The562’s coverage of Lakewood Athletics is sponsored by J.P. Crawford, Class of 2013.
A legend of the diamond is hanging them up after a record-setting career. Longtime Lakewood baseball coach Walter “Spud” O’Neil confirmed that this season will be his last as coach of the Lancers.
“I’m ready,” he said. “It’s time for the younger people to take over. Hopefully I left my mark–I’ve totally enjoyed the whole run and I’m grateful to have had the backing of every principal I’ve ever had at Lakewood, sports administrators and athletic directors. It’s been a good deal.”
O’Neil was hired as the head coach of the Lancers in February of 1984, after coaching stints at his alma mater of St. Anthony and Colton High. Just the third-ever coach at Lakewood High, O’Neil has had an unparalleled career–he’s won 970 games in his 52 years as a varsity baseball coach, second-most in California history. He’s also won a pair of CIF-SS championships and 23 Moore League titles at Lakewood.
O’Neil is already a Hall of Famer with the Long Beach Century Club, and will coach his final season on the field that bears his name. Lakewood dedicated its baseball field as the Walter “Spud” O’Neil Baseball Field back in 2017.
“Coach has left an indelible mark on the Lakewood High School and baseball communities that won’t be replicated,” said Lakewood athletic director Mike Wadley. “As a school, it will be impossible to fill his shoes with all that he’s done.”
O’Neil was also a teacher on the Lakewood campus before retiring a decade ago. He said looking back, he’s happy for the titles and the MLB products he’s coached but that those were never the motivation.
“I’m very proud of all the accomplishments and all that but I didn’t get in it for that,” he said. “When I was younger I figured out that this was going to be my profession and I loved it, and in the blink of an eye it’s been 52 years of varsity coaching. It’s time.”
O’Neil said there wasn’t one specific moment that told him it was time to hang it up, but that there have been plenty of hints lately.
“Most of the people I talk to lately I’ve been coaching since before they were born, or even their parents and all that,” he said. He credited his St. Anthony baseball coach, Steve Hartman, as well as his LBCC coach, the legendary Joe Hicks, with inspiring him to get into coaching.
While at Lakewood, O’Neil has had a wealth of help in the dugout including Matt Nuez and John Yakel, who has been instrumental in the program over the last several years. For 14 years he also had future CIF-SS commissioner Rob Wigod alongside him, who O’Neil gave enormous credit to. Wigod has always talked about his time coaching at Lakewood as being instrumental to his outlook on youth sports.
“He’s truly one of the very best high school baseball coaches ever,” Wigod said of O’Neil. “I learned so many things from him, not just about baseball, but about life. We worked hard, we prepared in practice so we were ready to play the games, he taught our players to know the game and be able to execute when ready, all the while never losing sight of the fact we should enjoy what we were doing and have fun.I owe him everything for what he has done for me. I never would have achieved anything in my career if not for him.”
An enduring tribute to the all-encompassing approach that O’Neil and his staff took to coaching high school baseball is the fact that Wigod famously proposed to his wife, Kelly, on the field at Lakewood–a field now named for O’Neil.
As far as his favorite memories on the field, he cited the 1987, 1994, and 2006 teams at Lakewood because they were not only talented, but competitive with each other. As for the best players he’s coached, he brought up many of the MLB products that have gone through Lakewood: Mike Carp, Travis d’Arnaud, JP Crawford, Chris Gomez, Matt Duffy, and Damion Easley. He also touched on other greats including Ricky Gutierrez, an Oklahoma NCAA champion and MVP, and Nick Torres, a recent MVP of the Mexican League who signed with the Yankees.
“The one common thread is they all love the game, they practiced hard and hated to lose,” he said. “These kids now have no idea about that kind of stuff. I just try to give them history and hope they grab onto it. It’s not just for baseball, it’s for life. We’ve had successful players, but we’ve also had lawyers, all kinds of guys all over the place.”
For those who’ve known O’Neil over a significant portion of his career, it’s no secret that he’s not a fan of the way the game has gone lately. He feels, like a lot of established coaches, that there’s too much of an emphasis on highlight-type plays in travel ball, and a de-emphasis on competitiveness and the team concept.
“I’ve been quoted several times on that, I know, but I believe travel ball they don’t always learn the game,” he said. “They come to high school and think they’re God’s gift to baseball, and we prove them wrong. Only the toughest players and the ones with the best mental approach succeed in high school.”
O’Neil said kids are just as hungry for success as they were when he arrived at Lakewood more than 40 years ago, but that they’re less willing to sacrifice and work for that success.
To follow O’Neil, the Lakewood admin will have to make a tough hire. The school has had just three coaches in its 70 years of history, including O’Neil and the legendary John Herbold who he succeeded. O’Neil said he didn’t have any advice for who they should look to.
“That’s up to them totally,” he said. “If they need any advice they can come to me but I don’t have anyone that I’m saying should be the person. I just hope it’s someone that will teach on campus and be a role model for the kids. It should always be a teacher first and a good person.”
As for what he’ll be doing going forward, he said he’s planning on traveling with his wife, Caroline.
“She’s been a rock, and we have our plans,” he said. “I’ll be 150 years old if we get them all done.”
