SOUTHERN SECTION BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS : MOTIVATIONAL FORCE : Doug Worley Plants Positive Thoughts in Players’ Minds and Saugus Responds by Earning Shot at Program’s First Title

For someone who once lectured on the finer points of blowing up submarines, Doug Worley has made quite a turn in his career as an educator.

Worley, a former member of the U. S. Naval Academy and today the baseball coach at Saugus High, no longer channels his instructional skills toward destructive wills.

Ten years ago, Worley created Saugus’ now-famous class in “strategy,” an applied psychology course dealing with motivation, attitude, positive self-image and success.

“It is by far and away the most popular class we offer,” Saugus Principal Mike von Buelow said. “The success the students learn is related to success in school, success in sports, success in any endeavor in life.”

Yet for all he strives to teach, Worley, one of the most respected teachers in the William S. Hart Union High School District, drives home a singular message to his players.

“I want them to know that nothing is for free,” he says. “And that all these good things are not going to happen by just showing up every day. I want them to work for it.”

Indeed, nothing has come easily for the Centurions, who have won nine in a row, including four hard-fought playoff victories--two after lengthy freeway trips. Ace right-hander Roger Salkeld has worked 18 of the staff’s past 22 innings, and the team was forced to rally from a 3-0 third-inning deficit Tuesday before defeating Ontario, 10-3.

But it’s all right now. The Centurions have learned their lesson well. Led by Worley, their motivational headmaster, the resilient Centurions have stepped to the head of the class.

The final exam is today at 1 p.m. at Dodger Stadium where Saugus (23-4-2) will play Kennedy of La Palma (25-5) for the Southern Section 3-A Division championship. Although the team is still a victory shy of the school’s first baseball title, Worley already is handing out high marks to his players.

“This is a very poised team,” he said. “Right through the lineup, everyone has contributed something. At the start of the year, I made the comment that we’re a lot more than a Roger Salkeld fastball--and we are.”

Worley, 46, the only baseball coach in the school’s 14-year history, has led the Centurions to their second championship game in the past four years. Saugus reached the 2-A final in 1986 before losing to Artesia.

Worley, who talks rapidly and describes himself as “probably too intense,” has labored to establish one of the most successful programs in the Valley area.

Saugus has won five Golden League titles and in the past six years has advanced to the semifinals three times. Worley also has worked to develop perhaps the finest playing field in the Valley area, a carefully maintained, neatly painted facility with an electronic scoreboard and powder blue outfield walls resembling those of Dodger Stadium.

This season, led by Salkeld, a flame-throwing senior who is 13-0 with 168 strikeouts and an 0.62 earned-run average in 100 1/3 innings, Saugus breezed to the league title with a 13-2 record.

Saugus posted its first league title in 1978--the first year the school had a senior class--and suffered its only losing season the following year. Worley’s career record is 220-109-8, a winning percentage of .668.

“Doug’s done a great job over there,” said Bud Murray, the longtime coach at neighboring Hart High. “He’s won his share of ballgames and he has a really good rapport with kids.”

And with colleagues. Worley is the district’s senior mentor teacher, serving for the past five years as a district-wide instructor of teachers. The job involves assisting new teachers with instructional skills and developing more efficient teaching methods.

But based on the overwhelming success of his strategy class, Worley also has emerged as an in-demand traveling lecturer, conducting workshops and seminars on the subject of motivation.

Give this guy an apple.

“The kids invariably will come back and say it was really a worthwhile experience,” von Buelow said. “The parent organization has asked him to speak on this topic at their evening meetings. And it’s motivational for the teachers who are hearing it. That’s the whole idea of the mentor program--to spread that kind of wealth around. Doug’s talent happens to be in the area of motivation.”

Worley admittedly is no psychologist. Disenchanted after a year at the Naval Academy, he withdrew and entered the Navy. His educational background consists of a bachelor’s degree in English and social studies from the University of Washington and a master’s degree in guidance and educational administration from La Verne.

