Hall of Fame: Tony Ciarelli (Newport Harbor)

Richard Dunn

The strength of the Newport Harbor High athletic programs,

beginning with football and track and field, can be traced directly to

former coach Tony Ciarelli.

A foremost guru of Olympic weight training and conditioning, Ciarelli

developed some of the best discus throwers and shot-putters in the state,

while helping to start a trickle down affect on campus that included

serious weight training by myriad different Sailor athletes.

As the throws and conditioning coach, Ciarelli consistently inspired

Newport Harbor athletes to individual league, CIF Southern Section and

Masters Meet titles, while making annual appearances at the CIF State

Meet.

In football, under head coach Jeff Brinkley, Ciarelli was an assistant

coach for eight years, the last three as defensive coordinator as the

Sailors twice played in a CIF championship game, including winning their

first title in ‘94, while competing in Division V.

The football team’s year-round weightlifting program was unmatched

under his guidance.

“It could not have been a better situation at Newport Harbor,” said

Ciarelli, who accepted the head football coaching position at his alma

mater, Huntington Beach, on Jan. 23, 1997. “I didn’t want to leave there.

I could have worked there my whole life, but to come over to my alma

mater and work with my wife and kids, where I would basically be able to

be around them 24 hours a day, was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.”

Ciarelli’s wife, Stephanie, is the strength coach at Huntington Beach,

and two of his daughters, Maryn, 19, and Katelyn, 15, have become

weightlifting standouts. Ciarelli’s oldest daughter, Allison, 22, is a

former CIF and state Player of the Year in volleyball for the Oilers.

Ciarelli, a 1972 Huntington Beach graduate and highly decorated

football player and track and field athlete, has even deeper ties to

Huntington Beach: His brother, Rocky, is the volleyball coach, and his

wife, Cammie, is the assistant coach; and Ciarelli’s sister, Paula, in an

instructor there whose son and daughter also went to school there.

“We try to keep it in the family,” said Ciarelli, who listed his

parents, Frank and Sue, as the most influential people in his life.

“They’re at everything I do, as an athlete and coach. They don’t miss

anything, and even with the grandkids. I don’t know how they make it

all.”

In 1993, Ciarelli was voted the California Coaches’ Alliance Honor

Coach Award, the equivalent on CIF Southern Section Coach of the Year in

track and field.

Under Ciarelli’s watch at Newport Harbor, no fewer than four athletes

became national age-group weightlifting champions (Steve Gonzales, Bill

Johns, Cara Heads and Gina Heads), while several advanced to the state

meet in track and field, including Wade Tift, Beau Ralphs and Tony

Mancuso.

At Edison, where he coached before Newport Harbor, Ciarelli directed

1988 boys state shot put champion Kaleaph Carter, probably the best

athlete Ciarelli has ever seen.

When Ciarelli arrived at Huntington Beach four years ago, Scott Moser

improved his discus throw from 185 feet to a state-record 213-11, a mark

that still stands.

As a coach, Ciarelli’s top highlight is Newport Harbor’s CIF football

championship victory over Servite in 1994, and, as an athlete, it’s

reaching the state meet in the shot put his senior year at Huntington

Beach, while setting a school record at 59-1, a mark which lasted until

Ciarelli came back to his alma mater as a coach and saw Moser throw

61-11.

As a football player, Ciarelli was a defensive back and an All-Orange

County wide receiver for Huntington Beach, then an All-South Coast

Conference tight end at Orange Coast College, where he also threw the

javelin and placed second in the state as a sophomore in 1974.

From there, Ciarelli attended the University of Hawaii and continued

his javelin career. “I didn’t play football,” he said. “I just threw the

javelin and surfed.”

In 1976, Ciarelli competed at the U.S. national championships and

Olympic Trials, reaching a personal-record of 243-1 in javelin.

Although he did not complete his undergraduate degree at Hawaii -- “it

was a little hard sometimes to get to class,” he said -- Ciarelli later

finished college at Long Beach State.

Ciarelli, who taught history at Newport Harbor, his first full-time

teaching job, is the latest honoree in the Daily Pilot Sports Hall of

Fame.