Santa Clara Baseball: The Taormina Years

Sal Taormina guided the Santa Clara University Broncos to unprecedented heights for 15 years. In that stretch, his teams won the conference title six times and sent a dozen players to the pro's while winning a school record 511 games. Although his time on this earth was cut short, his impact on the school's baseball program still looms large within its rich history.

Background

Salvadore "Sal" Taormina was born in San Jose, California on June 10, 1922. Very little is known about his upbringing other than the fact that he attended San Jose High School and fell in love with baseball.

After high school, he played in the Class-C Cal League where he averaged .357 and hit two home runs for the San Jose Owls while earning league MVP honors. Due to World War II raging overseas, the season was cut short so he ended up finishing the year with the Salem Senators of the Western International League before he himself was shipped off to Europe. While in Italy, he met his future wife, Marie.

Taormina returned stateside in 1946 a decorated veteran who hungered to play the national pastime again. For the next 15 years, he wandered around the minor leagues, playing in cities such as Little Rock, New Orleans, Charleston, Macon, Yakima, Tacoma, Phoenix and Bakersfield. But while all of those places fed his desire to continue playing, nothing spoke to him quite like home.

In 1946 and 1947 and from 1953 through 1957, Sal Taormina played for the San Francisco Seals. 1956 was his best season as he averaged .298, hit 13 home runs, drove in 56 scores and sported an on-base-percentage of .435.

By the end of 1960, his playing career was finished. But having played the game at a high level for 15 years, Sal Taormina had a trove of knowledge. He just needed to find the right team to coach.

The Broncos

1965: In Sal Taormina's first year as the head coach of Santa Clara University, the Broncos made quite a splash, breaking USC's seven-year old record of 202 base hits with 217 of their own. USC's home run record wasn't safe either as the Broncos blasted 27 for the year, a full seven better than the Trojans had done a decade earlier.

Al Gallagher led the CIBA with a .407 average and tied for the most hits with 33. Towards the end of the year, Santa Clara was treated to an exhibition match with the San Francisco Giants, whom they lost to 9-3 in front of a hometown crowd at Buck Shaw Stadium. To cap off the year Junior Rich Rob Robertson beat Stanford twice on consecutive days later in the year. While the Broncos finished the year 29-11, Sal Taormina saw a lot more potential in his crew.

1966: Record-wise, the Broncos regressed in 1966. A year after finishing third in the CIBA, they ended 1966 27-17-1 while finishing fifth in the conference.

Still, there was a positive spin on things. Senior Bill Schmidt edged teammate Rod Austin for the conference batting title with a .292 average in conference play.

1967: The Broncos finished 24-14 in the final year of the CIBA.

1968: In the West Coast Athletic Conference's inaugural season, the Santa Clara Broncos won 15 and lost five while allowing a conference best 61 runs on their way to Sal Taormina's first conference championship.

1968 WCAC All-Star Santa Clara selections-

Short-Stop- Albert Strane:

.278 average, 18 RBI, five stolen bases and 54 putouts

Second-Baseman- Alvin Strane:

.302 average, 14 RBI, 14 stolen bases 69 putouts

Third-Baseman- Fred Ott:

.304 average, 29 RBI and 28 putouts

Outfielder- Rod Pommes:

.343 average, 11 home runs, nine stolen bases, 33 RBI and 56 putouts

Outfielder- Vince Bigone:

.390 average, 44 RBI, 64 putouts

1969: Phil McMonigle almost broke the school's hitting record with 69, one of the mark set in 1962. Jerry McClain set the pace from the pitcher's mound with 82 strikeouts and a 3.54 ERA. Santa Clara went 38-8 and won the WCAC for the second straight year.

Their enthusiasm for winning their conference was short-lived as UCLA beat Santa Clara in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

1970: Bruce Bochte's .388 average and 97 putouts paced the Broncos as they again won the WCAC with a 42-16 record. Duane Larson earned conference MVP honors after averaging an incredible .427 in conference play.

After the regular season, Santa Clara beat Long Beach State in two games to begin the NCAA tournament before losing to USC in the next round. Their loss to the eventual national champion in the District 8 Final was the furthest the Broncos would ever get with Sal Taormina.

1971: Record-wise, this was Sal Taormina's best team as the Broncos finished 43-13 with another conference title to add to their trophy room. Duane Larson earned his second straight WCAC MVP award after averaging .333 in conference play. As the fourth consecutive Santa Clara player to be named conference MVP, Larson finished his collegiate career as the school's all-time leader in stolen bases.

1st-Team WCAC All-Star:

Catcher- Lou Caviglia

Short-Stop- Duane Larson

Outfielder- Rusty Weekes

Pitcher- Joe Pupo

2nd-Team WCAC All-Star:

3rd-Base- Kurt Lohrke

Outfielder- Mike Pereira

1972: The Broncos again won the WCAC title with a 13-5 record in conference play. Their 70 allowed runs in that stretch was the best defensive performance in the conference. Meanwhile, Rich Troedson earned MVP honors while Sal Taormina earned his first and only Coach of the Year award.

Future NFL official and rules analyst Mike Pereira scored 38 times, drove in another 22 runs, batted .305 and stole 16 bases as a senior that year while committing just two errors all year. While Santa Clara beat U.C. Santa Barbara 4-1 in the first game of the opening series in the NCAA tournament, the Broncos ultimately lost the last two contests of the three game series.

1973: Santa Clara played well that year, with a team batting average of .290 and 266 RBI powering a 35-15-1 overall record and 13-5 in the WCAC, but they failed to claim the conference championship for the fist time since its founding in 1968.

1974: While Santa Clara again failed to win the conference title despite a strong 38-17 record, they did set 15 new team and individual records. Gene Dylon alone broke six season and career records, including an NCAA record with 19 home runs and a school career record of 30, passing Ernie Fazio's 26 blasts that was set back in 1962.

Meanwhile, Santa Clara's defense was on another level. That year they set school records for fielding percentage (.974), errors (52) and putouts (1,925). At the time it was considered the best defense in school history.

1975: For the third year in a row, the Broncos failed to win the WCAC, despite sporting a strong record (39-16-2 overall, 14-4 conference). Still, there were some bright spots.

Sophomore center-fielder Gordon Hahn set a conference record with a sizzling .509 batting average in conference play (.391 overall). Meanwhile, pitcher Steve Kelly posted a 9-2 record with a 1.64 ERA. Both players made 1st-Team All-WCAC.

2nd-Team WCAC All-Star:

Pitcher- Tim Ryan

10-2, 1.90 ERA

Short-Stop- Mike Bartell

1976: Gordon Hahn (.352) edged his twin brother George (.342) for the team batting title. The Broncos finished 27-23-2 with no conference championship to boast of.

1977: For the first time in the Sal Taormina era, the Santa Clara Broncos did not win more games than they lost. They didn't lose more games than they won either, finishing the year an even 26-26.

But like every season, there is always a silver lining. George Hahn paced the team with a .320 average, walking 30 times and posting a white-hot .997 fielding percentage.

1978: After six long years, the Santa Clara Broncos finally won the WCAC title with a 40-23 overall record. Unfortunately, like many of Sal Taormina's past teams, this one lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament, first to Cal State Fullerton then to Arizona.

1979: The Broncos failed to repeat as WCAC champs, ending the season a disappointing 27-22 and fourth in conference play. At the time, it looked like just another speed bump for the bubbling program. But all was not well. On August 28, 1979, Sal Taormina died unexpectedly. He was just 57.

References

Santa Clara Baseball: The Taormina Years

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