San Marcos girls water polo coach Chuckie Roth witnessed the true meaning of friendship a few years back when he watched Joby Nunez help friend and Royals football coach Jeff Hesselmeyer, who had a broken leg at the time.
Speaking at Monday’s Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table press luncheon, Roth recalled Nunez picking up Hesselmeyer and driving him to San Marcos every day while Hesselmeyer recovered from his injury.
“There he is helping his friend every single day,” Roth said. “And it didn’t stop there. He said, ‘Hess, I have to help you with some of your guys.’ So there’s Joby coming into the coaches’ office, saying, ‘I got to go talk to some of these athletes because they’re not doing well in school right now.’
“He’s coaching up guys and helping people,” Roth continued. “Joby was one of those guys people respect and admire. He was a friend, a supporter, a confidant.
“Joby is the definition of what I say is a friend.”
Nunez passed away last week after a long battle with cancer. He was 70.
A standout athlete at Santa Barbara High in the 1960s, he became a legend in the local sports and education community. He coached at all three high schools in the Santa Barbara Unified School District and served as an administrator in the district.
Here is a rundown of what the coaches in attendance had to say about the athletes they brought:
UCSB Women’s Water Polo
Serela Kay on sophomore Mollie Simmons: “She’s a quadruplet and one of her of quadruplet (sisters) is a manager on our team. We’re so lucky to have both of them in our program. They’re both very selfless. Growing up in a big family, it shows how much they recognize the impact of being team players.
“In the water, she won 98 percent of her sprints last year as a freshman,” Kay added. “She’s got wheels and is a strong outside shooter.”
San Marcos Water Polo
Roth on freshman Brooke Ingram: “This is somebody who is going to make a big impact in our community and an impact in our program, which she is already doing, but it’s going to be seen a lot more in the next few years.”
Santa Barbara Girls Soccer
Silas Fallstitch on senior left fullback Talia Zampese and senior forward Lauren Garnett: “In an emotional game against San Marcos, the girls came out and played their hearts out. I want to recognize the girls from that win specifically because that was the first time our program has beaten San Marcos in three years.”
Westmont Men’s Basketball
Coach John Moore on Max Hudgins, who had a career day in a win over Arizona Christian with 27 points and five steals: “He hadn’t had five steals in any five practices, so that was just inspirational to his teammates.”
Moore added that he appointed Hudgins as a captain, joining senior Olisa Nwachie, “because he has earned it.”
San Marcos Boys Soccer
Coach Paul McLean on forward Matt Hislop: “We officially converted him from a defensive player to an attacking player. Matt’s creativity up front has been a fantastic source of energy. He’s created a lot of goals for other players and he’s created a lot of goals for himself.”
San Marcos Boys Basketball
Coach Jelani Hicks on junior guard Tommy Condon and sophomore guard Isaiah Hicks: “These two players were very crucial in our two victories last week at Santa Ynez and Dos Pueblos. These were two of the few guys we challenged to do a good job defensively against (DP’s) guard Jaron Rillie. That’s why they’re here, and offensively for staying aggressive.”
Dos Pueblos Water Polo
Coach Connor Levoff on junior goalie Anna Cable: “Anna is just a junior but she’s coming up on playing 100 games for us, which is an immense load. She’s started every meaningful game our program has played since I was hired in 2017, and that experience is paying off in spades.”
On senior and Cal signee Sophie Leggett, who has fully recovered from shoulder surgery during her junior year: “We’re starting to reap the benefits of her starting to get healthy as the season goes on.
“She’s just dying and hungry to impact the game at every chance. I’m really proud of the way she’s bounced back from what could have been for a lot of people a career-ending injury. Her earning all-tournament honors at the Southern California Championships last weekend puts her back where she expects to be.”
On senior and UCLA signee Abbi Hill, who missed first the 15 games with an injury: “I think watching, being on the bench has drawn out this engagement from her, where she is a little more motivated. She has come back in a really, really powerful way. She put together a great performance this weekend and was another all-tournament player for us.”
Bishop Diego Boys Basketball
Coach James Coronado on the growth of sophomore Connor Streett and freshmen Kai Morphy and Marcus Chan: “Sometimes perseverance and determination and improvement can’t always be quantified with wins and losses. For me, that was the most proud thing I can say about our team. We continually progress when we were by far the youngest team in the league. Never once did I see any doubt in the way we were going and the direction we were going.
“For that I’m grateful for these young men. I felt these guys modeled the consistency and progressing. They came to work every day even though the results didn’t pan out the way we wanted to. They kept working and trying to get better and stick with the process. The future looks bright for us.”
Carpinteria Boys Basketball
Lucy Carleton, speaking for coach Corey Adam on Luke Nakasone: “Luke has shown great progress and has really improved.”
On David Serrano: “He’s shown great patience this year and has made an impact in these last couple of weeks.”
Carpinteria Boys Soccer
Carleton for coach Leo Quintero on back-up goalkeeper Adrian Gonzalez: “In a very important game against Nordhoff, Adrian went in there and was spectacular — he had seven saves. The next game he had eight saves. He brings incredible poise when he straps on his gloves.”
On Luke Nahooikaika-Anderson: “He scored the two most important goals of the season against Nordhoff (a 3-1 win).”
Carpinteria Girls Soccer
Carleton on junior midfielder Erika Estrada: “She has an amazing service of the ball — it’s like Christmas and birthday presents wrapped up. She just puts these balls across that are so perfect.”
On junior midfielder Emily Montoya: “Emily is going to take the blame for our 2-1 loss against Nordhoff … because Emily was injured. She almost ruptured her tendon.”
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