Herb Hill’s Record Was Always Secondary to Love of Coaching

A road that leads to Herb Hill’s house runs past big dairy and produce farms that yield either the pleasant aroma of freshly watered fields or the stench of cow pens, depending on the wind.

Hill lives in Soboba Springs, at the base of the foothills in the outskirts of town, and most of the development’s neighbors grow or raise things for a living.

Hill also frequents pastures in his retirement, after 36 years of coaching high school football in Orange County. But these are shaded by hundreds of trees, surrounded by lakes and dotted with sand bunkers. And the tools of choice are woods, irons and a putter, not hoes and shovels.

“I play probably five times a week. It depends on what’s going on,” Hill said, standing on a fairway at the Soboba Springs Country Club. “I’m not good, but I have fun. The handicap system helps me a little.”

Golf, a sport for which there was little time the past four decades, has become a devotion for Hill, one of the two winningest coaches in county football history. Since leaving Loara High after the 1989 season with a 191-114-11 record compiled there and at Rancho Alamitos, Hill has been trying to make up for lost time on the links.

But that is only his main interest. Hill also likes to tinker with the landscaping of his home, all of which he designed and handled after the place was built last year.

In the summers, Hill, 60, and his second wife, Karyn, head for two or three weeks of fishing in the Madison River near West Yellowstone, Mont. Hill also teaches at a four-day quarterbacks and receivers camp at California Lutheran College in Thousand Oaks and remains active throughout the year as president of the Orange County chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame. He says he makes the 1-hour 15-minute trip to the county frequently.

But for the most part, Hill’s thoughts these days are usually away from football and his impressive record. It was tied last season by Santa Ana Coach Dick Hill (no relation), who hopes to break it tonight when the Saints travel to Hawthorne for a nonleague game.

The milestone is of more interest to others than it is to Herb Hill.

“If that (record) had been that important to me, I’d still be coaching,” Hill said. “People ask me, ‘Don’t you really miss it?’ If I did, I’d still be doing it. Nobody kicked me out. The record was never a concern of mine. I just outlasted a lot of people. Dick has done a great job, and I wish him well. If someone has to hold the record, I’m glad it’s a Hill.”

When Herb Hill put away his headphones and clipboard, he went scouting with Karyn for a home away from the furious pace of city life. They traveled around and finally found what they were looking for when they reached Soboba Springs.

“We kind of stumbled on this,” Hill said. “This place was very reasonable in price, and we liked the area. We wanted to be near a golf course because that’s an important pastime for both of us.”

Home is only a short ride, by golf cart, from the country club. The house includes a den filled with mementos from Hill’s personal life and coaching career. There are game balls from Loara’s biggest successes: the 1965 Irvine League championship, the 13-0 season in 1968, when the Saxons won the Southern Section Division AAA title and the 1979 Southern Conference championship.

Also adding to the decor are photographs of Hill’s two daughters from a previous marriage and of the coach with various sports personalities. A color drawing of Hill in his red Loara sweater anchors one wall, and numerous sports books, particularly about football and golf, fill one of the bookshelves.

One large color photograph shows Hill with Gib Dear, his longtime assistant coach and close friend, who died of cancer in 1986. Another offers a glimpse at how well-liked Hill was by his players. It’s a simple black-and-white shot of Hill talking over a play with Loara quarterback Dean Lapin during a game in 1971. Under it, Lapin wrote:

“Moments like this are among my most memorable. I appreciate the loads of time and effort greatly.”

John deFries, the current Loara coach, was another Saxon player greatly influenced by Hill. He also was an assistant under Hill and still subscribes to his mentor’s philosophy that strong defensive teams stand a better chance of winning games.

“For me, it was an honor to have been associated with him,” said deFries, a tight end and defensive end on the 1965 championship team. “I owe a lot to him. He taught me a lot about the game.”

Not seeing his former players as often as he would like is what Hill considers the biggest drawback to living far from Loara. But he said he still talks to them by phone or when he occasionally attends a Loara or Century game.

“That’s one thing I miss about being retired,” Hill said. “They’ll (former players) come by school, but since I’m not there, they don’t know where to find me. I make it a point to get together with some of them. I go to the Loara and Century games because John (deFries) and (Century coach) Bill Brown are very good friends of mine. I try to see as many of their games as I can.”

Hill has seen a lot of football games.

Born in Santa Ana, Hill was an offensive and defensive guard at Santa Ana High, Santa Ana Community College and Occidental College. In 1953, he landed his first coaching position as an assistant at Garden Grove High.

When Rancho Alamitos opened three years later, Hill became the head coach. He then went to Orange Coast College as an assistant and finally to Loara as the school’s first football coach in 1962. He stuck around for 27 years.

By the mid-’80s, the demands of coaching were wearing on Hill. And when Dear died, Hill began to seriously consider retirement.

“Gibby’s death influenced my thinking,” Hill said. “When I got to be around 60, I thought it was time to quit. I wanted to have time to enjoy myself. I felt I didn’t have the stamina anymore to do all that was required (as a coach).”

Said Karyn: “I think it (Dear’s death) was probably one of Herb’s major traumas. It’s hard when you are the flip side of a coin and suddenly you’re the only one left. There were other coaches who tried to fill that void, but it was never the same.”

Now, a trim and fit Hill channels his energy toward golf with Karyn and friends and, basically, to relaxing. Karyn said Hill’s transition to retirement has been amazingly smooth.

“It’s really a very pleasant surprise,” she said. “I really worried about what he would do after football. But he’s had a chance to do the woodworking and the gardening he never could do before.”

And to reserve a lot of tee times.