A race for the ages

Hundreds of alumni returned to Sea Hawk Bowl to participate in the Striff-Seifert Memorial Track Meet – Race of the Century held at Redondo Union High School. Photo

Crossing the finish line after running 400 meters, 65-year-old Jim Vetrovec couldn’t help but turn his back to his fellow competitors and walk away. Bent over with his hands on his knees, Vetrovec began to wipe tears from his eyes. They weren’t caused by the throbbing of an old Achilles tendon injury or the soreness of his hamstring, but from the reality that Vetrovec’s longtime dream of running a lap around his alma mater’s track had just come true.

While seniors of Redondo Union High School’s graduating class of 2010 were running around picking up tuxedos or getting their hair coiffed and nails manicured for their prom, a different group of seniors was on campus running around the new synthetic track in Sea Hawk Bowl.

Alumni representing seven decades gathered on June 5 to participate in the Striff-Seifert Memorial Track Meet – Race of the Century, competing in cross country, 100-meter, 400-meter, 1,500-meter and relay races that bonded generations of Sea Hawks.

The event helped raise funds for the creation of the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame while honoring former coaches Russell Striff and Mel Seifert. Members of the Striff and Seifert families were presented Proclamations by Redondo Beach Mayor Mike Gin and City Councilman Pat Aust.

Striff was Redondo’s football coach from 1935-42. After serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, he returned to RUHS as head football and track coach until 1958 when he became an administrator. He also coached tennis and basketball.

Traveling the furthest to attend the event were Dr. Russell Striff, Jr. (’57) and his family from Pennsylvania. Russell’s son Scott ran the cross country race representing the Striff family.

The honoree’s other son Jerry Striff, of Redondo Beach, attended the event with his wife Debby and sons Randy and Brian.

“It still amazes me that 29 years after he died and 40 years since his retirement that anybody would do this,” Jerry said of his father. “What a tribute. It proves what we all know: a teacher can make such an impact on children that sometimes it is not realized or recognized for decades.”

Coming from Arizona to represent the Seifert family were Mel’s daughter Judy and other family members.

Mel Seifert graduated from RUHS in 1931, serving as class president in 1929. He was captain of the football team, ran track and played baseball and basketball for the Sea Hawks.

After attending Fresno State, Seifert returned to RUHS, becoming athletic director and serving as advisor to the “R” Club and Varsity Club. One of Seifert’s greatest accomplishments was the creation of the Pacific Shores Basketball Tournament which continues to draw top teams each year.

Also honored with a plaque that will hang in the new Athletic Hall of Fame was Redondo’s 1946 State Championship track team coached by Harold Grant.

Three-time state champion Bob Bacon represented the team. As a senior, Bacon won the 220-yard low hurdles (personal best of 23.6 seconds), the 120-yard high hurdles where he was clocked at 14.5 seconds, and joined Ronnie Dixon, Roger Norgren, Howard Bugbee and Clarence Witt on the first-place 880-yard relay team.

With red and white the color scheme of the day, it seemed fitting that just a few hours after Bacon and his teammates were recognized for their achievements, a red-headed runner from Redondo was earning another state title for the Sea Hawk family.

At the CIF State Championships in Clovis, Chloe Curtis continued an illustrious prep cross country and track career, solidifying her place among Redondo’s greatest athletes.

The senior captured the state championship in the 1,600-meter race with a time of 4 minutes, 46.33 seconds. Fellow Sea Hawk Lyndsey Mull placed third in the same event with a mark of 4:51.05. The duo plan to put Redondo in the record books this weekend when they join Rachel Bush and Laura O’Neill in an attempt to break the national record in the 4×1,600 relay at the New Balance Outdoor Nationals in Greensboro, N.C.

Social networking at its best

On a day where former coaches and track stars were honored, it was Vetrovec who drew much of the attention. It was the 1962 graduate’s passion that inspired the event, which evolved from a tool most participants would never have dreamed of during their senior year of high school – the Internet.

Redondo alum Steve Felix, whose hobby is adoption searches, where birth parents look for the child they placed for adoption or vice versa, used his prowess on the Internet to create the Race of the Century.

About eight years ago, Felix read an article about a girl being molested in one of the restrooms at RUHS. He had helped his class of 1947 search for lost classmates for their 50th reunion, accumulating a few e-mail addresses in the process.

“I sent the article to the persons whose e-mails I had collected and stated that something like that would never happen when we were attending RUHS,” Felix said. “A few responded and I sent their responses to all. More people responded and added other memories and so it went.”

