Stevenson Plans to Change Lifestyle, Return to Coaching

John Stevenson, one of the immortals of high school coaching, recently confronted his own mortality.

One minute he was enjoying a meal at his favorite Mexican restaurant and looking forward to coaching El Segundo’s baseball team in the final, pivotal weeks of the season. The next, he was having a heart attack.

Ten days later, on May 13, Stevenson underwent triple-bypass surgery.

“I got a real reminder that time is not unlimited,” he said. “All of a sudden, something like this happens and you realize you’re not going to live forever. And for the time you have left, you might be living in a diminished state of health.”

Stevenson, 57, knows he will have to make some changes in his lifestyle. His love of Mexican food, red meat and milkshakes will have to be curtailed. He has lost 25 pounds since his surgery and now wears a pacemaker.

But Stevenson isn’t about to call it a day as far as coaching goes.

“I’m certainly planning on returning next year,” he said. “One never knows what one can do. You have to take it day by day.

“Coaching is not just standing out there with a clipboard. There are things you’ve got to be doing. If it gets to the point where you can’t do them, you have to look at yourself and say, ‘It’s not fair to anybody else.’

“I don’t anticipate that. I anticipate a complete recovery. Everybody tells me a year from now I’ll feel better than I’ve felt in years and years, and I felt good before. I figure on being back, but I didn’t figure on this illness either.”

Stevenson said the support of family and friends during his stay in the hospital helped pull him through the most difficult time in his life.

“I received so many cards and calls from well-wishers, people I hadn’t heard from for years,” he said. “I got calls from two of my high school coaches and from kids I went to high school with. That support was awesome.”

Stevenson doesn’t know how many years of coaching he has left. After 32 seasons at El Segundo, he is the state’s winningest baseball coach with a record of 684-252 and six Southern Section titles.

“I always figured I wanted to do it as long as I was having fun,” he said.

Hopefully, the fun isn’t over.

Hawthorne center fielder Tarrik Brock has signed a letter of intent with USC, but the talented senior may never play for the Trojans.

That’s because Brock could end up signing a lucrative contract with a major league team. Hawthorne Coach Greg Goode expects Brock to be an early choice in Monday’s free-agent draft.

“I’ve heard he’ll go in one of the top three rounds,” Goode said. “He’s looking at some real big money. I think he’s going to sign.”

Brock has what the scouts are looking for: speed and size. He’s skinny now at 6-foot-3 and 170 pounds, but the potential for growth is there.

“He has size 13 shoes,” Goode said. “If he ever fills out, he’s going to be an unbelievable athlete.”

Brock, an All-South Bay receiver in football, finished the baseball season batting .405 (30 for 74) with a team-leading 29 runs scored, four triples and 12 stolen bases.

Goode said Brock first caught the attention of scouts last summer by making several running, over-the-shoulder catches during a tournament at Blair Field in Long Beach. After that, Goode said, scouts came out regularly to Hawthorne games to see Brock and the team’s other outfield prospect, Armando Fernandez.

“We had between 10 and 15 scouts for every game,” he said.

The only other area player expected to be taken as high as Brock is Banning pitcher Mike Busby. Other pro prospects include Torrance third baseman Antone Williamson, who has signed with Arizona State, and West Torrance pitcher Brian Fitzgerald, who has signed with Loyola Marymount.

Two of the area’s top baseball prospects next season are expected to be junior catchers Jeff Poor of El Segundo and Jason Kendall of Torrance.

The 6-2, 210-pound Poor batted .475 this season with an area-leading 11 home runs and a school-record 54 RBIs in 30 games. Poor’s RBI total is the third-highest total in Southern Section history behind two former South Bay standouts--Scott Davison of Redondo (58 in 1987) and Chris Donnels of South Torrance (56 in 1984).

Kendall, son of former major league catcher Fred Kendall, batted .477 with four home runs and a school-record 49 RBIs in 27 games. He finished the season with a 33-game hitting streak, tying a state record that he can break in next season’s opener.

“Jason Kendall, in my opinion, is the best baseball player in the area,” West Torrance Coach Harry Jenkins said.

Rolling Hills pitcher Kirt Kishita, citing the instability of the UC Irvine baseball program, said he is awaiting his release from a letter of intent with the school and plans to sign with another college.

Kishita’s action was prompted by recent reports that Irvine had considered dropping baseball as a budget-cutting measure. Irvine has since announced that it will maintain a baseball program.

But the news was too little, too late as far as Kishita was concerned.

“Just the fact that a Division I school was thinking of dropping baseball, it shook me up,” he said. “It showed me that the school is not supportive of the baseball team. It didn’t seem like a place that has a stable program.”

Kishita said he has “no idea” what school he will attend. Irvine gave its baseball recruits the option to be released from their letters of intent after it was reported that the program might be dropped.

Miraleste shortstop Mike Ryan, who also signed with Irvine, will honor his original commitment, Miraleste Coach Ken Russell said.

If an award were given to the most valuable player in the L.A. City 3-A Division baseball playoffs, Narbonne Coach Nick Van Lue says Gaucho right fielder Mike Ramirez would be the hands-down winner.

“He’s got to be the MVP of the tournament,” Van Lue said.

Ramirez, a senior who had only 15 hits in the regular season, came alive in the playoffs. He batted .500 (nine for 18) in four postseason games with two doubles, a triple, a home run and six RBIs to help Narbonne capture its first City title in baseball. Ramirez went three for four with a double and triple Friday in the Gauchos’ 5-1 victory over Franklin in the 3-A final at Dodger Stadium.

Notes

A recent check of Serra’s score book revealed that center fielder Dwon Knighten had three more stolen bases this season than first believed. That gives Knighten 51 steals, the highest single-season total in South Bay history and the fifth-highest total in Southern Section history. Mike Rust of Western Christian holds the section record with 64 steals in 1985.

El Segundo shortstop Brett Newell tied a school record with 16 doubles to help the Eagles finish the season with 80 doubles, the third-highest total in Southern Section history. Rosemead holds the record with 83 doubles in 1989, and El Segundo is second with 82 last season.

Former West Torrance softball standout Bridgett Tapp helped Cal State Long Beach to a 2-2 record at the College World Series in Oklahoma City last week. Tapp, a freshman, played in every game this season as the 49ers’ right fielder. An infielder in high school, Tapp made the switch to outfield after one of the team’s starting outfielders became pregnant.

Five area schools were honored for outstanding sportsmanship Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium prior to the Dodgers-Houston Astros game. The “Shake For Sportsmanship” program honored schools singled out by a vote of member schools from their respective leagues. The South Bay winners: St. Bernard (Mission League), Rolling Hills (Ocean), Torrance (Pioneer), South Bay Lutheran (Westside) and Gardena (Southern Pacific).

South Bay Lutheran’s inclusion in the sportsmanship awards can be traced, in part, to the fine work of Greg Rathke, who coached the Inglewood school’s football, basketball and baseball teams this past year. In addition, Rathke teaches five English classes and serves as athletic director. He guided the football team to a Southern Section playoff berth and the basketball team to the semifinals. Lutheran has hired a new baseball coach, making this the last year Rathke will serve as a three-sport coach.

Congratulations to South Torrance’s softball team and Coach Larry Lent for a fine season. The Spartans finished with a 26-2 record after losing to La Mirada, 4-1, Tuesday in the semifinals of the Southern Section 3-A Division playoffs at West Torrance High. It was the first loss of the season for ace pitcher Jacqueline Brown (20-1), who was weakened by a recent bout with the flu.