TODD KATOVSICH

Richard Dunn

If camaraderie counts among teammates after the whistles have stopped

blowing and the final snaps have been taken, then some Corona del Mar

High football players from the Class of 1988, like Todd Katovsich,

are still tasting life’s fruits of victory together.

The closeness experienced by many in that congregation continues

today.

“It’s easy [to stay in touch with former classmates and

teammates]. You’ve just got to pick up the phone,” said Katovsich,

who has gone into business with former teammates and often takes mini

vacations with his buddies from Corona del Mar, including fishing

trips to Mexico and attending the 2002 NFC championship game in St.

Louis between the Rams and Eagles.

The fellowship that goes on today, no doubt, stems from the

cohesiveness experienced by Coach Dave Holland’s Sea Kings in the

fall of 1987, when they started the campaign 1-5, yet rallied to win

the Sea View League title.

“We won a few straight [five in a row, including a first-round CIF

Southern Section Central Conference Playoff game over Troy, 28-7] and

that was probably a highlight, and just being around all the guys and

building friendships and remaining friends with a good group of guys

still,” Katovsich said.

Katovsich, who lives in a 5,000-square-foot loft in the artists’

district in downtown Los Angeles with his younger brother, John,

among other bachelors, recently started a home inspection business

with former teammate Kurt Ehmann. “We’ve been in a bunch of movie

stars’ homes, and people in the entertainment industry ... we’re

slowly learning the business,” said Katovsich, 33.

Katovsich played center and defensive tackle for the Sea Kings as

a two-year, two-way starter after moving to Corona del Mar from

Texas, where high school football is king. He lettered as a sophomore

at Klein High in Houston. “Playing football in Texas, as the

stereotypes go, you eat, sleep and drink football, especially high

school,” he said. “I think I came to California where I needed to be

on the football field and that gave me an advantage.”

A move as drastic as Texas to Corona del Mar in high school could

be a painful transition, but it didn’t take long for the Katovsich

brothers to adjust to their new surroundings.

“If it wasn’t for football and the program there at Corona del Mar

High, the move would have been more difficult, but the boys got into

the swing of things very early because football practice starts in

August,” said their father, Dennis, who moved his family to CdM in

the summer of 1986.

Longtime CdM equipment manager John Potter once said that CdM

players didn’t truly understand how to play winning football until

the Katovsich brothers arrived on the scene.

Listed at 6-foot-2 and 215 pounds, Todd Katovsich was the only CdM

player to earn All-CIF Central Conference honors in the fall of ‘87,

a year that included, among other Sea Kings, standouts Ehmann, Kevin

Maas, Mitch Melbon, Scott Sullivan, Andy Jones, Scott McCarter and

Jeff Thomason, who later played in two Super Bowls with Green Bay.

Katovsich was also an All-Orange County selection and the Sea View

League Defensive Player of the Year.

“I was going to play tackle [on offense], but our center, Tom

McGahan, got hurt, so they moved me to center,” said Katovsich ,

whose biggest impact came on the other side of the ball.

The latest honoree in the Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Fame,

Katovsich continued his gridiron career at Orange Coast College,

where he played in 1988 and ‘89, then earned a football scholarship

to Towson State University, a Division I-AA school in Baltimore. But

Katovsich played only one game for Towson State, tearing his ACL in

the season opener against Rhode Island and returning home shortly

thereafter.