ORANGE COUNTY 1986 YEAR IN REVIEW : BITTERSWEET MEMORIES : 2 Outstanding Rookie Debuts Dulled by Teams That Fizzled

Two bright, young faces splashed onto the Orange County sports scene in 1986, breathing new life into the county’s two professional teams and new hope for area fans.

Wally Joyner, baby-faced 23-year old with a sweet swing, joined a gang of aging Angels and led them to the American League West Division championship.

Jim Everett, another 23-year old whose mug belongs on a Wheaties box, gave a sagging Ram offense a shot in the arm, taking over as quarterback in mid-November and passing for 1,018 yards in six games.

Joyner was so popular, he had a planet named after him. Anaheim Stadium became known as Wally World, and fans chanted, “Wal-ly! Wal-ly!” in praise.

Everett had an era named after him, as in “The Jim Everett Era,” which signified the return of the forward pass and some excitement to a one-dimensional (translation: boring ) offense.

Joyner and Everett are reasons Orange County fans should be optimistic about the future of their teams. But when fans recall 1986, they’ll remember a year of disappointment, not promise; of lost chances, not great advances.

The Angels had a memorable season, winning 92 games and their third division title. They got off to a great start in the American League Championship Series, building a 3-1 lead in games over the Boston Red Sox.

They were within one out--one strike --of winning their first pennant and a trip to the World Series when Dave Henderson, a .196 hitter and reserve Red Sox outfielder, hit a two-run homer off reliever Donnie Moore in the top of the ninth inning to give Boston a 6-5 lead in Game 5.

The Angels came back to tie the score, 6-6, in the bottom of the ninth, but the Red Sox eventually won, 7-6, in 11 innings in what was considered one of baseball’s most exciting and emotional playoff games.

Boston then returned to Fenway Park and knocked the Halos out of the Joyner-less Angels, winning, 10-4 and 8-1, in the final two games to advance to the World Series.

Wally would have given his world to play, but he had to sit out the final four games of the series with a shin infection.

The Rams could use some work on their endings, too.

After an 11-5 record earned them the West Division title in 1985, the Rams’ season came to a screeching halt last Jan. 12 when they lost to the Chicago Bears, 24-0, in the NFC Championship game--one step short of the Super Bowl.

This season, the Rams had a seemingly comfortable 1 1/2-game lead with two games to play but lost their final two regular-season games--to Miami and division-rival San Francisco--and finished second to the 49ers.

So, the Rams were exiled to Washington, where they must face the Redskins in today’s wild-card playoff game.

It’s been a bittersweet year. Even when Everett made his brilliant debut, passing for 193 yards and 3 touchdowns against New England in November, the Rams lost in the final seconds on the Patriots’ tipped prayer of a touchdown pass.

Countywide, there have been many bright spots. Cal State Fullerton won a national championship in softball last spring. The Titans’ basketball team is off to a 7-1 start this season and is ranked 20th in the UPI Coaches’ poll. UC Irvine’s basketball team beat UCLA in the first round of last season’s NIT.

But 1986 will be remembered as much for its shortcomings.

The 1986 Orange County sports scrapbook:

1. Down For The Count

Even after Henderson’s Shot Heard ‘Round New England gave the Red Sox new life in Game 5, the Angels still were ahead in the series and had two games to win one.

But they had no fight left.

Kirk McCaskill, who won 17 games during the season, gave up 6 hits, 2 walks and 7 runs in 2 innings of Game 6, as the Angels fell behind early and never challenged.

Defensive lapses also hurt the Angels, who had the best fielding percentages in the franchise’s history. In Game 6, Bobby Grich threw a ball into the photo area behind first base during Boston’s five-run third inning.

In Game 7, the team’s most respected defensive players, center fielder Gary Pettis and shortstop Dick Schofield, both made errors, opening the gates for seven unearned runs.

Some called the Angels’ dive in the playoffs the greatest postseason collapse in baseball history. Invariably, critics turned back to Game 5 as the turning point.

Manager Gene Mauch was criticized for several moves. He replaced starter and 18-game winner Mike Witt with two outs and none on in the ninth inning and the Angels leading, 5-4. Reliever Gary Lucas threw one pitch and hit Rich Gedman, putting the tying run on base.

Donnie Moore and his aching right shoulder then allowed the home run to Henderson. The Red Sox loaded the bases on Moore in the 11th, and Henderson hit a game-winning sacrifice fly.

