Ernie Medina gets a promotion at Northwood that takes him off the football field

Ernie Medina has been promoted to plant supervisor at Northwood. (Photo Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone)

Sports have been a big part of Ernie Medina’s life, first as a football and baseball player at University High where he graduated in 1995 and then later as the athletic equipment manager at Northwood, a position he held for the last 21 years.

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Medina’s life will be changing soon as he has been promoted to plant supervisor at Northwood. He replaces his former boss Jeff Golden, who is retiring.

“I’ll oversee the whole school (grounds), whatever is needed and make sure it’s running smoothly,” Medina said. “I will work under Eric Keith, who is the assistant principal. I had the trust from Leslie Roach, our principal to succeed Jeff Golden which is a blessing.”

Medina will be in charge of making sure all the building operations are working properly on campus.

If something breaks on campus, Medina said he will be “the first one that gets the call,” he said.

Medina has to be on the look out for gas leaks, roof leaks, power outages, cracked sidewalks or electrical fixtures that need to be fixed. If he’s on campus, he will make sure the work is done.

“I put the work order in, I put the phone call in and they figure out who is available and who is the closest, and they will get someone down here immediately,” said Medina, 43. “You’re on call, 24-7 for the next 15 or 20 years I have until I retire.”

Medina said he realizes there may be a void when football starts and he isn’t involved in the day to day operations.

“The hardest will be Aug. 24 when we play our first game,” he said. “Since we opened at Northwood, that’s what I’ve been doing for the last 21 years. I think that’s where I’m going to get the rude awakening where those football days are over. But I’m still going to go watch them play and go on the sidelines.”

Medina has had a number of responsibilities at Northwood.

“I’ve been helping out some of the coaches with the filming but it’s mainly on the sidelines and being the get-back coach (warning players and coaches to stay behind the sidelines),” he said. “I kept the players and the coaches back for the last 21 years. That’s something I’m going to miss because I took a lot of pride in that.”

Medina has also done a lot of work on the fields at Northwood and handled the equipment for the athletic programs. He originally worked with football coach Rick Curtis and has fond memories of those he’s worked with over the years.

“I’m going to miss Dean Toohey (former head football coach) and Andy Sepulveda (the athletic trainer). We’re the last three left from our original group in 1998 when we first opened,” Medina said.

Medina said the coaching staff and Northwood parents have been supportive to him and his family, which includes his wife Lori and the couple’s children Jaycob and Celeste.

“I’m going to miss the coaching staff and the parents at Northwood have been amazing,” Medina said. “My wife has beeen battling cancer since 2012 and we’re going on a trip and it was all paid for by the football parents as a gift to my wife. They did a collection from all the parents to get a trip for my wife.”

His wife’s cancer is in remission, Medina said.

“She’s doing good, she’s doing a treatment once every five weeks.”

Medina said he is grateful for the support of Javier Manriquez, plant supervisor at Uni; Martin Garcia, director of all departments; Golden, his former boss; Eric Keith, the assistant prinicpal; the late Chuck Keith, former administrator at University when Medina was there and Roach, the Northwood principal.

Medina seemed like the perfect candidate for the job, according to Keith.

“Ernie has been at Northwood since it opened and he’s been a big part of the Northwood family and he’s been one of the constant guys on campus over the last 20 plus years or so and he’s one of the hardest working guys as well,” Keith said. “I think everyone has appreciated that and just grown accustomed to having him around and relying on him to help us out so we certainly wanted to kind of reward that.

“He has certainly shown he is ready for some additional responsibilities and he had a lot of support of both the staff and the custodial staff as well. We just appreciate all he’s done for us and we’re looking forward to continuing that relationship.”

Medina said he still plans to support Northwood football and the rest of the athletic teams.

“I’ll still be able to go to the games but I won’t have to worry about staying late or being up until 1 in the morning getting all the gear picked up,” he said.

-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com