Felix’s list for his CaSearcher@aol.com address has grown to over 1,350. Vetrovec’s name is on that list and when he saw that John Cawdrey was contributing memories and knew that Cawdrey was a cousin to Barbara Valenzuela, a girl he had dated while at RUHS, he asked about her. The high school sweethearts had lost contact after Vetrovec served in the military shortly after high school.

“We were too young then to get serious,” Vetrovec recalled. “But in high school, we were inseparable.”

A former cross country and distance runner for the Sea Hawks, Vetrovec retired after a 25-year career with the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department and currently lives in Sheridan, Wyo.

In February 2009, Vetrovec returned to Southern California to visit Barbara, whom he calls the “love of his life.” The two visited their former high school to reminisce about old times and see how the Redondo Union campus had changed.

The couple’s view was limited by fences and locked gates but, to Vetrovec’s amazement, the door he used as a secret escape route as a teenager still allowed him passage onto the school grounds.

“There was a mom-and-pop store across the street I would sneak out to,” Vetrovec chuckled. “I had an addiction to Moon Pies and would come back to print the (school newspaper) High Tide with crumbs on my face and shirt.”

Walking hand-in-hand while avoiding oncoming students, Jim and Barbara found their old lockers, but it was a glimpse of Sea Hawk Bowl that Vetrovec yearned for. Emotions ran high as he stood and looked down at the soon-to-be-renovated facility.

“It was as if I could hear the sound of the starter’s pistol, the shouts from the coach and my old teammates as I ran with heart pounding, lungs on fire and legs burning,” Vetrovec said. “I told Barbara how I wished to go down and run around the track just one more time before I die.”

Campus security burst his bubble that day, politely escorting the couple away. But not before Vetrovec boldly stated “I’ll be back.”

After relating his story on the website, interest in a track meet-themed reunion began to grow.

“CaSearcher was the only daily communication everyone got, regarding the planning of the event,” Felix said. “Without the daily info, we could not have pulled it off.”

With the diligence of co-chairpersons and 1971 classmates Terry Brady Martinez and Gentil Smith, the event became a reality.

Athletic Director Les Congelliere, who will be retiring this month after a 40-year tenure at RUHS, suggested honoring Striff, while Martinez chose Seifert “because I had heard so many times over the years that Seifert did so much for RUHS Athletics and was never recognized for his work.”

Red and White Reunion

Saturday’s event began with a pancake breakfast. Throughout the day, cameras clicked away as old friends reunited and new friends were made. Conversations graduated from “How’s your family” to “I’m gonna be sore tomorrow” to “I can’t wait to have a cold one” at the after parties held at the King Harbor Yacht Club and the Redondo Beach Elks Club.

Martinez estimated 300 people attended the “Race of the Century” with many coming from out of state. Fred Woolman (’59) arrived from Rochester; Minn., while Mike (’62) and Patty Card Raftis came from Sharpsburg. Ga. Jeff Stanton (’62) traveled from Oregon and Juan Matute (’59) ventured from Peachtree City, Ga.

Making the journey from Arizona were RV Ward (’62), Claudine Miller Weaver (’61), Glenda Park Cook (’62) and Linda Wooten Marovich (’62).

Festivities began with international opera star Carol Neblett (’64) singing the National Anthem, followed by tributes and the competitions,  where 21 entrants wound their way around and through the campus in the cross country race. The most popular event of the day was the 400-meter run/walk where 61 entrants completed one lap around the track.

Thirty-four members of the Class of ’62 participated in races with many more cheering them on as spectators, comprising the largest group from one class. Members of the ’61 and’62 classes competed against each other in a 400-meter race.

John Blasingame, (’62) competed in the 100-yard dash, 440 relay and broad jump during his high school years, but limited himself to the 100 meters Saturday.

“Our class of ’62 gets together in Arizona every January or first of February,” Blasingame said after catching his breath at the finish line. “We’ve also had three reunions every other year at my home in Temecula. It’s nice to come back and see the campus how it is today. I said before the race, if they run, I’ll run. If they walk, I’ll walk. They started to run so I ran.”

Composing himself after his “dream lap,” Vetrovec looked up at the crowd, then down at the track. Fond memories filled his head.

“I think my favorite memory as a high school athlete was beating heavily-favored, archrival Mira Costa at the Mustang Relays,” Vetrovec said. “We beat Costa so bad they looked like the Soviet Union hockey team after the Miracle on Ice in Lake Placid. That night we couldn’t lose.”

A traditionalist at heart, Vetrovec said he was impressed with the new track and field in Sea Hawk Bowl.

“It’s beautiful. The old track was awfully rough to run on. It would collect water, which turned to clay, which turned to rocks when it dried. The memories are still there, just underneath the surface.”

