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Coach Chris Conlin was honored Saturday at Friends Church in Yorba Linda. (PHOTOS: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).
An estimated 400 to 500 friends of Coach Chris Conlin including family members, former players, coaches who worked with Conlin and acquaintances during his life showed up Saturday at Friends Church in Yorba Linda to honor the former coach during a celebration of his life.
Conlin was known as the University High School baseball coach during two separate stints, but he also had coaching stops at Murphy Ranch Little League, Schurr High School, Norte Vista, Glendora and Gahr in Cerritos. He also coached at Estancia, Portola, Northwood and Crean Lutheran. He coached baseball, football, wrestling and track and field.
Conlin died on April 15, 2025 at the age of 71 after an illness surrounded by family friends. He was born on June 30, 1953.
On Saturday, Conlin was remembered as a person who helped as many people as he could in their times of need when they were facing personal challenges, despite facing numerous health challenges of his own.
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Conlin’s son Kevin remarked how people often thanked the family for “sharing their father” with them. But Kevin Conlin responded saying that his father always kept his family as the top priority.
“He was always there for his family and for me,” Kevin Conlin, who was the head coach at Estancia and Portola with Chris Conlin as one of his assistants told those in attendance.
Long-time friend Jim Cecchini, a dentist, talked about many times how Conlin had helped his family and recalled one time when he and Chris Conlin, seeking a new challenge, took an airplane trip to San Francisco, then bicycled from San Francisco to Los Angeles, a trip that took two to three days, according to Conlin’s wife Pam.
Long-time friend Scott Albertston praised Conlin for helping many and leading young athletes in a positive manner, pointing out how Conlin had mellowed a bit in recent years. Former University coach Pat Gleason talked about his close relationship with Conlin and his impact on young athletes.
Former University assistant and head baseball coach Mike Gerakos talked about how he reached out to Conlin during some troubled times during Conlin’s first run as baseball coach at University and how Conlin remembered that by offering him a job as an assistant coach at Uni after UCI decided to drop baseball (it later re-instated it). Gerakos later became head coach at Uni before joining the Corona del Mar staff.
Gerakos pointed out the lighter side of Conlin, recalling how he would leave a mark of red brick dust from the infield wherever he would go on the campus, even in the classroom.
Jesse Anderson, current University coach; Rob Stuart, former Northwood baseball coach; and Wes Shaw, Tustin baseball coach were among the coaches who attended. Many of Conlin’s former players, including Eli Stokols (who now works as White House reporter at Politico) and Garrett Atkins (a former Major Leaguer) also paid their respects. Mark Cunningham, Irvine Unified School District AD and former head football coach at Uni also attended.
Long-time friends Jim Tomlin and Harry Stahl were also there. There were serious, emotional moments, but as Conlin would have liked, some laughs too.
There were also a number of football referees who worked with Conlin, who also became a high school football referee the past few years. Some wore their referee shirts.
“I first knew Chris from a distance for probably 20 years since I was a Woodbridge guy and he was a Uni guy, but always respected Chris,” said one of the refs, Irvine resident Jim Druding in an interview. “I finally got to know Chris about 15 years ago when I started officiating football and would deal with Chris at least once a year on the sideline and what a pleasure to deal with.
“The thing that sticks out in my mind is that five or six years ago when Chris retired and became a high school football official, first time I worked with him, I was crew chief on a game and he was on my crew and he came up at the start of the game and was the most humble partner I’ve ever worked with and he knew more about football that I was ever going to know. He wanted to do things the right way. He was a great official and a better person.”
Anderson, the Uni baseball coach said that Conlin “meant everything to Uni and Uni meant everything to him. He is Uni baseball, he is why this program exists. He put all his heart and soul into this program and he lived it every day and he loved baseball, he lived baseball and it’s an honor for me to be coaching baseball at Uni and to be able to carry on what he started at Uni. He built that program, I’m here to continue it. Amazing man, amazing coach, amazing father.”
Former player Cameron Matin from the class of 2012 related a story in an interview about an experience in his freshman year.
“Our very first baseball game, we would wear our jerseys to school and I misinterpreted that as wear your entire uniform including the pants,” he said. “First game of the season my freshman year I wore my (baseball) pants to school and a lot of kids were making fun of me. One day we had a game and Coach Conlin did the same thing to make me feel a little bit better about it and to take some of the heat off me and let me own that mistake and I was able to laugh with everyone else instead of having everyone else laugh at me.
“That was the kind of person he was, he was willing to, like everyone said, he put others ahead of himself, that along with all the other life lessons he taught us about being accountable to yourself, to your teammates, to your family, {stayed} with me the rest of my life.”
Mako Allbee, another Uni player from 2012, added:
“To be quite honest, I coudn’t tell you a single thing in terms of baseball related that he taught me in the four years, I don’t mean that in a bad way. Everything I remember about Coach Conlin for those four years is what he kind of what he taught me in terms of being a good human being. And all the lessons I remember are, be accountable, show up early, on time is late and always work hard and make sure that will always lead to something good.
“I think he also created a lot of great relationships for me. As I come here today and see everyone celebrating Coach Conlin’s life [it} kind of reminded me of how many people he impacted and how many people he brought into my life that I’m still grateful for with and having a relationship with.”
Shaw, the current Tustin coach and former coach at Uni, said he was grateful for knowing Conlin.
“I’ve known Chris since he was 5 years old,” Shaw said in an interview. “He grew up in the Whittier area and he was associated with my two younger brothers and Chris played on my dad’s Little League team in Murphy Ranch Little League. I was a big fan of the Conlin Brothers Sporting Goods store and their family. It was great to connect when I was baseball coach at University High School, he’s been a great friend and mentor, he did teach me a lot of human characteristics of being humble and being proud of what you do.
“He demonstrated what a family man he was, I miss him dearly, when I was going through my cancer episodes, he would always stay in contact, he would call me on the phone, send me texts and he was always positive and encouraged me and it helped me out a great deal. I thank him for our friendship and what he has meant to me and I’m going to miss him a lot. God bless him and I hope he rests in peace.”
The celebration of life concluded with one of Chris Conlin’s grandsons River Frost, who just turned 7, telling guests what a great grand-father Chris Conlin was in an emotional tribute. Guests applauded after his talk.
A slide show with memorable video highlights was played and the program ended with family members wife Pam and children Kevin and Kim, Kevin Conlin’s wife Hilary and Kim’s husband Tim and the family’s three grandsons singing “Take Me out to the Ballgame.”
“I was overwhelmed by the outpouring of people that came to Chris’s life {celebration},” Pam Conlin said Monday.
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com