This post is part of a media project called SoCal Sports History 101: The Prime Numbers from 00 to 99 that Uniformly, Uniquely and Unapologetically Reveal The Narrative of Our Region’s Athletic Heritage. Pick a number, and consider the list of athletes attached to it. Who wore it best? Or, what’s the most compelling story linked to it? Any person, place or thing is in play with Southern California connections. Star power, transformational achievement, longevity, notoriety and quirkiness all factor in. Whatever leads to a lively discussion and interpretation.
The most obvious choices for No. 26:
Jon Arnett: USC football; Los Angeles Rams
DeShaun Foster: UCLA football
Chase Utley: Los Angeles Dodgers
Slava Voynov: Los Angeles Kings
The not-so-obvious choices for No. 26:
Kirk Altenberg: UCLA football
Willie Brown: USC football; Los Angeles Rams
Wendell Tyler: Los Angeles Rams
The most interesting story for No. 26:
Gene Autry: Los Angeles Angels inaugural owner (1961 to 1998)
Southern California map pinpoints:
Hollywood, Anaheim, Palm Springs
Reference books on the subject:
“Back in the Saddle Again,” by Gene Autry with Mickey Herskowitz, 1978
“Public Cowboy No. 1: The Life and Times of Gene Autry” by Holly George-Warren, 2007
“New Deal Cowboy: Gene Autry and Public Diplomacy,” by Michael Duchemin, 2016
“The Gene Autry Series,” by Bob Hamilton, W.H. Hutchinson, Snowden Miller, Cole Fannin and Lewis W. Patten, 1944 to 1957
How does the No. 26 become decommissioned from circulation of the Los Angeles/California/Anaheim/rebranded Los Angeles Angels franchise and find itself hanging in Gene Autry’s wardrobe room?
To truly honor the founding owner of the sometimes-treated second-class Major League Baseball team in the city’s history, No. 26 represents how Autry was the “26th man” on a 25-man MLB roster. And then it was retired for him.
Still, how does this happen in 1982?
“The players,” as a group, is about the only answer given if anyone asks. It was, more specifically, a gaggle of handsomely overcompensated employees receiving a generous Autry-signed pay check who felt some guilt pangs after they got close to winning another AL West title only to get trip to the World Series miserably upstaged by a wild pack of outlaws. The guys in the white hats couldn’t get the job done.
Reggie Jackson, Rod Carew, Bobby Grich, Fred Lynn, Don Baylor, Ken Forsch, Bruce Kison, Doug DeCinces, Bob Boone and, for some reason, 41-year-old Luis Tiant were part of that 1982 decision as free-agent freeloaders, beneficators of Gene-Gene the ATM Machine as part of the ongoing Anaheim “Gong Show.”
Autry gave them all seven-digit incomes. Some felt the need to throw him back some gratitude with their disposable loose change. Did we really need to see a then-75 year old Autry pull on the pull-over jersey and sansabelt slacks to prove his brotherhood?
Wouldn’t it have been appropriate to give No. 61 — the year the team was created?
Or No. 00, for all the titles they re-reimbursed him for during his lifetime?
By this point, Autry was already a Hollywood success story, all dressed up as a cowboy, with real stirrups. Not the nylon baseball type. That’s the visual we wanted to keep.
In Autry’s nifty biography for the Society of American Baseball Research, writer Warren Corbett starts:
Gene Autry was the kind of man who paid the bills for old friends in their old age, rode in the front seat beside his chauffeur, and showed up in the bar of his resort hotel to lead guests in a sing-along. During his heyday as a singing cowboy, his fans ranged from the obvious — Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson — to the improbable — Franklin D. Roosevelt and Ringo Starr. Thirty years after he quit performing, his theme song, “Back in the Saddle Again,” returned to the pop charts on the movie soundtrack for Sleepless in Seattle.
If Southern California ever wished for a Tinsletown owner, with the rags-to-riches story to book, this was the first, and biggest. Nothing much has come close since.
Orvon Grover Autry, the twanger from Tioga, Texas whose family moved to Ravia, Oklahoma when he worked as a laborer on the railroads, played well enough in American Legion and semi-pro ball that he once had a tryout with the St. Louis Cardinals. It didn’t pan out. So he tried movies, radio and TV.
