Coaching Legends banquet includes Meritorious Achievement Award for Graybeal

Joe Graybeal, who was stationed at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton when he was discharged as a Captain in 1965, was a recipient of a Meritorious Achievement Award at the San Diego High School Coaching Legends induction banquet November 15.

Graybeal, who currently works part-time for the Oceanside Unified School District as an assistant superintendent for operations and general services, was one of four Meritorious Achievement Award recipients at the banquet. San Diego Unified School District administrators Fred Bates and Bob Menke also received their awards at the banquet, and former St. Augustine High School principal Father John Aherne was honored posthumously.

“It was a great honor, terrific privilege,” Graybeal said. “It was the capping event of my life professionally.”

The San Diego Hall of Champions initiated the Coaching Legends inductions in 1999. In 2003 the Meritorious Achievement Award was created to honor administrators, media members, officials, sports medicine personnel, and other non-coaches who earned distinction in the San Diego County high school sports community.

The four 2006 Meritorious Achievement Award recipients bring the total to fifteen.

“I may not qualify because I’m not sure how one can receive an honor for doing something he loves,” Graybeal said. “I have loved athletics for nearly all my life.”

Graybeal’s discharge from the Marines didn’t mark the end of his affiliation with the military. He began his teaching career at Army-Navy Academy in 1965, and his education career brought him to several Southern California school districts before he joined the Oceanside Unified School District in 1974 as an assistant principal at Oceanside High School. He served as principal at that school from 1981 through 1983.

In 1983 Graybeal was named as the school district’s director of negotiations and projects. He held several positions in the district before retiring as an assistant superintendent, upon which he accepted the emeritus distinction and continued to work with the school district on a part-time basis.

Graybeal was also active on the CIF San Diego Section’s Board of Managers, including service as chair of the Board of Managers, as well as with the Association of California School Administrators.

“I accept this award with deep, sincere appreciation and gratitude,” Graybeal said of his Meritorious Achievement Award. “I will cherish it for the remaining days of this lifetime.”