Orange County Prep Review / Tom Hamilton : All-Star Games Send Out the Call for Nathan

Success on the athletic fields became routine for Capistrano Valley High School’s versatile Nathan Call during the 1985-86 season.

For the Cougar football team, Call caught 66 passes for 842 yards and 13 touchdowns. He then caught seven more passes in the playoffs to finish fourth on the Orange County single-season receiving list with 73 receptions.

He made a smooth transition to the basketball court, where he was generally acknowledged as the county’s premier point guard, averaging 13 points, 8.8 assists and 4.2 steals per game. Capistrano Valley won 100 games during his four-year career.

Finally, Call batted .438 with 4 triples, 6 home runs, 22 RBIs and 28 runs scored as a left fielder on the Capistrano Valley baseball team. All of which made for a very busy senior year.

Now, in his final high school days, it would seem like a good time for Nathan Call to wind down, reflect upon his accomplishments, enjoy a few parties and look forward to a summer of relaxation.

But that’s hardly the case. Call will play in three all-star games beginning Tuesday night with the Orange County All-Star baseball game in Anaheim’s Glover Stadium.

He is also scheduled to play in the county All-Star basketball game June 21 in Orange Coast College’s Peterson Gym and the All-Star football game July 11 in OCC’s LeBard Stadium.

So much for kicking back. Just making the practices scheduled for the three games has kept Call busy.

Last Thursday, he spent 90 minutes practicing at Santa Ana High for the basketball game, changed uniforms and drove to Rancho Santiago College for a two-hour workout for the baseball game. His car looks like a locker room with bats, gloves, basketballs and uniforms scattered in the back seat.

Spare time? Call is scheduled to begin practice for the football game on the afternoon of June 21. He’ll play in the basketball game that night.

“It’s hard and gets kind of tiring,” Call said. “I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I wanted to play in all three games. I figure the football and baseball games will be my last organized games in those sports.”

Call has signed a national letter of intent to play basketball at Brigham Young University next fall. His older brother, Burt, signed with the Cougars to play baseball, but is currently on a Mormon mission in Italy.

“Basketball has always been my favorite sport,” Call said. “It’s the most fun. You can play whenever you want . . . by yourself just working on shooting or half-court games with a couple of other guys. You can’t do that in baseball or football.”

Call hasn’t played baseball in three weeks, and he found that regaining his timing in the batting cage was difficult in his first workout for the South team. Facing Tustin’s Steve Surico, Call failed to make contact for about a dozen pitches before he sent a pitch over the left-field fence.

“I’ve been playing basketball a little since the season ended,” he said. “But I could feel the layoff in my legs when practice started. When your legs are out of shape, it detracts from your shooting and passing.”

Despite the hectic schedule, Bob Zamora, Capistrano Valley baseball coach, predicted that Call would perform well in all three games.

“If the games were on successive Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights, Nathan would be there and make a contribution in each game,” Zamora said. “He’s a great kid and a great athlete.”

Prep Notes

A tribute to Jack Bighead, who will retire after 30 years of teaching and coaching at Western, Magnolia and Katella high schools, is scheduled for June 20 at the Dal Rae restaurant in Fullerton. Former athletes from any of the three high schools are requested to contact Katella track Coach Michael Cochrane at 993-3125 or 999-3621. The proceeds from the $20 per person dinner will fund an athletic scholarship at Pepperdine. Bighead, a former Los Angeles Ram end and All-American in track and football at Pepperdine, founded the Katella Relays during his tenure as Knight track coach. His cross-country team won the school’s first league title in any sport, and he also assisted with the football program. . . . Pre-sale tickets for the Orange County All-Star basketball game scheduled for June 21 at Orange Coast College’s Peterson Gym are available at Treads & Threads in Costa Mesa and Boeges Sporting Goods in Fullerton. A tipoff luncheon for the game is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. on June 17 at the Costa Mesa Community Center. New York Knick forward Bob Thornton, who played at UC Irvine, will be the guest speaker. . . . Bobby Joyce, a 6-foot 7-inch, all-league center for Santa Ana’s basketball team, has emerged as the team’s starting free safety in spring football drills. The Saints are the defending Southern Conference champions. . . . Mater Dei forward Stuart Thomas was named to Converse’s Academic All-American team. Thomas, who has a 3.4 grade-point average, was the only player in California to be named to the 10-man team. . . . Santiago High has openings for a girls’ volleyball coach and a cross-country coach. Anyone interested in the walk-on positions should contact Ron Heiman or Judy Loundagin at 638-6215. . . . Los Angeles Ram quarterback Coach Dick Coury and first-round draft choice Mike Schad will be the guests at the fifth Santa Ana-Tustin Intermediate Schools Sports Awards Banquet at 6:30 on Wednesday night at the Santa Ana Elks Lodge. The Elks will honor 118 boy and girl athletes in the two school districts. . . . Shooting expert Des Flood is still accepting boys and girls for his basketball camp on July 7-11 and July 14-18 at Western High. The camp is open to players aged 12 to 19. For further information, contact Flood at 827-9927. . . . Doug Sorey, University girls’ basketball coach, will present a girls’ camp in the Trojan gym from June 23-July 24. Cost of the camp is $50 for two hours of instruction, four days a week. For further information, contact Sorey at 854-0683. . . . Los Alamitos High School tennis Coach Ken Parker will conduct a series of tennis camps at the school this summer. The camps consist of five two-week sessions, the first of which is scheduled to begin on June 21. They are open to ages 5 to 18, with instruction for beginning through advanced levels. For further information, call (213) 430-1961.