Virgen: Another night to remember

There were some compelling highlights at the 54th annual Athletic Awards Dinner, hosted by the Commodores Club of the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce Thursday night at the Radisson Hotel in Newport Beach.

Not one highlight really stood out over the other. There were all pleasant memories from an elite group of 35 high school student-athletes, 15 from Corona del Mar, 15 from Newport Harbor and five from Sage Hill School.

There were several friendly faces, everyone happy to honor the seniors, as well as great coaches: Dan Glenn (volleyball) and Eric Tweit (cross country, track and field) from Newport Harbor, Corona del Mar’s Barry O’Dea (boys’ water polo, boys’ swim) and Sage Hill’s A.G. Longoria (boys’ and girls’ tennis).

The schools’ athletic directors Don Grable (CdM), Mike Zimmerman (Newport Harbor) and Megan Cid (Sage Hill) showed some love for the Daily Pilot, publicly thanking the newspaper’s sports staff.

It was the end of an era for these great athletes that represented their sports teams extremely well. They were featured in our Thursday edition.

They all had their own unique story. The first athlete I saw on Thursday night had a special, yet funny one.

That was Brett Beaudette, the last of three brothers who excelled in athletics at Newport Harbor. He said he was excited to receive his free gym bag from a local sponsor because he had always envied the ones his older brothers, Bradley (Class of 2011) and Brian (Class of 2007), received for the same Athletic Awards from the Commodores Club.

As one Beaudette graduated, the next one began at Harbor. They each played football and wrestled all four years. Brett added boys’ lacrosse his senior year.

Brian was the first state qualifier for wrestling coach Dominic Bulone, who was in attendance Thursday night. Bradley was Bulone’s first CIF Southern Section champion and also qualified for state. Brett was just like his older brothers and placed in CIF for wrestling.

They all played for Coach Jeff Brinkley’s football teams and achieved success for the Sailors.

High school athletics doesn’t totally appear to be the finale of organized competition for Brett.

Each of the student-athletes honored Thursday night spoke into the mic to say what college he or she would attend. Brett was specific.

“I’m going to TCU and will play intramural sports,” Brett said.

Everyone laughed.

Zimmerman also had at least the Sailors’ side of the room laughing, because he made several references to Newport Harbor winning the Battle of the Bay in girls’ water polo three times in one season. The Sea Kings did win in football, however.

But Zimmerman did have a serious moment when he accepted Tweit’s Coach of the Year award on his behalf, as Tweit was in Clovis for the CIF State Track and Field Championships.

Tweit had been the Sailors’ athletic director before Zimmerman, who talked about that situation in 2009 when Zimmerman was hired.

Zimmerman said he can call Tweit a friend because Tweit helped him despite the change.

Zimmerman also said Tweit remains the backbone of Newport Harbor athletics.

Dennis Kuhl, the Angels team chairman, was the featured speaker for the dinner. He joked that he gained his job because his friend is the owner of the Angels. Kuhl and Arte Moreno were fraternity brothers at University of Arizona.

Kuhl also talked about failure being a means toward success. He asked them to keep that in mind as they move on to college.

I suspect the student-athletes already experienced Kuhl’s statement during their high school chapter of life.