San Ramon Valley High's John Raynor is leaving San Ramon Valley High after 29 years, Raynor said Monday via email.
During that nearly three decades he served variously as the boys basketball coach, athletic director and a physical education teacher. He will be moving to South Lake Tahoe with his wife Janet.
“SRV has been a very special place for me and I am, indeed, grateful for the wonderful memories and experiences I have had over the years,” Raynor said. “It has been an enormous privilege and honor to work with so many exceptional individuals at SRV and at our school district.”
Raynor was in education for 40 years. He coached the Wolves’ basketball team for 27 years and was the school’s athletic director from 1988 through the end of the 2015-2016 school year. He has since been working in a reduced role.
During Raynor’s tenure as AD the school won 46 North Coast Section titles, five by Raynor's basketball teams.
Among the athletes Raynor coached were former major league baseball player Randy Winn and Mark Madsen, who went on to star in basketball at Stanford and played on two NBA championship teams with the Los Angeles Lakers. Madsen is also recalled for his bad dancing at a post-championship celebration with the Lakers.
Now it's Raynor's turn to dance, or play golf, or maybe just sit in the sun with a cool drink.
VIP: San Francisco Giants' pitcher Matt Cain dined at Flavor Restaurant in Half Moon Bay on Sunday where HMB High volleyball star Bailey Steger is a hostess. I got a text about it from Steger's mom, Kathy Morrissey.
"Hey, is it newsworthy that Matt Cain is having dinner at Flavor?," Kathy asked. "Bailey is a hostess there and she can tell you where he sat and what he ordered. We got pics too!"
I'll have to confer with Kathy at Bailey's next match.
TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES: I wish I had a dollar for every time a dance team took the field at halftime and technical difficulties scuttled ensued. It happened to the Saratoga dance team on Friday night at halftime of the Falcons' game against visiting Half Moon Bay. Unfazed, the Saratoga girls performed anyway and did a nice job as Falcon and Cougar cheerleaders clapped along.
GETTING HER KICKS: Claire Dworsky, as we reported Sunday, made St. Ignatius College Prep history by both becoming the first girl to play at SI and the first girl to score, making three extra points in a Wildcat win against Clovis East. She made her PAT's at SI's JB Murphy Field, which happens to be named after my uncle.
JB, who I knew as "Uncle Bernie," was a teacher at SI for 50 years and was known as "Mr. SI." He's no longer with us now, but I'd be interested to hear his reaction to a girl playing for SI (an all-boys school until 1989) and scoring. I think he'd approve.
John Murphy may be reached at jmurphy@prep2prep.com.
