Sondheimer

Imagine losing your home and belongings to a wildfire, then losing your best friend when he was killed by a suspected driver under the influence, all happening within months of each other.

Max Meier, a star defensive tackle for Loyola High who has committed to Stanford, dealt with that kind of awful adversity this year, losing his family home in the Palisades fire, then losing classmate Braun Levi in May when he was hit by a car while walking on a Manhattan Beach street.

To hear Meier’s response and wisdom while dealing with two tragedies offers hope for the future.

“I think in this life, everyone has demons in the closet,” Meier said. “Everyone has bad things that happen But we realize in these moments, as horrible as they are, losing your things in a fire, they’re replaceable, but losing someone who was like an older brother, can’t replace that. He’s somebody I’ll be be chasing to live like he did. As a teenager it was tough, but you learn about life and how every day you have to give it your all. I’ve actually started to live my life more fully and started to live every day the best I can.”

As a football player, at 6 feet 5 and 250 pounds, Meier is enjoying his best season as a senior with 9 1/2 sacks, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Loyola lost close to a dozen players who abandoned the program one by one in the offseason. They gave up, thinking the Cubs were not going to be good or leaving because they disliked something. Those who stayed had to place their trust in themselves.

“There’s no better motivator knowing every single person left and you’re the ones left,” he said. “This summer, we’re like, ‘There’s 10 games left and you’re either going to give up or let’s show everyone what we got and why they wrote us off.’ We have some problems. Every team does. We’re really motivated to show what we can do.”

Playing at SoFi Stadium on Oct 19 and coming away with a 13-10 upset victory over Gardena Serra was a moment Meier and his teammates will cherish. The Cubs lost to Bishop Amat 30-14 on Friday night and are 4-4 and 1-2 in the Mission League.

“Warming up under all those seats is just ridiculous,” he said. “I thought it was the most awesome thing. That turf was super fast. You could hear things super loud and it gave you an idea what a college stadium might feel like, I thought it was the best experience all time. It was a thing on my bucket list. Getting a sack at SoFi never thought of something I want to do, but I did it. It was cool.”

Since Meier lost his home, he was eligible to switch schools this year and play immediately. His two sisters graduated from Palisades. He has friends at Palisades. But he was never leaving Loyola.

Everyone, from parents to classmates to alumni, banded together to help those affected by the fire. They provided food, clothing and emotional support.

“After the fires, I realized how special it is,” he said. “All that’s left in my closet is from Loyola. They’re the most amazing people to me.”

So understand what you’re getting each time you face Loyola this season — a team dedicated to each other and having each other’s backs. And in Meier, the Cubs have someone who’s going to represent Loyola values for years to come.

“Breathing on this earth is a humble thing,” Meier said.

Caleb Sanchez, a Cali boy, packed his memories of sunshine, beaches and In-N-Out burgers to get an Ivy League education and football experience at Columbia University in New York.

He became one of the most talked about freshman quarterbacks at the end of last season, passing for 241 yards and three touchdowns in a 21-12 win over Brown and passing for 201 yards in a 19-11 win over Cornell that helped Columbia win the Ivy League title.

Then came the real challenge — snow, a blizzard and freezing temperatures.

“I was very shocked,” he said. “I was warned every day the winter would be hard. I didn’t expect it to be as cold as it was.”

It wasn’t cold enough to discourage Sanchez from continuing his quest to balance athletics and academics. He began his sophomore season on Saturday as the backup quarterback in Columbia’s 38-14 loss to Lafayette. It’s another experience that he got used to at St. John Bosco, waiting until his senior year to become the starting quarterback and prove his ability,

Quarterback Caleb Sanchez of St. John Bosco.

(Craig Weston)

He’s one of 39 graduates of Southern Section schools to be playing Ivy League football this season. Harvard-Westlake and Loyola have the most with five players each.

There’s going to be standouts, such as Princeton defensive back Tahj Owens (Loyola), heading into his fourth season, and Yale receiver Nico Brown (Edison), who had five catches for 119 yards and one touchdown in his season debut against Holy Cross on Saturday.

