Gates' dominant times

Former Viking Madeleine

Gates (33), now playing pro

volleyball in Europe, showed

her dominance in basketball

as a high school sophomore in this

play from the CIF Finals

March 8, 2014.

(Photos by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

When we last touched base with Madeleine Gates (April 26), her mother, Amy Randel, was informing us Madeleine was playing pro volleyball in Dresden, Germany.

Finally getting my external hard drive squared away--the one storing my archive photos of Gates as a 6'2" sophomore dominating the CIF basketball finals in a 51-48 loss to Central--I can show you some of the brilliance she displayed back then.

As a basketball fan, I was so pleased to see her show her wares for La Jolla High back in 2013-2014. It was quite a season, in which Madeleine grabbed 22 rebounds in one game, and led the Vikings to the title match before losing.

But a snafu in working out practice schedules between her club volleyball and school basketball teams led to her focusing on her number-one sport, volleyball, which her mom played. Dad, Michael, played basketball when he was younger.

Amy's news back on April 26 was that Madeleine signed to play pro volleyball in Cannes, France, starting in September.

In the CIF quarterfinals

against Fallbrook, Gates

was double-teamed in an effort

to neutralize her underneath

the basket. La Jolla won,

62-49, on Feb. 28, 2014.

LJ baseball: Steel Player of the Year, Brown and Hansen also First Team

Members of the 2022 Viking baseball squad

gather for a team photo at the end of the banquet.

(Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

Viking righthander/first baseman Kevin Steel was named Player of the Year in the City League, and teammates Beau Brown and Hank Hansen were also placed on the All-League First Team, it was announced at the La Jolla High baseball team banquet.

The Vikings, coached by Gary Frank, achieved a share of the City League title, co-holding it with Mission Bay. As part of the rewards of that effort, the trio of La Jolla players, Steel, Brown, and Hansen, were elevated to the league's top selectees at season's end.

LJ baseball: Steel named 1st Team All-CIF

Senior Kevin Steel plays in the

Alumni Flag Football Game

on Spring Football Game night

Fri., June 3. (Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

At La Jolla's Spring Game football workout Fri., June 3, Kevin Steel revealed that he had been named First Team All-CIF for his exploits during the Vikings' baseball season this Spring. The Vikings won a co-championship of the City League behind Steel's 9-2 record, beside his sparkling performance at the plate in the third slot.

LJ Cheer: Spring FB Game

Photos by Ed Piper

LJ FB: Nate Tanaka's upset Jackson Diehl's, 27-26

QB Jackson Diehl (9) lines up his offense in a 7-on-7-type

format for the Blacks, against the Reds. The Blacks

were upended, 27-26, in a tight come-from-behind

victory for the Reds, led by QB Nate Tanaka.

(Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

In La Jolla's annual Spring Football Game Fri., June 3, the Nate Tanaka's (Reds) upset the Jackson Diehl's (Blacks), 27-26, in a come-from-behind intra-team football scrimmage at Edwards Stadium.

The Reds got to eat tri-tip as a reward for their victory; the Blacks had to settle for hamburgers after the game.

The timed scrimmage took place after team stretching after 6 p.m., and preceded the Vikings' 7-on-7 competition at Mt. Carmel High Sat. afternoon, June 4.

A good time was had by all. The workout featured Diehl, a rising junior, and his teammates, who have big hopes in the Fall for 2022.

Caminiti: A sad story to learn from

By Ed Piper

Two days after the release of Dan Good's new book on Padre third baseman Ken Caminiti, I've plowed my way through the first seventh of the book. It seems well-written; the book (I got the e-version) is written by a veteran writer; Good is knowledgeable on baseball and shows it.

These are all good things. The author has already laid out the teary-eyed and treacherous terrain we're going to cover: Caminiti, a good athlete as a youth in San Jose who began using alcohol in middle school to loosen up socially, was driven by a dad who loved him but who also attended every youth baseball practice and game, standing behind the backstop, critiquing his son's performance.

With an impossible burden--his older brother Glen already hadn't measured up--to carry on the athletic field, Caminiti, an MVP for the Padres in 1998, began using steroids. He got strength and recovery from the steroids, but his body also began to break down.

My wife and I have often discussed how Ken left a wife and two young children when he died of an overdose in squalid conditions. The author, Dan Good, said in a promotional interview with the San Diego Union-Tribune that he conducted over 400 interviews in preparation for writing his book, and "there was constant crying"--a difficult path to fill out the mostly-unknown background of the baseball player's pitiful death.

"Not everyone" will choose to read his book, said Good. But a positive can be if understanding and more of the truth can come out to combat abuse of performance-enhancing drugs by other young athletes.