Viewpoints
12 | November 15, 2012
Sports
Serving students since 1922
RCC’s title run ends at regional
travis West Staff Writer
Riverside City College women’s water polo team was expected to compete for their third straight state championship until Fullerton College ended those expectations in the Southern California Regionals. Fullerton defeated RCC, 8-7 at Fullerton College to advance to the finals on Nov. 10. Fullerton has been a problem for the Tigers all season. On Nov. 2, during the Orange Empire Conference Championships, Fullerton beat the Tigers 9-6. That loss ended RCC’s reign as conference title holders for the last eight seasons. The season series heading into regionals was split with each team winning twice and losing twice. Every game was close between these two teams. Out of the four games played, each was decided by three goals or less. Crucial losses earlier in the season resulted in the Tigers being seeded No. 3 in the regional playoffs. Tiger head coach David Almquist said he wanted his team to be seeded higher, but would make the best of it. Fullerton handed RCC their second loss earlier this season in a triple overtime finish to determine a winner. The semifinal matchup was intense from the beginning with
Paul Harris / Staff Photographer
Calm waters: Riverside City College women’s water polo team was unable to get passed Fullerton College at the Southern California Regionals Championships. both teams knowing that winner would move on to the finals of the SoCal Regionals and also to secure a spot in the state tournament. The game was close as both teams offense traded goals for the entire game. Scoring did not seem like it was going to be a problem for either team. D e f e n s i v e l y, t h e Ti g e r s were strong, but Fullerton was able to capitalize on the Tigers’ mistakes.
Execution on the offensive side of the ball slowly became a problem for the Tigers. The shots were there, but they could not get the ball in the cage. Emmie Betz said that her team outplayed Fullerton, but just could not make the most of their scoring chances. “We definitely outplayed them, however, we simply did not execute,” Betz said. “We played stellar defense and we managed
to get great scoring looks nearly every play, we just didn’t execute our opportunities.” Naturally, players on the Tigers were upset about the loss; however, the team’s effort did not allow them to hang their head low. “I think that was the most heart we have played with as a team all season,” Betz explained. Betz mentioned that she and a few other players will be returning, including leading goal scorer,
Megan Guerts. Almquist is disappointed about the way the season ended, but he knows his players did their best. RCC defeated Cerritos 8-6 to take third place. Betz expects her team to be in a position to win state next season. “We are just going to remember what this feels like when we come back next year and use it as motivation.”
Lucky would return to visit his son’s team during their practices. “He would walk in and say ‘Wow, this place still smells the same,” John said of his father before his passing. “It was such a surreal feeling to see his eyes and face light up when he walked in the gym.” Though there is a new Wheelock Gym, John continues to remember the legacy his father created at RCC, while forging his own.
John spent his early years looking up to his father. As John was growing up, Lucky played in the NBA. Because of his involvement in the NBA, Lucky was not around until John hit the age of 13. John picked up basketball at the age of five. John’s love for basketball took off from there. He played three years at Arlington High School then left for his final season to play for the prestigious, J.W. North basketball program. “The tradition of North basketball was great so I would have a better chance of going to the next level from North,” said John. With the help of his father, John did just that. He went on to attend the University of Nevada in Las Vegas. A man familiar to the John family was coaching UNLV at the time, a coaching legend that won three state championships while coaching at RCC in the 1960s, Jerry Tarkanian. “I wanted to go to UNLV and I wanted to follow in my father’s footsteps,” said John. After playing just one season at UNLV, John left to play at the junior college level. “In year two in the third game of the season, Oregon State was coming to watch me play and I shattered my hand and tore tendons in my knee on the same play. I was out for the year and I started coaching,” John said. John then went on to enroll at California State University
San Bernardino. While he was an assistant coach at his alma mater, North High School. John coaching career took him to his first college job at the University of Southern Idaho, where he coached a very talented team that included future NBA player Smush Parker. Since coaching at RCC, John’s career would go down a path most coaches would not attempt, coaching hearing-impaired players. John played basketball with a friend of his, named Mike Torrez, who was a deaf player. Torrez introduced John to the first deaf player he would coach, Orion Palmer. “He was really good for us and it opened up my eyes to another way of getting things done on the basketball court,” John said. While communication should be a standard whether you have a deaf player or not, it forces the player to “communicate on every single play,” John added. John speaks at the California School for the Deaf here in
Riverside every other summer. Smith urges the participants to “keep pushing hard because someday there is going to be a deaf player in the NBA or WNBA.” John is in his 9th year coaching at RCC. That includes a state championship with the 2006 squad. John has turned down many coaching jobs from four-year universities. “John won the first championship here since the Tarkanian era, which makes me very proud,” said John’s mother, Allicestyne Smith. Riverside is where John grew up and where his family resides. John said he would only consider leaving “if a friend went with me who understands my priorities with my family” or “if I was offered a head coaching job.” But if neither of those happen, John is just fine with staying where he is. “This is the greatest junior college coaching job in all of California,” John said.
RCC is more than just a workplace for John Smith
Tim Cornell Staff Writer
The old Wheelock Gymnasium at Riverside City College may be gone, but the memories remain with basketball coach John Smith. John was not the first in his family to make some noise in the Wheelock Gym. Lucky Smith, John’s father, won two state championships as a player while at RCC. Years after playing in the gym,
Tim Cornell / Staff Photographer
home Sweet Home: Coach Smith speaks at the Wheelock Gym rededication at RCC on Nov. 3.