Lost in all the second-guessing was the Angels’ outstanding season. Witt and McCaskill established themselves as two of the game’s best young pitchers. Don Sutton earned his 300th victory. Wally Joyner started in the All-Star game.

But all that was left afterward was the rubble of a shattered playoff series.

2. Iceman Wineth No. 300

On June 18 in Anaheim Stadium, Don Sutton, self-proclaimed member of baseball’s pitching proletariat, joined the sport’s aristocracy.

Sutton, who once described his methods as “methodical, boring--not spectacular,” a blue-collar pitcher who never had an overpowering fastball; who never led the league in strikeouts, wins or complete games; who, at 41, needs a 20-minute ice bath to speed up the healing process between starts, won his 300th game.

With his 5-1, complete-game victory over the Texas Rangers, Sutton became the 19th man in major league history to reach the coveted 300 plateau, where he joined such legends as Cy Young, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Lefty Grove and Warren Spahn.

“What it means,” Sutton said afterward, “is that I stayed around 21 years to win 300 games . . . I was unspectacular, but I got the job done.”

Typical Sutton. Nothing flashy. No wasted words. His post-game comments were about as efficient as the manner in which he disposed of the Rangers that night. He needed just 85 pitches to complete his three-hitter.

As the ninth inning began, 37,044 rose to their feet, anticipating the historic moment. A roar went up with the passing of each of the final three outs.

As soon as home-plate umpire Jim Evans clenched his fist, signaling the game-ending third strike to Gary Ward, the front of the pitcher’s mound became a mob scene. Bob Boone got to Sutton for the first hug. Then Doug DeCinces, Reggie Jackson and Manager Gene Mauch.

Hundreds of fans followed.

A day later, after Sutton arrived in the Angel clubhouse to prepare for a trip, he still had trouble comprehending his feat.

“This is something I’ll probably have to take in and roll around inside for a while,” he said. “I still haven’t figured out what it means, but it’s something special. I know it’s a wonderful feeling. I know it’s a fantastic place to be along the way to where I want to be when I’m finished.”

Which, he hopes, is Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall of Fame.

3. Jim the Gem

Years of frustration, make that torture, for Ram fans came to an end on Nov. 16, when Jim Everett, all 6-foot 5-inches and 220 pounds of him, entered his first professional game against the New England Patriots in Anaheim Stadium.

Here was a quarterback fans could finally relate to--a guy with no torn ligaments or degenerative discs, no gray hairs, no scars on his knees. He could even see over his offensive line.

He didn’t disappoint. After entering the game with 14:35 left in the second quarter, Everett completed 12 of 19 passes for 193 yards and 3 touchdowns. He threw both long and short passes with accuracy. He even scrambled when he had to.

The Rams trailed, 13-0, before Everett took his first snap of the day but led, 28-23, after he took his last.

The Patriots went on to win, 30-28, on a last-second pass from Tony Eason to a mob of players in the right corner of the end zone that included Irving Fryar, who caught the ball on a deflection.

But so what? A “new era,” as Ram Coach John Robinson put it, had begun.

No longer could opponents gang up on running back Eric Dickerson. No longer would the Rams’ defense and special teams be outscoring their offense.

Everett, the rookie from Purdue who was obtained in a trade with the Houston Oilers in September, went on to complete 73 of 147 passes for 1,018 yards and 8 touchdowns in his 6 regular-season games.

Dickerson? Oh, he had his usual 1,800-yard season. “People expect me to get 1,800 yards,” Dickerson said.

The final chapter of the Rams’ 1986 season hasn’t been written. They have a chance to redeem themselves against the Redskins today.

But clearly, the regular season will be remembered as the year Jim Everett emerged as the Ram quarterback of the mid-1980s, the late-1980s, and prehaps beyond.

4. Trouble in Prep Paradise

The two biggest high school stories of the year occurred not on the playing fields but in the judicial courts and school board rooms.

An Orange County Superior Court judge determined the fate of the 1985-86 Ocean View basketball team, which filed a suit in an effort to overturn CIF Southern Section sanctions that prohibited the school from competing in last winter’s 5-A playoffs.

And, the Laguna Beach Unified School District Board of Education determined the fate of Artist football Coach Cedrick Hardman, who was suspended without pay after a cocaine possession arrest in September.

