Tireless Sumner still setting pace

ROGER CARLSON

Just six weeks separate today and the Orange County Marathon, a

26-mile, 185-yard event which begins at Newport Center, meanders up

to and around Interstate 405 and out to near the El Toro Y. It then

winds back through the Woodbridge area before heading south, ending

up near Corona del Mar High and the Back Bay.

Some 10,000 competitors and around 25,000 spectators are expected

and the “trigger” of the Dec. 5 event is Corona del Mar track and

field and cross country coach Bill Sumner.

One can only wonder “who else,” in terms of a race director.

“I wanted so badly for this event to be here,” said Sumner from

his Cal Coast Track Club headquarters in Newport Beach.

He predicted it will bring between $4 and $5 million into the

community. To date, they’ve produced 260,000 brochures on the race

and there is an aura of “hurry-up” throughout the program, which

includes six full-time employees and 35 more on a part-time basis.

There’s also a half marathon, a 5K and a kids’ run.

Judging by the brochure, it comes with all the trimmings. The goal

is to raise $1 million for Run for Orange County Kids.

Brevity is the key when getting into the subject of Sumner because

there are simply too many avenues in his lifestyle, which easily

consumes some 80 hours, and more, on a weekly basis.

A resident of Irvine, he and wife Mary-Ellen are “childless,” yet

his “family” numbers into the thousands from his 21-year career as the Sea Kings’ walk-on cross country and track and field coach.

Among his endeavors at his Cal Coast Track Club, aside from the

upcoming marathon, as well as at CdM, is a Magic Shoe Program, the

Santa Ana Boys & Girls Club, Fit 4 Kids Program, Get Fit Program and

work in the American Heart and Stroke Association.

Each is a story in itself, and he finds great satisfaction in

each.

The boys & girls club is strictly for satisfaction where he tends

to nearly 500 aspiring runners, some who are actually homeless,

because, as Sumner explains, “it makes me feel good.”

The Fit 4 Kids and Magic Shoes (giving away refurbished running

shoes) are both on a massive scale. He has visited 3,000 youngsters

in one week with his brand of magic persuasion. Over the years,

thousands of free, usable shoes have been passed on to kids who need

them.

Additionally, he has a vast collection of stories to tell

regarding his past and present athletes.

If you want a dialogue with Sumner, best to pack a lunch.

Because of it, this indefatigable one finds himself afflicted with

what he calls “AAAD,” short for Advanced Adult Attention Deficit,” a

synonym for having three or four things to do, constantly, sometimes

resulting in a tardy slip or two.

It’s a joke, really, because no one has his finger on as many as

Sumner, who treasures each with the fondness of a doting parent. One

of his favorite stories revolves around a recent Mother’s Day phone

call when four of his Corona del Mar High products called from the

site of the Ivy League track and field championships.

Josh Yelsey (Yale), Liz Morse (Princeton), Katie Quinlan (Brown)

and Lindsey Yourman (Harvard) each got on the horn and gave him a

play-by-play of their events and how they were doing as a “Father’s

Day present.”

A senior and three juniors bending the ear of their high school

coach.

“How does it get any better than that,” said Sumner, with a

noticeable gulp.

It’s a far cry from his misguided days as a youngster when he

bounced around from first Sierra Vista High, then Baldwin Park High,

then Monrovia High, then Arcadia High, then John Muir High and

finally back to Baldwin Park High, where he persuaded his teachers to

give him a last chance.

What had been a kicked-out situation finally evolved into

graduation.

Mired in a very tough El Monte neighborhood -- twice he was

stabbed and once was shot at it, the bullet just missing -- he found

refuge in running.

Coach Dave Casper (Baldwin Park) and Coach Seymour Black (Sierra

Vista) were the only steadying factors he knew.

“They both claim they taught me everything I know,” said the

56-year-old Sumner. “But my coaches at Mt. San Antonio College, Don

Ruh and John Norton, say the same thing.”

At any rate, it’s obvious plenty from each rubbed off and,

eventually, he realized his first love, running, was the passion he

needed to pursue after serving in the U.S. Army before considerable

time in insurance sales and as a “B-1” contractor.

