Back by somewhat unpopular demand — maybe query a few authors whose books in the recent past I might have ended up splaying with an intent to de-boned, all in the name of honest criticism — the 2025 version of the newest spring/summer baseball book reviews returns for another attempt at education and entertainment.
It coincides with the start of the Dodgers-Cubs series leading off the ’25 MLB season in Japan. The clocks are being adjusted as we try to spin forward.
Here, as we have done since 2011*, reviews are more an exercise in empathy for those who open their veins to write these things in the first place, along with our attempt at explaining how the subject matter connects in our universe. Then, there’s an efficiency trying to cover more than a couple dozen new titles that have come into the marketplace since the end of the ’24 season.
This whole thing, initially focused on the insane premise of posting 30 reviews once day over the 30 days in a row in April, challenges us to stay current while also adding some context.
*Our memory is fading and we weren’t actually sure, but that’s the best guess, since we’ve got The Wayback Machine to find things we’ve posted going to the InsideSoCal.com platform that started in 2006.
This ’25 baseball book review project again deviates a bit from its original calisthenics stress test. We can’t do 30 in a row, but the target remains at least 30 reviews. All done by summer.
There’s also a new stipulation: No more links to purchasing books on the website named after a river in South America and empties into the Atlantic. Reviews are no longer posted on the social media site once known as Twitter.
Resistance isn’t futile. It’s long overdue.
Consider this: A book called “How To Resist Amazon And Why: Updated and Expanded — The Fight For Local Economies, Data Privacy, Fair Labor, Independent Bookstores and a People-Powered Future” by Danny Caine, owner of the Lawrence, Kansas-based Raven Book Store, sells for a reasonable $14.95 on the Microcosm Publishers’ website. As well as on Caine’s store site, a zine version for $3.
The website in question, meanwhile, not only offers this book that meticulously besmirches its existence, but has it at 40 percent off for those looking to prove everything the book points out.
From our storage unit, here’s what we plan to cover in ’25:
= “I Felt the Cheers: The Remarkable Silent Life of Curtis Pride,” by the former Angels outfielder who also played for Montreal, Detroit, Atlanta, Boston and the Yankees, and was a coach at Gallaudet, the world’s leading university for deaf and hard of hearing students and was also named Major League Baseball’s Ambassador for Inclusion.
The point it to let readers know these works exist, should you be tempted to pick them up for purchase without knowing their caveats. It’s also a way to uncover projects that otherwise might be off the radar. No fees attached. Enjoy.
Before the first reviews, a short Q&A:
Seinäjoki Library in Seinäjoki, Finland.
Q: What happens to all the baseball books collected during the course of the year to review?
A: Pay it forward, if that’s still a phrase. As in, donate them to the local library.
The 144-page book by Howard Liss released by Random House aimed at school kids interested in sports-related bios was first published in 1971.
Chuck Hildebrandt, a 63-year-old retired digital marketing exec living in Chicago, explained to the Detroit Free Press that he purposefully visited the public library in the Detroit suburb of Warren, Mich., while in town visiting family for Thanksgiving. The reason was to bring back a copy of “Baseball’s Zaniest Stars,” which he recalls borrowing from the city’s Walt Whitman Branch on Dec. 4, 1974, when he was a 13-year-old.
He had forgotten to return it. Fifty years later, he sought some closure.
Hildebrant said he came across it on his bookshelf about five years ago, noticed the Dewey decimal library sticker on the spine, and figured out what happened.
In December of 2024, he tried to give it back. The library declined.
“Some people never come back to face the music,” said library director Oksana Urban. “But there was really no music to face, because he and the book were erased from our system.”
Still, what would the fine have been for a return this late? More than $4,500 according to Hildebrant’s math. To be precise, it was $4,563.75 to be precise, if he had been charged the normal fees.
“I am still somewhat embarrassed so I want to make good on it in some way,” Hildebrant wrote on a social media post.
Hildebrant decided to start a GoFundMe.com fundraiser to see if he could match that $4,564 projected fine, and then donate it to Reading Is Fundamental, the nation’s leading children’s literacy non-profit since the 1960s that so many of us Boomer-types remember from our childhood as well.
To date, the effort raised more than $5,300 with more than 100 donations.
Maybe we can keep contributing. Or …
This book looked familiar, and my recollection must have been finding it at my own library when I was in middle school. The cover illustration of Casey Stengel taking off his cap and having a sparrow he kept hidden in his suddenly fly out was something I wouldn’t have forgotten.
In the book, it explains how Stengel, just traded from Wilbert Robinson’s Brooklyn Robins (pre-Dodgers) to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1918, was back for the first time at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, playing right field. He noticed in the Brooklyn bullpen that former teammate Leon Cadore was able to scoop up a sparrow that landed. On his way to the dugout at the end of the inning, Stengel asked Cadore to give him the sparrow. When Stengel went to bat that inning, the fans gave him a rousing ovation. He stepped into the batter’s box, dropped his bat, bowed low and raised his cap — and the sparrow fluttered a moment and flew off.
“I always knew that Stengel had birds in his top story,” Robinson was reported to have said.
After reading the story about Hildebrandt — and realizing we are about the same age — I tracked down a New Jersey used book store called Between the Covers listed on AbeBooks.com (the one-stop used book store repository) and picked up a nice copy of “Baseball’s Zaniest Stars.”
It went for $20 (plus $5 shipping). I really did enjoy re-reading it from cover to cover this past winter. Simultaneously, I had been reading Andrew Forbes’ latest piece of fiction, “McCurdle’s Arm,” a 108-page novella released in August of ’24 by Invisible Publishing, and the two seemed joined at the spine.
Forbes’ ultra-creative use of 1890s quirky baseball prose told the story of Robert James McCurdle, who could have been a character in “Baseball’s Zaniest Stars,” along with Stengel, Bobo Newsom, Dizzy Dean, Babe Herman and Rabbit Maranville.
Re-reading that review recently was again somewhat as therapeutic as it was writing it four years ago. The cover illustrations were spectacular as well.
Armed with “McCurdle’s Arm” and star struck again by “Baseball’s Zaniest Stars,” I felt as if I was thrust back in time. No hurry for anyone to come to my emotional rescue.
So, with the start of this ’25 review, “McCurdle’s Arm” goes back on my shelf for safe keeping, and “Baseball’s Zaniest Stars” will go next to it, or I’ll deliver it to my local library with all the other books set to be donated this time around.
The hope is that everything will be fine, and there are no fines attached to anyone’s future enjoyment. And a RIF donation is forthcoming.
This is the latest post for an ongoing media project — 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 highlight an athlete — person, place or thing — most obviously connected to it by fame and fortune, someone who isn’t so obvious, and then take a deeper dive into the most interesting story tied to it. It’s a combination of star power, achievement, longevity, notoriety, and, above all, what makes that athlete so Southern California. Quirkiness and notoriety factor in. And it should open itself to more discussion and debate — which is what sports is best at doing.
The most obvious choices for No. 54: = Marques Johnson, UCLA basketball = Larry Farmer, UCLA basketball = Edgar Lacy, UCLA basketball = Kenny Fields, UCLA basketball
The not-so-obvious choices for No. 54: = Horace Grant, Los Angeles Lakers = Tim Leary, Los Angeles Dodgers
The most interesting story for No. 54: Marques Johnson, UCLA basketball forward (1973-74 to 1976-77) Including Crenshaw High (1970 to 1973) and the Los Angeles Clippers (1984-85 to 1986-87) Kris Johnson, UCLA basketball forward (1994-95 to 1997-98) Josiah Johnson, UCLA basketball forward (2001-02 to 2004-05) Southern California map pinpoints: Inglewood, Windsor Hills, Crenshaw, Westwood (Pauley Pavilion), Los Angeles (Sports Arena), Hollywood
The play was the thing at every big stage of Marques Johnson’s career.
On his Internet Movie Database profile, there is a confluence of links, notes and anecdotes about how he picked and rolled his way into TV and movies, assisted by the plays he made on the basketball court as a Los Angeles city legend, a Westwood warlock and a regal Clipper.
He did, after all, graduate from UCLA with a Theater Arts major degree.
Look up the 1992 “White Men Can’t Jump” in 1992, which came out just a couple years after Johnson’s 11-year NBA career was officially over. Who else could handle the role of a hoodlum hoopster named Raymond in the Ron Shelton movie?
Marques Johnson, left, with Wesley Snipes in a scene from “White Men Can’t Jump.” The inner-city basketball court is located at the Catholic Charities L.A. El Santo Nino Community Center playground at 22nd Street and Trinity Street, with a view of downtown L.A. to the north.
