» Without shame, I will admit to being more than just a little misty eyed over the weekend as Tom Watson pursued another British Open title …
» Watson was a frequent participant in the St. Francis Hospital Pro-Celebrity tournament at the Montecito Country Club, and I got to know him and his then-wife, Linda, well, walking the hilly fairways at the course with them year after year …
» Without question, Watson is one of the most accessible, classy professional athletes you will ever find. He and his wife always remembered me from the year before, and seemed genuinely interested in my life and my career. He’s one of those special people you root really hard for …
» That he came up just short of his title goal Sunday does not diminish his accomplishment this week at Turnberry. Just imagine … he is 2 months shy of turning SIXTY. The oldest winner of one of golf’s major championships was 46 …
» My recent item reminiscing about the enjoyable touch football games the guys from the News-Press sports department used to have on Sunday afternoons at Montecito Union School with Larry Crandell and his kids prompted a nice reply from Sir Larry himself. “In my mind’s eye,” Mr. Santa Barbara wrote, “you are in our mid-20s.” (Thanks, Larry!!!!). The world would be such a better place if there were more Larry Crandells out there …
» Another reader asks how legendary local umpire Stubby Herman got his nickname. Herman was a short, quite rotund man, but he covered the baseball diamond and his assignments perfectly. Today, he probably wouldn’t get the same plum assignments because he didn’t fit the “mold” they seem to be looking for …
» Have such great memories of sitting in the brand-new Campus Stadium with my brother, Steve, watching the Gauchos football team. That first game, we all stomped so hard on the metal stadium, lights in the press box broke. What a glorious time it was, walking under the eucalyptus trees to the stadium for a Saturday afternoon of pure joy …
» Dos Pueblos High used Campus (now Harder) Stadium as its home football field for several seasons but then the cost became prohibitive …
» My class at DPHS held its graduation ceremony at Campus Stadium …
» Speaking of UCSB, while the Thunderdome has gained a reputation nationally as a great environment for college basketball, old Robertson Gym was also a fun place when it was full, hot and rockin’. Especially remember the days when the then-powerhouse Long Beach State teams would come in …
» Rob Gym may have been at its loudest during the heyday of Gaucho volleyball! I don’t know that I’ve heard it any louder than it was during the 1974 NCAA Men’s Volleyball championship match between perennial champion UCLA and the Gauchos. UCLA, under legendary coach Al Scates, rallied to win a five-game marathon match. If memory serves, the match didn’t end until close to 11:30 p.m., and I had to have my story for the News-Press filed by midnight …
» The Santa Barbara High–San Marcos basketball game was played at Rob Gym for several years in the 1960s. After Dos Pueblos was built later that decade, attendance at the events dropped a bit until a resurrection in the early 1970s. Until they moved the crosstown games to the Sports Pavilion at SBCC, if you didn’t arrive during the freshman game, you didn’t get a seat …
» The last day of summer for years and years in our neighborhood was always marked by all of the kids piling in next-door neighbor Carmen Holland’s car and zipping up to El Capitan State Beach for a day of body surfing …
» The owners built Glen Annie Golf Club across the street from my alma mater after I had moved away from the area in 1996. Last month, they announced plans to close down, but a new ownership group stepped in to save the course, at least temporarily …
— Noozhawk columnist Paul Yarbrough can be reached at pyarbrough@noozhawk.com.