Shadowlands

Looking back, 5 years ago this week.

Ila Borders, of Vanguard University (formerly Southern California

College), announces she will leave school one year early. After the Major

League Baseball free-agent amateur draft comes and goes, she hints about

the possibility of playing in Japan or signing a free-agent contract with

an independent professional league. Borders, who pitches only 24 1/3

innings with an ERA of 5.18 for Vanguard, is not selected during

baseball’s annual draft, even though several teams expressed an interest

in signing her and a television crew from CBS’ “48 Hours” camps out at

the Borders residence in anticipation of a momentous phone call.

Charlie Brande, a veteran figure in Orange County volleyball and a

longtime Daily Pilot volleyball columnist, is named head men’s volleyball

coach at UC Irvine. Brande serves as the director of the Balboa Bay

Volleyball Club since 1976, winning 13 national championships and sending

more than 50 players into the men’s collegiate ranks. He also works as

the director of the Orange County Volleyball Club since 1982, overseeing 22 national championship teams and producing more than 150 collegiate

women’s players. Earlier in his career, Brande is an assistant men’s and

women’s coach at the University of Hawaii in 1980-81, and assistant women’s coach at UCLA in 1982. He is a former head coach at Corona del

Mar and Newport Harbor high schools, winning two boys and two girls CIF

Southern Section championships and one state championship in girls

volleyball.

Former silver medalist Chris Oeding, who is making another run for the

U.S. water polo team, scores three goals as the U.S. national team

defeats Hungary, 9-7, during an international tournament. Oeding, who

lives in Newport Beach, is a former coach of the Orange Coast College

men’s water polo team.

In Little League ... Nick Cabico pitches a no-hitter to lead the Costa

Mesa Little League A’s to a 5-0 shutout of the Cardinals in the first

round of the District 62 Major Division Tournament of Champions.

Looking back, 10 years ago this week.

Prominent yachtsman Dennis Conner, as well as Russ Francis, a former

tight end with the San Francisco 49ers, are inducted into the Balboa Bay

Club Hall of Fame. The induction takes place the same week as the Mr.

Irrelevant XVI extravaganza. Conner helps America win back the America’s

Cup in 1987. During his career, he wins two Star Class world

championships, two Congressional Cups and has four Southern Ocean Racing

Conference titles, among his long list of feats.

John “Chip” McKibben of the Newport Aquatic Center, rows to a silver

medal in the open men’s single sculls event at the U.S. Rowing

Association National Championships. McKinley finishes second behind John

Riley of Philadelphia. The day’s events are rowed in a strong crosswind.

Pete Rozelle, the former commissioner of the National Football League,

will not be able to attend the Irrelevant Week festivities. He is

originally scheduled to be honored by the Balboa Bay Club, but he has

more relevant plans. His daughter, Ann Marie Bratton, is due to give

birth to her first child (Rozelle’s first grandchild) in Texas the same

week as the Irrelevant Week celebration in Newport Beach. Festivities for

Irrelevant Week get under way the next week when Larry Wanke, the final

player taken in the NFL draft, is introduced to Southern California. The

Super Bowl Champion New York Giants select Wanke, a quarterback.

-- compiled by Steve Virgen