Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Fame: Dan Petrone, Estancia

Barry Faulkner

Dan Petrone picked up his first barbell when he was 5 years old.

He’s been uplifting others ever since.

An All-CIF Southern Section football player and a CIF champion wrestler

at Estancia High (Class of 1990), Petrone was equally proficient in the

classroom.

Beneath the Mohawk haircut which typified the intensity he unleashed as a

senior linebacker and tight end on the winningest team in Estancia

football history -- the 10-1 Sea View League champions of 1989 -- was an

Ivy League mind.

A prototypic overachiever as an athlete, Petrone pumped iron with a

passion, hit as many books as running backs, and bided his time for nine

semesters at Orange Coast College, before a Division I college program

opened its arms to the 5-foot-10, 195-pound wrecking ball.

New York-based Columbia University, of course, provided more than a

helmet and shoulder pads.

“It was a huge learning experience and a great education,” said Petrone,

who now passes on his passion for academics, as well as the athletics, to

student-athletes at Saddleback High in Santa Ana.

“When I graduated from Columbia in 1995, I came back (to Orange County)

and started working as a personal trainer,” the still-chiseled Petrone

said. “I liked that job, but it just didn’t give me the fulfillment I was

looking for. So, I thought about getting into teaching and coaching,

because I’d always believed it was a way to help influence students and

give them a positive role model.”

So, Petrone returned to school, obtained a master’s degree from

Pepperdine, and began teaching world history, economics and government at

Saddleback. He is also an assistant wrestling coach (all levels), an

assistant freshmen football coach, and works with the Roadrunners’

softball program, as well.

Not surprisingly, Petrone’s presence helped the Saddleback freshmen

football team complete a 10-0 season and earn a Golden West League

championship this fall. His rapport with student-athletes has also helped

attract about 80 wrestlers to a program that consisted of fewer than 30

when he arrived.

“It’s a great opportunity to work with kids, share some of my experiences

with them and teach them about leadership in and out of the classroom,”

said Petrone, 27, who lives with wife Melanie, 3-year-old son D.J. (short

for Dan Junior) and 1-year-old daughter Savannah Marie in Rancho Santa

Margarita.

Petrone, one of former Estancia football coach John Liebengood’s favorite

players, said his commitment to his children will likely keep him on the

lower levels as a prep coach. But, as his children grow into adulthood,

the latest member of the Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Fame said he would

eventually love to thrust his heart and mind into politics.

“I’d like to get involved in city government and work my way up from

there,” he said. “Right now, my focus is on teaching and spending time

with my family, but I want to eventually be a part of the political

leadership.”

Petrone’s impact at Estancia is recalled fondly by Liebengood.

“He was one of the toughest 195-pound kids I ever met,” Liebengood said.

“He was very devoted and intense, he could really hit you and, obviously,

he was very smart.”

The Sea View League Defensive Player of the Year as a senior, he was also

named to the Daily Pilot’s Big Team, consisting of the top players from

the four Newport-Mesa District schools spanning the years 1965-90.

Petrone was a two-year starter at inside linebacker for OCC. He earned

second-team All-Mission Conference recognition with the Pirates, was an

academic All-American and the team’s co-captain.

At Columbia, he helped lead the Lions to their first winning season in

two decades his junior year, started two seasons at inside ‘backer and

earned a degree in psychology.

As a prep wrestler, he was twice league champion and won the Southern

Section 2-A crown at 191 pounds as a senior.

Though damaged nerves in his neck and shoulders -- remnants of countless

collisions between the hash marks -- have kept him away from contact

sports, Petrone, on a dare from a co-worker, ran the Los Angeles Marathon

in March. Despite limited training and extreme cramps throughout his body

on race day, he finished with a respectable time of 4 hours, 45 minutes.

He also plays in a flag football league and, naturally, trains with

weights. His best on the bench press is 395 pounds and his maximum squat

is an eye-popping 625.

“It’s funny, I started lifting when I was 5, because my dad worked out

and I wanted to imitate him,” Petrone said. “Now, I work out in my garage

and my son has already started pushing the weights around to imitate me.”