Throwback Thursday: Carl Sawyer -- Reporter, Mentor, Friend

He impressed me with his ability to crank out sparkling news copy.

A gifted sportswriter, he wrote circles around his contemporaries. I can attest to his incredible skill and the quality of his work because I was, for decades, a fan.

We first met in 1967. I viewed him from afar in the expansive Santa Ana (now Orange County) Register newsroom, where I worked as a copyboy. I was simultaneously an Orange Coast College journalism student.  

He was The Great Carl Sawyer, a Register scribe, columnist and icon for 36 years, from 1958 through 1994. For 32 years, Carl wrote his popular weekly "Sawdust" sports column. He covered, game by game, OCC's 1963 run for the Junior Rose Bowl title and the national championship.

He ultimately became a mentor to me, and friend.        

Carl retired from the Register in 1994 and died in 2008 at the age of 76. He covered Orange County "JC" (junior college) sports for four decades. He was a national advocate for community college athletics. 

I worked for the Register as a copyboy in 1967. I filled the 4 p.m. to midnight slot. I monitored the newsroom's wire machines and constantly pushed wire copy out to the news and sports desks for the morning edition. Our deadline was 11 p.m. Late game stories were due at 12.  

I earned a whopping $1.75 an hour.

On Friday and Saturday nights during the '67 football season, at roughly 11 p.m., I'd watch Carl return to the newsroom after covering a local high school or JC game. Though "on-deadline," he always had a friendly word for me as he made his way across the newsroom. He plopped into a squeaky swivel chair in front of an ancient typewriter and began to pound away … a Pall Mall dangling precipitously from his lips.

His friendly manner was unusual. A harsh pecking order ruled that newsroom, and egos clashed. As copyboy, I was the bottom-feeder of bottom-feeders. I knew my place. But, having recently been honorably discharged from the United States Army, and a serious college student, I wasn't intimidated.

By contrast with other staffers, Carl was a "cool guy." He was generous. I was impressed as I watched him bat out a 15-inch game story in 30 minutes. He was quick to fashion a compelling narrative. Little editing was necessary. I routinely perused his "stuff" in the morning edition. 

My dream was to become a reporter/columnist like Carl Sawyer.

A Santa Ana College graduate, Sawyer served as sports editor and editor of El Don, the school's student newspaper. He transferred to USC and became editor of the Daily Trojan.

Celebrated Register sports editor, Eddie West, hired Carl in 1958. As an aside, I watched the 67-year-old West daily pound out his "West Winds" column at his corner desk in the Sports Department. He appeared to me to always be preoccupied. West had to feed the beast (write his column) six days a week -- a killer responsibility! His tools were only a typewriter, typing paper and a gluepot. He was amazing.

Sawyer covered Orange County sports for his entire career. He was perhaps the premier journalist in the nation covering community colleges. He also reported on high school sports, Pac-10 football, the Rose Bowl, NCAA basketball, the Rams and the Olympics.

Carl won 18 OC Press Club writing awards over the years – the most by any sportswriter – but you'd never have known that. He didn't flaunt it. He was unpretentious to a fault.

I came to know Carl in 1971 when I was hired as OCC's director of community relations and sports information.

Carl loved his Santa Ana College Dons, and I would chide him for being SAC's "de facto SID." Though he wore a Don – and Trojan – prominently on his coat sleeves, he supported all of Orange County's JC's. If your team was winning, Carl would cover you. 

In 2006, he was inducted into SAC's Athletic Hall of Fame.

During football and basketball seasons, he'd call me weekly for updated stats and information. I'd pick up the phone and he'd shout "Jimbo!" I'd answer with "Carlos!" 

For many years – from the early 1970s, into the '80s – he ran a Tuesday evening Orange County community college football coaches' dinner at a Santa Ana restaurant. Journalists who regularly attended included Sawyer, L.A. Times writer, Al Carr (whose favorite line was, "Welcome to Juco ball!"), and Fullerton News Tribune sports editor, Bob Lenard. Lenard took copious notes but rarely uttered more than three syllables at a dinner. 

All JC head coaches in the county were there, along with their SIDs and an assistant or two. We'd discuss last weekend's games and the upcoming schedule. Head coaches who regularly attended included Dick Tucker (OCC), Hal Sherbeck (Fullerton), Dick Gorrie (Santa Ana), Ray Shackleford (Golden West), Don Lent (Cypress), and George Hartman/Ken Swearingen (Saddleback).  

The stories told at that affair were breathtaking. A good time was had by all!

After many such meetings, arch-rivals and Orange County legends, Dick Tucker and Hal Sherbeck, could be seen gabbing in the parking lot … talking football. What I wouldn't give for transcripts of those conversations!

Carlos ran a classy show. Lots of observations and quotes from those dinners made it into his column. 

Carl Sawyer: there's never been a stronger proponent for JC sports!