Teaching anti-submarine warfare kindled Worley’s torch for teaching, but he sought a gentler subject matter and pursued his interest in the study of personal development. Worley readily quotes a study from the Stanford Research Institute, which claims that 88% of one’s success is attributed to attitude.

“If that’s the case,” Worley said, “then shouldn’t there be a class taught in attitude?

“The class is very personal, very pertinent. The kids don’t come in and say, ‘Gee, I can’t relate this class to my life.’ It has a lot to do with visualization, picturing the best and imagining the best. I have an awful lot of athletes that take this class and they say that everything I teach they can apply directly to their sport.”

Salkeld, for one, is positive that Worley’s think-positive philosophies have bettered his performance.

“When you’re in a tough situation on the field, you remember what he told you in class,” he said. “It really helped me build my self-confidence. I loved it.”

Bill Bolde, a Saugus assistant coach for four years, also has learned from Worley’s ways.

“It’s a real pleasure to be involved with someone who knows how to motivate kids,” Bolde said.

The cornerstone of Worley’s motivational technique is his motto: praise publicly, reprimand privately.

“I have a very stern voice and they know they are accountable to me,” he said. “But I think you need to stay away from fear motivation. Instead of harping about what will happen to a kid if he doesn’t do something, you emphasize the positive. You say, ‘Look, we can win a tournament game if this happens.’

“You’re a teacher and a coach, and you’re always working with kids’ minds. You’re a counselor, is what you are.”

Worley’s coaching is a mix of motivation and strategy. His pregame pep talks are legendary among players. On the field, the Centurions employ six different pickoff plays, including the “phantom pickoff” in which infielders attempt to trap a baserunner by chasing an imaginary wild throw.

The play worked in a memorable 1986 playoff victory over Capistrano Valley. Saugus advanced with a 2-1 victory after snuffing a fifth-inning rally, thanks to the bogus pickoff.

“We have a lot of plays,” senior first baseman George Lopata said. “He brings that strategy onto the field. And his speeches . . . he’s a great motivator. He’s a different kind of coach, really.”

Preparation and repetition are other Worley coaching traits. Several players and coaches attended the City Section 4-A championship game between Kennedy and Palisades on Thursday night solely for the purpose of becoming acclimated to Dodger Stadium.

“That way, the kids have already been there in their minds,” Worley said. “Practicing something mentally is almost as valuable as practicing something literally.”

But fundamentals remain the most valuable aspect of any practice.

“I believe that repetition is the key to learning,” Worley said. “My theory is, you never want a baseball player in a situation he can’t visualize. No matter what the situation is, you know exactly what you’re going to do.”

Said Bolde: “The biggest praise I have for Doug is that he totally prepares his team for what’s coming up. There’s nothing in the world Kennedy can do that we’re not prepared for.”

Kennedy, in fact, had better prepare for Salkeld, who has posted two complete-game postseason wins and will make his 14th start of the season. He has battled the flu recently and his famed fastball, clocked in excess of 90 m.p.h. this season, has dropped noticeably in velocity. But a word from Worley should be sufficient to fire up the 6-foot-5, 210-pound pitcher.

“He has more talent than anyone I have ever coached,” said Worley, who, while serving as an assistant at Hart in the early 1970s, coached Bob Walk, now a pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates. “But I hope I’ve helped him with the mental aspects of the game, how important it is not to get down on yourself.”

Salkeld quite likely could become the second Worley-coached player to play major league baseball. And the second to serve as a guest speaker in Worley’s classroom: Walk has returned to offer motivational talks to students. Worley maintains close relationships with several former players.

“I don’t want to come across as an arrogant person,” Worley said, “but a lot of the players have come back and said, ‘Coach, I’ll never forget you.’ That feels good. I love teaching and I think baseball exemplifies what I’m trying to teach. I’m trying to give an example of being enthusiastic and having the courage to go after whatever it is you really want.

“It’s scary having a goal like Dodger Stadium because you’re setting yourself up for a big disappointment. But if you never dare to dream that, it can’t really happen.”