Three Days of a Condor

Recognition for a life’s work can be like a flash flood, never given a second thought until it cascades in torrents and catches one unaware.

Jerry White, 58, never anticipated accolades at black-tie dinners simply for being a successful baseball coach, and he certainly never sought gratitude for being a Division I basketball official.

Yet in the past year this nearly lifelong resident of Oxnard and Camarillo has been inducted into no less than three halls of fame.

First, the California Community College Baseball Coaches Assn. honored White, noting his record of 287-120 and six conference championships at Oxnard and Moorpark colleges over an 11-year career ending in 1988.

Next came Fresno State, where White played second base from 1956-59 and was captain on the Bulldogs’ College World Series team his senior year. White also serves as director of the state junior college baseball tournament, held each spring in Fresno.

And earlier this month the Ventura County Hall of Fame made White a member. His 27 years as a Pac-10, Big West and West Coast conference basketball official were saluted along with his playing career at Oxnard High and 12 seasons as Hueneme High baseball coach.

“All this happened so quickly,” he said, leaning comfortably in a favorite easy chair at his Camarillo home. “It’s been quite a year.”

White smiles and glances at his wife of 38 years, Galena, whom he calls Gus. “I hope it’s not like an obituary,” he said.

Hardly. If a prerequisite for these halls of fame was to no longer be active, White’s recognition would be a long way off.

“Keeping busy is not a problem with Jerry,” Gus said, noting that when the couple returned home after a three-day trip last week there were 47 phone messages--all for her husband.

White officiates the same jam-packed slate of games he did in 1970 when he whistled Bill Walton for lingering too long in the key and caught an earful from John Wooden. He conducts officiating camps throughout the summer--including one at Kansas State this weekend--and continues to run the state junior college baseball tournament.

Oh, and White maintains a full teaching load at Oxnard College, although he retired from coaching there eight years ago.

And about coaching. . . .

“Sure, I’d coach again,” he said. “The interaction with young players is special, and I miss it. I still have the energy to do it. There wasn’t much about coaching I didn’t enjoy.”

Those who played for him during his heyday at Oxnard would delight in his return, whether at a college or high school.

“He’s a guy who should not be out of baseball,” said Rich Herrera, a player and assistant coach under White before becoming head coach at Westlake High in 1990. “He has so much to offer, he really should coach. Heck, he doesn’t look a day over 40.”

Active, yes. Hurried, no. White, toned and trim, keeps in shape by lifting weights on a patio neatly furnished with brightly colored toys for visits by his three grandchildren.

A bluebird flies into the patio and White interrupts a conversation to quietly hold a peanut in his hand until the bird flies up and snatches it away.

“I never looked too far for opportunities,” he said. “My family and friends made it easy to stay around here. I’m an Oxnard guy. This is where my roots are.”

White’s father, Harper, was a coach at Santa Clara High. At Oxnard High, Jerry was a three-sport star, playing quarterback, point guard and second base.

A scholarship offer from USC fell through and White took flight to Fresno, where he played under legendary Coach Pete Beiden, whom White considers a mentor.

White’s college roommate was Augie Garrido, the coach of Division I power Cal State Fullerton.

After teaching for one year in Fresno after college, White returned home and was hired immediately to teach and coach at Hueneme, a new school stocked with the children of military families from Point Mugu and Hueneme naval bases.

A scrappy shortstop named George Peraza became one of his best players, and Peraza returned from college himself to serve as White’s assistant at Moorpark and Oxnard colleges.

“Jerry had this aura right from the beginning and everything he said I took like the Ten Commandments,” said Peraza, a teacher at Thousand Oaks High for 26 years. “He cared about each individual and he got each of us going to play our best.”

After coaching the 1976-77 seasons at Moorpark, White and Peraza took a season off to start a program at Oxnard, which opened its doors in the fall of 1978.

White’s first Oxnard team, in 1979, won the Western State Conference title and boasted future major leaguers Terry Pendleton, Kevin Gross and Jerry Willard.

Other major leaguers to come through his program include catcher Tim Laker of the Montreal Expos and pitcher Doug Simons of the New York Mets and Minnesota Twins.

He also coached his sons, Steve and Phil, both products of the high-powered Rio Mesa High program that proved fertile ground for White’s recruiting efforts.

Oxnard won WSC division titles in 1984, ‘85, ’87 and ‘88, with White taking a sabbatical in 1986. The Condors’ primary nemesis in the state playoffs was College of the Canyons, coached by Mike Gillespie, now the coach at USC and a close friend of White.

“To me, Mike is the epitome of coaching, the best in the nation,” White said. “He has it down, from the off-the-field stuff to what has to be done with the team.”

Constant head-butting with administrators prompted White to take the year off in 1986, and without him Oxnard went 0-25. He returned to coach Phil for two seasons before resigning for good.

“There were just too many hurdles with the administration,” he said. “But I definitely was not at the burnout level.”

He devoted himself to officiating and realized his life could be fulfilling without coaching. Five times, White has officiated in the NCAA tournament.

And as a sage senior official, he finds himself doing coaching of sorts anyway.

“Jerry has helped my officiating career tremendously,” said Mike Scyphers, a Big West basketball official who also is the former baseball coach at Simi Valley High. “He is a great official to work with, very easy to talk to.”

Officials are normally anonymous, but White was remembered by Roy Hamilton when the former UCLA guard was introduced at Pauley Pavilion before a game two years ago.

Hamilton acknowledged the crowd then turned to White and gave him a warm handshake before walking to the UCLA bench to greet Coach Jim Harrick and Bruin players.

Of course, White has taken his fair share of abuse from fans, which gnawed at Gus years ago when she would cart Steve, Phil and their daughter Lisa to games.

“I was concerned about him but it was clear he was pretty resilient,” she said. “It was difficult for the children, though. I don’t think people realize the things they are saying sometimes.”

Lately, only wonderful things are being said about her husband. Although flattered by the attention, White is uncomfortable talking about himself. A life of teaching, coaching and officiating mostly out of the limelight does not a large ego make.

White broke into tears at the Ventura County Hall of Fame induction dinner, and talked more about the other inductees than he did about his own career. His own induction speaker was George Erb, a Camarillo physical therapist who was a catcher at Oxnard College in 1981-82.

Erb referred to White as the Rod Dedeaux of Ventura County, pointing out that he has racked up more victories in high school and college than any other county baseball coach. Erb also said that without White’s encouragement he would not have completed college.

“Coach has a lot of wisdom and insight,” he said.

Words scrawled on a piece of paper by Erb’s 8-year-old daughter, Lauren, might be remembered even longer by White. She handed him the note the night before the hall-of-fame ceremony.

The note, now stuck to the Whites’ refrigerator, reads: “Dear Coach White: Thanks for teaching my dad how to play baseball. Now he can teach me and my brothers how to play.”