Cummins Trading Fast Lane for Slow Road to Show Low

It has the makings of a perfect high altitude running camp: Clear skies, pine-covered trails and a base elevation of 6,400 feet.

But don’t get any ideas, runners. When Valencia track Coach Mike Cummins retires next year to rustic Show Low, Ariz., he doesn’t need you tagging along.

Not with 30 years of memories to keep him company.

Cummins, 56, spent the last three decades coaching Valencia’s track and cross-country teams. Under his guidance, the Tigers won 40 league championships--14 in boys’ track (including the last 10 in a row), 18 in boys’ cross-country and eight in girls’ cross-country.

Last weekend at the Orange County championships, the Tiger boys won their first team title in the meet’s 20-year history. It was a most appropriate send off for Cummins, who will retire from track at the end of this season.

After a substantial prep and college track career--he was a low 46-second quarter miler at Kansas, where he roomed with distance great Billy Mills and had high jumper Wilt Chamberlain and discus thrower Al Oerter among his teammates--Cummins started as an assistant track coach at Valencia in 1962.

Three years later, he took over as head coach. Now, he’s ready for a change.

After another year of teaching--and possibly another cross-country season, he says--Cummins is moving his family to the slow life in Show Low, population 3,000.

Show Low, 3 1/2 hours southeast of Flagstaff, got its name from its poker-playing founders, Cummins said. As the story goes, the two men who founded the town decided one night that ownership should go to the man with the lowest hand. Show Low--whose main street is named “Deuce of Clubs”--was born.

Cummins doesn’t see moving there as a gamble. He intends to build a home on a 1 1/2-acre lot he bought last year--property that backs up to national forest land and is surrounded by stunning vistas.

Other than the elk, bear and deer that frequent the area, Cummins says there isn’t another neighbor for miles.

“I had a great time coaching in Orange County,” Cummins says, “but I wanted to do something entirely different. . . . First thing I’ve got to do up there is prune a bunch of pine trees.”

May the sap feel as natural as a stopwatch in his hands.

Cummins says his most fond memories are of all the former athletes who return--grown up and responsible--to wish him well.

Don Chadez, a former miler, was a successful track coach for many years at El Dorado and now is athletic director at Corona High. Pole vaulter Alan Geduld, who as a freshman couldn’t make it down the runway without stumbling but qualified for the State meet as a senior, recently graduated from the Air Force Academy.

The low point?

“When Esperanza opened up in 1974, I had 67 kids coming back that year in track. Sixty-five of them went to Esperanza,” Cummins said. “They were in our league then, too.”

And coached by one of Cummins’ former assistants.

Cummins got his revenge, though. Two years later, the Tigers regrouped and beat Esperanza.

And at the meet last Saturday, Esperanza wasn’t even close.

Greedy guests: Al Britt, meet director for the OC championships, knew he would have to deal with a variety of problems Saturday--from the heat and smog to the freeway traffic of the El Toro Air Show. But guest passes weren’t one of them.

Britt said each competing team was given three passes for coaches. But many coaches had other ideas, which Britt encountered in droves at the admission gate.

“Coaches brought their entire families, expecting to get them in free. And parents were trying to get in, too,” Britt said. “I mean, come on.”

Price of admission: $5.

The heat and smog did more than keep the crowds away from the OC Championships--Britt said a crowd of about 1,000 showed up--it also adversely affected many performances.

But a medical staff stationed at the finish line kept a close eye on athletes with signs of heat-related illnesses.

Unlike last fall’s Mt. SAC cross-country meet, where heat-exhausted runners had to be carried from the course into ambulances, none of the 2,016 athletes Saturday required hospitalization, Britt said.

It may have been the day’s top statistic.

Losing Decision: Anyone who has been a child probably has pulled a regrettable prank or two.

Chalk one up for Newport Harbor pitcher Matt Palaferri.

According to a report filed with the Newport Beach Police Department, Palaferri took an unauthorized ride on an all-terrain vehicle Monday, lost control and collided with the Newport Harbor backstop. He was taken to Hoag Hospital for minor scrapes and bruises, then released.

According to Newport Harbor Athletic Director Eric Tweit, the ATV, donated that same day by a generous booster, was off limits to any unauthorized personnel (a.k.a. students).

“He did get the wind knocked out of him,” Tweit said. “But he’s all right. Heck, he might even pitch (today).”

Stinky Flowers: El Toro’s baseball team lost to Capistrano Valley, 8-3, in nine innings last Wednesday, diminishing the Chargers’ chances for the South Coast League championship.

A tough loss, to be sure. And the next day’s scene wasn’t much brighter.

According to some of the players’ parents, the Charger baseball field was decorated with flowers and plants Thursday morning. As in a cemetery, some suggested.

No one’s claiming responsibility--yet. And El Toro baseball Coach Dan DeLeon refused comment.

Our advice? Next time call FTD.