In terms of on-paper success over the past 20-plus seasons,

Sumner’s CdM teams have been to 17 state meets with five state

championships and eight CIF Southern Section divisional crowns. In

all, there are 18 CIF plaques dominating the walls of his office.

Actually that’s a little misleading. Two or three of them are among

the litter of items stacked around the office floor. And wall space

is becoming limited.

There’s a very long list of athletes on Sumner’s mental list,

starting with Dave Anderson, Brian Hunsaker, Andy Gerken and Nick

Rose before he became head coach at CdM, and continuing with Eddie

LaVelle, Jim Robbins, Brian Slingsby and Josh Yelsey.

The girls, “more fun, but also more difficult,” are dominated by

Liz Morse and Julie Allen. Morse, once the No. 1 half-miler in the

nation, and Allen, a national champion at 5,000 meters.

Now, he has Anne St. Geme, a junior who stopped the watches at

4:49 in the 1,600 meters as a sophomore.

With Hilary May (4:59 mile) and freshman Allison Damon lighting it

up, he believes his fifth-ranked girls in Division III are a

legitimate threat to finish in the top three at state.

Other categories include “best athletes” (Mollie Flint and Tim

Gulushi) and “hardest working” (Josh Yelsey and Tracy Clark).

In terms of wins and losses, however, the “AAAD” factor works in.

Sheer numbers have always been a dilemma.

“I think we’ve lost five [girls] dual meets [in 13 years],” said Sumner, who always sums up his team’s early-season situation as

“reloading.” The Sea Kings’ cross country blue chips always stay at

Four Points while at the CIF State championships in Fresno, and

Sumner says, “It’s always the Saturday after Thanksgiving. They know

we’re coming,” he said.

His athletes have the same attitude. “I ask how many of you

picture yourself at state in November,” and then I say, ‘Now focus

here.’ ”

Rivals often characterize him as “cocky.”

If that’s the description of a chronic upbeat coach with the

confidence and track record of a winner, then I guess it’s true.

He also has the edge as a coach of a sport that does not know the

meaning of the word, “cut.” Every year some 200 or so from an

enrollment of perhaps 1,100, belong to Sumner, Inc.

It’s a 1-2-3 world with the emphasis on No. 1, but 60 yards behind

is a duel between a couple of seniors fighting for 14th place, in a closed capsule of one-on-one.

“Nobody’s on the bench,” said Sumner. “Winning is taking a ‘dee’

to a ‘cee.’ ”

Throughout the frenetic pace, Sumner said he has yet to miss a

single CdM track or cross country meet.

“My kids [at Corona del Mar] come first,” he said.

One of eight children, Sumner’s childhood was not the sort of

lifestyle one associates with the Corona del Mar scene, where he has

near-legendary status in the land of milk and honey.

They even have a special bench and an oak tree already in place

for him near the track when, should he ever actually run out of gas,

he decides to sit back and watch.

With state in Fresno in late November, timing appears just right

for the Orange County Marathon on Dec. 5.

But chances are the “AAAD” factor will still be something the

event’s race director will have to deal with.

A bundle of information on the marathon is available at

www.ocmarathon.com or by e-mail at calcoasttrack.com.

Oh, there’s also the matter of a free kids track meet Nov. 14 at

Corona del Mar High, including the 200-, 400- and 800-meter races, a

kids mile and an adult mile challenge. More on that is available at

(949) 476-7076.

*

Someone who was very dear to the hearts of Newport Harbor High

athletics in the ‘70s era, Jack Mulroy, the father of probably the

best receiver in the school’s football history, Vinnie Mulroy, passed

away Oct. 17. He was 84.

Funeral services were Saturday at St. Joachim’s Catholic Church in

Costa Mesa and the family requested any donations be directed to

Share Our Selves, 1550 Superior Ave. in Costa Mesa; or the St.

Vincent de Paul Society.

His son Vinnie said at Saturday’s service: “He lived life true to

his own moral compass.”

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

He can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].