Johnson deftly pulls out a switch blade on Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson. But when that doesn’t scare then enough, the script calls for him to run to his car and threaten to get a gun. Paranoia ensues.
Even if the casting crew couldn’t get his name spelled correctly — sometimes, the credits show him as “Marcus” — there were more cameos with TV shows like “Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper,” “The Sinbad Show,” “Baywatch” and “Castle.” If only “Space Jam” could have come earlier.
The movie site bio also has an interesting quote attributed to Johnson, one that has nothing to do with show business. It’s more relatable to how he was directed on the court by UCLA coach John Wooden, following the legendary Pyramid of Success philosophy.
Johnson said: “At the time it was like, Pyramid Shmyramid, Where’s the party at? Where are the girls at? I didn’t want to hear anything about principles and living a life of integrity at that time. But as you get older, and you have kids, and you try to pass on life lessons, now it becomes a great learning tool.”
In the same piece, Johnson added about Wooden: “He was almost a mystical figure by the time I got to UCLA. I couldn’t really sit down and have a conversation with him about real things just because I had so much reverence for him — for who he was and what he had accomplished. … He never gave that perception that was the way he wanted you to treat him, but it was just how it was.”
A deeper dive on Johnson’s IMDb.com bio has one executive producer credit, for a 2011 short film called “The Wooden Effect.” His sons Kris Johnson and Josiah Johnson are also listed as producers. Josiah directed it. It makes sense. That Wooden had that kind of halo effect that deeply affected the Johnson basketball lineage. It produced its own pyramid of family pride.
Marques Johnson (54) goes for a rebound against Louisville in the NCAA semifinal game at San Diego Sports Arena in March, 1975. (Walter Iooss Jr./Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
It started with Marques Johnson, the L.A. City Player of the Year out of Crenshaw High. He would be picked for California Interscholastic Federation’s 100th anniversary All-Century team. Johnson took on the responsibility of wearing No. 54 for the Bruins — shared by many standouts of the past.
It was fortuitous timing that Johnson would be the last All-American player Wooden coached at UCLA before his 1975 retirement coinciding with the Bruins’ 10th NCAA title under his watch. Two seasons later, playing for coach Gene Bartow, Johnson was the first recipient of the John R. Wooden Award as the national college basketball player of the year, which has become the sport’s equivalent of the Heisman Trophy.
Flash forward 20 seasons later.
Kris Johnson, Marques’ oldest of five sons, enters UCLA’s basketball program as a freshman, and the program ends a long drought by winning the NCAA title, its first since Marques Johnson was a creator in that process. Kris Johnson wore No. 54 and was also an All-L.A. City Player of the Year at Crenshaw High, marking the first father-son duo to earn that honor as well as win a national college basketball title at the same school.
Josiah Johnson, Marques’ next-oldest son, would also play basketball at UCLA. He wore No. 54. He came to Westwood from Montclair Prep.
By 2018, Kris Johnson’s son, Will — Marques’ grandson — made the University of Oregon basketball roster, first as a walk on, then earning a scholarship, out of Palisades High. And wearing No. 54.
“Brought tears to my eyes,” Marques Johnson said of seeing Will Johnson during warmups before a Feb., ’18 Oregon-UCLA game at Pauley Pavilion, a place where No. 54 hangs from the rafters. “It was the realization of a dream that started when he was 7, 8, 9 years old.”
This is the latest post for an ongoing media project — 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 highlight an athlete — person, place or thing — most obviously connected to it by fame and fortune, someone who isn’t so obvious, and then take a deeper dive into the most interesting story tied to it. It’s a combination of star power, achievement, longevity, notoriety, and, above all, what makes that athlete so Southern California. Quirkiness and notoriety factor in. And it should open itself to more discussion and debate — which is what sports is best at doing.
The most obvious choices for No. 78: = Jackie Slater: Los Angeles Rams = George Achica: USC football, Los Angeles Express = Art Shell: Los Angeles Raiders
The not-so-obvious choices for No. 78: = Grenny Lansdell, USC football = Alex Laferriere, Los Angeles Kings
The most interesting story for No. 78: Jackie Slater: Los Angeles Rams right tackle (1976 to 1995) Southern California map pinpoints: Los Angeles Coliseum, Anaheim Stadium
Jackie Slater’s livelihood was predicated on preventing quarterbacks sacks. Turns out, he can also play a mean tenor sax.
By which, we mean, he can pretend.
If only one person came out with some dignity left after a herd of Los Angeles Rams were talked into recording a 1985 music video “Let’s Ram It!” it was the 6-foot-4, 284-pounder who introduces himself at the top of it as “Big Bad Jackie.”
I’m Big Bad Jackie and I’m starting us off The Rams getting down so nobody’s soft And don’t you worry cuz the Rams are rappin’ When game time comes we’ll get back to zappin’ We can’t sing and our dance is not pretty But we’ll do our best for the team and the city So get on your feet and clap your hands Let’s Ram it right now with the L.A. Rams
This by no means defines the career of a Pro Football Hall of Famer who played one of the most demanding positions for 20 straight years — the first 19 in L.A. before its move to St. Louis, where he called it over.
But let the record show, Slater made this record. And broke many others.
This is the latest post for an ongoing media project — 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 highlight an athlete — person, place or thing — most obviously connected to it by fame and fortune, someone who isn’t so obvious, and then take a deeper dive into the most interesting story tied to it. It’s a combination of star power, achievement, longevity, notoriety, and, above all, what makes that athlete so Southern California. Quirkiness and notoriety factor in. And it should open itself to more discussion and debate — which is what sports is best at doing.
The most obvious choices for No. 16:
= Marcel Dionne, Los Angeles Kings = Gary Beban, UCLA football = Pau Gasol, Los Angeles Lakers = Frank Gifford, USC football = Hideo Nomo, Los Angeles Dodgers = Rodney Peete, USC football = Rick Monday, Los Angeles Dodgers = Jim Plunkett, Los Angeles Raiders
The not-so-obvious choices for No. 16:
= Brice Taylor, USC football = Willie Wood, USC football = Jarred Goff, Los Angeles Rams = Garrett Anderson, California/Anaheim/Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim = Lisa Fernandez, UCLA softball = Will Smith, Los Angeles Dodgers
The most interesting story for No. 16: Rick Monday, Los Angeles Dodgers center fielder (1978 to 1984) Southern California map pinpoints: Santa Monica, Dodger Stadium
On the 60th anniversary of Dodger Stadium in 2022, the Dodgers gave fans a Top 60 countdown of the greatest moments in the ballpark’s history.
An event that happened on a Sunday afternoon, April 25, 1976, planted its flag in the No. 5 spot. It was also important enough to be included in a 2000 Baseball Hall of Fame’s 100 classic moments in the game’s history.
It involved a SoCal guy playing against the SoCal team. The Dodgers were mere bystanders.
Rick Monday, front and center as he patrolled center field for the visiting Chicago Cubs, wore No. 7 as a tribute to his baseball idol, Mickey Mantle. In a game the Dodgers won 5-4 in 10 innings, Monday had three hits, score twice and drove in a run as the Cubs rallied from a three-run deficit.
In the play-by-play of each inning is posted in a Retrosheet.org account of the contest, this is how the Dodgers’ four-run fourth was recorded:
By more than one patriotic group or another, it has been referred to as baseball’s “greatest play.”
A colorized version of the Jim Roark/Los Angeles Herald-Examiner photo.
The most iconic image of Monday swooping with his right hand — the left-hander had taken off his glove and held it in his left hand — to snatch the American flag out of the hands of a man and his son as they knelt in the outfield grass, having already doused it with lighter fluid and unsuccessful in lighting a match as the wind blew out their first try, was dutifully captured by Los Angeles Herald-Examiner photographer Jim Roark. It was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
The late Los Angeles Times columnist Jim Murray referred to it as “the most famous picture of its kind since the flag-raising at Iwo Jima.”
It was “Francis Scott Key, Betsy Ross, Verdun and Iwo Jima—all wrapped up on one fleeting instant of patriotism,” added The Sporting News, and calling Monday’s run a resemblance of “Paul Revere at full gallop.”
The description Vin Scully conjured up for the Dodgers’ radio audience as Ted Sizemore was at bat with a 1-0 count was equally as etched in the fans’ psyche.
“Outside, ball one … and wait a minute … We’re not sure what he’s doing out there … It looks like he’s going to burn a flag … and Rick Monday runs and takes it away from him! (Crowd cheers) … I think the guy was going to set fire to the American flag! Can you imagine that? … Monday, when he realized what he was going to do, raced over and took the flag away from him.”
