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FUHSD holds moment of silence for Coach Heid

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

During the Sept. 27 Fallbrook Union High School District board meeting a moment of silence was held in memory of former Fallbrook High School coach and teacher Dave Heid.

Heid, who died Sept. 10 was a teacher and coach at Fallbrook High School for 33 years. He coached baseball, junior varsity football, boys and girls golf, girls tennis and softball for the Warriors, and he also taught English and physical education. Heid, who had two sons and a daughter, also coached Pony League Baseball in addition to his school leadership. His high school coaching highlights include Megan McLeod's individual CIF San Diego Section girls golf championship in 2003.

After graduating from Redmond High School in Redmond, Washington, in 1968 Heid played collegiate baseball at Brigham Young University and served a The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints mission in South Africa. Heid also met his wife, Delynn, at Brigham Young.

Heid began his teaching career as a graduate assistant at BYU, coaching junior varsity baseball and teaching physical education skill classes. He moved to Fallbrook after his initial year teaching at BYU. "I was looking for good baseball weather and found it down here in Fallbrook," he said during an interview while he was still at Fallbrook High School.

His wife's parents had retired to Fallbrook, and Heid and his wife had visited Fallbrook during the holidays. Heid applied for teaching positions throughout San Diego County. "Got lucky and got to Fallbrook," he said. "Great place to raise a family."

Heid, who majored in physical education at BYU while obtaining an English minor, also worked on a graduate curriculum at San Diego State University after moving to California.

In his first academic year as a Fallbrook teacher and coach, Heid coached in the Warriors' football program and was the assistant varsity baseball coach under Bill Waite. "He was a good mentor for me," Heid said of Waite.

Waite had two different stints as Fallbrook's baseball coach and was both Heid's predecessor and successor. Waite first coached the Warriors from 1971 to 1977. The 1976 Warriors shared the Avocado League tri-championship before losing to defending CIF champion Hoover High School in the playoffs.

Heid's first season as the Warriors' head baseball coach saw Fallbrook win the 1978 Avocado West League championship before losing to Escondido in the playoffs. The league championship was Fallbrook's fourth during the 1970s.

"He did a fine job," Waite said of Heid.

Heid's Warriors had to come from behind against Carlsbad to make the 1979 playoffs as the Avocado West League's second-place team. "In '79 we were kind of starting over, had young kids," Heid said.

Mira Mesa eliminated Fallbrook during the 1979 CIF playoffs.

The 1980 baseball season saw Dan Riciotti set the team record for doubles. "That was a good-hitting team," Heid said.

In 1987, Ty Barksdale would set a team record with 32 walks drawn, which at the time shared fourth place in CIF San Diego Section history. "Rarely did I let him swing," Heid said.

The 1987 baseball team included senior T.J. Flynn, whose 16 home runs that year set a single-season CIF San Diego Section record and contributed to the team's 43 home runs which was also a San Diego Section single-season record until Grossmont hit 50 home runs in 1997.

Although the outfield fence at Fallbrook High School's field is 14 feet high, the foul lines are 314 feet from home plate, the power alleys are 334 feet away from the plate, and the distance to dead center is only 336 feet. While the park's dimensions are conducive to home runs, Flynn hit some of his 16 homers on the road. "There wasn't a cheapie in the bunch," Heid said. "He hit them everywhere he went."

Flynn's single-season CIF record of 16 home runs was matched in 1995 by Crawford senior Cesar Verdin and broken when Monte Vista senior Leo Daigle homered 17 times in 1997. Flynn's 16 home runs are still the team record, although Erik Castro matched that in 2005.

The 1987 players also included senior Bill Dunckel, who eventually played minor league baseball and later coached the Valley Center High School baseball and softball teams. "Dunckel was a centerfielder who could throw strikes," Heid said.

Left-handed pitcher Jeff Lawrence was eventually drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays while Jason Rusk would play college ball at Occidental. "That was the best team I coached," Heid said of the 1987 Warriors. "That team had just about everything."

In that year's Lions Tournament the Warriors reached the AA Division championship game. In the April 15 semifinals Fallbrook's 9-7 win over Mission Bay placed the Warriors in the finals later that day against Orange Glen. The Patriots won the tournament championship with a 1-0 victory at Fallbrook's expense.

The 1987 Warriors reached the CIF playoff semifinals before losing by a 4-3 score to Mount Carmel. At one time during the season the Warriors were ranked fifth in the state.

"That might have been the best team I ever saw at Fallbrook," Waite said.

Heid was a lower-level football coach earlier in the academic year when Fallbrook won the 1986 CIF championship.

Waite had returned as Fallbrook's coach when Heid's oldest child, Danny, was on the Warrior baseball team. Danny Heid graduated from Fallbrook High School in 1993 and attended Cal Poly. Heid's daughter, Dana, graduated from Fallbrook High School in 1995 and was part of Fresno State University's diving team after her high school graduation. Heid's younger son, Devin, graduated from Fallbrook High School in 1997 and subsequently played golf at BYU.

"They had some good coaches when they were at Fallbrook High," Heid said of his children. "They had some great coaches."

Heid retired as a coach following the end of the 2010 junior varsity boys golf season and as a teacher following the conclusion of the 2009-10 year.

"It's been a great run," Heid said. "It's been a real pleasure."

 

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