Sanchez was able to redshirt last season as a freshman, having played only in the final three games, and the goal is to be a standout the next three seasons, earn his valuable Columbia degree and spend a fifth year at perhaps a big-time college program.

He has no regrets of seeking out an Ivy League experience after helping St. John Bosco reach the Division 1 championship game in 2023.

“I’ll leave here with one of the top degrees in the world,” he said.

That’s the attraction in a league where the eight schools don’t participate in NIL revenue sharing with students but will finally let football teams participate in the FCS playoffs this season.

The students have to be all in for academics and athletics.

“We’re 100% in school, 100% in football,” Sanchez said. “There’s no help for football players. Professors don’t care. They treat you as normal students.”

Sanchez, 20, rarely has free time. It’s classes, meetings, homework, practices, watching film, then sleep. His transition last year was challenging in that the Columbia offense was much different than that of St. John Bosco. He had to learn plays needing 20 to 30 words to call from a listening device in his helmet where just four words were used to call plays at St. John Bosco.

He’s 6 feet 3½ and 217 pounds, and could be preparing to have a season that will draw lots of attention. Certainly looking on and rooting from home will be his younger brother, Ryu, a seventh-grader with a future in football and academics.

Look for lots of good news from the Sanchez brothers in the coming years.

As for the coming weather change, Sanchez said he’s ready.

“I’m prepared now. Winter is not going to shock me.”

Can anyone deliver In-N-Out to New York?

Brown: DB Elias Archie, St. John Bosco; OL Kai Faucher, Harvard-Westlake; DL Mitch Mooney, San Marino; DL Caden Harman, Sierra Canyon.

Columbia: WR Caden Butler, Chaparral; DB Ethan Fullerton, Sherman Oaks Notre Dame; QB Caleb Sanchez, St. John Bosco; LB Patrick Sodl, Loyola; DL Will Matthew, Orange Vista; TE Santiago Hernandez, Harvard-Westlake; WR Elliot Cooper, Sherman Oaks Notre Dame; DL Shawn Lin, Loyola; DL Austin Coronado, Glendora.

Cornell: DB Rayjohn White, Bishop Amat; DB Brayon Crawford, Village Christian; WR AJ Holmes, Harvard-Westlake; QB Cameron Shannon, Riverside North; LB Darryl Davis, Culver City; LB Connor Klein, Loyola; TE Brandon Gilbert, Murrieta Valley.

Dartmouth: RB Desmin Jackson, Orange Lutheran; OL Ryan Turk, Loyola.

Harvard: K Dylan Fingersh, Capistrano Valley.

Pennsylvania: RB Julien Stokes, Grace Brethren; DB Alec Wills, Los Alamitos; LB Trevor Pajak, Mater Dei; WR Dylan Karz, Brentwood; K Josh Barnavon, Harvard-Westlake.

Princeton: DB Tahj Owens, Loyola; RB Kai Honda, Gardena Serra; DB D’Shawn Jones, Sierra Canyon; LB Jalen Jones, Santa Margarita; DB Justice Croffie, Los Alamitos.

Yale: WR Nico Brown, Edison; QB Marshall Howe, Harvard-Westlake; DL Ezekiel Larry, Sierra Canyon; DB Dillon Rickenbacker, St. John Bosco; TE Scott Truninger, Corona del Mar; WR Davis Wong, Brentwood.

Having earned three national championship rings playing volleyball for UCLA, 6-foot-8 Tom Stillwell knows a little bit about competition and commitment to sports excellence.

Nothing, though, compares to his joy being a Girl Dad.

“That’s a full-time job, and being a volleyball dad is the best,” said Stillwell, an All-American at UCLA.

It was never planned that his two daughters, Maya, a 6-4 senior, and Lucy, a 6-0 sophomore, would become volleyball players at Harvard-Westlake. Stillwell and his wife, Julie, met at UCLA. She’s 5-6 and neither was thinking how tall their kids might be. But it happened. They were raising giants.