And Scully took our breath away.
Right away, Dodgers publicity director Fred Claire had the scoreboard operator, Jeff Fellingzer, type in a message:
As Monday continued running toward the Dodgers’ dugout, he handed the flag to Dodgers pitcher Doug Rau. Monday recalled seeing Dodgers third base coach Tommy Lasorda running past him toward the perpetrators and “called these guys every name in the longshoreman’s encyclopedia.”
After the game, Monday was still agitated as he told reporters: “If he’s going to burn a flag, he better do it in front of somebody who doesn’t appreciate it. I’ve visited enough veterans hospitals and seen enough guys with their legs blown off defending the flag.”
And you can still get the whole thing (for a discount) on a T-shirt.
Monday served as a reserve in the Marine Corps for the first six years of his MLB career. He said he had lost friends in Vietnam, a war that had just ended in 1976, the country’s bicentennial year. He had heard stories of his father and the Army. Now the country’s convoluted ideas of patriotism, politics, and protests had spilled onto a baseball field.
“Now we’ve got three great patriots — George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Rick Monday,” said Cubs teammate Jose Cardinal as mentioned in the game’s SABR recap.
President Gerald R. Ford called Monday after the game and issued a Presidential Commendation for “Service To Others.”
Two weeks later, when the Dodgers went to Chicago to play a series against the Cubs in Wrigley Field, Dodgers general manager Al Campanis presented Monday with the flag.
Some 30 years after it happened, Monday received a U.S. Senate Resolution.
It has since been commemorated on posters, coins, pennants, U.S. postage collectables and a Dodger Stadium bobblehead giveaway. The Dodgers gave away a copy of the Roark photo as a poster in 1977 when Monday joined the Dodgers.
“The blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment entwined four unlikely and disparate individuals: a Major League Baseball outfielder who instantaneously became a national hero; a photojournalist whose career was made, seemingly for life, with a single shot; and a father-son duo who faced so much mockery and castigation that they have chosen to remain anonymous.”
The stories that continue to be told by Monday as the anniversary comes around each year, and his reactions to it, resonate more.
“You know what’s really kind of strange is I get letters every week, some from people who were not even born at the time,” Monday told writer Mike DiGiovanna before a game in 2023 at Dodger Stadium. “And twice today, here at the ballpark, I’ve already had people say, ‘Thanks for doing something for the flag.’”
When asked about it through the years, Monday has had time to reflect on it.
“I don’t know what I was thinking,” said Monday in 2020. “But I knew what they were doing was wrong.”
“It brings you to tears, to be honest,” Monday admitted in 2013 about the stories he’s heard from veterans since then.
He also said in 2016: “It’s freedom of speech, but the flag itself, I look at it from a positive standpoint … I heard today from one of the moms who lost their son. It’s like Barbaralee (Monday’s wife) says, ‘We drape the caskets of our fallen warriors with the flag, and it’s presented to the family with the words, from a grateful nation.’”
Among the things Monday has on his professional resume:
= The first player taken overall in the first Major League Baseball official draft, in 1965, by the Kansas City Athletics, right out of Arizona State. The 19-year-old led the Sun Devils to the College World Series title. This was three years after he declined an $20,000 signing bonus from Dodgers scout Tommy Lasorda to join his hometown team out of Santa Monica High School because Monday had promised his mother he would attend college.
= A dramatic ninth-inning home run off Montreal’s Steve Rogers during the National League Championship Series that gave the Dodgers a 2-1 win and sent them into the 1981 World Series. It is still called “Blue Monday” throughout Canada.
= Two All-Star selections, including 1978 with the Dodgers, a year after he was traded by the Cubs to L.A. in exchange that included Bill Buckner. Monday wanted to keep the No. 7 as he wore with the Cubs, but Steve Yeager had it. So Monday picked 1 plus 6 = 16 instead.
= A total of 241 homers during a 19-year career, eight of them with the Dodgers, as well as 775 RBIs. He had a single-season best of 32 homers for the Cubs as their lead-off hitter for that 1976 season.
= A 30-plus year career as a Dodgers TV and radio broadcaster, brought on in 1993 after the death of Don Drysdale, after Monday had done four years of broadcasting for the San Diego Padres.
But saving that flag from peril …
It remains in a safe deposit box. Secure. Taken out occasionally for fundraising events, especially to help the U.S. military veterans and their families.
“I didn’t do anything that people I know would not have done had they been geographically close enough to do something about it,” Monday has said. “I’m proud to say that all of my friends would have done the same thing. I think it’s about respect. I respect this country and what that flag represents.
“It’s only a piece of cloth, but, boy, it represents a lot of lives and freedoms that we have available to us because of the people who stepped up and sacrificed. All I did that afternoon was step up. I’m not a hero. I’m just a guy who acted upon what I thought was right. I’m happy I was close enough to do something about it.”
A quote from 1996 on the 20th anniversary continues to resonate most: “I’ve gotten a thousand questions wondering if I’m disappointed being best known for something that had nothing to do with baseball. My answer is, absolutely not.”
He added 20 years later: “If I am remembered only as a guy that stood in the way of two guys trying to desecrate an American flag at a Major League Baseball game, and protect the rights and freedoms that flag represents for all of us, that’s not a bad thing to be remembered for.”
Monday also said in a piece repurposed for the Baseball Hall of Fame: “The back of a baseball card is only good for as long as someone does not put it in the spokes of their bicycle. The flag, hopefully, is going to fly forever.”
In a story posted in 2025 about Jim Marshall, who, at 90, was the oldest living member of the New York Mets, it mentioned that he was also the manager of the Chicago Cubs that day Monday saved the flag.
Marshall said Monday was his favorite player to manage.
“He was such a great, young kid,” said Marshall. “I was there the day he grabbed the American flag when those kids were about to burn it. That was the greatest play of his career. I told Rick, ‘You owe me money, man. I put you in the lineup so you could do that, now you have a lifetime job with the Dodgers!’ So now he gives me $1 every time he sees me.”
Who else wore No. 16 in SoCal sports history? Make a case for:
Marcel Dionne, Los Angeles Kings center (1975-76 to 1986-87):
The Little Beaver — a nickname that stuck to the Hockey Hall of Famer because of his 5-foot-9 stature — continues to lead the franchise in career points (1,307) nearly 40 years after he left L.A. He is also standing second in total goals (550) and total assists (757), collected in less than 1,000 games.
Add to that the all-time leader in hat tricks (24, 10 more than second-place Bernie Nichols and Luc Robitaille), goals created (507.5), even-strength goals (369), total goals on-ice for (1,723), power play goals on-ice for (670) and offensive points share of 101.0. All of which may mean nothing to the non-hockey fan.
But until the Kings pulled the trigger before the 1975 season and got him from Detroit in a multi-player deal involving Dan Maloney and Terry Harper, the legend of Dionne in Southern California sports wouldn’t have happened as he combined with Dave Taylor and Charlie Simmer on the “Triple Crown Line” from 1979 to 1984. Incoming coach Bob Berry was the one to put Dionne on the line with second-year right winger Taylor and career minor-leaguer Simmer. Taylor was the play maker, Dionne was the scorer and Simmer was the one who pulled the puck out of the corners. Perhaps by no coincidence, after the Triple Crown Line’s first season together, Dr. Jerry Buss bought the Kings, Lakers and the Forum from Jack Kent Cooke fr $67.5 million. the Triple Crown Line dominated the NHL in its first season, scoring 146 goals and 182 assists, good for 328 points and Dionne was also awarded the Art Ross Trophy as the league’s greatest scorer — two more goals than rookie Wayne Gretzky. By ’80-’81, the line did better: 161 goals, 191 assists and 352 points, and was voted into the 1981 All Star Game as a unit in a game played at the Forum in Inglewood.
Hideo Nomo, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher(1995 to 1998):
The “Nomomania” that erupted in Los Angeles upon the arrival of “The Tornado” during the ’95 post-strike delay generated a Japanese fan following that had not been seen before in Major League Baseball. The ’95 NL Rookie of the Year and league strike-out leader with his baffling forkball and deceptive windup was also the starting NL pitcher in the All Star game, striking out three of the six he faced. A no-hitter at Coors Field in Denver added to his legend. After stops in New York, Milwaukee, Detroit and Boston, Nomo returned to L.A. (wearing No. 10, as catcher Paul LoDuca had No. 16, the magical number for Japanese players) and had back-to-back 16-win seasons before undergoing shoulder surgery.
In honor of Nomo and the Japanese history of pitchers, Yusei Kikuchi made the 2025 Opening Day start with No. 16, having worn it with Houston and Toronto previously.
