Orange County Roundup : 3 Will Be Inducted Into Irvine Hall

Randy Howatt, Mark Nelson and the late Dr. Wayne Crawford will be inducted into the UC Irvine Hall of Fame at halftime of Saturday night’s basketball game between the Anteaters and the University of the Pacific in Crawford Hall.

Howatt played water polo for Irvine from 1966-67 and was a member of the Anteaters’ swim team for two seasons. He has the distinction of scoring the first point in Irvine athletic history with a goal in a 22-6 win over Cal Poly Pomona on Oct. 8, 1965.

Nelson was a member of Irvine’s first two basketball teams. He led the Anteaters in rebounds and assists in the 1965-66 and 1966-67 seasons and was named the team’s Most Valuable Player both seasons.

Crawford was the Anteaters’ first athletic director and chairman of physical education. The campus gym was named in Crawford’s honor in 1969 five months after he died of lung cancer.

Irvine began inducting former athletes into its Hall of Fame in 1983. Howatt, Nelson and Crawford will join 12 previous inductees.

The fifth Orange County Baseball Coaches’ Clinic will be held Saturday at the Grand Slam Baseball Academy in Anaheim. Registration starts at 8 a.m.

Among the speakers at the clinic will be Augie Garrido, Cal State Fullerton baseball coach, and Dennis Rogers, Southern California College coach. Garrido, whose teams have won two NCAA championships and 11 conference titles, will speak at 8:45 to open the clinic.

Also attending will be Marcel Lachman, Angel pitching coach, and Ben Hines, Dodger minor league hitting instructor.

For more information call 970-1544.

The Active West Bowling and Recreation centers in Buena Park (Aztec Bowl), Fullerton (Carter Bowl), La Habra (Highland Bowl) and Huntington Beach (Huntington Lanes) are sponsoring a month-long tournament to benefit arthritis victims. More information can be obtained at the alleys.

The Newport Harbor Lawn Bowling Club has scheduled the first mixed-triplets team competition of the American Lawn Bowls Assn. Southwest Division Feb. 10. The event will be held at the Newport Lawn Club at 1550 Crown Drive North in Corona del Mar at 10 a.m. The event is open to the public.

Around the Area:

Seven former Rancho Santiago College baseball players who graduated after 1980 will play in the Dons’ alumni game Feb. 18. Dick Ownbey, Greg Mathews, Chris Con, Steve Beer, John Bryant, Gary Pifer and Gary Thomason are scheduled to play . . . Charles Sommer, a sophomore from Rancho Santiago, has accepted a scholarship to Cal State Los Angeles to continue his water polo career. Sommer scored 63 goals last year for the Dons, who lost to Orange County rival Golden West in the state championship final.