Eric,” Flannery said, “you think everyone in the world is against you. Well, tonight, they are.”

Show gave up the historical hit, but was not flustered.

“I might be a trivia question,” he said, “but, in the eternal scope of things, who really cares?”

The Williams scenario: Would Dick Williams return as manager? He thought maybe he would and maybe he wouldn’t and Ballard Smith and Jack McKeon seemed to think he wouldn’t, and so they “released” Williams’ friend Ozzie Virgil, the third base coach.

When Virgil suggested the front office was attempting to force the manager to resign, it started a chain reaction which forced a “summit conference” at owner Joan Kroc’s La Jolla home.

Later, a news conference was called to announce that Williams would be back and that this was a unified organization.

Ballard Smith was alone at the podium.

COLLEGES

Early birds: No one greeted 1985 quite as early as the San Diego State women’s basketball team. Ranked No. 12 in the country at the time, the Aztecs committed 33 turnovers and lost to Oregon State last New Year’s Eve, 68-66. Afterward, Coach Earnest Riggins ordered a 6 a.m. practice on New Year’s Day. Said guard Penny Toler: “He was pretty upset. We’ll probably be out there practicing until doomsday.”

Who are these guys? Despite losing forward Michael Cage, often referred to as “The Franchise,” the 1984-85 Aztecs got off to its best start since they began playing at the Division I level in 1969-70. New point guard Creon Dorsey was controlling the tempo, off-guard Anthony Watson was scoring from the outside, and Leonard Allen, Michael Kennedy and Andre Ross provided strong inside play. San Diego State was 8-0 entering the Cabrillo Tournament.

Close ... but no regular-season title: Heading into the final two conference games of the season, the Aztecs appeared to be in the driver’s seat. However, they lost to Hawaii, 69-68, at home, and two days later, dropped a 78-72 game to Colorado State in Fort Collins. San Diego State, which won seven of eight WAC games at home, finished second in the conference with an 11-5 mark. The Aztecs defeated BYU in Provo for the first time, and beat Texas El Paso and New Mexico in back-to-back games played before crowds of 8,843 and 6,642 in the Sports Arena.

A memorable weekend in El Paso: The Aztecs defeated New Mexico, 76-63, and Texas El Paso, 87-81, to win the postseason WAC tournament and advanced to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1976, when they represented the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. Center Leonard Allen scored 17 of his 18 points in the second half to lead an Aztec comeback. Going into the game, the Aztecs hadn’t beaten the Miners in seven attempts in El Paso.

“This is a real milestone for us,” said Aztec Coach Smokey Gaines.

Quick trip to Salt Lake City: San Diego State threw a scare into ninth-ranked Nevada Las Vegas, but lost 85-80 in the first round of the NCAA West Regionals at the University of Utah. San Diego State ended its best Division 1 season with a 23-8 season.

Padre killer: San Diego State pitcher Russ Elsberry shut out the defending National League champion Padres on two hits over nine innings as the Aztecs tied the Padres, 0-0, in an exhibition game April 5.

After the ninth inning, Elsberry left the mound to a standing ovation and later called the game the biggest thrill of his career.

Backfiring firings: When SDSU Athletic Director Mary Hill attempted to fire three employes and discontinue a services contract with a fourth person on July 24, she set off a chain reaction which resulted in her firing.

Forgettable quotes: Before the season, SDSU football Coach Doug Scovil observed: “We’re going to win more than we lose.”

It didn’t happen, and Scovil was fired the day after the Aztecs finished with a 5-6-1 record.

Top priority: At a press conference announcing that Fred Miller had been hired as SDSU’s new athletic director, Miller said his first priority would be to hire a new football coach.

There had been no official announcement that Scovil had been fired.

The Charger Syndrome: After five games, new U.S. International University basketball Coach Gary Zarecky proudly pointed out that the Gulls “have the No. 1 offense in the country.” They were averaging more than 100 points per game at the time.

What Zarecky didn’t mention was that the Gulls also were (and still are) last in defense, surrendering 106 points per outing.

SOCKERS

Best and highest-scoring team: The Sockers defeated the Baltimore Blast, four games to one, to win their fourth straight indoor championship. San Diego scored a Major Indoor Soccer League record 302 goals on its way to compiling the best-ever regular season mark of 37-11 in 1984-85.

Strangest awards: Steve Zungul was named the MISL Most Valuable Player and teammate Branko Segota was named the Sockers’ MVP.

Mr. Quotable: Juli Veee was sold by the Sockers to the Las Vegas Americans prior to last season, but he still had a lot to say about his former teammates. On goalkeeper Jim Gorsek: “If it wasn’t for the veterans on the Sockers, guys like Jimmy Gorsek would have been out shoveling manure somewhere.”