Gary Beban, UCLA football quarterback (1965 to 1967):
In ESPN’s 2020 list of the 150 greatest college football players in the game’s first 150 years, Beban managed to get in at No. 146, still the only Bruin to win a Heisman. The blurb reads: “Beban may be the classic example of the bromide: All he could do was beat you. He was not big (6-0, 191), didn’t have a particularly strong arm, and beat no one with his legs. But Bruins coach Tommy Prothro made two comments about Beban that defined his worth: “He has no weaknesses.” And: “The more pressure, the better he is.” As a three-year starter, Beban went 24-5-2, including an upset of national champion Michigan State in the 1966 Rose Bowl, 14-12. Beban and No. 1 UCLA lost to O.J. Simpson and No. 3 USC, 21-20, in 1967. Beban threw for 301 yards and two touchdowns, and he beat Simpson for the 1967 Heisman.” That ’67 season, by the way, showed Beban throwing for 1,359 yards and eight TDs, and UCLA finishing 7-2-1. But since he was fourth in the Heisman voting in ’66, Beban seemed to have the best qualifications, considering his career stats: 33 TDs, 3,940 of passing yards and 5,197 of total offense.
Still, if UCLA fans were to conjure a list of the Top 5 quarterbacks in its history, Beban might only be included with Troy Aikman, Cade McNown or Billy Kilmer because of the Heisman hardware, and because so much has happened to the game statistically in measuring success over the last 50-plus years. Since Beban’s time, only a few UCLA players have ever finished in the Top 3 in the Heisman voting: Quarterbacks Aikman (1988) and McNown (1998) were third. Prior to Beban, only Bruins running back Paul Cameron had made it into the Top 3 (in 1953). Quarterback Kilmer was fifth in the 1960 voting and Donn Moomaw finished fourth in 1952. A second-round pick by the Los Angeles Rams in 1968 — 30th overall — Beban’s rights were traded to Washington and only got into five pro games (also wearing No. 16 for the Redskins) as a backup to future Hall of Famer Sonny Jurgensen.
Frank Gifford, USC football multi-purpose player (1949 to 1951):
The Santa Monica-born Gifford wrote in his 2008 biography that he was given No. 16 by coach Jeff Cravath because USC initially recruited him as a quarterback after he spent a year at Bakersfield Junior College, trying to get his grades up as his dad provided for the family working in the oilfields. By the time Jess Hill took over as coach, Gifford became everyone’s All-American running back, piling up 841 yards on 195 carries, completed 32 of 61 passes, made 11 receptions, had three interceptions and kicked 26 PATs and two field goals. “Hill switched us from the T-formation to a combination of the winged T and the single wing and built his attack around me at tailback,” Gifford wrote in his autobiography. “Besides continuing to play defensive back, I ran, passed and blocked — and we won our first seven games.”
His first action was as a sophomore safety, recording two interceptions in a 42-20 season opening win against Navy at the Coliseum. He was also USC’s placekicker, making 25 of 31 PATs that season. A 22-yard field goal that season against Cal was USC’s first field goal made since the 1935 season, 14 years earlier. He led USC in scoring and interceptions in 1950.
Before he graduated, Gifford married his college sweetheart, USC homecoming queen Maxine Ewart, in early 1952, and they had three children. As a first-round pick by the NFL’s New York Giants — becoming a league MVP, an eight-time Pro Bowl pick and having his No. 16 retired by the franchise — he parlayed that into a longtime career as a TV broadcaster on “Monday Night Football.” Gifford was inducted into the inaugural USC Athletic Hall of Fame in 1994, after he made the College Football Hall of Fame in 1975, the Pro Football Hall of Fame in ’77 and the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2012.
Garrett Anderson, California/Anaheim/Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim outfielder (1994 to 2008):
The 15 seasons he spent in three different variations of the Angels’ franchise existence speaks to the fact — no one else in franchise history had done that before (until Mike Trout tied it in 2024). The Kennedy High of Granada Hills standout was picked by the team in the fourth round right out of high school in 1990. He was second in the AL Rookie of the Year voting in 1995 (.321 in 106 games, 16 HR, 69 RBIs). The three-time AL All Star was MVP of the 2003 game when he came off the bench in the sixth to hit a two-run homer and a double in the eighth to lead to an AL comeback win. Anderson led the league in doubles with 56 in their World Series title year of 2002 and 49 the next season. He also won two Silver Slugger Award. He finished his 17-season career wearing N0. 9 for the Dodgers in 2010.
Rodney Peete, USC football quarterback (1985 to 1988):
The three-year starter was a dual-threat Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year and as a senior combined to win the Johnny Unitas Award and Pop Warner Award — and finish second in the Heisman voting behind Oklahoma State’s record-breaking running back Barry Sanders. At a school known for its running game success, Peete finished as the all-time leading passer with 8,225 yards and 54 touchdowns, as well as 12 more rushing.
Willie Wood, USC football quarterback/safety (1957 to 1959):
After starring in Washington D.C. and coming West to play as a junior college All-American at Coalinga Junior College, Wood went to USC under first-year head coach Don Clark and became the first Black quarterback in the history of the Pacific Coast Conference (which became the AAWU, which became the Pac-8). Throwing for 772 yards and seven TDs versus eight interceptions, and running for two touchdowns, he was not picked in the 1960 NFL Draft. He wrote a letter to Green Bay Packers head coach Vince Lombardi to ask for a tryout, and the team signed him, but switched him from quarterback to free safety. From there he made it on five NFL Championships (including the first two Super Bowls), was a five-time All-Pro first team and four time second team, led the NFL in interceptions in 1962 with nine and, after 12 seasons, was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Pau Gasol, Los Angeles Lakers center/forward (2008 to 2013-14):
His seven seasons with the Lakers as Kobe Bryant’s running made brought him three All-Star selections and two NBA titles, resulting in the team retiring his number in 2023, the same year he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. The 7-footer from Barcelona who was the NBA Rookie of the Year with Memphis in 2002 came to L.A. in a deal that upset many league owners — the Lakers were able to unload Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, Aaron McKie — along with his brother, future All Star Marc Gasol — to add him as Bryant’s teammate. In the first game Gasol played with Bryant, he caught a pass and scored, leading Bryant to yell to coach Phil Jackson: “We’ve got a big man that can catch and finish! We’re going to the Finals!” They did for the next three seasons. Gasol averaged 17.7 points and 9.9 rebounds in his seven seasons with the Lakers before leaving to Chicago. As for why Gasol wore No. 16: Rookies in Spain were given that number (or No. 17), as he was in his first season with F.C. Barcelona. He said he had so much success, he wanted to keep it.
Jarred Goff, Los Angeles Rams quarterback (2016 to 2020):
The Rams (and head coach Jeff Fisher) were so convinced they needed the 6-foot-4, 217-pounder out of Cal — even if it was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 draft– they gave Tennessee their first-round pick, two second-round picks and a third-round pick, plus their ’17 first- and third-round picks. Goff then signed a four-year, $27.9 million guaranteed contract. A two-time Pro Bowl pick, Goff wore No. 16 as a tribute to his idol, Joe Montana. Four noteworthy moments in his Rams career: On Nov. 19, 2018, he threw for 413 yards and four touchdowns as the Rams outlasted Kansas City, 54-51, at the Los Angeles Coliseum, the highest-scoring Monday Night Football ever. Goff then guided the team to a Super Bowl in the 2018 season (ending a 13-3 loss to New England. His contract option was picked up and extended to $134 million, with $110 million guaranteed, then an NFL record. In a Week 4 loss to Tampa Bay in 2019, Goff threw for a career-high 517 yards (completing a career-high 45 passes on 68 attempts with two TDs and three picks). But by the 2021 draft, the team changed course and traded him to Detroit in a deal (with a ’22 and ’23 first-round pick) for veteran QB Matthew Stafford.
Jim Plunkett, Los Angeles Raiders quarterback (1982 to 1986):
In 1985, a two-pannel billboard by Nike spanning the 605 Freeway near Irwindale showed Raiders quarterback Jim Plunkett, right, completing a pass to tight end Todd Christensen on the other side of the road. The Raiders had just started floating the idea about moving from the L.A. Coliseum to a new home in the San Gabriel Valley area of Irwindale. (Los Angeles Herald-Examiner photo/Mike Mullen/Los Angeles Public Library Digital Collection).
The last five seasons of his 15-year NFL career were in L.A., coming over with the Raiders after having spent three seasons previously in Oakland. In 1982 and ’83, he led the team to eight fourth-quarter comebacks, as well as eight game-winning drives. His record as a starter was 27-12. He arrived in L.A. after leading the Raiders to a Super Bowl XV title on Jan. 25, 1981.