The first of the “singing cowboys” in the 1930s and ‘40s was inspired by Will Rogers, horsing around on Hollywood sound stages and making Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer a household name. The riches he garnished from that and other activies made him apart of the Forbes’ annual list of the 400 wealthiest Americans.
“Before James Brown and Elvis Presley, I think Gene Autry was the hardest-working man in show business,” said Holly George-Warren, telling NPR’s “Fresh Air” in an interview about the book she wrote on Autry called, “Public Cowboy No. 1.”
Autry got his first taste of baseball team ownership when the Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League came back for a second iteration in 1938. The Hollywood Stars that played at Wrigley Field from 1926 to ’35 moved away. The minor league team in Vernon was sold to attorney Victor Ford Collins and Bob Cobb, owner of the Brown Derby restaurant. They formed the Hollywood Baseball Association, created Gilmore Field in the Fairfax District, and lured a bunch of high-profile stars to be noted as co-owners and stock holders.
In addition to Autry, there was Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwick, George Raft, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Bing Crosby, Cecil B. DeMille, William Frawley and Harry Warner. “No one was permitted to invest any big money,” according to the Los Angeles Times. The team was instead “a civic thing … a Chamber of Commerce activity on the part of a group of people who want their little corner of the world to be better than all other corners.”
When Autry left the biz of acting and singing, he never really left, having invested in radio and TV stations, plus a production company (as well as buying oil wells and hotels).
When the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn to L.A. in 1958, Autry’s KMPC-AM (710) station scooped in to broadcast their games. But the problem was Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley was miffed he couldn’t get the station’s signal at his home in Lake Arrowhead. So he moved the games to 50,000-watt juggernaut KFI-AM (640). Autry was singing the blues.
Right about that time, the American League was ready to expand. By 1960, former MLB star Hank Greenberg seemed to have a team locked up in L.A., so Autry was vying for those radio rights. When the Greenberg team’s deal fell through — O’Malley demanded rights fees to the region — Autry was recruited to see if he wanted to step in and pay the ransom.
Autry’s show business sidekick Pat Buttram once reportedly told him: “Hell, Gene, on the sports page, a man can live forever. On the sports page, you never die.”
So Autry did the deal. The team was named after the Pacific Coast League team that had been there for decades. A silver halo was sown on top of the team’s caps.
The Angels’ opening season at the now departed Wrigley Field in Los Angeles lasted one year. The Dodgers were just a few blocks away playing their final season at the Coliseum. Autry then leased Dodger Stadium for his team to share as tenants starting in 1962 when the place opened.
When the Dodgers kept their spring training base in Vero Beach, Fla., the Autry braintrust found it more efficient to set up his off-season home base in Palm Springs. There are photos of Autry famously leading the team on bicycles from their (his) hotel to the ballpark. Come to think of it, he also once sold bikes named after him with a replica of a horse on it. “A real Western bicycle.”
Jim Fregosi, a 19-year-old rookie in 1961 who would become a six-time All Star through 1971, was Autry’s first favorite player. Then it was Nolan Ryan, who with three other New York Mets teammates were traded to Anaheim for Fregosi and made himself famous from ’72 through ’79. Autry was also fond of hosting visits by O.C. native Richard Nixon in those days.
Autry also discarded the “Los Angeles” nameplate in 1965, calling his team the California Angels in their last year at Dodger Stadium (which they insisted be referred to as Chavez Ravine) and then had a new park built in the sprawling Disneyland-adjacent neighborhood of Anaheim. They had a new identity — it was AutryWorld.
His 36-year ownership run sired no World Series wins and only a few sniffs in the playoffs. While he had a movie horse was named Champion, he could never pull the trigger on getting his team into October radiance. Autry hung on with the title of vice president of the American League for 15 years, from 1983 until his death in October of 1998.
At Christmas time 1989, when he was 82, Autry was asked by then-L.A. Times columnist Mel Durslag what it would mean to finally see his Angels land in the World Series.
“By now, I guess I have tried just about every system. We started out trying to build our team with old stars. Then we tried developing young players. Then we paid big sums for name players. Then we went back to young players. And now, I guess we’re giving away money again. … You know the ripple effect and how lesser players ask more as a consequence. I’m not sure any of us are doing the right thing.”
