A thank you note to Al Irwin

ROGER CARLSON

If at some time someone were to say of you, “He was a complete

gentleman and he changed the direction of my life,” it would surely

speak volumes to your worthiness. It’s certainly something everyone

would like to be able to claim.

It’s with that in mind that I find myself wondering how many times

has someone said that about one of Newport Beach’s great treasures,

Al Irwin.

Former Corona del Mar High Athlete of the Year Bill Leach and his

wife, Julie, along with the Pacific Coast Triathlon field of 1,400,

are presently in the process of adding their selves to the long list

directed at Irwin in the form of a plaque to be presented to him

Sunday morning at the Western Regional Triathlon Championships at

Reef Point, the southernmost tip of Newport Beach on PCH.

The engraving says it all: “To Al Irwin ... for a lifetime of

dedication to inspiring young people.”

Al Irwin, who resides in Newport Beach with his wife, Lois, has

been doing that sort of thing since his coaching days at Newport

Harbor after World War II when he was a flight deck officer on the

USS Lexington.

In his days as a football and aquatics coach at Newport Harbor

High from 1948-1955, as a football coach at Orange Coast College in

1956 and as a coach and athletic director at UC Irvine, there has

always been that constant as a quality coach and a true gentleman.

Now 86, he would most likely acknowledge he had an edge. In all

that time as a coach he can recall only one instance when he had to

deal with a disciplinary issue. And he played under the guidance of

Ralph K. Reed at Newport and Amos Alonzo Stagg at the College of

Pacific.

He is, indeed, a man from the 30s whose belief that class and

integrity come first. And victory always seemed to follow.

Bill Leach was exposed to these elements as a freshman and

sophomore at Newport Harbor before spending his junior and senior

seasons at Corona del Mar when the Sea Kings’ doors were first opened

in 1962.

“When I was the Athlete of the Year as a senior at Corona del

Mar,” said Leach, “Mr. Irwin gave me two medals for swimming and

water polo, called the Amos Alonzo Stagg medal. It was probably the

biggest honor I had at that point.”

Leach would find himself inducted into the UCI Hall of Fame in the

mid-80s in the same class which beckoned Irwin.

How appropriate.

Leach followed Irwin to Orange Coast as a freshman, then went with

Irwin to UCI for his sophomore season, and beyond, as that Irwin

magic seeped through to mold and transform an athlete in transition

into a bona fide student-athlete and doer.

Bill, and his high school sweetheart, Julie, would represent the

U.S. at Montreal in kayaking at the ’76 Olympic Games in Montreal and

were ready to repeat in Moscow before the infamous U.S. boycott of

the ’80 Games because the Soviet Union had found its own Viet

Nam-mire in Afghanistan.

So now, it comes full circle with Leach doing the presenting to

someone who has made a habit of bringing out the best in others.

“I’ve always been an Irwin boy,” continued Leach. “There was a

demeanor, an air, about him. He was our coach, but also in a

different way, a father figure.”

The hard-hitting Irwin, a first-team All-Orange League fullback in

1935 and one of Stagg’s horses for the COP football team before Pearl

Harbor, was a competitor, first and foremost.

How competitive?

His 1949 Newport Harbor football team was a classic for the ages,

going 8-1 with 323 points scored, although it missed a berth in the

CIF Playoffs. His championship football team at Orange Coast College

finished 7-1-2.

One story is how he dealt with concern as his UC Irvine water polo

team got ready to play its opener against Cal Poly Pomona. This was

no UCLA or USC the Anteaters were to deal with, but in fact it was

the university’s first-ever athletic contest of any sort. And the

pressure was on, at least on its water polo coach.

But, as it turned out, the ‘Eaters rolled, something like 22-6,

and he would find himself chided for a long time over the “ultra

pressure” he placed upon himself.

The Anteaters players weren’t terribly concerned with Pomona, at

all, but Irwin wanted a win out of the gate for the entire Anteaters

athletic program very badly in the fall of 1965.

“Only afterwards did we find out how nervous he was,” said Leach.

Bill and Julie Leach got into triathlons as a way to stay

competitive when the Moscow Games were denied U.S athletes.

“Julie watched me compete in the February event of the 1982

Hawaiian Ironman,” said Bill, “and decided it would be a good goal

for her.”

An athlete with a kayaker’s mindset, endurance and mobility, her

women’s overall championship some eight months later must still be

one of the great shocks to be endured by the sport’s open field.

As for the Irwins, they still live on Ocean Front, near 18th

Street, as they have since 1965, although it’s been anything but a

“customary year,” because of health concerns.

Al, just back from his big weekend in Stockton in January when he

was honored as one of the Tigers’ all-time athletes, fell and broke

five ribs, has had a pacemaker installed, startled his doctor by

fainting in his office, had his left leg lifted above his shoulder

for 30 days after cancerous lesions were found on the lower part of

the leg, and very recently, had a cornea transplant.

Lois, meanwhile, recently underwent successful surgery for a back

problem.

The lesions were removed with complete success and both of the

Irwins are biting at the bit to return to the pool and get on with it

with their walking and biking regimen. But not yet.

Meanwhile, they must be content with doting on their

grandchildren, Casey Maze and Carrie Hammond, and 1-year-old great grandson Burke Hammond.

Casey, a product of Newport Harbor and OCC track and field, is a

fireman in Brea and is married to Kathleen.

Carrie, an athlete in her own right as a 24-hour triathlon

participant, is married to Chris Hammond.

Sunday’s main event begins at 6:45 a.m. with the pro elite and the

age group races following at 7:05.

Irwin, whose background includes a victory over international

champion Buster Crabbe in a memorable 1934 long swim, will be

presented with his plaque at 9:30 a.m. just prior to the age-group

presentations.

The events for the seventh annual Western Regional Championships,

the Pacific Coast Triathlon, begin with a half-mile ocean swim,

followed by a 12-mile bike race on PCH and a three-mile run on the

bike trail on the beach.

This column is usually Sunday fare. But in this case a head’s up

today provides better advance notice. Like moving mountains, only an

Al Irwin has those kinds of muscles.

If you’d like to join the crowd and perhaps visit our treasure,

and his treasure (Lois), I’m told the best place to park is the

Crystal Cove Promenade across PCH from Reef Point.

Hey! I have something extra this week. I’ll be back on Sunday.

* ROGER CARLSON is the former sports editor for the Daily Pilot.

His column usually appears on Sundays. He can be reached by e-mail at

[email protected].