Big-time baseball players have been known to come out of small towns in Oklahoma. Most notably, Mickey Mantle grew up in Commerce, a spot on the map in the northeast corner of the state.
The names Payton and Jordan go together like Sweetness and Air, which happen to be the nicknames of Chicago sports legends Walter Payton and Michael Jordan. But long before they made headlines, a lad named Payton Jordan from Pasadena was one of the fastest human beings you never heard of.
Austin Ford will be practicing moves on his board next month, as might be expected of a 15-year-old who lives in Santa Barbara near the beach and started surfing at the age of six. But there will be no waves for Ford to ride. He will be at Mount Hood, Oregon, sliding crazily on a snowboard atop a series of rails in an event known as the Bonfire Pipe to Pipe.
While the four women of Team Kalyra did not break the record as they’d hoped, they did beat out the eight men from Santa Barbara Bank & Trust.
From sea to shining sea, they are cranking their sleds in the name of sisterhood. Denise Clark, Jill Gass, Sonia Ross, and Lisa Tonello started riding their bicycles-one at a time, in relay fashion-on Tuesday afternoon, June 12, at the Oceanside Pier, and they will not stop until they reach the Atlantic City Boardwalk. They will cover 3,043 miles of road through 13 states.
In March 1941, all Lowell Steward wanted was to be able to shake hands with other players at a basketball tournament in Kansas City. But he was not deemed worthy to participate with his team from Santa Barbara State College.
They’re called the ‘Sters, which is more than an abbreviated nickname for the Santa Barbara Foresters. It is a homonym for the way they play: They stir up things on the baseball diamond.
Haapanen, a strapping UCSB senior from Manteca, has been making things happen for the Gaucho track and field team. The Big West named her the Female Field Athlete of the Year after she put on a throwing clinic at the conference championships.
Jerry Harwin has assumed the same role at the Maravilla Senior Living center in Goleta he performed in the community at large during the prime of his life: He is a mover and a shaker. His domain now is the dance floor. He moved in rhythmic circles around younger staff members last week to the upbeat tune of the ’60s Motown hit, “Do You Love Me.”
Easier on the body but harder on the mind-that’s what Lindsey Connolly found when she switched from running to race walking on the Westmont College track and field team. “Sometimes in running you can zone out or drift off,” Connolly said. “You have to be totally focused when you’re walking. If you’re not, you might lose form or get disqualified.”
