By John Murphy
I was surprised recently when Cris Warmerdam tracked me down at a newspaper in Southern California. The news was not good. His father, Bill, has died.
Bill Warmerdam, the iconic coach of the Aptos High Mariners in the 1980s and early 1990s, is gone. I covered a lot of his games back in the day and had a few beers with him at the Aptos Club.
(A celebration of Warmerdam’s life will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, June 4 at the Aptos High gymnasium that bears his name).
Warmerdam was unconventional. A maverick. For one, he employed a press that didn’t always work. I pointed this out to him after a game against the now-defunct Marello Prep. He explained that it lured Marello into hurrying shots at the other end.
Following every game, I’d give him my take based upon my scant playing experience as a freshman hoopster at Serra High. “Nah, that’s not it,” he’d say before explaining what really happened.
Warmer won his 300th game while I was still at the Watsonville Register-Pajaronian. We trumpeted the occasion with a big story. In it, Warmer presented his “20-point plan for success.” Among his points was “good media relations” — this included all three Mariner coaches calling in their results after every game. I appreciated that.
There were other unique things. His teams eschewed the clock. They didn’t do that bullshit thing where the point guard dribbles around for 10 seconds and then fires up a 3-pointer at the buzzer that misses. More often, they’d score with 10 seconds left, press, steal the ball and score again.
Aptos did not have heady, little defensive specialists who couldn’t shoot but hustled a lot. Those guys got left in AYBA. Warmer wanted tall guys who could hit the mark. Every player in the Mariner lineup put the ball in the hole and was tall enough to pass over the press.
The Mariners were also loose. From the time they took the court to the loud rock strains of the Police to the final buzzer, they boogied. They shot, and ran, and dribbled the ball behind their backs and scored. Oh, how they scored.
Santa Cruz, coached by Pete Newell Jr., was also a power. They had players like Glenallen Hill and Johnnie Johnson and they could hoop. Seemed like the Cardinals always took a big lead against Aptos but then here come the Mariners. Unfettered by worry and playing freely, they usually seemed to beat the Cardinals at the end. Newell noticed and changed the way he coached over the years. That was part of the reason the Pistol won a state title in his final year.
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Aptos ruled the 1986 postseason. There was a riveting game against San Mateo in which Cris Warmerdam had like 11 blocked shots. That may have also been the season the Mariners rallied from 10 points down in the final minute to stun Salinas.
Eventually the Mariners wound up in the NorCal semifinals in Sacramento. Or was it Stockton? If you remember it all, you weren’t really there.
Aptos won, and it was St. Patrick’s Day. So after the game Warmer and his assistant coaches repaired to an Irish bar in the downtown area. Things were festive and Aptos parents sent Warmer and his guys shots. Fellow scribe Richard Egan and I did the same. And somewhere along the way, I may have transferred (allegedly) a six-pack of Heineken from the cooler to our table. That was enough fun for Warmer who promptly arose from the table and departed.
The next day was the NorCal title game vs. Mt. Eden at the Oakland Coliseum Arena. Poor assistant coach Ray Tanimoto, who was such a huge part of Aptos’ success, was in a daze the whole game from all those suds the night before. Ah, the memories.
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Mt. Eden was like 33-0, whippet quick and supposedly unbeatable. Certainly the “surfer kids from Santa Cruz” were not a threat. The Mariners were tall, yeah, but all blond, and sun-tanned and looking more ready for a day at Cowell’s Beach.
Aptos had about 25 turnovers but kept coming. Jeff Jones buried 20-footers. Warren Hull did the dirty work. Cris Warmerdam blocked shots. Bobby Bugalski came off the bench to make a free throw or two. And Warmer’s wife, Pat, worked the rosary beads up in the stands.
Warmer started freshman Craig Holt at point guard and I asked the cagy one why.
“Because he’s a freshman and he’s too dumb to be scared,” Warmer said.
That was prophetic, as with Aptos leading by one in the final minute, Craig got the ball in the corner of the court. He whipped a behind-the-back pass to his brother under the hoop for the lay-in. That was the clincher. Aptos was the champs.
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The Mariners fell to Wilson of Hacienda Height in the state title game. Wilson had a dude named Scott Williams who made the NBA. Warmer said Wilson would have won even without Williams.
No matter. Aptos celebrated heartily following the season. There was a parade down Aptos’ main drag. I think the team was in a flat-bed truck.
After the parade, everyone headed for a local restaurant. Warmer thanked the reporters who covered his team and quipped, “These guys write stories about us, but I could tell you some stories about them.”
The late Pajaronian and Santa Cruz Sentinel sportswriter, Greg Lathrop, said a few words. He told how former Pajaronian sports editor Garson Matusoff (my predecessor) drove off a cliff and died. There was memorial service and Warmer was the only area coach who showed.
That was Bill Warmerdam all right. That’s how Warmer rolled.
Reach John Murphy at jmurphy@redlandscommunitynews.com. Read more from Murphy at https://authory.com/JohnMurphy. Follow him on Twitter at @PrepDawg2.
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