Ocean View had been sanctioned by the Southern Section Executive Committee because of Coach Jim Harris’ alleged violation of Rule 510 (undue influence) in retaining Lynwood transfers Ricky Butler and Desi Hazely at Ocean View in 1984.

After Harris’ appeals at the Southern Section and State CIF levels failed, the coach, the Ocean View booster club, and 12 players filed a suit against the high school, district and CIF, claiming that Rule 510 was never violated.

But, after listening to 80 minutes of testimony by lawyers on behalf of Harris and the CIF, Judge Harmon G. Scoville denied the Seahawks’ petition on Feb. 13, three days before playoff pairings were announced.

Hardman’s case is still pending.

In the predawn hours of Sept. 20, Hardman was arrested and later charged with possession of cocaine.

In an emotional public hearing on Oct. 28, the school board voted to continue Hardman’s suspension but allow him to attend practices and assist coaches on a volunteer basis.

Reaction was mixed. His return was welcomed by the Artist players but criticized by many parents, teachers, and members of the Laguna Beach Police Assn., who didn’t think Hardman was a proper role model for students.

Hardman faces trial for resisting arrest on Jan. 7 in South Orange County Municipal Court. The more serious offense of felony drug possession will be dropped, however, if Hardman completes a drug diversion program he and the court agreed to on Oct. 24.

5. A Tremendous Trifecta

Take your pick. UC Irvine’s 1985-86 basketball team was either terrible or terrific, depending on what night you happened to be watching the Anteaters.

There was a 24-point loss to Loyola Marymount and a 16-point loss to San Jose State. There was a six-point loss at home to Oral Roberts (a team that would finish 10-18), which caused Coach Bill Mulligan to say, “I’ve never been so frustrated with a team in my life. I’d cry, but I’m too old to cry.”

But mixed in with those disappointments were three games that brought Mulligan tears of joy. During a 13-day span of February, the Anteaters twice defeated nationally ranked UNLV, once at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas (99-92), and again in cozy Crawford Hall (95-88).

Then, the ultimate. The Anteaters, those guys with the pretty, powder-blue uniforms, the team that plays its home games in a gym that would have trouble accommodating most high-school crowds, traveled to Pauley Pavilion on Mar. 13 and beat UCLA, 80-74, in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament.

Forward Johnny Rogers, who scored 73 points in the two victories over Las Vegas, led the Anteaters with 29 points, and Wayne Engelstad, Troy Carmon and Rick Ciaccio took turns defending Bruin forward Reggie Miller, limiting him to 16 points.

“This has got to be the biggest win ever for our program and a big win for the (Pacific Coast Athletic Assn.),” Mulligan said afterward. “I’m just thrilled.”

6. Bye-Bye Reggie

It all seemed so undignified. Reggie Jackson, bearded and clad in a sweat suit, leaned against the doorway in an Angel publicity office on Nov. 24 and slurped on a cup of coffee as General Manager Mike Port announced that the team would not be inviting him back for 1987.

No lights. No cameras. No more action for Reggie in an Angel uniform.

The 40-year-old slugger with 548 career home runs, who built his reputation with a flair for dramatics, ended his Angel career with none.

No one was surprised. Jackson spoke out all season--including one memorable tirade in Yankee Stadium--about how he didn’t fit into Angel plans.

“The Angels don’t want me to play for them,” Jackson said on Aug. 25 in New York. “That’s a fact of life. Let’s not be jerks about it; let’s adjust to it. I’m disappointed, but I’m not gonna cry about it.”

Jackson wasn’t sure, at the time, how many teams would be interested in signing him for 1987, but he knew he didn’t want to have to beg for a contract.

“Everybody has to play where they’re wanted,” he said. “If somebody says, ‘You can do this, you can do that for us,’ I’m gonna play. But I don’t want to go out wandering, looking for a job. My main concern is preserving my dignity. I’d like to have a more gracious goodby, but if it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen.”

It probably will. Jackson signed with the Oakland A’s last week, the team he began his professional career with in 1968.

7. Prep Potpourri

Three of the most dominating teams in the history of Orange County high school sports won CIF Southern Section championships in 1986.

The Mater Dei basketball team won its second straight 5-A division title and ran its winning streak to 59 games before finally losing in overtime to Crenshaw, 59-57, in the final of the Southern California Regionals last March.

The Esperanza baseball team, which featured five starters who hit .400 or more, defeated Fontana, 9-3 in Dodger Stadium last May to win the 4-A title. The Aztecs were ranked No. 1 in the nation in USA Today’s final baseball poll.

