THE ‘80s A DECADE REVISITED :...

1984

Led by skier Billy Johnson, gymnast Mitch Gaylord and pole vaulter Mike Tully, several Valley athletes fulfilled Olympic dreams.

The Valley area became America’s ski capital, thanks to a 23-year old former car thief from Van Nuys. His name: Billy Johnson.

Johnson, who as a teen-ager was told by an Oregon judge to either shape up or face reform school, became the first American man to capture an Olympic gold medal on snow. He defeated Peter Mueller of Switzerland by 27/100ths of a second on Bjelasnica Mountain in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, to win the men’s downhill.

No American male had finished better than 10th in the downhill before Johnson, or “Wild Bill” as he was known, brashly predicted an upset victory, then proceeded to pull it off.

“I wanted it more than anybody else,” said Johnson, who covered the almost two-mile course in an average speed of 65.3 m. p. h. And when an Austrian television reporter suggested that his victory had come over a relatively easy course, Johnson, in typically candid fashion, replied: “If it was so easy, then why didn’t (the Austrians) win?”

Johnson wasn’t the only Valley-area athlete to create a stir during the winter sports season.

Tiffany Chin, a 4-foot-8 16-year-old from Toluca Lake won the U. S. women’s free skating crown, upsetting Rosalynn Sumners, the two-time defending champion. In the Olympics, Chin placed fourth overall in women’s figure skating.

Judy Blumberg, 26, from Tarzana, teamed with partner Michael Seibert to place fourth in Olympic ice dancing.

In the summer Olympics, Mitch Gaylord, a 1979 graduate of Grant High, helped the U. S. men’s gymnastics team win its first gold medal in the team competition.

In track and field, Mike Tully of Encino won an Olympic silver medal in the pole vault after he set an American record of 19 feet, 1 inch in the Trials. Former Cal State Northridge star Alice Brown won a silver medal in the women’s 100 meters and led off the gold-medal winning 400-meter relay, and Dave Laut, a former Moorpark College standout, earned a medal in the shot put. His effort of 68-9 3/4 won the bronze.

In baseball, Cal State Northridge came through the losers’ bracket and defeated Florida Southern, 10-5, to win the Division II World Series.

Perry Husband, Northridge’s senior second baseman, was the most valuable player in the Series, going 13 for 28 and scoring 16 runs. Jim Walker pitched a four-hitter, striking out eight in the championship game.

Northridge finished the season with a 46-21-1 record and Coach Bob Hiegert resigned after the season to devote more time to his job as CSUN athletic director.

Notable: Joe Hillman, a Hoover High guard, averaged 41.3 points a game during his senior season to finish with 2,213 points, eighth-best on the Southern Section career list.

Hillman was the first player west of the Mississippi River to be recruited by Indiana Coach Bob Knight. He played a key role on the Hoosiers’ 1987 national championship team and was voted Big Ten Conference Player of the Year in 1988. . . .

It was a banner year, literally, for local high school football teams, which won four Southern Section titles, an all-time high. The champions: Camarillo in the Coastal Conference, Canyon in the Northwestern Conference, Agoura in the Desert-Mountain Conference, and Faith Baptist in the Eight-Man Large Schools Division. . . .

Aaron Emanuel of Quartz Hill was the Southern Section Division II Player of the Year. He was the top-rated high school rusher in the nation and his 4,807 career yards is seventh on the Southern Section all-time list. . . .

Valley College guard Larry Middleton led the state in scoring with a 28-points-a-game average and was chosen an All-American. . . .

Cliff Higgins, probably the best basketball player in Cal State Northridge history, closed out his career by averaging 19.2 points and earning California Collegiate Athletic Assn. Player of the Year for the second consecutive season. Higgins, who went on to play for the Golden State Warriors, was a Division II All-American. . . .

Northridge men’s teams won two national championships. In swimming, the Matadors won their eighth Division II title and fourth in a row, and Kevin O’Neil was selected the meet’s outstanding athlete. . . .

Led by pitcher Jack McDowell (9-0 record), Notre Dame High spent much of the baseball season rated No. 1 among high schools in the nation. The Knights lost to Millikan, 5-0, in the Southern Section quarterfinals to finish with a 27-1 record. McDowell, whose brother Jim was coach at Notre Dame, went on to pitch Stanford to the national championship in 1987. . . .