Eventually he turned the team over to his second wife, Jackie Autry, in 1990, and the operating control of the franchise was sold to Disney in January of 1996. The team finally won a World Series in 2002, four years after his death at age 91.
In his sports-page obituary, the Los Angeles Times’ Ross Newhan noted:
“Amid today’s sweep of corporate ownership in baseball, the images of Gene Autry remain vivid: keeping score in the owner’s box, sharing the bench with his manager during batting practice, visiting with players in the clubhouse before and after games. (He was) a fan’s fan, the antithesis of the impersonal Disney or Fox, the last of a breed before Peter O’Malley became the last of a breed. For those who observed him, interviewed him and shared social moments with him during his 30-plus years as the club’s owner, nothing stands out more than his grass-roots passion for the game–never diminished by the frustrations and disappointments in the Angels’ star-crossed history.”
Newhan added that in the early ‘80s, Autry once told him about his ownership philosophy:
“I suppose there are three kinds of owners. One is the type who puts up the money and runs the club himself, serving as his own general manager. The second is the type who hires a professional to run the club, then stays out of the way and keeps score. The third is the type who keeps such a low profile that the players and fans hardly know he exists. I like to think I belong to the second category. I have tried hard not to interfere with the men on the firing line. I am consulted on major decisions and the final approval is mine, but I don’t recall ever overruling someone who felt strongly his way was right. I have also made an effort to know the players. I drop by the clubhouse from time to time, and I try to write personal notes to each player who is traded away after long service with the club. I have never had any desire to go on the field or be in the dugout. I have wondered often why a manager did this or that, but I have always tried to restrain my second-guessing. I have never ordered a manager to play a certain player, and I have never called a manager at 3 in the morning to ask why he didn’t play the infield back with one out.”
The legacy
Autry is the only one to have five stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and all are on Hollywood Boulevard. They account for his music recording (635 songs), TV fame (91 episodes of “The Gene Autry Show”), movie fame (90 films), radio longevity (16 seasons of “Melody Ranch”) and live theater. The first four were part of the inaugural Walk of Fame’s Class of 1960; the last one came in 1987.
It is interesting there are now six categories one can be honored for here. The one Autry is not yet recognized for is Sports Entertainment. That seems to be a natural.
The City of Los Angeles has also honored him at the corner of Hollywood and Highland with “Gene Autry Square.” There, at least, they recognize his contribution to sports:
Autry may have a case to also have a plaque in the Baseball Hall of Fame — if Walter O’Malley has one, can we pitch Cowboy Gene, too?
He’s already in the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame (credited for that sport’s successes in Montana, Colorado, Nebraska and Texas from the 1940s through the 1970s). He’s in the Country Music Hall of Fame since 1969, got a lifetime achievement award by the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1991 and has been the Radio Hall of Fame since 2003. He was recognized with a Pioneer Award by the Academy of Country Music, the Governor’s Award by the Los Angeles Television Academy and a lifetime Grammy Award in 2009.
Also note that in 1991 when he was added to the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, the state had renamed a city for him. In 1941, Berwyn, a four-square-mile parcel along the Santa Fe railroad mainline, changed its name to Gene Autry to celebrate the fact he owned a 1,500 acre ranch. (As the story goes, his California home burned down eight days before the city name was changed, so it was thought he might move to the ranch full time. But just three weeks after the ceremony, Pearl Harbor happened, Autry joined the military, he sold the ranch after the war, and it’s now all but disappeared). The 2020 census reports a population for Gene Autry of 154.
Two major points of interest in the Autry legacy of SoCal: The Parker Hotel in Palm Springs/Le Parker Meridien (4200 East Palm Canyon Drive) is the refurbished site of the former Gene Autry Hotel (which lasted from 1961 to 1994). They kept the Autry residence in tact and created a suite out of it that can be rented. Private gate, two beds, two baths. Private sauna. Just $15,000 a night. That’s midweek.
There’s also The Gene Autry Museum of the American West, aka The Autry, near the Los Angeles Zoo in Griffith Park. It has become a city cultural landmark attraction since its 1988 opening and 2013 renovation.
In 1998, the Angels added a statue of Autry outside Angel Stadium.