Rubbing it in: In the playoffs against Kansas City, Socker Coach Ron Newman called timeout to work on a set play with three seconds left and the Sockers leading, 11-7.

“If I would’ve thought of it, I would’ve sent my players to the other end and let them score,” Kansas City Coach Rick Benben said.

Newman’s reply: “They were upset because they were getting bleeping beat. They didn’t have a clue what was going on.”

A loss in the air: The Sockers were celebrating their supposed semifinal victory over the Strikers while flying from Minnesota to San Diego when they learned that MISL Commissioner Francis Dale had reversed San Diego’s 4-3 shootout victory in Game 4. Suddenly, the Sockers were told they would have to play a fifth and deciding game the next night at the Sports Arena.

“I still don’t believe it,” Sockers forward Steve Zungul said. “If the commissioner said that, he’s a jerk. If he said that, he doesn’t know what soccer is all about.”

A day to remember: In a nationally televised game, the Sockers demolished Baltimore, 14-2, in the fourth game of the championship series. Zungul had one goal and seven assists, Jean Willrich had four goals and Brian Quinn had a hat trick.

Craziest way to leave a game: Socker defender George Katakalidis was not on the field when a fracas took place in San Diego’s game against Cleveland on Oct. 27, but he was still thrown out of the match. Since Katakilidis was playing with a sore back and would not have seen much action, the Sockers did not protest.

“I guess I have an ugly face that looks like it’s been in scraps,” Katakilidis said. “Maybe that’s why they chose me. I saw they were so confused and decided not to argue.”

HIGH SCHOOLS

The defense rested: Sweetwater and Chula Vista put on a scoring show Feb. 8 in a Metro Conference high school basketball game. Playing only eight-minute quarters, Sweetwater won the county’s highest-scoring game of the season, 100-94, in Chula Vista’s gym.

To err is human ... : Mission Bay’s baseball team had a day to forget in the field on May 16. The Buccaneers, seeded No. 2 in the county’s 2-A baseball playoffs, committed eight errors--two on catcher’s interference--and had two runners thrown out at the plate in a 6-1 loss to San Marcos.

Double threat: Santana freshman Eileen Maul made May 17-19 a weekend to remember. On Friday, she won the San Diego Section diving championship at Mount Carmel High. The next day, she helped lead the Sultans to the San Diego Section gymnastics title. Maul was also the county’s All-Around gymnastics champion.

An odd odyssey: Hilltop’s baseball team plays best in odd-numbered years. The Lancers won their first San Diego Section championship in 1979, when they beat Vista, 3-1, in 17 innings--the longest section playoff game. Since then, the Lancers have returned to the finals every other year. In 1981, the lost to University, 6-5. In 1983, they defeated Poway, 9-1. Last spring, Hilltop beat San Pasqual, 3-2.

Upward mobility: After qualifying a total of one runner in seven years to the Kinney National Cross Country Championships, San Diego qualified four in 1985. Mark Dani, a Valhalla High senior, finished third, and Marc Davis, a junior from San Diego High, was eighth in the boys’ race. Vista freshman Kari Jorgensen was 14th and University City senior Laura Chapel was 28th.

‘I couldn’t watch’: Lincoln’s football team started the practice season with just 14 players and lined up to scrimmage Vista, a team large in large numbers and size.

Said first-year Lincoln Coach Skip Coons on the scrimmage’s first play: “I was standing behind the Vista offense and . . . I couldn’t see my defense over the 200-pound Vista linemen. I had to turn my head. I couldn’t watch.”

However, Lincoln stopped Vista for no gain on that very first play, and went on to win the 2-A championship--and Vista won the 3-A championship.

An early celebration: Serra’s field hockey team had reason to be confident. It had won six consecutive Section CIF championships and led Torrey Pines, 3-0, at halftime of this season’s title game.

How confident were the Conquistadors?

Team pictures were taken at halftime, the players holding a banner which read: “Serra. CIF--7 Years in a Row.”

A late celebration: “We’ll celebrate tonight,” La Jolla High School senior Kim Rostovsky said after the Vikings beat Bishop’s for the San Diego Section 2-A girls’ tennis championship. “It’s obnoxious to do it in front of the other team.”

It’s all over: Within a 22-day span, the two longest prep winning streaks in San Diego County came to a halt.

Four years after Helix High defeated Sweetwater in a 3-A semifinal football game played in the mud, Helix snapped Sweetwater’s 36-game streak in a 3-A semifinal game Nov. 30 on a sloppy field at Southwestern College.

