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One thing I have grown to live with over the years is there is an entire generation of people in the Tri-Valley and East Bay Athletic League that have no idea of icons who are no longer with us.
While I take for granted what these individuals accomplished in building EBAL, others have no clue.
They built programs, laying the groundwork for the success of today. But other than maybe a name on a trophy or plaque in an overcrowded trophy case, there is little to remind people.
When iconic former San Ramon Valley High football coach Fred Houston passed on Nov. 30, 2023, at the age of 91, we lost yet another legend of local sports.
Fred was laid to rest on Jan. 27 following a service at St. Augustine’s in Pleasanton.
Houston brought a solid athletic pedigree to his coaching as a three-sport athlete at Shafter High, and then followed playing football for Fresno State on a scholarship.
After college, he played football for the Special Services Team of the United States Army. After an honorable discharge, Fred and his wife Dorothy settled in Los Banos where he got his first teaching and coaching jobs.
In just his second year he led Los Banos to the league title. It was a short run in the Central Valley as the following year he accepted the football coaching job at San Ramon Valley.
It was a daunting task as Fred inherited a program that had not won a league football game in four years. He took the program to a 91-51-2 record over the next 16 years, winning four league titles along the way. In all Houston helped send 42 players to play college football on scholarships.
By the way, he also coached the SRV wrestling team to a North Coast Section title in 1965, then the Wolves’ golf team to the same title in 1975.
The Houstons and their kids Guy and Eric settled in Pleasanton. Athletically I was the same age as Guy, and we played Little League together as well as Babe Ruth All-Stars where we advanced to the state tournament after winning our district title.
Fred was always around and had a larger-than-life personality, much the same as my father Harry — who was one of the founders of the Ballistic United Soccer Club.
If Fred or my dad were around, you knew it, but more on that later.
If there were sports going on, you could usually find — and hear — Fred at the fields. As Guy and his wife Ingeborg had kids (Bartlett, Sumner and Glynnis), if they played youth sports, the grandparents were always there.
The boys had great football careers, starting in the Pleasanton Junior Football League, then moving on to De La Salle and finally in college football.
Bart started at quarterback for Wisconsin, with Sumner a starting lineman at Oregon State, both further proof of the Houston athletic bloodlines.
The last time I saw Fred regularly was when he and my father were roommates at a physical rehabilitation center in Pleasanton.
I can remember sitting with Guy in their room and talking about how sorry we felt for the nurses and doctors that had to deal with those two!
Two massive personalities make for an entertaining but overwhelming time.
Now that they have both passed — my dad almost three years ago — the area has lost a pair of men that helped shape youth and high school sports for years.
Hopefully this story helps some of the younger generation get to know another iconic figure.
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Thank you Dennis for sharing his legacy with a new generation.
May he rest in peace.