Since the Autry number retirement, the Angels have also taken out of circulation No. 11 for Jim Fregosi, No. 29 for Rod Carew, No. 30 for Nolan Ryan and No. 50 for coach Jimmy Reese, as well as the league-wide No. 42 for Jackie Robinson. But Angels history will note that Autry was first honored, and any other player of note who wore No. 26 — like Joe Rudi (1977 to 1980), Lou Johnson (1969), Bill Stoneman (1974, who eventually became the team’s GM) and Bill Travers (1981) — can’t claim it. Nor can Ken Hunt (1961 to 1963) , an outfielder from North Dakota and good friend of Roger Maris. Trivia: Hunt married Patty Lilley, a single mother with an 8-year old son, Patrick. Hunt’s stepson was a childhood actor who went by Butch Patrick, best remembered for his role as Eddie Munster in the 1960s television show The Munsters.
The other SoCal pro team owners
Autry will be forever known as the first owner of a major professional sports team in Los Angeles — as the expansion Angels were planted here after the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn, the Rams moved from Cleveland, the Lakers moved from Minneapolis.
For the purposes of this exercise, note story lines created over the years by those notable owners of professional teams in Southern California, from the good to the not-so-stable:
The Los Angeles Angels:
Most valuable owner: Autry, for purpose and longevity.
Most notorious owner: After the Autry’s brief title transfer to Walt Disney Company (1999-2003), current owner Arte Moreno has stepped in and, for the last two decades, clinged to his claim to fame as the first man of Mexican heritage to purchase a United States sports team. He has overseen the arrival of Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani, of Albert Pujols and … Josh Hamilton? Anthony Rendon? Eh… In a 2012 GQ story, Moreno was labeled “a new (nice) Steinbrenner.” In August of 2022, some hope was raised in a team statement that Moreno was exploring the possible sale of the team. Then he changed his mind. Seller’s remorse, he said. Many fans were also remorseful. In a 2023 piece in The Athletic, the Moreno feature came under the headline: “How did Angels squander Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani? It starts with the owners frugality.” In Moreno’s book, he’s worthy of wearing Angels jersey No. 1. And for some reason, he’s on the National Baseball Hall of Fame Board of Directors. Minority influence can carry a lot of weight in Cooperstown.
The Los Angeles Dodgers:
Most valuable owner: Walter O’Malley’s revolutionary transfer and primary ownership of the franchise from Brooklyn to Los Angeles was enough to get him a Baseball Hall of Fame plaque. Ownership control through his son, Peter O’Malley, and daughter, Terry Seidler, kept the family control through 1997.
Most notorious owner: Frank and Jamie McCourt took control when the Fox Entertainment Group petered out in 2004, and kept things turned upside down for 14 years until commissioner Bud Selig put a stop to it all and created an auction situation.
Celebrity quotient: Guggenheim Baseball Management, led by banker Mark Walter, has been the headline caretaker since 2014, adding minority ownership that includes Magic Johnson, Stan Kasten, Peter Guber and Billie Jean King.
The Los Angeles Lakers:
Most valuable owner: Jerry Buss’ purchase of the Lakers (as well as the Forum, and the NHL’s Kings) for $67 million in 1979 came just as the franchise was to add Magic Johnson to the roster. Buss’ ownership success landed him a plaque in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010 as a contributor (for his five NBA titles, two WNBA titles, and his creation of a regional sports network for the team that laid the foundation for new team revenue). Buss also created one of the first arena naming rights deals for the Forum in 1988 (Great Western Bank). When Buss died in 2013, a family trust took over, and daughter Jeanie became the primary decision maker. That now looks like a wise decision to keep things away from Buss’ son, Johnny, who decided he needed to run for President of the United States in March, 2024.
Most notorious owner: In 1965, Jack Kent Cooke purchased the team from Bob Short, who forced the franchise to leave Minneapolis in 1960, for a then-record $5.1 million cash. It gave him another team in his portfolio, as well as the NFL’s Washington Redskins, and led him to build the Forum in Inglewood (moving them out of the downtown L.A. Sports Arena) to open in 1967. It was when he was going through a messy divorce that Cooke decided he had to sell it all off.