The Point Loma High girls’ basketball team spent most of the week preceding the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions talking about a possible matchup with New York’s Christ the King. USA Today had Christ the King ranked No. 1 in the nation and Point Loma ranked No. 2 coming into the tournament. However, the matchup never materialized. In a semifinal game on Dec. 21, Point Loma had its 63-game winning streak snapped by Pasadena Muir, 62-43.

MISCELLANY

Short-term Valentine: Tommy Valentine shot an 8-under-par 64 on Valentine’s Day to share the first-round lead in the Isuzu-Andy Williams San Diego Open, but Valentine’s days were not so good the remainder of the tournament.

Woody Blackburn, a 33-year-old from Florida in his 10th year on the PGA tour, was to earn his first professional victory when he beat Ron Streck in the fourth playoff hole.

Record smashers: Eamonn Coghlan won the mile in the San Diego Indoor Track Meet with a time of 3:57.5, but others stole the headlines. Johnny Gray set a world indoor record at 880 yards in 1:46.9 and Valerie Brisco-Hooks set a world indoor record of 1:02.3 in the women’s 500 yards.

Unplayable lie: Fairbanks Ranch Country Club, known for hosting the three-day equestrian event at the 1984 Summer Olympics, still has a “horse” flavor. One entrant in the LPGA Kyocera Inamori Tournament found her ball in the midst of a pile of road apples.

“They say golf tournaments are like a horse race,” Amy Alcott said, “but this is ridiculous.”

Short comeback: Andrea Jaeger made a comeback in the Virginia Slims of San Diego Tournament, but lost a second-round match to 15-year-old Melissa Gurney in 40 minutes. Jaeger, 19, the third-ranked woman player in the world in 1982 and 1983, returned to singles tournament play after being out eight months with a rotator cuff injury to her right shoulder.

Huskies . . . again: On the Wednesday before the San Diego Crew Classic, a spillover of sewage into the Sail Bay area of West Mission Bay forced Saturday’s regatta to be moved to an unpolluted area of Mission Bay. Instead of the races being held on the 2,000-meter course, they were held on a 1,500-meter course located in the East Bay along Tecolote Shore.

The distance made no difference to Washington, which won its third straight Copley Cup and seventh since the Crew Classic began in 1973.

Taxing problem: Lanny Wadkins, already the winner of the Bob Hope tournament and Los Angeles Open, lamented the “problem” of paying more California income taxes should he win the Tournament of Champions at La Costa in May.

Tom Kite eased Wadkins’ concerns, breezing to a six-stroke victory.

These Buds were for you: The San Diego Buds, a member of the newly formed (for the third time) TeamTennis League, beat Boston, 25-24, in the second home match of the season July 11 in front of only 376 fans at the Sports Arena. The Buds, without much local support the rest of the season, finished 10-4 during the regular season and went on to win the TeamTennis title.

Nothing to do: Ireland’s Jerry Kiernan, after the America’s Finest City Half Marathon on a hot and muggy morning Aug. 25: “The weather out here worked against me. It’s too hot to run. And I’m too skinny for the beach, so I didn’t know what to do.”

He ran anyway, and won.

Shoe and the ins: Bill Shoemaker, who has won more races than any other jockey, had the closest call of the year Aug. 23 at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club. Shoemaker, working aboard Santa Anita Handicap winner Lord At War, nearly got caught up in the Immigration and Naturalization Service’s raid of illegal aliens at the seaside track.

“I was riding at the five-eighths pole and was planning on breaking him off at the half-mile pole,” said Shoemaker later that day. “Luckily, I heard someone hollering at me that there were immigration cars on the track. I looked up and there was a car coming right at me. Another 10 seconds later and I would have been gone.”

Neither Shoemaker or Lord At War was injured but two horses suffered minor injuries in the raid that netted 123 illegals working on the track’s backstretch.

Trolley folly: The San Diego Trolley halted the Heart of San Diego 10K for 30 seconds at the two-mile mark. While pacesetters Steve Scott and Thom Hunt waited for the railroad gates to rise, 30 other runners caught up with them.

In spite of the delay, Scott won.

Escort service: Running with two bodyguards, Zola Budd won the Heart of San Diego women’s 10K. The competition could not come close to her, and Jamul Toad runners Bill Cleves and Tom Lux made sure no one else did either.

Contributing to this review were Marc Appleman, Chris Cobbs, Dave Distel, Steve Dolan, Chris Ello, Tom Friend, Dave Hatz, Steve Scott and Mark Stadler.