The El Toro football team, which defeated Santa Ana, 26-10, on Dec. 13 for the Southern Conference title, was the county’s first football team to finish 14-0 since Edison in 1980.

The Chargers were ranked No. 1 in The Times’ final Southern California prep poll and were named California’s Team of the Year by Cal Hi Sports Magazine.

No county athlete received more publicity than quarterback Todd Marinovich, who appeared in an HBO television special and in People Magazine, and made headlines last March when he decided to transfer from Mater Dei to Capistrano Valley, and on Oct. 10 when he broke the county’s career passing record.

Marinovich, who has thrown for 6,716 yards in three seasons, needs 918 yards to break Pat Haden’s Southern Section career record of 7,633, set from 1968-70.

8. By George, He’s Back

Just when Cal State Fullerton basketball Coach George McQuarn thought he couldn’t stand another day on the job, he discovered how many people couldn’t stand the thought of the job without him.

On the afternoon of Jan. 29, with the Titans stumbling through a 10-10 season, McQuarn suddenly announced his retirement, effective at the end of the season. The reason? Professional pressures were ruining his personal life.

Funny thing, everyone else thought McQuarn would be ruining his personal life if he quit coaching.

McQuarn received calls from several of coaches, including UC Irvine’s Bill Mulligan, UNLV’s Jerry Tarkanian, USC’s Stan Morrison, Pepperdine’s Jim Harrick and Fresno State’s Boyd Grant. They all said he was making a mistake.

Athletic Director Ed Carroll reluctantly named a five-member screening committee to find a new coach, but what he really wanted was for McQuarn to change his mind.

On Feb. 22, Carroll got his wish.

After a 66-62 victory over UC Santa Barbara, McQuarn, buoyed by scores of colleagues and co-workers who urged him to reconsider, announced he was staying.

“I got an amazing amount of input--from my peers, the community, the academic community and from President (Jewel Plummer) Cobb and Ed Carroll,” McQuarn said. “Every coach I talked to told me I as making a mistake, reacting to the frustrations of the moment.

“Hey, I’m human. I’m an emotional kind of guy.”

9. The Garman District

It opens almost every May in Omaha, Neb., where Cal State Fullerton softball Coach Judi Garman has taken her teams to the College World Series five times in the past seven years.

Only this time, Garman brought something back. After four previous trips to Omaha had produced two second-place and two third-place finishes, the Titans finally won the Big One, defeating Texas A&M;, 3-0, in the championship game on May 25 to win the national title.

Instead of bringing excuses home, Garman returned to Orange County with the national championship trophy.

“It’s nice to get the monkey off our back,” Garman said.

Pitchers Susan LeFebvre and Connie Clark combined to allow only one run and eight hits in five World Series games, as the Titans became only the second team to finish the series undefeated.

Clark pitched a no-hitter in a semifinal victory over Texas A&M; and came back in the championship game to one-hit the Aggies.

LeFebvre, an All-American in 1983, won two tournament games and finished the season with a 31-6 record, 0.27 earned-run average and 208 strikeouts in 284 innings. Clark was 20-2 with an 0.18 ERA and 197 strikeouts in 155 innings.

The Titans finished with a 57-9-1 record, improving Garman’s career mark to 357-91-3.

10. Now You See Him . . .

Last May 22, UC Irvine basketball Coach Bill Mulligan thought he had finally reeled in “The One That Got Away.”

Tom Lewis, Orange County’s most heavily recruited player out of Mater Dei in 1985, announced that he was transferring from USC to UC Irvine.

Mulligan was a finalist, along with UCLA, Syracuse, Kentucky and Nevada Las Vegas, in the first Tom Lewis Derby but lost out after a heated recruiting battle. Now, Lewis, who led USC in scoring as a freshman but was released from his scholarship by new Trojan Coach George Raveling in April, was coming home.

Or so Mulligan thought.

Lewis never took the necessary steps to enroll at Irvine. And, on Sept. 3, the 6-foot 7-inch forward decided to enroll at Pepperdine.

According to Mulligan, Lewis was upset that Michael Fielder, a former teammate at Mater Dei, was denied admission to Irvine.

“That was one of the things that caused the problem,” Mulligan said. “They had become tight, and when Fielder didn’t get in, Tommy said he was concerned. I asked him if he had any other options, and he said, ‘Yes, I do.’ ”

He did. And he left.