Celebrity quotient: Magic Johnson bought a 4.5% stake in the Lakers for $10 million in 1994 — between the years of his 1991 retirement and ’95 comeback. He sold the share in 2010, right before NBA team values exploded. Forbes estimated Johnson’s stake in the Lakers in 2010 was worth $29 million, but his stake today would be worth more than $265 million.
The Los Angeles Clippers:
Most valuable owner: Steve Ballmer, the former Microsoft exec whose estimated worth of $143 billion in 2024 makes him one of the Top 10 richest people on the planet, assumed control of the franchise 2014 for $2 billion. He not only has purchased the Lakers/Kings former home, The Forum, but built his own arena for the team to open in 2024-25 down the street. In a survey conducted by The Athletic in December 2020, Ballmer was voted the best owner in basketball.
Most notorious owner: Real estate slump lord Donald Sterling (born Donald Samuel Tokowitz) was responsible for shipping the franchise from San Diego to L.A. in 1984, squatting at the L.A. Sports Arena for 15 dreadful seasons, moving to the new Staples Center in ’99, finally imploded with a spectacular personal controversy in 2014. ESPN The Magazine in 2009 named the Clippers the worst franchise in professional sports based on Sterling’s controlling disinterest.
Celebrity quotient: Before Ballmer bought the team, rumored to be in the mix was (of course) Magic Johnson, with Oprah Winfrey, Sean Combs, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Matt Damon, Judd Apatow, David Geffen and Oscar de la Hoya. But not superfan Billy Crystal?
The Los Angeles Kings:
Most valuable owner: Although Phil Anschutz and Ed Roski have their names on the 2012 and 2014 Stanley Cups, taking over the team since 1996, Jack Kent Cooke had the vision as a Canadian native looking to scratch his hockey itch to bring the sport to Southern California in 1967 along with the impetus to build a new arena for it. Cooke even gave the team a royal nickname.
Most notorious owner: Coin collector and minority team owner Bruce McNall took the team off Jerry Buss’ hands in 1988 and orchestrated a trade to get Wayne Gretzky. Followed by … bankruptcy? Fraud? Jail time? We didn’t see that coming. McNall’s autobiography, “Fun While It Lasted: My Rise and Fall in the Land of Fame and Fortune,” came out in 2003.
The Los Angeles Rams:
Most valuable owner: Stan Kroenke’s ownership since 2010 has been highlighted by his moving the franchise back to Southern California after a 20-year absence and the construction of their SoFi Stadium home in Inglewood.
Most notorious owner: Georgia Frontiere, “Madame Ram” from 1979 to 2007, was the widow of Carroll Rosenbloom (her sixth husband, who had ownership control of the team in 1972 after a swap of franchises with Robert Irsay). She had 70 percent of the team upon his mysterious death; the rest of his kids had the other 30 percent. She infamously moved the team from the L.A. Coliseum to Anaheim in 1980, and then completely uprooted it and shipped it back to her native St. Louis in 1995. n 1986, Frontiere’s seventh and final husband, composer Dominic Frontiere, was arrested and jailed for 10 months for lying to a government agent as part of a federal investigation that came from allegedly scalping 1,000 Super Bowl tickets.
Celebrity quotient: Comedian Bob Hope once said of his 10 percent share: “I like the Rams. They taught me a lesson my wallet will never forget. They’ll do better next year. They’re going to put a handle on the ball.”
The Los Angeles Chargers:
Most valuable owner: At their original American Football League birth in 1960, hotel czar Baron Hilton came into the fold and was credited with handing their nickname.
Most notorious owner: The Spanos family came into the picture, first with Alex in 1984 (until his death in 2018) and then his son, Dean, since 2006, and it was their decision to move back to L.A. from San Diego in 2017. A Wall Street Journal story in 2018 had this headline: “Alex Spanos Thought He Could Manage Anything; Then He Bought the San Diego Chargers: Real-estate baron tried to run his NFL team like a construction firm until his wife finally told him to back off.”
The Los Angeles Dons:
Most valuable owners: The All-American Football Conference team lasted from 1946 to 1949 as Los Angeles’ first pro football team, starting just before the NFL’s Rams move from Cleveland, and while it was run by California businessman Fernando Gonzalez III, he had partnerships with Don Ameche, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Louis B. Mayer. Ameche’s involvement is said to have been the reason why the team were called the Dons.