Lisa Fernandez, UCLA softball (1990 to 1993): A three-time winner of softball’s Honda Award, Fernandez became the first in her sport to win the Broderick Cup in 1993, given to the most outstanding collegiate female athlete in all sports. A four-time, first-team All-American led the Bruins to national titles in ’90 and ’92, plus runner-up finishes in ’91 an d’93. The Pac-10 Player of the Year her final three years, she posted a 93-7 record with a 0.22 earned run average, 784 strike outs and 74 shutouts. The Long Beach native from St. Joseph’s High also garnished three Olympic gold medals, in the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Summer Games.
Andre Ethier, Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder (2006 to 2017): A two-time NL All Star had a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger in his 12 seasons. His top offensive year — 2009, when he hit 31 homers, 42 doubles, drove in 106, scored 92 times and played 160 games, finishing sixth in NL MVP voting. In Game 7 of the 2017 World Series against the Astros, he drove in the only run for the team in a 5-1 series-ending loss with a sixth-inning single. In doing so, he set a Dodgers franchise record by appearing in 51 career post-season contests. Ethier came to the Dodgers from Oakland in a December, 2005 trade for Milton Bradley and Antonio Perez and was the first Dodger to have 30 doubles in seven straight seasons.
Have you heard this story:
Brice Taylor, USC football fullback/offensive guard (1924 to 1926):
The Trojans’ first All-American player and its first African-American player was a descendant of African slaves and a Shawnee Indian chief, orphaned at age 5. Born without a left hand, he enrolled at USC as Gus Henderson’s starting fullback. When Howard Jones took over the next season, Taylor moved to the defensive line and was also its kicker. He played in all but four minutes of USC’s 11 games in 1924. Taylor was also a sprinter and hurdler at USC and picked to be on the U.S. Olympic track team in 1924. After he coached Southern University, a historically black college in Louisiana, where he started the Bayou Classic game with in-state rival Grambling State, Taylor circled back to become the coach at Jefferson High in L.A. as well as the associate pastor at the First African Methodist Episcopal Church. He was honored as the L.A. City Teacher of the Year in 1969 and L.A. Mayor Sam Yorty appointed him to the Mayor’s Community Advisory Board in ’65. Inducted into the USC Athletic Hall of Fame in 1995, Taylor also has a plaque honoring his career at the Coliseum’s Memorial Court of Honor. The Brice Taylor Award is given annual to USC alums for outstanding civic service. That’s the bronze plaque included in the Los Angeles Coliseum’s Memorial Court of Honor above.
The 1962 National League Rookie of the Year for the Chicago Cubs as a Gold Glove winning second baseman rests today in Colton’s Montecito Cemetery, having perished in a private plane crash in February of 1964 at age 22.
His funeral at Colton High’s Whitmer Auditorium drew some 2,000, including Cubs teammates and pallbearers Ron Santo and Ernie Banks. Wearing No. 16 for the Cubs — he came up as a 19-year-old wearing No. 33 for 10 games in the ’61 season — Hubbs played just two full seasons out. The number was never retired, but held out of circulation for nearly a decade. Hubbs was already a local legend a 12 year-old in the 1954 Little League World Series as the shortstop on the Colton team that made it to the championship game where it lost to Schenectady, N.Y. He hit a home run in the game with a broken toe. At Colton High he was All-CIF in football, basketball and baseball and was was a high jumper on the track team. The 1959 Los Angeles Examiner “Best All-Around Athlete in Southern California” was recruited to play basketball for John Wooden at UCLA as well as play quarterback at Notre Dame. A member of the Church of Latter-Day Saints, Hubbs was considering going to BYU or USC when he was signed to a $50,000 bonus to join the Cubs. As a rookie in ’62 he set an MLB record with 78 consecutive games/418 chances without an error — his glove remains on display at the Baseball Hall of Fame. The Riverside-born athlete who was All-American in football and basketball is remembered with the Ken Hubbs Award from the family foundation for the top high school male and female athlete in San Bernardino, celebrating its 60th year in 2024. Notable winners have been Football Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott (1977) and eventual Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels (2019). The L.A. Times’ Jim Murray wrote: “Kenneth Douglass Hubbs was more than just another baseball player. He was the kind of athlete all games need. A devout Mormon, a cheerful leader, a picture-book player, blond-haired, healthy, generous with his time for young boys; he was the kind of youth in short supply in these selfish times.”
We also have:
Rocky Colavito, Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder (1968) Will Smith, Los Angeles Dodgers catcher (2019 to present) Paul LoDuca, Los Angeles Dodgers catcher (1998 to 2004) Paul McDonald, USC football quarterback (1976 to 1979) Holly McPeak, UCLA women’s volleyball setter (1990) Eddie Joyal, Los Angeles Kings center (1967-68 to 1971-72)
This is the latest post for an ongoing media project — 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 highlight an athlete — person, place or thing — most obviously connected to it by fame and fortune, someone who isn’t so obvious, and then take a deeper dive into the most interesting story tied to it. It’s a combination of star power, achievement, longevity, notoriety, and, above all, what makes that athlete so Southern California. Quirkiness and notoriety factor in. And it should open itself to more discussion and debate — which is what sports is best at doing.
The most obvious choices for No. 55:
= Orel Hershiser, Los Angeles Dodgers = Junior Seau, USC football = Willie McGinnest, USC football = Chris Clayborne, USC football = Kiki Vandeweghe, UCLA basketball = Gary Cunningham, UCLA basketball
The not-so-obvious choices for No. 55:
= Jack Robinson, Pasadena City College football = Maxie Baughan, Los Angeles Rams
The most interesting story for No. 55: Gavin Smith, UCLA basketball forward (1973-74 to 1975-76) Southern California map pinpoints: Van Nuys, Sherman Oaks, Westwood, Hollywood, Calabasas, West Hills, Porter Ranch, Palmdale
Season 2, Episode 4 of “Homicide: Los Angeles,” the Dick Wolf-created Netflix documentary, is called “A Hollywood Affair.” It aired in July of 2024.
The synopsis: “When a Hollywood studio executive goes missing, a tumultuous affair comes to light, leading investigators to suspect foul play.”
The synopsis: “A philandering film executive, Gavin Smith, goes missing. Is he seeking a new life or has he upset a dangerous rival?”
Surely, host Keith Morison can make this seem even more supernatural.
What else ya got, gumshoe?
Season 5, Episode 9 of “The Perfect Murder,” another made-for-TV series that recreates crime scenes with actors. The title is “Jump Shot.” It aired in September of 2018.
The synopsis: “Hollywood ‘golden boy’ Gavin Smith — a 20th Century Fox executive and former star UCLA basketball player — disappears one night in May, 2012. His family and detectives search tirelessly for answers, but a group of heartless and selfish characters will hold fast to their secrets.“
Now the plot thickens. Maybe even into a pasty batter.
Yet, what’s truth and what’s fiction?
In the pantheon of UCLA’s storied basketball, was Gavin Smith really a “star” player with the Bruins’ program? Only if it helps draws in viewers. And how you define player at various points in his evolution.
Gavin Smith was 57 when he died. Or, rather, when he was murdered. And buried. And found two years later.
Let’s investigate all this further.
The background
As a group of former UCLA basketball players honor coach John Wooden in 2003, Gavin Smith stands just to Wooden’s left, holding his left hand.
Van Nuys News columnist Bernie Milligan wrote in 1973 about this 6-foot-6, 190-pound hot shot at Van Nuys High was, “according to most who see him play, the greatest thing to come along in basketball since Elgin Baylor.”
Gavin Smith, who by then was included in a Washington Post story that identified him as of the top 15 basketball players in the country, grew up in Sherman Oaks without playing organized basketball until he was 13. So when he sprouted up in height and average 27 points and 16 rebounds a game in his senior year at Van Nuys to win Mid-Valley League MVP, wearing No. 33, the days that he was remembered as a baseball pitching prospect for the school that created Don Drysdale was long gone.
As Smith told Milligan: “I was a scatter arm and never knew exactly where the ball was going.”
To further prove his athleticism, Smith won the league championship in the long jump and finished sixth in the L.A. City final.
When the Los Angeles Times posted a March 20, 1973 story announcing the L.A. All-City basketball team — Crenshaw’s Marques Johnson was named Player of the Year — it noted that Smith had been “called by one college coach the ‘best white player in the country’.” That quote came from Washington State head coach George Raveling, who had been actively recruiting him. Raveling could get away with saying such a thing that these days might raise eyebrows.
