BILL WETZEL

Steve Virgen

When Bill Wetzel wanted to begin his basketball coaching career, he

had to wait.

If coaching were a basketball game, Wetzel was on the bench. But

that’s just how things started. Soon after his brief lesson of

patience, he was in the game and he was on fire.

In 1962, Wetzel began teaching at Western High. He wanted to coach

basketball but there wasn’t a job opening for that.

The varsity head coach was Leroy Stevens and Ezra Van Horn

occupied the junior varsity coaching position. Surely the Cee team

would need a coach. Nope. That job was taken too, by a man named Lute

Olson.

“This whole time, I was definitely wanting to be a coach,” Wetzel

said. “My whole aim was to work at a high school and be a basketball

coach somewhere. The reason I left Western was because Newport

Harbor’s position was opening up and that was closer to where I was

living anyway. I knew I would be in the Newport-Mesa area. It was

just a matter of where.”

For the next two years, Wetzel coached what was basically the

sophomore basketball team at Newport Harbor, his alma mater, where he

was inspired by Coach Jules Gage.

“I was lucky enough to have some nice talent,” Wetzel said. “I had

some nice years which I’m sure got me the job at Estancia High.”

At Estancia, Wetzel found his home and he started the basketball

program there when the school opened in 1965.

“As it turned out, I spent 33 years there,” Wetzel said. “It was a

lot of fun. I wouldn’t change a thing. It was just a great tradition.

Great kids. Great staff. Good community. It was an ideal position for

someone who was looking for that.”

Wetzel began coaching at Estancia when he was 27 years old. He had

so much motivation and energy and, at Estancia, it seemed to never

die.

“When you’re that age, you think you can run through a wall,” he

said. “I knew it was going to be great. I scouted the incoming talent

and, luckily enough, we had nice personnel.”

For the first 10 years Estancia was open, Wetzel worked as the

varsity head coach. He then became assistant principal at the school.

“After a year of doing that, I missed [coaching],” Wetzel said.

“We had Larry Sunderman as coach and he had me work as the freshmen

coach, and I did that for five years. And we had some great

material.”

Through Wetzel’s career at Estancia, he enjoyed himself and

created many memories. He also carried a strong winning tradition in

basketball and the torch was carried on by Sunderman and later, Tim

O’Brien.

“There are a lot of highs and some lows in coaching,” Wetzel said.

“But the things you remember the most are the kids you coach and the

people you associate with. It was my dream job. Estancia was my life.

I loved going to work. It was fun.”

Wetzel, 66, who lives in Huntington Beach with wife of 37 years,

Bunny, is the latest honoree of the Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Fame.

The Wetzels have two sons, David and Michael, and two granddaughters,

Jordan and McKenna.

“I’ve been retired for almost five years now,” Wetzel said. “I

still go to quite a few of the basketball games and see a few of the

football games. I’m still attached to [Estancia]. I’ll always be

attached to it.”