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Author: Mike Guardabascio
An LBC native, Mike Guardabascio has been covering Long Beach sports professionally for 18 years, with his work published in dozens of Southern California magazines and newspapers. He's won numerous state and national honors for his writing as well as the CIF Southern Section’s Champion For Character Award, and is the author of three books about Long Beach history.
CIF-SS Commissioner Rob Wigod Describes Emotional Protest During Pandemic
The 2020-21 school year was one that will always be remembered for uncertainty and confusion. The COVID-19 pandemic not only closed schools, it also pushed the high school sports seasons to the brink, and for months it looked like football and many other sports wouldn’t happen. One of the things that turned the tide in […]
Century Club Donates Funds For Moore League CIF-SS Rings
After a difficult year and a half, the Long Beach Century Club is still doing what it does best–supporting the city’s youth athletes. The COVID-19 pandemic required the club to drop its weekly in-person meetings on Tuesday nights, and to cancel its annual Hall of Fame and Middle School All-City banquets. A few weeks ago, […]
Long Beach’s Sydney Rockett Signs ‘ESPN Next’ Deal
Long Beach has a long history of producing first-round draft picks in sports. Whether in football, baseball, or basketball, the city is brimming with success stories on the courts and fields. The city hasn’t had as many big names in sports media, however–but Long Beach product and Poly almuna Sydney Rockett is hoping to change […]
Long Beach Olympian Jessica Hardy’s Goggles Made Special Tokyo Cameo
Long Beach has a storied history of aquatic Olympians, due mostly to Wilson’s unparalleled history in the pool. But while Max Irving is holding it down for Long Beach (and the Bruins) in the Tokyo Olympics on the men’s national water polo team, there isn’t a representative for the city swimming between the lane lines […]
Long Beach Poly Alum DeSean Jackson Donates Cleats, Shopping Spree to Alma Mater
Long Beach Poly alum DeSean Jackson is heading into his 14th season in the NFL, but he still hasn’t forgotten where he came from. Jackson, set to debut this year with the Los Angeles Rams, paid a visit to his alma mater last week, where he surprised the team with brand new cleats for every […]
Long Beach State Alums DeFalco, Ensing Tokyo-Bound With Olympic Volleyball Team
From the black and gold to the red, white, and blue: the Long Beach State men’s volleyball team has been taking over at the Olympics. This year, the program will be represented by three Olympians, two alternates, and two coaches, with a total of seven of the city’s 17-person Olympic delegation coming out of the […]
Feature: Taylor Crabb’s Olympic Journey Ran Through Long Beach
Photo of Crabb courtesy USA Volleyball Taylor Crabb grew up in Hawaii, playing volleyball with his friends and dreaming of representing the United States as an Olympian in volleyball. In his head, that dream was taking place indoors, on the hardcourt of an arena with the indoor USA men’s volleyball team. This week, his dream […]
All-City Spirit of Long Beach Award: Athletic Administrators
Each year, we award the Spirit of Long Beach to a person or group of people who move us, and who we feel we’ll remember for years to come when we look back. This year, the Spirit of Long Beach is going to a large group, but one that rarely gets mentioned in print: administrators, […]
The All-City Teamwork Award: Cabrillo High
We’ve never presented The Teamwork Award before, but there’s never been a year like the 2020-21 school year before, either. Because of the compressed nature of the sports schedule, which saw every sport (except girls’ volleyball) compete in the span of just a few months, maximum flexibility was required. The most flexible of all was […]