DeSpain Discovers You Don’t Have to Leave to Find a Road to Success

They don’t come much more successful than Dwayne DeSpain, or, for that matter, much more traveled. Especially for a guy who has never moved.

DeSpain, the football coach at Los Altos High School in Hacienda Heights, has walked out of the Coliseum tunnel before a 1973 title game with players Dennis Sproul, Binky Benton and Mike Hill at his side and been mesmerized by the Olympic torch across the way.

He has stood on the floor of Mt. San Antonio College’s Memorial Stadium after winning in 1986, with his son, the team’s star quarterback, and his father at his side.

And, he has received the championship trophy in the crowded locker room at Anaheim Stadium, taking the team celebration back onto the field afterward to share it with the fans.

Twenty years completed, one school, six championships: Eastern in 1986, Southern in 1982, Big Five in 1977, 4-A in 1976 and ’73 and 3-A in 1972. Those six titles, in five divisions, tie him with former Temple City Coach Bob Hitchcock for the most ever in the Southern Section.

Tonight, the quest for No. 7 begins.

“Our success has been because of a great coaching staff,” said DeSpain, whose Conquerors (9-1) will play host to Glendora (6-4) at 7:30 p.m. in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. “I can’t take the credit for the success of the program because it’s been built around a lot of people. I’ve been very lucky.”

Downplaying his impact on the program is something DeSpain is good at. “I make sure the bills are paid and that we’re organized on the field,” he said. Still, someone has had to hold the line all these years.

Despite a fast-declining enrollment--2,600 students in 1977, 2,100 in 1982, 1,782 in 1987 and a projected 1,500 for next year--having to learn new opponents as the Sierra League was moved from conference to conference, and dealing with five one-season quarterbacks, all he has done is win.

This season, Los Altos started slowly, beating La Serna of Whittier, 3-0, after failing to score twice from inside the five-yard line and losing to Bakersfield, a school nearly twice its size, 24-7. In winning the next eight games, the Conquerors played great defense, had only two games closer than 10 points and became the second-seeded team in the playoffs.

“He’s in the mold of a college coach,” said Dave Merrill, who spent five years as an assistant at Los Altos in the 1970s and now heads the program at Hacienda Heights Wilson. “He surrounds himself with a lot of good people and lets them do a lot of the work.

“As an assistant coach, he lets you coach. As a head coach, an organizer and a P.R. person, he’s the best around. And he has the best people around him.”

They include three in particular: Lyle Olsen, an assistant for 28 years; Denny Aria, who co-captained the team at Lynwood with DeSpain and has spent 24 years at Los Altos; and Rick Fries, the defensive coordinator since 1970. The coaching staff has proven to be a team in itself, with DeSpain content to stay in the background.

And to think he almost gave up coaching after three years.

He came to Los Altos as an assistant coach in 1963, six years after graduating from Lynwood High and two after leaving Pepperdine. By 1967, DeSpain was a head coach at 28--and aging faster then he thought possible.

“I was ready to get out after three disastrous years,” he said. “Twenty of the games, we must have been within a touchdown every game. We would lose, 14-7, 7-0, 10-7. Those were really tough ones.”

He stayed, and since going 7-26-2 in the first four years, the Conquerors have made 16 playoff appearances in 17 years, compiling a 164-34-5 record in that span. A 172-59-6 record overall makes DeSpain the fifth-winningest active coach in the Southern Section. Ahead of him are Marijon Ancich of Tustin, 213-47-6; Ned Bocher of Riverside Notre Dame, 206-58-5; Dick Hill of Santa Ana, 182-67-3, and Herb Hill of Anaheim Loara, 178-108-9.

His career has been similar to this season. A slow start, a dominant finish. Of course, he has been a great finisher all along. Los Altos is 31-7 in the playoffs under DeSpain and 6-0 in championship games.

DeSpain has coached several memorable stars in the Southern Section--quarterbacks Rob Hertel, Mike Smith, Blake Smith, Sproul and Randy Hertel all are prominent in the record books. But will he be around for more?

Hints that he may leave football are nothing new, and DeSpain, 48, doesn’t deny that he will consider such a move after the season.

His mark has already been made, in several different conferences. A championship this time around and he has one for the books.

Prep Notes The 479 points scored by El Centro Central is the second-most ever in the regular season in California, behind the 488 by Vallejo of the North Coast Section in 1954 and one better than Diamond Bar in 1984. The state record for a season, including playoff games, is Diamond Bar’s 639. The Spartans, the top-seeded team in the playoffs with a 10-0 record, will play host to Mountain View of El Monte (5-5) tonight. . . . Same time next year?: The Irvine girls’ volleyball team that beat Long Beach Wilson for the Southern Section 4-A title last Saturday, has 9 of 11 regulars returning for 1988. . . . The top five finishers from the Southern Section boys’ 2-A cross-country finals will all be back next season--Scott Hemple of Walnut, now a junior; Gary Stolz of Rancho Palos Verdes Miraleste, junior; Luis Quintana of Arroyo Grande, freshman; , Bryan Dameworth of Agoura, sophomore, and Alex Zamora of Coachella Valley, junior. The top two finishers in the girls’ 3-A race are both juniors from Montebello--Rayna Cervantes and Teresa Sandoval.