Retired Valley College Volleyball & Football Coach Tosses First Pitch

Former San Bernardino Valley College (SBVC) men’s volleyball, football and women’s volleyball head coach Gene Mazzei threw out the ceremonial first pitch during the SBVC men's baseball game versus the Compton Tartars, opening up the 2014 baseball season on Tuesday, Jan. 28. A large crowd welcomed in the new season, updated facilities, and Coach Mazzei, who has had a tremendously positive impact at SBVC, coaching three different sports and becoming very successful in all of them. According to SBVC Athletics historian Roger Schmidt, in 1973, he departed his duties as the SBVC assistant football coach to take on the task of beginning the men’s volleyball program. From 1973 to 1978, Coach Mazzei assembled the greatest talent ever seen on a men’s volleyball court, pro or amateur and his assistant coach, none other than “Mr. Volleyball” himself, Gene Selznick. In Coach Mazzei’s first year as head coach, his team only suffered one loss, that loss was to defending NCAA Champion UCLA. Meanwhile, SBVC took victories over BYU and Stanford along the way. Mazzei’s exploits off of the court are the stuff of legend, as he once was the business manager for NBA Hall of Famer, Wilt Chamberlain and for Selznick’s touring volleyball all-stars, the “Big Dippers.” In 1978, Coach Mazzei took over the football program and by 1982 had secured an undefeated record and the first state championship in program history, knocking off rival Riverside City in the Inland Empire Bowl. When Mazzei departed as the head football coach to take on the role of SBVC men’s athletic director, he had collected the best winning percentage in program history at that time, only to be surpassed by his successor, former assistant coach Ron Smedley. Even the administrative duties of athletic director couldn’t keep Coach Mazzei away from coaching as he took an SBVC women’s volleyball program that had just finished 1-16 the year prior and turned them into a Conference champion in one season. In his three seasons as head coach of women’s volleyball he put together the best winning percentage in program history at that time with a 55-19 record, only to be surpassed by his successor, current SBVC Director of Athletics David Rubio. SBVC swept the home-at-home series last year. Since 1930, SBVC has had a 35-10 record versus the Tartars and a 20-6 record in San Bernardino. Expectations are high for SBVC Baseball this season, after their first Conference Championship since 2004 last season; SBVC is expected to compete with perennial Foothill Conference powerhouses Whittier Rio Hondo and Rancho Cucamonga Chaffey.