The Los Angeles Aztecs:
Most valuable owners: When the North American Soccer League was around from 1974 to 1981, Elton John’s part ownership was part of the lure of having an international star such as George Best come to play.
Angel City FC:
Most valuable owners: At $180 million, the most valuable franchise in the history of U.S. women’s sports is the National Women’s Soccer League team based in L.A., with agent Alexis Ohanian, husband of tennis star Serena Williams, as its largest shareholder. But more recognizable co-owners include actresses Natalie Portman, Eva Longoria, Jessica Chastain, America Ferrera and Jennifer Garner, plus athletes Candace Parker, Billie Jean King and Mia Hamm.
The PCL’s Los Angeles Angels:
Most valuable owners: It always comes back to this. The Pacific Coast League team that launched in 1903 was purchased in 1921 by William Wrigley, Jr., then owner of the Chicago Cubs, namesake of their ballpark. He built his own stadium for his Angels to play that opened in 1926. Early in 1957, Philip Wrigley, who inherited the team from his father, sold the Angels and Wrigley Field to Brooklyn Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley for the then-astronomical sum of $3 million. The ownership of the minor league team was important as it gave O’Malley exclusive rights to major league baseball in Los Angeles, and he used this to relocate the Dodgers.
Who else wore No. 26 in SoCal sports history? Make a case for:
Jon Arnett, USC football tailback (1954 to 1956), Los Angeles Rams tailback (1957 to 1963):
Best known: In the area of about a square mile — from Manual Arts High to USC to the Rams — the football career of “Jaguar Jon” Arnett was one that stayed very consolidated.
A cagey runner out of the backfield who returned kickoffs and punts was a two-time All-American with the Trojans, 10th in the Heisman voting as a senior. His induction into the inaugural USC Athletic Hall of Fame in 1994 was followed up a College Football Hall of Fame speech in 2001. He also would lead the Trojans in interceptions on defense and often threw for passes out of the backfield. He also was on USC’s track team (1954-55-56), placing second in the long jump at the 1954 NCAA meet. USC won the NCAA team title in 1954 and 1955. The Rams made Arnett the second pick of the 1957 NFL Draft and he played there for five Pro Bowl seasons and an All-Pro in 1958 when he led the NFL in punt return yardage.
Not well remembered: Arnett still holds the Rams’ record for longest kickoff return — 105 yards. He also has the distinction of playing for the Chicago Bears after leaving L.A. to become the primary backup to the late, great (and oft injured) Gayle Sayers.
Willie Brown, USC football tailback/defensive back (1961 to 1963) and Los Angeles Rams halfback/receiver (1964 to 1965):
Best known: Like Arnett, Brown had three seasons at USC wearing No. 26, then went straight to the NFL and was an intricate part of the Rams’ roster. This happend for Brown right after Arnett was traded to the Chicago Bears. The 1959 CIF Player of the Year from Long Beach Poly led the 1962 national champion Trojans in rushing, kickoff returns and interceptions. In 1963, as the team captain, he led the team in receiving, scoring and interceptions. He was also a standout center fielder and shortstop on the Trojans’ 1963 College World Series baseball team. Returning as an assistant football coach (1968 to 1975), Brown would be part of two national title football teams and he helped Rod Dedeaux with coaching on the 1970 College World Series title squad.
Not well remembered: Brown had two brothers who played Major League Baseball — “Downtown” Ollie Brown, known as the Original Padre as the first pick in the 1968 expansion draft by San Diego, and Oscar Brown, a teammate of Henry Aaron and Dusty Baker with the Atlanta Braves.
Chase Utley, Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman (2015 to 2018):
Who can say they were at the Dodger Stadium on the crisp autumn day in 2015 when they saw Chase Utley actually break a man’s leg just playing baseball?: And then they made a rule outlawing such a thing. While 13 of his 16 MLB seasons were in Philadelphia, Utley, became a most notable Dodger when there came about what was called the Utley Rule (Rule 6.01(j), which was a response to the broken dreams of New York Mets shortstop Miguel Tejada. Utley was an original draft pick by the Dodgers out of Long Beach Poly High in the second round of the 1997 June selection, but he opted for UCLA and became a first-round pick in 2000. With the Dodgers, Utley was a part of four straight playoff runs. He ruled.
