Robert (Bob) James Mendoza (born in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

) is a former American baseball player and a

San Diego Hall of Champions The San Diego Hall of Champions was an American multi-sport museum in San Diego, California until its closure in June 2017. The Hall of Champions housed the Breitbard Hall of Fame - San Diego's sports hall of fame - which is now located at Petco P ...

inductee. After retiring from baseball, he continued his education and went on to teach, coach high school sports, and officiate in varsity basketball.

Early life and education

Mendoza graduated in 1956 from Lincoln High School where he lettered nine times in three sports: football, baseball and basketball. In 1958, he was named Player of the Year in Baseball and Most Valuable Conference Player of the Year in Baseball at

San Diego City College San Diego City College (City College or City) is a public community college in San Diego, California. It is part of the San Diego Community College District and the California Community College System. San Diego City College is accredited by t ...

. At

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

, he was named the rugby team’s Player of the Year in 1967. After obtaining his Bachelor of Arts from San Diego State University, Mendoza played

Rugby football Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union and rugby league. Canadian football and, to a lesser extent, American football were once considered forms of rugby football, but are seldom now referred to as such. The ...

for the Old Mission Beach Athletic Club (OMBAC). He later obtained his master's degree from the

United States International University United States International University (USIU) was a nonprofit university based in San Diego, California that was accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. At its peak, it had two additional American campuses and three inter ...

in San Diego.

Coaching and sports career

In 1958, he was drafted as an

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

by the

Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

and his contract later sold to the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...

. He left baseball to continue his education after playing years for the Red Sox organization. Mendoza went on to coach football, baseball and golf at

Samuel F. B. Morse High School Samuel F. B. Morse High School is an urban public high school located in southeastern San Diego in the neighborhood of Skyline Hills serving grades 9–12 in the American K-12 education system. Morse, which serves a predominantly socioeconomical ...

, as well as officiated over varsity basketball. All told, Mendoza coached football and baseball at Morse from 1970-2000. As the football team's defensive coordinator, he won five section banners. He also coached baseball at Mission Bay High. In 1982, he coached

Sam Horn Samuel Lee Horn (born November 2, 1963) is an American former professional baseball player who spent parts of eight seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) and was an anchor for New England Sports Network, the flagship station of Boston sports team ...

, the No. 1 baseball draft in the country at the time. The same year,

Mark McLemore Mark Tremell McLemore (born October 4, 1964) is an American former professional baseball second baseman and utility player in Major League Baseball (MLB). Early years McLemore grew up in Southeast San Diego, where he went to Samuel F. B. Morse ...

, who Mendoza also coached, was drafted by the

California Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...

in the 9th round amateur draft. In 1990, Morse Tigers were ranked No. 4 in the country by

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

. Mendoza and three teammates were featured in the ''

San Diego Union-Tribune ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' is a metropolitan daily newspaper published in San Diego, California, that has run since 1868. Its name derives from a 1992 merger between the two major daily newspapers at the time, ''The San Diego Union'' and ...

'' as San Diego County’s first

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that year. In the 1960s, he was a Triple A volleyball player in two-man, on-the-beach volleyball, teaming with

Al Scates Allen Edward Scates (born June 9, 1939) is a former American volleyball player and volleyball coach, who was head coach of the UCLA Bruins for 48 years. Scates is the winningest volleyball coach in the history of the NCAA, and the 19 NCAA titles ...

, current men’s head volleyball coach for

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

. He played for an indoor volleyball league with the Wildcat Volleyball Club and was the league's archivist for many years. He has been a regular winner of OMBAC's annual Over-the-line tournament.

Awards

In November 2011, Mendoza was inducted into

’ Breitbard

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

as a Coaching Legend. In 2001, he was given the Dan Fukushima Lifetime Achievement Award by the California Coaches Association. While at Morse as assistant football coach, in 1996 he was presented with a coaching award by the High School Sports Association.

Personal life

For 23 years, he and his wife

Cordelia Mendoza The Ocean Beach Antique District is a specialty shopping district located in the Ocean Beach neighborhood of San Diego, California. It is a few miles northwest of Downtown San Diego. Description Located on the community's main street, Newport Av ...

, an antiquarian and appraiser, operated antique stores in Ocean Beach, California, including their last store, Cottage Antiques, which was named in 2010 on

KGTV KGTV (channel 10) is a television station in San Diego, California, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. The station's studios are located on Air Way in the Riverview-Webster section of San Diego, and its ...

-10’s county-wide “A-List" for Best Antiques, placing first. He is the son of the late Benny Mendoza, a

welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like Muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify the ...

boxer in San Diego in the 1930s, and son-in-law of the late James M. Scott, who was a Senior Olympian. Mendoza lives with his wife in the

Loma Portal Loma Portal (from Latin ''porta'' "gate") is a neighborhood in the community of Point Loma in San Diego, California. It is a hilly area northwest of Rosecrans Street and northeast of Nimitz Boulevard, overlooking San Diego Bay. Features Loma Port ...

neighborhood of

Point Loma Point Loma (Spanish: ''Punta de la Loma'', meaning "Hill Point"; Kumeyaay: ''Amat Kunyily'', meaning "Black Earth") is a seaside community within the city of San Diego, California. Geographically it is a hilly peninsula that is bordered on the w ...

in San Diego.

References

External links

Breitbard Hall of Fame site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mendoza, Bob Living people American baseball players of Mexican descent Baseball players from San Diego Minor league baseball players High school football coaches in California Year of birth missing (living people) San Diego State University alumni United States International University alumni Educators from California