Casey Dumont was more than a coach to many Irvine athletes who remember him at vigil

Former Irvine High pitcher Ryan Barlow talks about the impact Casey Dumont had in his life while Pastor Kyle Zimmerman listens. (Photos: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone)

Casey Dumont was more than a coach to many Irvine High School athletes.

He was also their friend, there to support them in trying times and to celebrate the good times, those who spoke about Dumont said during a memorial vigil for the Irvine High assistant baseball and football coach who died on Saturday, Aug. 7 following sudden cardiac arrest, according to school officials.

“Coach Dumont was arguably one of the best coaches I’ve ever had,” former Irvine pitcher Ryan Barlow told hundreds gathered at Irvine Stadium Monday night.

Dumont was the pitching coach when Barlow pitched for Irvine.

“He believed in me every single step of the way,” Barlow said. “He was always there for me, good games, bad games, good starts, bad starts, he was there for me. Fast forward to junior year, it was a really tough year for me because my mom passed away that fall. A couple people who were there for me who I really needed the most were Coach Dumont and Coach (Gabriel) Cota. They were there every step of the way. Coach Dumont and Coach Cota came to my mom’s funeral and watched me speak and now here I am speaking at Coach Dumont’s (vigil).”

Barlow, a member of the Irvine Valley College baseball team, recalled how calm Dumont was before a game against league champion Beckman which Irvine won and Barlow got the victory “in one of the best games I’ve ever played in,” and how thrilled he was when the Vaqueros reached the quarterfinal round of the CIF playoffs against Sonora in 2019. Irvine was making its first appearance in the quarterfinal round since 2001.

“Coach Dumont was as happy as could be,” Barlow said. “Unfortunately we did lose and a lot of us were crying after the outcome, not necessarily because our season was over but more because we loved the team and Coach Dumont and Coach Cota were the reasons why we loved the team so much.”

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Irvine Principal Monica Colunga, who hired Dumont 10 years ago, said Dumont “did everything to make sure athletes were successful. His legacy will continue.” Dumont was 42.

Dumont’s father, Jack Dumont, also spoke on behalf of his wife and Dumont’s mother, Rhonda and thanked the Irvine High community for its support. Casey Dumont also worked as a special education teacher.

“He was a kind and gentle soul and fierce competitor,” he said. “He loved his school and his family. He loved the special ed department and loved being on that field.”

Dumont’s father talked about his love for Coach Cota and how he enjoyed coaching with him.

Cota, the head coach, talked about how much Dumont impacted students, how he was always walking around the campus and helping athletes and students and how much he will be missed. Dumont would hit the ground running at 6 a.m. each day and never stopped, Cota recalled.

He also had a huge impact among those he worked with, Cota said.

“We came in coaching around the same time, around 2010,” Cota said. “A few years later, I joined the special ed program. He took me under his wing. We sat about three feet away from each other.

Cota said Dumont was always there for him on and off the field.

Vaqueros football coach Tom Ricci said he was hoping that the vigil would be a celebration “because Casey was so full of life, just thinking about him rushing into the office, tie slightly off to one side, papers flying everywhere, jumping from his dress clothes into coaching clothes and back out the door, then rushing back in after practice and saying, ‘I got to get to my daughter,’ and rushing back out again. He was always running around.”

Former Irvine High baseball coach Keith Szczudlak, who was the first head baseball coach that Dumont worked with at Irvine, said Dumont was a valuable coach and friend.

“It is not always easy running a program,” Szczudlak said.”He would always be there for support and always there for you. He was always such an advocate for people and helping them become the best versions of themselves.”

Irvine Athletic Director Kris Klamberg said that Dumont “stepped in and helped whenever he could. He was the students’ biggest advocate, whether in the classroom or on the field.”

Others reacted to Dumont’s death in interviews before the vigil.

“I was really sad, he was one of my favorite coaches of all-time,” said former Irvine High quarterback Beck Moss, who played for Dumont when he was the head freshman football coach. Moss is now with the Santa Ana College football team. “I played for him freshman year, we were kind of his last full season of football because he kind of took a couple years off after the class after us so we were his last full season pretty much so we were all close with him and we were all texting about it, all the seniors from last year. We were all really devastated when we heard about Coach Dumont passing.

“He was just really kind and he had a way of being a hard coach and a soft coach at the same time. He’s really good at discipline, but still making you want to be better.”

Former Irvine High baseball player John Lavigne who played at Irvine in 2014 through 2016, described Dumont as a “great man and a great person who everybody could get along with, even the kids.”

“Sometimes, coaches don’t want to be a friend in the dugout, just for discipline purposes but Casey was always our friend and he treated us like friends, we would joke around and laugh, he was always there for anything we needed,” said Lavigne, who is now head JV baseball coach at Irvine.”We’re going to miss him dearly.

“It’s tough, he’s just such a great guy, somebody who everybody gravitates toward. It’s devastating. In the end when he did what we were supposed to do, he would tell us, ‘good job.'”

Former Irvine High coach Gregg Colbert also got to see the impact that Dumont had.

“I got to coach with him here at Irvine High when I was here coaching football and baseball and then I got to coach against him when I was at Woodbridge,” said Colbert, now the varsity assistant baseball coach at Woodbridge. “He was just a classy guy, he did everything right by the kids, and that was his focus, what was best for the kids always, not what was best for coaches or parents, what was best for kids and you don’t have a lot of guys like that.

“All my kids, Trent, Chad and Dakota were coached by him when they were here at Irvine High. All my boys played for him in football and baseball.”

Many students spoke Monday reflecting on the impact that Dumont had in their lives.

Pastor Kyle Zimmerman also invited those in attendance to continue sharing their stories after the two-hour vigil ended.

“He was about building character and we are grateful to Coach Dumont who impacted us all in a deep way,” he said. “We’re different people because of him and the world is a different place without him.”

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