Putting His Heart Into Game : Canyon’s Eddy Changed His Life, But Not His Love

Lance Eddy even looks like a softball coach.

He dresses in a baseball cap and a shirt that is inscribed with the name of the school he works for, Canyon High School, and his title, “Coach Eddy.”

He is tan and fit and wears reflective sunglasses. And when he takes his glasses off, and peers out at you from beneath the brim of his cap, you can tell by his eyes that, if you were on his team, you wouldn’t want to mishandle a routine infield pop-up.

When you see Eddy, 42, clipboard in hand standing before the tournament brackets he has neatly charted for his premier softball tournament, the Canyon tournament, he looks the part of the perfectionist at work. He sweats out all the little details, from lobbying with the athletic department for support to ensuring that the tournament program accurately lists every player from the 32 participating schools, along with their number, position and class.

But a year ago, Eddy collapsed with a heart attack in the gym--a grim notification that sometimes you can take a game like softball a little too seriously.

“I’ve had to reevaluate my priorities,” Eddy said.

Last May 1, a Friday morning when Eddy was hanging out in the gym, watching his class play badminton, he was feeling good, relaxed. His softball team was playing well, having just won a grudge match against league rival Foothill and the players were geared up for a game against Santa Ana.

Eddy was putting the equipment away, when he suddenly had to sit down, feeling woozy and sweating heavily.

April Lopez, Eddy’s teaching assistant and the catcher on his team, was waiting to ask him a question. When Eddy didn’t return to the office, she went to the gym to find him.

“He was lying on the floor and he was sweaty and very pale,” Lopez said. “At first I thought he was just hot from working with the class and was lying on the floor to get the coolness from the ground.”

Lopez went for help, and paramedics were soon at the school to rush Eddy to the hospital.

“I never lost consciousness,” Eddy said. “When they were taking me out, I laid there and waved to everyone. I didn’t think anything was really wrong.”

Eddy, who had worked tirelessly as a physical education teacher, softball coach, athletic director and division coordinator for six years at Canyon, had suffered a heart attack, caused by a blocked major artery. He had no family history of cardiac problems and didn’t smoke or drink and wasn’t overweight. But an electrocardiogram revealed that this attack wasn’t his first, that damage to his heart muscle indicated a previous minor attack of which Eddy was never even aware.

Eddy, while recovering at home with his wife and two children, tried to sort out what was important to him.

“My doctor recommended that I consider not coaching,” he said. “He said I had to set my priorities and not try to do so much.”

But after examining his priorities, Eddy, who had been coaching for 15 years before coming to Canyon, realized that was toward the top of the list.

So instead of giving up softball, he gave up his position as girls’ athletic director, stopped teaching physical education and moved inside the classroom where he teaches math.

“I think the things you like to do, don’t stress you,” Eddy said. “The coaching and the tournament weren’t stressful, it was all the other things I kept putting on the back burner, letting pile up.”

So, this year, Eddy is back again--for the fifth straight year--running his 32-team tournament. The tournament, which other coaches call one of Southern California’s best, has a waiting list. It has served as a barometer of softball strength in Southern California.

Last year, Cypress won the tournament and won the 4-A division, and the years Ocean View and Garden Grove won the tournament, the teams also won their divisions.

But this year, Eddy’s getting a lot of help from parents and other coaches, such as Dave Shelton of Villa Park.

“The tournament is a tremendous amount of work,” Shelton said. “And when Lance does something, he does it 100 percent.”

Shelton said he and other softball coaches were concerned about Eddy’s return to coaching.

“It could be a poor choice, when you’re looking at (a choice between) your health or a softball team,” Shelton said. “But he knew he wanted to do it. He loves that tournament.”

Said Eddy: “The thing about this tournament is that we try to get teams that people want to see, that they might face in the playoffs. Every game is against tough competition.”

Eddy’s team, which won its first seven games this year, has lost three out of four games in the tournament. But he’s not too worried about it.