DeShaun Foster, UCLA football running back (1998 to 2001), UCLA head football coach (2024 to 2025):
One of the most decorated running backs in Bruins history finished second in career touchdowns (44), third in rushing yards (3,194) and fifth in scoring (266 points). He was second-team All-America acclaim in 2001 after leading the Pac-10 in rushing (138.6 yards per game, and 1,109 total yards), scoring (9.75 points per game) and all-purpose yards (154.75 per game). Against Washington at Rose Bowl Stadium, Foster piled up a then-school record 301 rushing yards, along with four touchdowns, on 31 carries. He set another school record in 2000, rushing 42 times in UCLA’s 35-24 season-opening win versus No. 3 Alabama at the Rose Bowl. He ended the game with 187 yards and three touchdowns on the ground. Foster burst onto the scene as a true freshman for the 1998 Pac-10 champion Bruins, scoring four times in the Bruins’ 34-17 victory against USC. Foster was added to the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame in 2022, and the next year was part of the California High School Football Hall of Fame’s inaugural class for his accomplishments at Tustin High School. He was named the UCLA head football coach on February 2024 after 11 years as a college assistant, including 10 at UCLA, where he served as the running back coach and associate head coach in 2023. In ’22, he was a nominee for the Broyles Award for college football’s top assistant coach. In February, 2024, Foster was named the UCLA Bruins head football coach but that lasted just three games into the ’25 season.
Jimmy Sears, Los Angeles Chargers safety (1960):
An Inglewood High, El Camino College and USC standout (who, while wearing No. 32, finished seventh in the Heisman voting in 1952 — the first Trojan ever to receive Heisman votes), Sears came into the NFL as a defensive back in 1954, drafted by Baltimore but dealt to the Chicago Cardinals. After two years in the Korean War, he returned at age 26 as a halfback for the Cardinals. He then took another year off to become an assistant coach at USC in 1959. Sears was lured back into the pro ranks to join the new AFL’s Chargers as a strong safety and kick returner. “Frank Leahy was after me, and then Sid Gillman became the Chargers’ coach (and) he talked me into it,” Sears said of returning to play. “I made twice as much money as I could at SC. It was all a money deal (making $16,000). I’ll tell you what, coming from the Cardinals, which was a second-rate NFL team at that time, to the Chargers … I’ll put it this way, the Chargers had brand-new uniforms; they were a first-class outfit. In fact, after the first few preseason games, I thought everybody felt we were capable of holding our own. I never thought it was a step down. I always thought it was a good step up.” Sears started eight of the 10 games and had a fumble recovery. He played for the AFL’s Denver Broncos two more games. He died at age 70 in Woodland Hills in 2002.
Kurt Altenberg, UCLA football receiver (1963 to 1965):
After a celebrated prep career at Gardena’s Serra High School and one season at El Camino College in Torrance, Altenberg played three seasons for the Bruins. He set a single-game record for yards receiving, 166 against the Trojans, as a sophomore, and led the team in receiving in 1964 and 1965. His fourth-quarter, 52-yard touchdown catch from Gary Beban that gave UCLA a 20-16 upset of USC in 1965 was voted 35th on the Los Angeles Sports Council’s “100 Greatest Moments of Los Angeles Sports History” list in 2004. Altenberg was the school’s all-time leading receiver as his college career ended and he ranks high on the Bruins’ list with 87 catches for 1,446 yards.He played two games with the Washington Redskins until leg injuries convinced him to give up football and pursue a career in business.
Wendell Tyler, Los Angeles Rams running back (1977 to 1982): In the Rams’ backfield for the first six years of his 10-year NFL career, the former UCLA standout (wearing No. 22) led the league with 5.1 yards per carry in 1979.
JoJo Townsell, UCLA football receiver (1978 to 1982) and Los Angeles Express receiver (1983 to 1985): Compiling 1,691 yards receiving (18.2 yards per catch) and 19 touchdowns off four seasons at UCLA, the 5-foot-9, 180-pound Townsell was lured to the United States Football League team in L.A. to play with Steve Young and the Express for its three years of existence. He then moved on to play six seasons for the NFL’s New York Jets, who drafted him out of college in the third round of the ’83 selection and kept his rights.
