Carnett: No one covered OC sports like Carl Sawyer
He was a talented sportswriter who could write circles around most of his contemporaries.
When we first met in 1967, I viewed him from afar in the Santa Ana (now Orange County) Register newsroom, where I worked as a copy boy.
He was Carl Sawyer, a Register scribe and columnist for 36 years, from 1958 to 1994. For 32 years, Sawyer wrote a weekly column, “Sawdust.”
He became a mentor to me and a friend.
Sawyer retired from the Register in 1994 and died in 2008 at the age of 76.
I worked at the Register in 1967 while studying journalism at Orange Coast College. I filled the 4 p.m. to midnight slot, monitoring the newsroom wire machines and constantly moving copy out to the news and sports desks for the morning edition. I earned $1.75 an hour.
Though the pay was negligible, the experience was rich.
On Friday and Saturday nights during the ’67 football season, at about 11 p.m., I’d watch Sawyer return to the office from a high school or junior college game to write his story. Though on deadline, he always had a friendly “hey there” for me as he made his way across the newsroom to his squeaky swivel chair in front of an ancient manual typewriter.
That was unusual. A rigid pecking order existed in the newsroom in those days, and copyboy was at the bottom of the heap. Reporters pretty much ignored me.
But Sawyer was generous. And I was impressed as I watched him bat out his 15-inch game stories in 30 minutes. He was quick to fashion a compelling read. I faithfully perused his work the following morning.
My dream was to become a reporter like Sawyer.
A Santa Ana College graduate, Sawyer served as sports editor and editor of the school’s student newspaper, El Don. He transferred to USC, where he became editor of the Daily Trojan.
Legendary Register sports editor Eddie West hired Sawyer in 1958. Sawyer covered Orange County sports his entire career. He was perhaps the premier journalist in the nation covering community colleges. He also reported on high school sports, Pac-10 football, the Rose Bowl, NCAA basketball, the Rams and the Olympics.
Sawyer won 18 Orange County Press Club awards — the most by any sportswriter — though you’d never know that because he didn’t discuss it. He was unpretentious. Put simply: He was a superb writer who loved to write.
I actually came to know Sawyer in 1971, when I was hired as Orange Coast College’s director of community relations and sports information. He regularly covered our athletic teams.
Sawyer loved his Santa Ana College Dons, and I used to rib him about that. I called him Santa Ana’s “unofficial sports information director” (SID).
But he also gave excellent coverage to all county JCs. Sawyer was a respected voice for community college athletics.
During football and basketball seasons, he’d regularly call me for updated stats and information. I’d pick up the phone, and he’d shout, “Jimbo!”
I’d bellow back, “Carlos!”
From the early 1970s and into the ‘80s, he ran a Tuesday night Orange County community college football coaches dinner at a Santa Ana restaurant. Journalists who regularly attended included Sawyer, L.A. Times curmudgeon Al Carr and no-nonsense Fullerton News Tribune sports editor Bob Lenard.
All-county JC head coaches were there, along with their SIDs and an assistant coach or two. We’d discuss the previous weekend’s results and next weekend’s matchups.
I loved those dinners. Head coaches Dick Tucker (OCC), Hal Sherbeck (Fullerton), Dick Gorrie (Santa Ana), Ray Shackleford (Golden West), Don Lent (Cypress) and George Hartman (Saddleback) were regulars.
The smoke that was blown during those meetings — and I don’t mean tobacco effluvium — was breathtaking. But it was a hoot!
Sawyer always ran a classy show. Lots of observations and quotes from the dinners made it into his column.
No one was a more dedicated OC sportswriter than Carl Sawyer.
JIM CARNETT, who lives in Costa Mesa, worked for Orange Coast College for 37 years.