Carnett: Coach Tucker deserves the naming honor

Clay Tucker is on a quest.

Like most ex-quarterbacks, he can be a formidable opponent when facing a challenge. He’s prepared for most things that life can throw his way: Cover two zone defenses and deal with safety blitzes and even the occasional unhinged nickel back.

But now comes a new initiative.

The former Corona del Mar High Q.B. is leading an effort to permanently etch his father’s name into the superstructure of Orange Coast College’s LeBard Stadium. You might remember that I rhapsodized at length about LeBard last week.

Clay’s father, Dick Tucker, was OCC’s highly successful grid coach for 24 seasons, from 1962 through 1985. Clay was a southpaw scrambler in the style of NFL great Steve Young. He played for his dad at Orange Coast for two seasons: 1981 and 1982.

“(Coach Tucker) put OCC football on the map,” says Clay with pride. “His name belongs in the stadium; he impacted thousands of lives. The 1960s and ‘70s were JC football’s golden era.”

I agree. Dick is a junior college coaching legend.

He arrived at OCC in 1962 as head football coach. The following year he led the Pirates to the Junior Rose Bowl championship and the national title. In his first three seasons, the Bucs went 25-5 and played in three bowl games. His Pirates captured a second national crown in 1975.

Dick served as athletic director from 1979 to ’89. He retired in 1995 after 33 years at the college.

The Long Beach native was hired as head football coach at Brea-Olinda High School in 1951. In 11 seasons, his Brea teams gobbled up eight league championships and two CIF titles. They were Orange League champs seven years running.

Orange Coast College’s football fortunes during that same era were less sterling. During the 1959, ’60 and ’61 campaigns, the Pirates went a combined 7-19-1. By the spring of 1962, founding OCC President Basil H. Peterson had had enough. He hired Dick.

“Though I loved Brea, I told Dr. Peterson I was ready to make the move,” Dick told me in an interview several years ago.

That first season, Dick and his assistants, Dale Wonacott and Fred Owens, turned OCC’s program around. The Pirates went 9-1 and beat Glendale College, 23-16, in the Orange Show Bowl in San Bernardino.

In 1963, LeBard Stadium was packed for every game. I was an OCC student at the time and a huge Pirate booster.

Junior College All-America quarterback Billy White led the Bucs to a 10-0 record.

The Pirates meshed their high-powered offense with a bone-crushing defense. They didn’t allow a touchdown in the month of September and logged six shutouts in 10 games. They overwhelmed the opposition by an average score of 33-4.

On Saturday, Dec. 14, 1963, Orange Coast beat Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, 21-0, to win the Junior Rose Bowl. More than 44,000 fans were on hand, and the game was telecast on NBC to a national audience. Chick Hearn called the action.

Northeastern Oklahoma and OCC were 1-2 in the nation before the game. The Pirates dominated the action.

“We were thrilled with the win,” Dick said.

The late Coast Community College District Chancellor Norman E. Watson told me in 1998 that the Junior Rose Bowl was OCC’s “seminal event.” It “put the college on the map.”

Dick produced a second national championship in 1975. OCC’s Pirates went 11-0 and defeated Rio Hondo College in the Avocado Bowl, 38-14.

In 24 seasons at OCC, Dick logged a 129-102-5 mark for a .558 winning percentage. Six of his squads won conference championships, and he was voted Conference Coach of the Year six times. Twice he was California’s JC Coach of the Year. His combined 35-year OCC and high school record was 231-115-5.

In March 2004, in the crowning achievement of his career, he was inducted into the California Community College Football Coaches Assn. Hall of Fame.

At 88, he resides with his wife, Philippa, in Newport Beach.

Dick Tucker Field at LeBard Stadium. It has a nice ring to it.

JIM CARNETT, who lives in Costa Mesa, worked for Orange Coast College for 37 years.