Eric Karros, UCLA baseball first baseman (1986 to 1988): In the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame since 1998. A two-time All-Pac-10 with a .365 career batting average, including hitting .415 in 1988. Drafted in the sixth round by the Dodgers in 1988.
Tony Gonsolin, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher (2021 to present): His 11-0 record and 2.02 ERA at the 2022 MLB All-Star break got him a spot on the NL roster, and in the exhibition game played at Dodger Stadium, Gonsolin came in as a reliever, gave up three runs on four hits (including two home runs) and absorbed his first loss of the season. And then went home to his cats.
Have you heard this story:
Leah Davis, Upland High girls flag football receiver/defensive back (2024 to present):
With girls high school flag football launching in popularity once the sports world came out of its COVID-19 stall, credit Davis as one seizing the moment.
As an Upland High freshman, Davis earned 2024 Baseline League Most Valuable Player and was All-CIF-SS Division II when she had 2,042 yards from scrimmage and scored 37 touchdowns to help her school win the inaugural league title. From that alone, she received eight college scholarship offers. As a sophomore, she led the nation in scoring with 352 total points and ranked second with 54 touchdowns, according to MaxPreps. She caught 112 passes for 1,626 yards, ran for more 892 yards and led her team’s defense with 158 flag pulls and 13 interceptions as Upland made it to the CIF-SS D-II semifinals. Already, Davis was attracting higher-profile travel teams. To help her stay fit, she also ran the 100-meters and 100-hurdles on the track team, helping her average 14.6 yards per reception and 8.8 yards per carry during her first two seasons.
Named the Inland Empire Player of the Year in 2026, Davis said it was her grandfather, father and two older brothers playing football that inspired her. “Something inside of me clicked when I watched them play,” Davis said about her brothers Andrew and Aiden. “I wanted to do that.”
According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, girls flag football is the fastest growing spot in the nation, emerging just after the 50th anniversary of Title IX. Although the CIF doesn’t have a state championship yet, schools have been offering the sport since 2023 through the support of the Los Angeles Rams and USA Football. California drives nearly 30 percent of all high school girls flag football players nationwide.
“You realize you’re part of a movement that’s happening nationwide, and that’s such an honor to be part of,” Davis said. “I want to be an inspiration for my city, my school and all the young girls thinking about playing.”
Slava Voynov, Los Angeles Kings defenseman (2011-12 to 2014-15):
The Russian star made it through three full seasons in the NHL, two of them overlapping the team’s two Stanley Cup titles, after the Kings drafted him 32nd overall in 2008. He anchored the team’s defense with Drew Doughty. But Voynov lasted just six games into the ’14-15 season. The 24-year-old budding star was suspended indefinitely in October, 2014 for what authorities determined were acts of domestic violence against his wife, Maria Varamova, after a Halloween party. The details were not pretty. The team tried to allow him to still stay and practice, but were fined by the NHL. They eventually terminated his six-year, $25 million contract in 2015 even as Voynov pleaded not guilty in 2014, and then no contest to a reducted charge and was sentenced to 90 days in jail. He got three years of probation and counseling. He was returned to Russia through immigration officials. The suspension was permanent for “unacceptable off-ice conduct” in April of 2019 and the team cut ties with him. He continued playing professionally in Russia and was on the country’s 2018 and 2022 Winter Olympic teams. “This guy was a special player,” NBC hockey analyst Mike Milbury said during a broadcast, “and an unfortunate incident left the Los Angeles Kings without a great defenseman.”
Melia Brewer, UCLA women’s soccer defender (2025):
Graduating early from high school in Kansas, Brewer, at 16, is believed to be the youngest athlete in school history when she started as a freshman on the women’s soccer team that advanced to the NCAA tournament. Joining the UCLA team for the post-season marked her eighth game with the Bruins as a result of her participation in the FIFA under-17 Women’s World Cup in Morocco, where the Americans won their group before losing to the Netherlands on penalty kicks in the Round of 16.
We also have:
Danny Schayes, Los Angeles Lakers forward (1993-94)
Luis Gonzalez, Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder (2007)
Doug Mientkiewicz, Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman (2009)
Asante Samuel Jr., Los Angeles Chargers cornerback (2021-2024)
Anyone else worth nominating?
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