The event’s youngest participant, Cody Dill (’09) watched in amazement after running the 100-meter dash

“It’s really interesting to see all these people who have run track for Redondo over the years,” said Dill, who is a member of the track team at El Camino College. “I feel out of place. They are so much more deserving and warrant more respect than I do. I feel old myself now that I’m in college, but many of these alumni have lived my life two or three times already. It’s a crazy feeling.”

In a somewhat altered 100-meter race, Dill and Alex Calica (’99) failed to catch Laura Warfield (’82) who was given a slight head start.

“The track meet was a great idea and I’ve met a lot of fun people,” Warfield said. “It was fun racing against the young guys.”

Hermosa Beach resident Jim Gierlich (‘43) was the oldest participant at the meet. A starting receiver on Redondo’s 1942 CIF Championship football team, Gierlich had enough wind left after running the men’s 400 open to grab a mike at the closing ceremony, singing his own lyrics to the tune “What A Wonderful World.”

“I’m the lone participant from my class but there is a lady up in the booth volunteering,” Gierlich said.

With assistance from his nieces Kathy Bach-Avril and Karen Bach, wheelchair-bound Del Bach finished the 440. Del’s brother John also competed in the race. The brothers graduated for RUHS in 1949 and served together in the Navy in Korea.

“The wind helped us down the stretch,” Del said. “There’s nothing like a little Parkinson’s to slow you down, but this is very inspiring to be a part of.”

Prior to the Most Likely Band’s musical interlude at halftime, a Pep Squad of nine alumni joined Sammy Sea Hawk for a performance.

Virginia Crow Lyon (’62), Dixie Henry Foster (’61), Gretchen Deffebach Huebner (’50), Louise Ingalls Reece (’62), Terry Brown Ahu (’62), Barbara Valenzuela Armstrong (’63), Becky Hernandez Almquist (’62), Ann Mulqueen Stanton (’62) and Melinda Oddi Biancalana (’63) showed that their Sea Hawk spirit has not diminished over the years.

Huebner was the oldest female participant and relished the chance to perform again where she had so often six decades ago. Originally from Manhattan Beach, Huebner traveled from Fresno to re-enact her days as a Sea Hawk song leader.

“My husband and kids think this school has so much spirit,” Huebner said. “It’s a wonderful day. I wasn’t a cheerleader at Redondo, I was the song leader and we did the dances. I never did yell; the boys did that.

“When I went to high school, girls couldn’t do sports. They were considered too weak and frail. Now it’s wonderful they can do soccer and softball, so my grandchildren have a lot of fun.”

After graduating from RUHS, Huebner became the lead pep girl at UCLA, teaching hundreds “how to do the song-leading thing.”

One of her students was actress Kim Novak, whom she taught to be a song girl for an upcoming movie.

“It helped me make some extra money while I was a student,” Huebner recalled. “We both were animal lovers and became friends.”

After intermission, Calica’s young legs took over as he won the 1,500 and ran the final leg on the winning 400 relay team. He said he was inspired by the many older athletes who came out to compete.

Among that group was David Harper (’50) who ran the cross country, 400 and 1,500 races.

“I wouldn’t have missed this for the world,” Harper said. “I had Coach Striff in track and Coach Seifert in basketball. Back then I did the hurdles and once around the track was enough for me. I just thank the good Lord that I can participate and keep moving.”

With the last participant crossing the finish line, Terry Martinez breathed a sigh of relief. The countless hours she and Gentil Smith had worked organizing the event was evident by the vast number of smiles people wore when exiting the stadium. Many were overheard saying, “We have to do this again.”

“I think the turnout for the track meet was good considering it was something we have not done before,” said Tom Shortridge, President of the RUHS Alumni Association. “I would hope that this turns into an annual alumni event that will include competitions in other sports. Once the new athletic facilities are complete, we could do baseball, softball, track, basketball and more,”

Shortridge said he hopes the event raised a few thousand dollars for the new Athletic Hall of Fame.

“I always take pride in what a unique school RUHS is in terms of the Sea Hawk Family,” said Martinez, who previously worked on the 75th and 100th Anniversary projects. “People just love coming back to Redondo High. The school brings us together across generations with great people we might never have known. It’s a life-enriching experience to be a Sea Hawk alum; you meet the most interesting people.”

While a group of alumni were cooling off with ice packs and liquid refreshments at an off-campus location, Smith finished the last of her co-chair duties, looked at the now empty Sea Hawk Bowl and remarked “This really was a love story. Not just for one couple but for the many people who came for the love of their school.”

As for the high school sweethearts who inspired the event, Jim Vetrovec is returning to Wyoming to sell his home and return to Southern California where he and Barbara can begin writing a new chapter of Sea Hawk lore. ER