A month later, after returning from the Dapper Dan Classic high school all-star game in Pittsburgh, Smith, who had been a second-team Parade Magazine All-American, gave Raveling his answer — he decided to bank on John Wooden and UCLA.
Wooden’s assistant, Frank Arnold, got him to join a recruiting class that included the same Marques Johnson, plus Richard Washington and Jim Spillane. UCLA fans were told that Smith would remind them of former Bruins star Keith Erickson, both in looks and how he played.
From the UCLA 1973-74 basketball media guide.
UCLA, coming off seven straight NCAA titles, had a 1973-74 roster with seniors Bill Walton, Keith Wilkes and Tommy Curtis, plus juniors David Meyers and Pete Trgovich. Smith could likely have been a starter anywhere else with freshmen eligible now.
“The main reason I chose UCLA was that if I play there, I’ll be playing against the best players and that’s why they win championships,” said Smith. “The players are so good that if you don’t do the job they can have someone else who can.”
As a freshman, Smith practiced with the varsity team and got into seven games, scoring nine points with five rebounds. In nine of the Bruins’ 18 JV games, he averaged 15.7 points, third best on the team, and seven rebounds a contest.
As a sophomore, Wooden had Smith come off the bench in 17 games. As he scored 60 points with 18 rebounds, a key contribution was in an 82-75 win at Pauley Pavilion in December of ’74 against rival Notre Dame. Smith his two long jump shots over the Irish’s 2-1-2 zone during a 10-point run that got UCLA back in the game.
“I was extremely pleased with Gavin,” said Wooden afterward. “Gavin played under control, dribbled well and made a few good shots.”
The Bruins won the 1975 NCAA title that season, the last for Wooden as he retired. Smith didn’t play in that 92-85 championship win over Kentucky.
UCLA’s 1974-75 NCAA title team. Gavin Smith (55), second from left, front row.
Now Smith went into his junior year finally declaring a major — political science — and trying to declare a reason new head coach Gene Bartow should give him more playing time.
Smith still couldn’t break into the starting lineup, stuck now between a shooting guard and a small forward depending on the opponent. He played in 30 games for a Bruins’ team that won the Pac-8 at 12-2, and finished fifth in the final AP poll at 27-5. Smith scored 179 points (6.0 a game) to go with 55 rebounds (1.8 a game) and 22 assists (0.7 a game). During a stretch of games in January and February of ’76, there were some double-digit point production. The Pauley Pavilion crowd picked up on it and often chanted “Shoot, Gavin, shoot!”
UCLA’s season ended with a bitter loss in the NCAA national semifinals to Indiana, 65-51. Smith managed six points in nine minutes with three personal fouls in that game, but in a follow up in the Los Angeles Times, he wasn’t shy about complaining about his limited playing time, benched after his fast-break layup cut Indiana’s lead to six points with six minutes left.
“I could understand it if I were throwing up bricks,” said Smith. “But I wasn’t. I don’t understand why I’m not in there when others are cold.” He also pointed out teammates were playing with a lack of intensity. “We should have had the attitude that we’re the defending champs and Indiana had to beat us. I didn’t have much to do with anything but when I’m in a game I’m fired up and I’ll even scream at some of our dudes.”
The Daily Breeze: March 7, 1976.
In those days, there was a third-place game, and UCLA handily defeated Rutgers, 106-92. Smith had eight points (3 of 9 shooting) and six rebounds in 15 minutes off the bench.
It would be his last game for the Bruins.
On that ’75-’76 roster, nine UCLA players would go into the NBA. Marques Johnson, of course, as eventual winner of the Wooden Award, was coming back for his senior year. David Greenwood now starting on the front line with Richard Washington. Bartow had Palisades High’s Kiki VanDeWeghe and Redondo High’s Gig Sims as new big men on their way in for the ’76-’77 season. Guard play would be split between senior Jim Spillane, junior Raymond Towsend and sophomores Brad Holland and Roy Hamilton.
Smith was caught in between. By July, 1976, his fate was sealed. UCLA declared him scholastically ineligible. The story wasn’t clear how that happened, but it did. and he was free to go.
When Smith’s transferred out to the University of Hawaii, one of his original three schools of interest coming out of high school, VanDeWeghe would get his Bruins’ No. 55 jersey.
Given not just a starting role but a starring one on the island, Smith averaged 23.4 points a game for the Rainbow Warriors, a program that had started just seven seasons earlier and was still an independent.
Just before Smith arrived, at the end of the ’75-’76 season, former graduate assistant Rick Pitino had his first head-coach experience on an interim basis, at age 24. But something was amiss. As Hawaii hired Larry Little as its new coach, he brought in Smith, and the program finished 9-18 in ’76-’77, just as it was hit an NCAA sanction related to Pitino recruiting violations and player benefits.
Smith set four Hawaii program records — most points in a single season (608), best scoring average (23.4), plus most field goals and most field goal attempts (252 of 571), all before the 3-point line came into effect. Those marks that still stand. He had a season-best 37 points with 13 rebounds in an 18-point loss to Oregon State. He also led Hawaii in rebounds (6.5 a game).
He was on the West team for the Aloha Classic college All-Star game, teammates again with Johnson and Spillane.
Not all was smooth sailing in Hawaii for Smith, known for wearing his hair long held with a bandana and bringing his dog to practice. He was suspended one game when he and some teammates broke a curfew. He was also on shaky ground when the school’s second semester started and he hadn’t registered for classes, was thought to be ineligible, but Little scrambled to get him enrolled again.
In a March, 1977 story for the Los Angeles Times, reporter Earl Gustkey caught up with Smith as Hawaii faced Long Beach State at the Long Beach Arena. In that February 24 game, Smith missed his first seven shots, including three air balls, was 2-for-12 at halftime as his team trailed by 21, and ended up with just 12 points in a 110-79 loss before fouling out as well as getting a technical foul. A few games later, in a 40-point loss at UNLV, Smith had 18 points but fouled out with 14 minutes left.
“Geez, I was horrendous,” said Smith, back to wearing the No. 33 from Van Nuys High, talking about that loss in Long Beach.
Smith then explained how his situation at UCLA ended:
“I had a long talk with coach Bartow and he told me it’d be very difficult to keep me out of the starting lineup this year, but it wasn’t a guarantee. I was fed up and a little perturbed. I mean, I’m no average ball player and I’d sat for three years.
“After three years, after all the mental and physical exertion from my body, I’d gotten zero in return in terms of playing time. I just became unhappy with the situation. So after my talk with Bartow, I just left.
“A lot of people think I flunked out of UCLA, but I didn’t. I just left. I didn’t even both to drop my classes. I’d met a lady from Santa Rosa, so I went up there with her.”
Women can do that to you.
The aftermath
Gavin Smith, left, wife Lisa, center, and sons Dylan, Austin and Evan.
A 2024 issue of People magazine did a whole big to-do about the life and times of Gavin Smith. It’s probably most appropriate we allow that magazine to pick up the story from here with its collated research:
After playing, it seemed almost natural that Smith pursue a career in the entertainment industry — his mother was an assistant movie producer, as well as a script supervisor and got him involved in the business at an early age.
The stereotypical California sun-tanned, tall and handsome figure first came in as a stuntman. He hurt his back. The meds he used caught up with him.
Smith’s IMDb.com resume also notes small acting roles in three film and TV spots — a bartender in “Cobb, a bodyguard in “Glitz,” and a role in “Swingin’ in the Painter’s Room” — an 11-minute black-and-white film where Smith is ID’d as “Guy with Fur Hat.”
As an aspiring actor, Smith was also the stereotypical part-time waiter scrambling for a paycheck. That’s where he first met his eventual wife, Lisa Dobson.
“I just thought he was charming and I was thrilled when he asked me for my number,” Dobson said on Dateline in 2017. “He was a wonderful husband. He was a gentleman … He made me feel like a princess.”
Smith found work in 20th Century Fox and somehow worked his way up to the head of film distribution. His top projects included the original “Star Wars” trilogy, “Titanic” and “Avatar,” as a liaison between the studio and theaters. He also got involved in the creative process, working from the studio’s Calabasas office.
Smith and Dobson had three sons: Evan, Austin and Dylan. While Smith worked in the film industry, Lisa raised the kids. Evan, born in 1990, would grow to a 6-foot-7 forward at Calabasas High, averaging 17.7 points and 9.3 rebounds as a senior, making the CIF-SS Division III first team. Wearing No. 22, he went to play at USC from 2009-10 to 2010-11, getting into just 11 games as a freshman and sophomore for coach Kevin O’Neill before an injury derailed him.
