Costa Mesa High tennis coach Brian Ricker, 55, found dead
Costa Mesa High School tennis coach Brian Ricker, a 55-year-old man with a strong passion for developing young athletes, was found dead at Irvine’s Mason Regional Park Monday morning, leaving the area’s tight-knit tennis community in shock and mourning.
A jogger located a man’s body at the park and contacted authorities, said Farrah Emami, public information officer for the Irvine Police Department.
“That was a suicide,” Emami said Tuesday morning. “We won’t release a lot of details about the incident.”
A law enforcement source said the death was believed to have been caused by a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Ricker’s blue Mitsubishi Montero SUV was found engulfed in flames in the student parking lot at Corona del Mar High School — where he had coached for 11 years before moving over to Mesa — when police officers arrived around 9 p.m. Sunday, said Newport Beach police spokeswoman Jennifer Manzella.
Newport Beach firefighters extinguished the flames.
It is not known how the fire began, Manzella said.
The Orange County Coroner’s office offered no information beyond Ricker’s name Tuesday afternoon, as the case is still under investigation.
Ricker’s deep knowledge of tennis and strong work ethic intimidated young athletes at first, but they grew to admire and respect him because of his care and desire for them to improve, many said, adding that they loved his dry, quirky sense of humor.
“Brian was a very selfless individual when it came to helping kids,” said CdM Assistant Principal Daniel Patterson, who worked as an assistant to Ricker on tennis teams for four years. “He would do anything for anyone who wanted it and needed it.”
Patterson last spoke to Ricker on Friday.
“It was about tennis, just status quo,” Patterson said. “We talked frequently. We played tennis weekly. He was one of my closest friends. I was informed [of his death] by authorities. I don’t want to comment about the details. I don’t want the focus to be how his life ended. I want it to be how he lived his life.”
At Costa Mesa High, Athletic Director Sharon Uhl will serve as interim boys’ tennis coach. The team has home matches against Saddleback Tuesday and Laguna Beach Thursday.
Mesa students arranged a memorial of flowers, signs and candles for Ricker at the tennis courts.
Uhl asked the players what they wanted to do for the rest of the season.
Half of the varsity team, four players, two singles players and one doubles team, chose to continue competing, saying they wanted to play for their coach, Uhl said.
“We’ll finish the season as strong as we can,” Uhl said. “My heart is a heavy heart. I just can’t believe this has happened. He always seemed full of life. A very funny and sarcastic personality. Just infectious. He was a really special guy.”
Ricker went 201-44 with the CdM girls’ program with six Pacific Coast League titles and the 2006 CIF Southern Section Division 1 title. He coached the CdM boys for four years and worked previously at Laguna Beach High School.
He resigned as CdM girls’ coach in January 2015, saying he planned a move to Chicago and wanted to prepare for retirement.
He instead returned in May 2015, taking the boys and girls job at Mesa.
Just before stepping down at CdM, he was named the CIF Southern Section Girls’ Tennis Coach of the Year by the California Coaches’ Assn.
“I always used to say Brian was my third parent,” former CdM tennis player Mckenzie Purcifull, now at UCLA, said in an email. “I told him everything, and he helped me through a lot more things than just tennis. The last time I talked to him was April 12, which is both of our birthdays.
“Every year in high school we would exchange gifts, usually consisting of UCLA tennis shirts or hats. He knew that was my dream school and helped me get accepted. If it wasn’t for him I don’t know if I would even be at UCLA. He genuinely cared about all of his players, and he and I had a special bond that I will never forget. I just wish he knew how much he meant to all of us.”
Purcifull’s mother, Renee, enjoyed how the coach gave each girl on his team a nickname.
“He was also really concerned about the uniforms and wanted them to be great,” Renee Purcifull said. “He loved them to be excited about the uniforms. Also there was no trash talking at CdM. He was very concerned about other girls’ feelings.”
Ricker took pride in the tennis shed, hanging team pictures alongside cases of Gatorade and multiple balls, said Michele Caston, the mother of Robin, who played for Ricker a couple years ago.
He also enjoyed planning barbecues after the matches adjacent to the courts, she said.
“He’d embarrass the girls during his long-winded speeches at banquets, always giving up their crushes in front of the boys or their families,” Caston said in an email. “He said he had the same car for 20 some odd years, and the horn was broken, so he couldn’t honk at people. He told girls that made him a relaxed driver.”
Mesa Principal Jake Haley said Ricker made a difference.
Haley’s wife, a former All-American tennis player, was working with Ricker to help attract more youth to tennis in Costa Mesa.
“You look at a program that was in the ashes before he got here with single digits in both programs,” Haley said. “Now there are more than 60 kids who are involved. It’s a pretty dramatic turnaround in a small time. It was always growing. He had a way to attract kids to the program. There was never an hour you wouldn’t see him on the courts. He was always on the tennis courts. He was very unique, very special.”