“We felt they needed to be involved in something and as they started to get really tall, I started to talk to friends who had tall females and their recommendation was get them involved in sports because it’s going to turn their tall from being awkward to cool,” Stillwell said. “For them, whether it was tennis, swimming, basketball or volleyball, it didn’t really matter to us. It was whatever they became connected with. They both had journeys.”

Maya had little interest in sports growing up.

“I was not athletic,” Maya said. “It was originally a way to get my body moving. I was into art and music. I started in club when I was 12 and hated it. It wasn’t for me. When COVID happened, we were forced to move to another club and I loved my teammates and coaches and started to like it.”

She became a top middle blocker, playing on a national championship club team and receiving a scholarship to Northwestern. She’s taken advantage of a mini-grass court in the family backyard and her father’s experience having switched from basketball to volleyball during his high school days at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame.

Lucy followed her sister into volleyball after trying other sports. She’s a backup at Harvard-Westlake, which started the season 7-0 until running into Marymount. The team is 10-2. Both have grade-point averages above 4.0.

Except for their mom, the Stillwells share a common experience — receiving stares because of their height.

Said Maya: “People at school are used to it, but walking outside, it’s like, ‘Oh you’re so tall. Do you play basketball?’ I never get, ‘Do you play volleyball?‘”

“It’s very funny,” Tom said. “I think all tall people have a similar experience with people coming up to you and asking, ‘Do you play basketball?’ When you play sports it helps to have that community because of a lot of their club people are similar height.”

But who gets the extra leg room when flying?

“I’m older and taller,” Maya said.

“She does,” Lucy said.

“Let me tell you who gets the worst seat. Julie, my wife,” Tom said. “She’s like, ‘I’m the mom. I birthed you. I get the worst seat?’”

The daughters never got to meet their legendary grandmother, Liz Shapiro, who was always at Tom’s games at Notre Dame and UCLA. Her generosity to both schools in terms of support will never be forgotten. She died of cancer after Tom’s volleyball career had ended.

“She was a rabid fan,” Tom said. “She would have been at every game, every tournament, club, high school, probably trying to watch practice.”

Tom, 51, has been helpful offering tips whenever his daughters ask, but he has tried to let them listen and learn from their coaches and not impose his own athletic beliefs on them.

“Volleyball just connected with them. It was fun to watch,” he said. “I told them they’re not doing it for me or my wife. They have to enjoy it and if they don’t, they shouldn’t do it. This is their journey, not mine.”

As a Girl Dad, Tom has adopted a specific philosophy no matter what he sees or hears.

“All I’m trying to be is their dad,” he said. “That’s my No. 1 focus. Not their volleyball coach, not their mentor in volleyball. It’s hard enough for these teenage girls. They don’t need to hear their dad yelling.”

It’s year No. 49 covering high school sports in Southern California. Let me tell you how it started.

Cut from the Madison Junior High basketball team, I discovered writing for the school newspaper offered more power and influence than sitting on a bench. Everyone likes to see their name mentioned, so now I knew I had a big responsibility going forward.

It was the time of Watergate and new heroes such as journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncovering corruption at the highest level, inspiring future journalists. While attending Poly High in Sun Valley, Pete Kokon, the sports editor of the San Fernando Sun, offered to pay me $15 a week to write a story about high school sports. It was the first lesson of a sportswriter — don’t worry about the money, bask in the spotlight of having your name appear in a byline.

Kokon was the most entertaining character I’ve ever met. He owned an apartment building in Sherman Oaks and lived in his “penthouse,” which consisted of entering a screen door that was never locked and seeing a small room on the top floor. He’d leave his keys in his unlocked car under a mat. He used to cuss out Ronald Reagan whenever his name was mentioned. He taught me how to bet at the race track, saying, “Give me a dollar,” before going to the window to place a $2 bet.

Eric Sondheimer giving a speech in 1989 at the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame at Knollwood Country Club.

(Bob Messina Photography)

He taught me how to play golf, inviting me to Woodland Hills Country Club and shouting out his club ID number to pay for everything from food to shirts to drinks. He’d write all his stories on an ancient Royal typewriter. He smoked cigars and once was a boxing promoter. Two of his best friends were Hall of Famers Don Drysdale and Bob Waterfield, fellow Van Nuys High graduates. Everyone knew him, appreciated him and feared him whenever he got angry.