According to friends who spoke to The Daily Beast in 2012, the couple’s relationship had been on the rocks. Smith had substance abuse issues as well as financial problems as they bought a house during the 2008 financial crisis and were underwater with bills.
“They were not separated. They were just going through normal stuff couples go through,” Evan told E! News in 2012.
Dobson turned to religion for comfort. Smith turned to the company of Chandrika Cade, a married woman he met during a 2008 stay in rehab center. When Smith’s family found out about his affair, Smith insisted he would call things off — but his promise was only temporary.
“I was the love of Gavin’s life,” Dobson said. “He adored me. Our family was exactly what he wanted to have. He just got lost.”
Then, in May, 2012, Smith officially did get lost. He disappeared.
The L.A. Sheriff’s Department reported that Smith was last seen in the Agoura Hills/Oak Park area in a black Mercedes with the California license plate 6EKT004. The family asked publicly for anyone’s help in the search.
As it turned out, on the evening of his disappearance, Smith secretly met up again with Chandrika Cade. This time, her husband, convicted drug dealer John Creech, tracked them down.
Creech, who found out about the affair in 2010, killed Smith with his bare hands.
Smith’s body wasn’t discovered until more than two years later.
As more and more information came out, it was revealed that Evan and one of his brothers had actually approached Creech to apologize for their father’s actions, begging for Creech not to retaliate. Creech told the boys that they saved their father’s life with that visit.
Evan then told his father that he had to “be better” if he wanted to continue to be a part of their family unit. Learning later his father had continued the affair, Evan says he was “crushed.”
In the days before his 2012 disappearance, Smith attended the CinemaCon movie convention in Las Vegas. He went back to the San Fernando Valley, but opted to stay with a nearby family friend in Oak Park on the night of May 1 instead of his West Hills home.
Smith and the friend watched television together before she retired to bed, expecting him to do the same later in the evening.
“They had already gone to bed,” Dobson told ABC. “So, he was still downstairs watching TV when our friend went to bed. And he was going to be coming up to bed shortly.”
But, at around 10 p.m., Smith left in his black Mercedes, wearing purple workout pants that belonged to Evan and he intended to wear to bed. He left most of his belongings behind. According to phone records acquired by police, Smith’s last GPS signal came from Sylmar at 4:30 a.m. on May 2, about 30 minutes from his home.
That morning, his family sensed something was wrong because Smith was supposed to pick up Austin for school. When that didn’t happen, and he didn’t make it to work, Dobson filed a missing person report. Flyers went out. A hotline was established. A $20,000 reward was offered. An episode of “America’s Most Wanted” even did a segment on the case.
At that point, the LAPD started to investigate Creech and Cade, going to their Canoga Park home, seizing cell phones and computers as well as their SUV.
In February of 2013, L.A. County Sheriff’s deputies found Smith’s Mercedes in a Simi Valley storage facility, led to that unit after Creech’s vehicle was found during a drug bust. After inspection, the evidence led to the belief that was where Smith was murdered. Creech was now the person of interest, as he was already serving two years of an eight-year sentence in L.A. County Men’s Central Jail on drug charges.
On Oct. 26, 2014, Smith’s remains were discovered in a shallow grave by a group of hikers in Palmdale, going into Angeles National Forest, 70 miles away from the home where he disappeared.
In January 2015, the district attorney officially filed murder charges against Creech. A grand jury indicted him. In the months that followed, hundreds of pages of court transcripts were made public through the Los Angeles Times.
Testimony from Cade revealed she met up with Smith late in the night when he disappeared. Her husband tracked her location and snuck up on the pair. Cade said Creech immediately began beating Smith and threatened to harm her as well. After pleading for her husband to stop, she fled the scene and returned home in her own vehicle.
Creech then beat Smith to death. The county coroner said Smith’s skull had been crushed on both sides.
Creech decided to store Smith’s Mercedes in a friend’s garage in Porter Ranch, then went to the desert to bury Smith’s body. Creech and several accomplices kept Smith’s death a secret for years as the investigation was underway.
Prosecutors described Smith’s murder as “an act of almost stunning brutality — almost indescribable violence.” Creech’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Irene Nuñez, called her client’s actions self-defense, that he feared for Cade’s safety, found the two in Smith’s car, and Smith began to attack him. He also alleged Smith chased him with a weapon — never found — causing Creech to fight back.
When Creech took the stand, he took “full accountability” for not contacting authorities to help find Smith, per NBC News.
Cade also testified that Creech was covered in blood when he came home later that morning of Smith’s disappearance. She said her husband told her Smith was dead, and they burned their clothes in the home’s fireplace.
At the end of the trial, the jury was presented with several options including first- and second-degree murder. Instead, they found Creech guilty of voluntary manslaughter after an hour of deliberation.
In July 2017, Creech was sentenced to the maximum 11 years in prison. His accomplices were not charged. Cade was not charged. They were given plea deals. In 2019, Creech’s conviction was upheld by a state appeals court.
Detective John O’Brien was disappointed in the verdict, suggesting that the jury had been biassed against Smith because of his infidelity.
“My opinion is that they didn’t like the fact that Gavin and Chandrika had an affair,” he said. “I think the jury felt that he went back even after he had been warned, so in a way he kind of got what was coming to him. I don’t even understand that logic, because there’s no right to kill somebody.”
Gavin Smith’s friends continued to remember him as a “larger-than-life” personality devoted to his sons and hoping to repair his relationship with his wife. Following his death, they worried his memory had been tainted by the sensational circumstances of the murder case.
“He wasn’t some adulterer having flings here and there… that just wasn’t him,” Smith’s brother Greg said. “Unfortunately this liaison cost him his life. Smiling, always happy, he was bigger than life. I loved him and I miss him, but he’ll always be here. Always.”
Makes you wonder: If Gavin Smith had been shown the script for this story, would he have believed it?
Instead, it gets retold now by those who can still milk it for all its details. Over and over again.
Who else wore No. 55 in SoCal sports history? Make a case for:
Orel Hershiser, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher (1983 to 1994, 2000):
Best known: The facts and figures of the 1988 season, confirming Orel Hershiser winning the Cy Young Award, World Series MVP, NLCS MVP, broke the MLB record for consecutive scoreless innings at 59 (which meant going 10 innings in a 1-0 win in his last start to do it of the regular season), a Gold Glove, finishing sixth in the MVP voting and doing whatever was necessary to pitch the Dodgers to the World Series title as a heavy underdog to both the New York Mets in the NLCS and the Oakland A’s in the finale secures a fate that he never have to buy a drink in Southern California for as long as he lives.
His decision to then become a broadcaster and mesh into the Dodgers’ SportsNet L.A. broadcast team has not only kept him visible, but some still congratulate him for his induction in the Baseball Hall of Fame for still having his “world record,” as he told us in 2013.
Some of his memorabilia may be on displayed in Cooperstown, but there is no plaque. He had just 11 percent of the votes in his first year of eligibility of 2006. Voters in the Veterans Committees in 2017 and ’19 didn’t generate enough interest. The Bill James’ “Hall of Fame Monitor” has him with a score of 91, when 100 is the passing threshold. Hershiser’s 56.0 career WAR, and 40.1 seven-year peak is comparable to Hall of Famers such as Catfish Hunter and Dazzy Vance during his career trajectory. Having led the National League in innings pitched for three straight seasons (1987 to 1989) with 33 complete games in that span and posting ERAs of 3.06, 2.26 and 2.31 were his peak. A 204-150 record and 3.48 ERA in an 18-year career over more than 3,000 innings included a comeback from revolutionary shoulder surgery by Dr. Frank Jobe. That led to Hershiser’s No. 55 put into the Dodgers’ “Legends” status in 2023, and eventually having it somewhat retired in the “Ring of Honor.” Not well remembered: The Dodgers’ 17th round pick in 1979 out of Bowling Green left as a free agent to play with Cleveland, San Francisco and the Mets, but he returned to the Dodgers in 2000 at age 41. He lasted until June 27, showing up for 24 innings, amassing a 1-5 mark and 13.14 ERA in six starts.
