Riley Lauded at Surprise Post-Game Celebration

As time ran out in Fullerton’s 71-51 loss to Golden West last Friday in an Orange Empire Conference women’s basketball game, Hornet Coach Colleen Riley figured her night was about over.

But despite the loss, a major celebration was about to start in the Fullerton gym for Riley, who is stepping down as coach after this, her 25th season.

Riley will remain on staff at the college and continue as women’s athletic director. Riley, with 559-146 record, is the winningest community college women’s basketball coach in state history.

In the half hour after the game against Golden West, Riley received several honors.

The city of Fullerton issued a proclamation saying that Feb. 18, 1994, was Colleen Riley Day. She also received a key to the city.

Letters of congratulation from several coaches were read and former players spoke about Riley, who coached Fullerton to 15 conference titles, six Southern California championships and a State title (1978). Her teams had only two losing seasons.

Riley also got a $500 donation from Boege’s Sporting Goods to help finish a team room, which has been a long-time project for her.

After the honors, Riley was taken, by limousine, to dinner.

“That was really nice,” she said about the celebration. “I was totally taken by surprise. But then I’m pretty much oblivious to the world at times.”

Riley, 52, moved to Southern California from Michigan with her family in 1959. She went to Anaheim High School, then Fullerton College, where she played basketball, softball, field hockey, volleyball and was on the swim team.

She then went to Whittier College, where she earned her bachelor of arts degree. She got her master’s at Cal State Los Angeles.

Riley taught and coached at Valencia and El Dorado high schools before taking over at Fullerton in 1968.

“There aren’t words to describe how much Colleen Riley has meant not only to Fullerton College but to women’s athletics everywhere,” said Susan Bears, Fullerton’s dean of physical education.

Riley is looking forward to the free time ahead of her.

“Basketball has been very good to me in my life,” Riley said. “I’m still going to go to games, but now I can just sit in the stands and not worry about missed free throws and turnovers.”

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Riley isn’t done as a basketball coach yet. Fullerton (19-14) made the Southern California playoffs as the ninth-seeded team and is at No. 8 San Diego Mesa (19-8) at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

“I’m really happy with this team,” Riley said. “They made the last year a real joy.”

In other Wednesday games involving county teams:

Top-seeded Golden West (29-4) plays host to No. 16 Oxnard (8-20); No. 11 Chaffey (19-11) is at No. 6 Orange Coast (19-12) and No. 12 Los Angeles Trade Tech (19-8) is at No. 5 Cypress (22-9).

The winners advance to play Saturday and the final four teams advance to the State tournament March 3-5 at Solano College in Suisun City.

The pairings for the men’s 32-team Southern California playoffs will be announced today.

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Riverside freshman forward Kevin Williams was released from Western Medical Center in Santa Ana. He had been there since Wednesday, when he took a hard fall in a game at Rancho Santiago.

Williams, from St. Louis, was attempting a lay-in late in the game when he fell hard. He was taken to the hospital after he said he had no feeling in his right arm.