The task was straightforward, even if the legacy made it difficult. All Bob Schermerhorn had to do was continue a basketball coaching legacy at Riverside City College started by Jerry Tarkanian, then passed to Bill Mulligan, Dave Waxman and Bob Boyd.
Yes, that Tarkanian. That Mulligan. That Boyd and That Waxman, who may not have had the Division I pedigree of the other three, but who more than established his bona fides running the Tigers’ basketball program during the 1970s and 1980s. But if there was one thing that Schermerhorn didn’t take seriously, it was himself. In interviews, his self-deprecating sense of humor was never far from the surface.
And like everything else about “Coach ‘Horn,” that served him very well during a 40-year Hall-of-Fame coaching career that covered numerous stops throughout Southern California, along with Utah, Arizona and his native Indiana.
Schermerhorn, who coached at RCC from 1989 to 1997 among numerous stops that also included an interim stint at Arizona State, at Southern Utah and as Mulligan’s assistant at UC Irvine, died Monday. He was 75.
When it came to continuing that legacy, Schermerhorn more than held up his end. He concluded his RCC career with 225 victories, a .676 winning percentage and status as the second winningest coach in school history. Schermerhorn won three conference championships and took the Tigers to the playoffs all nine seasons, reaching the State Final Four three times (1993, 1994 and 1996). His 1995 team reached the Final Eight.
He was the State Coach of the Year in 1996 and Orange Empire Conference Coach of the Year in 1994 and 1996. He was inducted into the California Community College Basketball Coaches’ Hall of Fame in 2003 and the Riverside City College Athletic Hall of Fame in 2013.
“Horn was sprinkled with a little salt, a little vinegar, but deep down, he was filled with the sweetness of a jelly doughnut,” said Geoff Gorham, the Fox Sports 1350 talk show host and UC Riverside analyst, who played for Schermerhorn in 1991 and coached with him from 1996-98. “As a coach, Bob was able to mesh a team full of misfit boys and weave them into responsible young men.”
On top of being a great coach, Schermerhorn was a reporter’s dream. Not only was he accessible, but once you got him, he had a knack for dropping the perfect one-line to describe either his team or his opponent. At the same time, his teaching knack never left him; you’d always walk away from an interview with Schermerhorn knowing more about the game than when you started.
Former Press-Enterprise reporter Dennis Pope, who covered Schermerhorn’s teams, tweeted that “‘Horn was the first RCC coach to allow me inside access… Great quote, fiery guy, teddy bear w/ kids. …”
A Marine veteran who served in Vietnam, Schermerhorn’s legacy went beyond RCC. Aside from his Division I experience, Schermerhorn was the first coach at Canyon High in Anaheim Hills, before moving to Chaffey College. After retiring as RCC athletic director in 2005, he spent a year at Fullerton College before moving back to his home state of Indiana in 2010 and coaching at Holy Cross College in South Bend for three seasons.
While his basketball escapades understandably define his legacy, Schermerhorn’s abilities as an administrator can’t be ignored. As RCC athletic director, a position he took after nine years on the Tigers’ sidelines, Schermerhorn was the guiding force behind the RCC Athletic Hall of Fame and worked tirelessly to pass the Measure C bond that upgraded the Tigers’ athletic facilities.
This had a direct impact on the success you see today in RCC’s programs.
Highlanders finish April with a flourish
UC Riverside capped off one of the busiest non-playing months in recent memory by welcoming guard George Wilborn III, who will join the Highlanders as a transfer from the University of Texas at San Antonio.
The 6-foot-3 Wilborn started 18 games for UTSA this season, averaging 7.7 points and 4.2 rebounds on 46.3 percent shooting, with 11 double-digit scoring games. He will sit out this season as a transfer and regain his eligibility as a redshirt junior for the 2019-2020 season.
Wilborn is the fourth player to sign with UCR this month, joining Australian guard Dragan Elkaz, New Zealand U19 National Team member Callum McRae and Texas forward Zac Watson.
They form the first crop of signings by new
Thieroff bashes way onto list
Cal Baptist University slugger Hannah Thieroff, who has used this season to rework the CBU softball standards for offense, was named one of 25 finalists for the 2018 Division II National Player of the Year award.
Thieroff currently ranks fifth among Division II players with a 1.029 slugging percentage, sixth in home runs per game (.43, meaning she homers nearly every other game), seventh in home runs (16), 14th in on-base percentage (.546), 15th in batting (.473) and 19th in RBIs (52).
The top 10 finalists will be announced May 15 and the winner June 4.
Hollander, Ordian go 1-2 for Bulldogs
That Caroline Ordian would factor into the SCIAC Championship was a given, since it’s been a given the University of Redlands senior is one of the most consistent collegiate golfers in the region. That Jake Hollander would factor in was not quite as easy to see.
Yet, there was Hollander, rimming in a putt on the 18th hole of his third and final round to seal medalist honors at the SCIAC Golf Championships, held at Los Serranos Country Club in Chino Hills. Hollander’s rounds of 71-67-72 not only earned him the conference individual championship, but helped the No. 23 Bulldogs to a third-place finish. Redlands finished seven strokes back of conference runner-up La Verne. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps captured the title.
Ordian, meanwhile, capped her SCIAC career with rounds of 76-73-74 to finish second overall, three shots behind medalist Margaret Loncki of CMS, which also captured the women’s title.
Ordian had one of two eagles in the tournament.
As a team, Redlands finished sixth overall in the aggregate SCIAC standings.
Keep an eye on
— CBU’s Andrew Bash, who earned NCAA Division II West Region Player of the Week honors for the second time this season. Bash batted .438 and slugged .875 with two homers, a double and 11 RBIs, which included two three-hit games against PacWest rival Azusa Pacific. Bash also pitched seven innings of two-run ball against APU, earning the win in the second game of the four-game series. CBU won three of the four.
— CBU’s Dylan Stowell, who captured PacWest Pitcher of the Week honors for his five-hit, complete-game mastery of APU last Friday. Stowell struck out 10 and allowed only two hits and a walk over the last eight innings of the Lancers’ 13-2 win.
— RCC’s Breanna Ceballos, who lined a one-out shot down the left-field line in the bottom of the eighth inning to give the Tigers a 5-4, walk-off victory over the region’s No. 7 team — Santiago Canyon. Ceballos’ walk-off hit scored Aeriel Carlson and was her second clutch hit in as many innings. One inning earlier, she poked a single that prolonged a RCC rally that culminated with Megan Cartwright’s two-run, tying double.
— The Redlands women’s track team, which surged 10 places to 13th among Division III schools in the U.S. Track & Field Cross Country Coaches Assn. outdoor rankings. The Bulldogs are also fourth in the West Region going into this weekend’s SCIAC Championships.
— CBU’s Emeline Delanis, who shattered the school record in the 5,000 meters by nearly 30 seconds to earn PacWest Track Athlete of the Week. She finished 10th overall against numerous Division I athletes at the Bryan Clay Invitational in 16 minutes, 8.21 seconds, a time that qualifies her for the Division II Championships next month.