Best remembered: Out of Palisades High, the 6-foot-8, 220 pounder got his basketball DNA from his father, Ernie “Doc” Vandeweghe, a shooting guard for six seasons with the NBA’s New York Knicks (1949 to 1956) before starting a well-known medical practice in Southern California. Four years as a Bruin produced a UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame induction in 1994. The All-American and NCAA post-graduate scholarship award winner lead the Bruins to a national championship appearance his senior year (losing to Louisville) and losing in the West Regional final in his senior year (with an AP No. 2 ranking). He averaged 14.2 points (11th in the Pac-10) and 19.5 points a game (second in the conference) his final two seasons at UCLA, plus 6.3 and 6.8 rebounds. That led to a first-round draft choice of Dallas in 1980, but a holdout led to a trade to Denver. Not well remembered: The last of his 13-season NBA career came with the Clippers, starting three of his 41 games for a 41-41 team under coach Larry Brown. In 2013, Kiki Vanderweghe change the spelling of his last name to VanDeWeghe, to honor as it was spelled in its original Belgium by his departed grandfather and namesake as Ernest M. VanDeWeghe III.
UCLA’s Gary Cunningham (55) featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated in action against USC.
Best known: The 6-foot-6 sharpshooter at Inglewood High became a three-year starter was on the Bruins’ first Final Four appearance team in the ’62 tournament. His value to the program came as John Wooden’s assisant coach from 1965 to ’75 on six national title teams, including a run as the freshman team coach that featured all the top incoming players such as Lew Alcindor. He then became UCLA’s head coach from 1977 to ’79, compiling a 50-8 record with a No. 2 ranking in the final polls both seasons. He has the greatest winning percentage as a UCLA coach at .862. He retired in 2008 after 13 years as the athletic director at UC Santa Barbara. Not well remembered: His 2001 UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame induction notes that Cunningham was not only the ’62 team’s co-captain, he was also winner of the Ducky Drake Award for best spirit, inspiration and team contribution and a three-time winner of the Ace Calkins Award as Bruin free-throw champion.
The USC “Club 55” tradition:
USC linebacker Jim Snow (55, right) moves in on Purdue quarterback Bob Griese during the Jan. 2, 1967 Rose Bowl. Purdue won, 14-13.
Junior Seau, USC football linebacker (1987 to 1989):
Best known: Tiaina Baul “Junior” Seau Jr., seems to have started a tradition of having the No. 55 bestowed upon the Trojans’ most influential linebacker. Because of academic restrictions, Seau played only two seasons for the Trojans. In 1989, he had 19 sacks and 27 tackles for loss and was named a unanimous All-American and the Pac-10 defensive player of the year.His two years produced 107 tackles and 33 tackles for a loss. Seau died on May, 2012 of a self-inflicted gun wound to his chest. He was 43. Studies by the National Institute of Health showed Seau had chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) brain disease cause by repetitive head trauma. Not well known: In ESPN’s 2020 list of the 150 greatest college football players in the game’s first 150 years, Seau ranked No. 105. His bio noted that while at USC: The Trojans went 19-4-1, won back-to-back conference titles and played in two Rose Bowls in his two seasons. After bypassing his senior season, Seau was the fifth pick of the 1990 NFL draft and played 20 seasons as a pro, and 12-time Pro Bowl player and a member of the NFL’s 100th Anniversary Team. He wore No. 55 throughout his professional career and had it retired by San Diego, which took him No. 5 overall in the 1990 draft. In 2015, he became the first player of Polynesian and Samoan descent to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
The family of Junior Seau — including his mother Luisa, and his four children — were given a framed No. 55 jersey during a brief ceremony between the first and second quarters of USC’s game against Hawaii on Sept. 1, 2012. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
The USC football jersey No. 55 for sale at the campus store.
Best known: McGinest was All-Pac-10 Conference three straight years and had All-American status. During his senior year, he was a Lombardi Award finalist. Starting every game at weak-side defensive end, McGinest finished at USC with 193 tackles (134 solos), 29 sacks (171 yards), 48 tackles for loss (238 yards), and 26 passes batted away. The fourth overall pick of the 1994 draft by the New England Patriots, McGinest had a 15-year NFL career with two Pro Bowls and three Super Bowl titles. Not well remembered: Out of Long Beach Poly High, McGinest had all-state honors in football and basketball.
Best known: The only USC player to ever win the Butkus Award for the nation’s top linebacker in 1998 was given No. 55 by Trojans head coach John Robinson after he committed from Riverside North High, where he also wore that number. “We told him he had to wear 55 because he was going to be great player,” Robinson said. “He didn’t think it was great at the time. Once he got in it and recognized it was special, he liked it.” The Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year in ’98 led USC in tackles with 107 (77 solo), interceptions (six, returning two for touchdowns) and in pass deflections (16). Not well remembered: The No. 9 overall pick in the 1999 draft by Detroit went on to become the head football coach at Calabasas High in 2018 and was on the USC staff in 2020 as a quality control analyst.
Keith Rivers, USC football linebacker (2004 to 2007):
Best known: Born in Riverside, Rivers decided to go to USC over many other offers to be the latest No. 55. He started out on USC’s ’04 national title team as a freshman and had 215 tackles in his 49-game career, leading to the No. 9 overall pick of Cincinnati in the 2008 NFL draft. Rivers once said of honoring Seau by wearing No. 55: “It started with him and lived through all of the 55s that carry the torch.” Not well remembered: USC linebacker coach Ken Norton Jr., gave Rivers the nickname “The Shark” for his aggressive play.
Have you heard this story:
Jack Robinson, Pasadena Junior College football running back (1938):
A statue sits outside the Rose Bowl depicting Robinson’s days at the junior college and sporting the No. 55. It commemorates the 13 games he played at the Rose Bowl — four when he attended John Muir High School and nine during his time attending Pasadena Junior College (today known as Pasadena City College). In one notable game against Caltech, Robinson scored a Rose Bowl-record touchdown with a 104-yard kickoff return. That record, which still stands, is likely the inspiration for the statue’s stance.
A 1948 Rams post includes Tom Fears (top left),
Tom Fears, UCLA end (1946 to ’47); Los Angeles Rams right and left end/defensive end (1948 to 1956):
Born in Guadalajara, Mexico, Fears was a standout at L.A.’s Manual Arts High and joined his friend, Toby Freedman, from Beverly Hills High, to enroll at Santa Clara University. Drafted for military service for World War II, he had three years of service and played football at the Colorado Springs platoon. An 11th-round draft pick of the Cleveland Rams, Fears went to UCLA instead, wearing No. 50 for two seasons as an All-American player. When the Rams’ franchise moved to Los Angeles in ’47, Fears joined them in ’48 for a $6,000 contract and $500 bonus. He led the NFL with 51 receptions despite starting just one of the 12 games. He’d lead the NFL again with 77 catches (a league record) and nine touchdowns in ’49 (to go with 1,013 yards) and, in his only Pro Bowl season, was tops with 84 catches (breaking his own league record) with 1,116 yards and 93 yards a game. In 1952, Fears switched to No. 80 and would keep that the last five years of his career, lasting all nine years in L.A. He died at age 76 in 2000 in Palm Desert as a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the College Football Hall of Fame, and included into the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame in 1989. Fears was also a Rams’ coach under former teammate Bob Waterfield in the 1950s. He was also named president of the All-Sports Council of Southern California and spent a year coaching at San Bernardino JC and Chapman College. He was director of player personnel for the USFL’s Los Angeles Express in its first year.
Maxie Baughan, Los Angeles Rams linebacker (1966 to 1970):
A Pro Bowl pick in four seasons and first-team All-Pro three times during his five seasons with the Rams, Baughan pulled in 11 interceptions total with the franchise. He came to Los Angeles in a trade to play for head coach George Allen, starting his first season with the organization. Baughan was chosen to be the Rams’ defensive captain and was in charge of signal calling. After an injury-plagued 1970 season, in which he played in only 10 games, Baughan retired from the NFL. But his contractual rights were traded in 1971 to Washington — where Allen had just gone off to work. That deal included Baughan going with Jack Pardee, Myron Pottios, Diron Talbert, John Wilbur, Jeff Jordan and a 1971 fifth-round pick to the Redskins for Marlin McKeever, first- and third-round picks in 1971 (which turned out to be Isiah Robertson and Dave Elmendorf, plus five-more draft picks. After two years as a defensive coordinator at his alma mater, Georgia Tech, Baughan was coaxed by Allen to become a player-coach with his Redskins in 1974 at age 36 for one last season. He was up for Pro Football Hall of Fame considerations in 2025.
We also have:
Albert Pujols, Los Angeles Dodgers (2021) Russell Martin, Los Angeles Dodgers (2006-2010, 2019) Jason Isringhausen, Los Angeles Angels (2012) Tim Lincecum, Los Angeles Angels (2016) Hideki Matsui, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (2010) Matt Millen, Los Angeles Raiders (1980 to 1988) Carl Ekern, Los Angeles Rams (1976 to 1988)
Tom Hoffarth's The Drill: More Farther Off the Wall 