THE TIMES ALL-COUNTY TEAMS : WATER POLO : Slope Has Overcome a Lowly Start

Like so many success stories, Bill Slope’s ascent to water polo stardom had its humble origins.

Before he could lead Sunny Hills High School to the 1986 Southern Section 4-A championship, before he could earn The Times’ water polo Player of the Year honors, Slope had to endure an inauspicious debut.

It was the summer before Slope’s freshman year, and he had gone to the Sunny Hills pool to watch his older brother, John, play in a scrimmage.

Slope had never even seen a water polo match. But then John introduced him to Lancer Coach Jim Sprague, who stepped into his office, found an extra swimsuit and cap and gave it to Bill.

A star was born.

Well, not immediately.

“I was in the water floating around, trying to figure out who had the ball and who was on which team,” Slope said. “The game was so foreign to me.”

He also had no idea how grueling water polo was.

“I thought the officials would call a foul if they saw someone kicking you or hanging on to you or dunking you,” he said. “But they don’t see that all the time.

“I didn’t think I’d get that tired, either. I was gasping for air after a minute. They had to drag me out of the water.”

He became a starter as two-meter man on the freshman-sophomore team and, by his junior year, was starting on the Lancers’ 29-1 team that lost only to Corona del Mar, 7-6, in the 1985 4-A championship game.

This year, the Lancers returned the favor. The Sea Kings were 29-0 heading into the final, but Sunny Hills beat Corona del Mar, 6-5, for the title.

“That was awesome,” said Slope, a 6-foot 2-inch, 180-pound senior who scored twice in the third quarter. “We went into the game thinking we had a debt to pay.”

Slope scored 83 goals to lead Sunny Hills to a 24-7 record. Six of those losses came during the first month of the season--before the arrival of exchange students Javier and Jose Santiago from Puerto Rico, who led the Lancers last season.

Sprague admits that Sunny Hills probably wouldn’t have won the championship without the Santiago brothers.

“But we wouldn’t have been in the ballpark without Slope,” he said. “He was our whole show offensively.”

FIRST TEAM

GOALIE

Jim Wagner Corona del Mar Junior

FIELD

Mike Burke San Clemente Senior Greg Olson Sonora Senior Bill Slope Sunny Hills Senior Mike Tillman El Dorado Senior Reggie Torres Buena Park Senior Eric Vinje Corona del Mar Senior

SECOND TEAM

GOALIE

Sean McCloskey Sunny Hills Senior

FIELD

Craig Ackley Villa Park Senior Eriks Krumins Newport Harbor Senior Ken Little University Senior Tom Lowery Fullerton Senior Kernit Seaton El Dorado Senior Joe Smith Tustin Junior