Vanguard University

Jim Crumpton, Paul Wood, and Bob Maimbourg were the head coaches for one of the most dominant teams ever to compete for Southern California College or Vanguard University.  

They also seemed to have a hint of what was to come.  In a weekly report sent out to the team on September 6, 1973, the coaches told the student-athletes, "We are very pleased with the condition of most of you.  It appears that most of you have been over 100 miles per week all summer....As we start to add a bit of speed work to all those miles, you'll see some real improvement."

Times would drop as the season moved along and races wins and good team performances followed.  In all, 22 school records would be set in 1974 and as of 2024, 10 still stand and 12 more are still top-10 times.  

In the program's first trip to the NAIA Indoor National Championships, the squad saw Ed Bouldin set an Indoor Championship two-mile race walk record by 23 seconds with a time of 14:37.8, almost six seconds ahead of Paul Ide of Fort Hays Oregon College of Eduction.  The event was on the Indoor program until the 1980 season and Bouldin picked one of the first individual National Championships in SCC/VU history.  Don Turri nailed a 58-09.75 (17.7m) throw, two feet further than Walley Autem of Pittsburg State, to claim the gold and the team would finish with 40 points at the event.  That put the team in third behind Champions Texas Southern, who had 45.

The team continued to gain speed and stamina as the outdoor season went along and while few would know about SCC when the team touched down in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, they would know all about them at the end of the NAIA Outdoor Championships.  It was the first time the school had made it to the three-day event and SCC would put on quite the show at the Henderson State College venue.  The 18-person squad combined for four individual champions and finished second as a team with 58 points (out of 174 programs), just nine behind Eastern New Mexico.   Jack Causey cleared 6-09.0 (2.1m) to win the high jump over British Tharpe of Dallas Baptist.  Jeff Feeney gave the squad a second gold medal from field events on the day as he paced all javelin contenders with a 236-10 throw (71.98m), nine feet further than Carlos Omphroy of Occidental.  Mike Singletary won the 440 yard sprint in 46.3 seconds, crossing the line just .2 seconds ahead of Isiah Douglas of Southeastern Louisiana.  Turri then finished off his spectacular year in the shot put to claim his second title of the calendar year with a mark of 59-00.5 (18.1m) to beat Ray Fogg of Pomona Pitzer by almost three feet.  

Other notable achievements at the outdoor event included Glenn Rouse finishing fourth in the mile run with a 4:06.8, Jeff Miller taking bronze in the hammer throw with a 159-0 heave, and Steve Alexander finishing second in the decathlon with 6,936 points, just three back of first.  There were others that competed as well, including Danny Prested, Steve Lassegard, Lou Patterson, Roger Davis, Randy Dunlevie, Walkt Hitt, Gary Adams, and Bob Heitman.  Alexander, and the four champions would all be named NAIA All-Americans for their finishes and the SCC teammates would leave Arkansas and return home to much fanfare.  Singletary was named the SCC Athlete of the Year and Wynn Ayers being named the Most Improved.  Rouse was named the Most Inspirational student-athlete that year.  Few track and field programs have had the success that the 1974 squad had and they rightly stand in the Hall of Fame were one of the most dynamic team performances in school history.

In the 2017 program, the following updates were given about some of the team members.  
Jeff Miller got married and he and Beth had been married for 42 years as of 2017.  Miller went on to work in ministry and in 2017, was still an Associate Pastor at The Journey church.  
Wynn married Joyce in 1981 and made his home in Washington and was working in insurance at Farmers as of 2017.
Glenn married Barbi in 1974 and the two became two of the most well-know faces around SCC/VU.  Glenn would become the women's track and field coach at UC Irvine for three years and he would also be a pastor at Newport Mesa Church.  (The two have continued to support VU and the athletic department in various ways and their daughter, Erinn, would also go to VU.)
Causey married and had three kids and three grandchildren.  He ended up working in the oil, education, and healthcare industries.
Maimbourg went on to coach at UCI and after retirement, he worked with individual athletes and has been married to Sandra for 53 years.