Former legendary La Quinta baseball coach Dave Demarest in line for distinguished honor

Gerald Laird (left) and Ian Kennedy (right) joined Coach Dave Demarest for a photo in August 2014 at Petco Park. The two are among the seven Major Leaguers Demarest coached. (Photo courtesy Tom Duggan/Dave Demarest).

Former long-time La Quinta High School baseball coach Dave Demarest, the winningest high school baseball coach in Orange County, was excited when he found out about his future induction into the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

While proud to receive the honor, Demarest is also looking forward to sharing the spotlight with coaches Don Sneddon (formerly of Santa Ana College), George Horton (former Cal State Fullerton coach) and the late John Altobelli, former coach at Orange Coast College.

“I’m very honored,” Demarest said. “I’m looking forward to it, besides knowing a lot of people in the NABC, I’ll be joining some elite coaches.”

Demarest, who had a 753-213 record at La Quinta, will be one of six high school coaches inducted and the only one from Southern California inducted. Sneddon, Horton and Altobelli’s inductions were delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The 2023 ABCA Hall of Fame Banquet induction ceremony will be held during the 79th annual ABCA Convention on Friday, Jan. 6, 2023, at the Gaylord Opryland in Nashville, Tenn. It’s the highest honor given by the organization. The ABCA was founded in 1945 and the Hall of Fame began in 1966.

Former Edison High School Coach Tom Duggan said he knows Demarest and Sneddon (who had more than 1,000 career wins, three state championships and 16 conference championships in 32 years) well; both were instrumental in helping him during his baseball career.

“I met Dave and played for him as part of the Orange County All-Star Game in 1981, then played for him in some games that following summer before I went on to play for Mike Mayne at OCC,” Duggan recalled. “After my stint in professional baseball, we reconnected and he was a mentor, along with Don Sneddon. Both are two of the greatest coaches in the game.

“What makes Dave stand out above his peers, is knowledge of the game, ability to think innings ahead of his counterparts and his genuine ability to care for and connect with anyone and everyone he coaches or mentors.

“Without Don Sneddon, I wouldn’t have earned a college degree, two masters degrees and had a 25 plus year career in education today.  ABCA got it right in recognizing the great O.C. legends.”

Demarest put together quite a resume at La Quinta in Westminster, his only head coaching assignment. He led the Aztecs to seven appearances in the CIF finals, three CIF titles, 22 league titles including 15 in a row and 31 CIF playoff appearances before retiring in 2007. He was named Garden Grove League coach of the year 24 times and CIF coach of the year four times.

“I was a head coach for 34 years and then I was a full-time assistant for eight years and then I’ve been kind of a volunteer assistant coach for eight years,” Demarest said. “I loved being part of La Quinta because every year I taught. I just loved the high school level. In 34 years, I either had good players, exceptional players or great players. We always had players and good coaches. Same thing when I played at Palos Verdes (High School) and Long Beach State, it was fun, so I’ve always been around that.

“I’m kind of a perfectionist and I only reached my goal three times ….. I did it three out of 34 times, you always got to look at the big picture.

“When we won CIF in 1994, I thought, ‘OK, this is the top.’ Well the next year, the next thing you know (people are asking) why don’t you be the first team to win back to back. But what happened after that? The next year we lost in the quarters and everybody asked, ‘what happened?’

“I was very fortunate, good players, quality kids. In 34 years, we never had a kid ineligible, in 34 years, we never had a kid not graduate. I always seemed to have players who were willing to work hard to become good players and teammates.”

Demarest coached some talented players at La Quinta with seven of them making it to the Major Leagues: Brandon Laird, Cole Garner, Jeff Heathcock, Gerald Laird, Bobby Crosby, Ian Kennedy and Ian Stewart. Kennedy, a pitcher, is still with Arizona.

“I think we had 35 Division 1 (college) players and 22 guys drafted and seven of them made it,” he said. “The first priority of being a successful coach is having good players and good kids and graduation and eligibility, and they could play.

“There was a two-week period in 2011 that Brandon, Gerald, Ian, Ian and Cole were in MLB at the same time. Bobby had just retired or it would have been six.”

After coaching at La Quinta, Demarest was an assistant coach Cypress College, helping out head coach Scott Pickler. He then helped out with Fountain Valley and then Vista High School in San Diego.

“I came back and helped another year at Cypress and Fountain Valley since 2015, I’ve kind of gone from “Little League to a four-year school, someone will call and say, ‘I want you to us us your second and third offensive or your first and third pick plays,'” he said.

“The difference as a head coach is you’re 24/7, but I loved it because I was on campus. As an assistant, you’re not 24/7, but you put in a lot of time and you also drive home after a loss and you don’t feel as bad. And then the volunteering is great because I can be helping out a couple of high schools and I can maybe go down and see JSerra play and Orange Lutheran and I can, because I don’t have the game responsibility.

Demarest, 72, said he has no regrets leaving his head coaching job at La Quinta at the age of 57.

“I started when I was 23. I was young when I started. In 1972, I was playing center field for Long Beach State and then the next year, I’m the head baseball coach at a high school,” he said. “There was no preparation to be a coach. As an athlete, team play is all these individuals coming together as a group. All of a sudden, you’re a coach, not only is the game new to you and you have all those kids you’re responsible for.”

“I never looked back and said ‘I should have coached three or four more years.’ I enjoyed the assistant role. And I like to golf and travel and I also like to be home and watch games and at the same time, help my friend’s Little League team or JC team and stop by if they need something.”

It appears that Demarest is happy and still living his dream.

“No complaints, Palos Verdes High, Long Beach State and La Quinta; it was a good road,” he said.

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