Pete Kokon covered high school sports in the San Fernando Valley for more than 60 years.

(Valley Times)

For more than 60 years, he covered high school sports. I never thought I’d challenge his record. But after becoming a stringer for the Daily News in 1976 and being hired full time in 1980 after turning down the job of sports information director at Cal State Northridge, I learned there was a need to cover local sports and it became my passion to make a difference. Yes, I’ve covered the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the 1984 Olympic Games, the World Series, the Rose Bowl, the Breeders’ Cup, the Little League World Series, but nothing has provided more satisfaction than telling the stories of teenagers rising up in the face of adversity or overcoming doubts from peers to succeed.

There have been tough stories through the years. I’ll never forget staying awake until 11:30 p.m. to see the lead story on ESPN SportsCenter detailing possible NCAA rule violations by the University of Kentucky after a package sent to a high school basketball star in Los Angeles had money inside. That was a story helped by others at the Daily News.

I’ve always treated high school sports as different than college or pros. These are teenagers, with criticism of coaches and athletes mostly off limits. But times are changing. Players are getting paid. Coaches are engaging in ethical lapses. It’s a growing challenge. I will continue to respect the tradition of high school sports being about having fun but insist on rules being followed.

Eric Sondheimer interviews Corona Centennial’s Eric Freeny at the end of the state championship in Sacramento in March 2022. Freeny is now a freshman at UCLA.

(Nick Koza)

There are so many stories of coaches getting mad. Sometimes it takes time for them to understand I’m just trying to do my job as a fair, dedicated journalist who understands my responsibilities and remembers my role.

Let me give an example. At one point years ago, Sylmar basketball coach Bort Escorto stopped reporting scores. Maybe it had something to do with writing about transfers. Maybe not. But today, he always answers my calls, “I didn’t do it.”

You know you’ve won any argument when someone claims your bias for one school over another. That used to be the weekly debate years ago among Crespi and Notre Dame fans. Signs were made, barbs were shouted. It made me laugh. Now it’s about sharing selfies.

What keeps me coming back every season are the many new stories to tell. No area has a larger, more diverse collection of top athletes from a variety of sports than Southern California.

Eric Sondheimer interviews sophomore Tajh Ariza after a basketball game in 2022.

(Nick Koza)

There was a time more than a year ago that I got frustrated with the negativity going on in the world. I needed to do something to change my perspective. That’s when I vowed to write something positive every day about high school sports. Prep Talk was created to help inspire me and hopefully others that a positive message can break through in an era of social media nonsense.

To the readers through the years, you’ve helped me stay employed and stay dedicated to telling stories that resonate around the Southland. Newspapers are in trouble, but I can only control what I can control, so thank you for being loyal customers at a time of upheaval.

Eric Sondheimer interviews coach Ed Azzam of Westchester in 2020.

(Nick Koza)

Through the years as technology changed, I’ve adapted, such as sprinting from games to find a rotary telephone in a locked P.E. office or driving to a phone booth to call in a story under deadline pressure. I’ve climbed fences after being locked in as the last person in a stadium. I’ve sat on a gym floor in darkness writing a story. One night at Bishop Alemany, I lost my cellphone on the football field. I was ready to throw up in embarrassment. The athletic director, Randy Thompson, found it. My story was saved. I’ve learned to take videos and shoot photos and speak in front of audiences (thank you to speech class 101 at CSUN).

Today’s world for high school sports reporters is about not getting kicked out by security after games when everyone has left and staying calm when security doesn’t want to let you in before games or on a sideline with a press pass to do your job. Common sense is disappearing in the name of following orders.

I already have gold passes from the Southern Section and City Section, which means if I step away, I’ll still be able to attend events.

When and how this ends has yet to be decided. Pete Kokon died at age 85 in 1998 when he was found with his TV on and the channel tuned to ESPN in his penthouse apartment.

As long as a level of professionalism remains among stakeholders, I will continue to do my best to tell stories. My job is about serving the public, not myself, and that will be my mission forever.