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It is never easy when you get the news of a good friend passing.
Sunday morning, I got an early call that former Foothill boys’ basketball coach and my longtime friend Randy Isaacs had suffered a heart attack and died Saturday (April 6) at the age of 59. It wasn’t just a gut punch, but as if someone had taken a sledgehammer and hit me.
God bless his wife Karen and their daughters Alyson and Haley as they confront Randy’s loss. There is a huge group of Pleasanton people who will always be there for the family.
I first got to be friends with Randy when we were both attending Chico State where he was playing basketball. And being it was Chico – if you know, you know.
After college, I got a job with the Tri-Valley Herald as a sportswriter. Randy played professionally in Australia after Chico, and I had the chance to do a story on him.
He ended up sending me a jersey from the team. I still have it today.
He came back to Pleasanton to teach and coach at Foothill. In 1994 he became varsity basketball coach, taking the reins from mentor and great friend Tom Hansen.
To me, those were great years covering Foothill basketball, and I found myself covering more and more Foothill games. Sometimes when you cover a game, you sit up in the stands. Not when Foothill was playing, and Randy was coaching.
It was pure entertainment, and I found my way to the scorer’s table so I could hear Randy interact with the players, but more importantly, the referees.
Randy had this way of talking to the officials – not always yelling, he would get his feelings conveyed by just talking, often punctuating his point with a shrug and a smile. Other times there were no words, just the shrug and a disappointed look on his face.
The run Foothill made to the CIF state championship game in 2000 is still my favorite memory from 35-plus years of covering high school sports.
I had contact with a pair of players from that team on Sunday, and both were quick to point out how much of an influence Randy played in their lives.
Toward the end of his coaching career – he stopped coaching in 2008 – I was announcing the Foothill basketball games. Many times, he would walk to the table, look at me and Foothill volleyball coach Dusty Collins who was running the scoreboard, and engage us in quick conversations.
In almost all the years that I announced Foothill football games, Randy was right there next to me working the clock. When Randy stepped away from working the clock, I only did a few more seasons.
It was just that much fun sharing the booth. The stories were amazing and hilarious. It seemed to be Randy’s mission every game to try to make me laugh while I was talking – and sometimes he was successful!
And we had chats about life both at games and away from them. I remember the talks we had when Foothill player Kyle O’Connor was killed in an auto wreck in 2007. We talked about how fragile life is and how you never know what the next day could hold.
When I spoke with former Foothill football coach Matt Sweeney, a very close friend of Randy’s, on Sunday morning, he talked about texting with Randy and former Foothill athletes and coaches Willie Brown and Jon Evans just last week about planning a get-together. Sweeney – now retired – was getting tired of only seeing friends at someone’s celebration of life.
Randy was part of the fabric of Pleasanton. Those of us who grew up in Pleasanton and were fortunate to stay and work in the town helped mold what has made Pleasanton such a special place for all of us.
Sunday afternoon I posted on Facebook of Randy’s passing. I didn’t have to use his name, just called him “Big Red” as he was known, and everyone knew who I was talking about.
I have enjoyed reading the posts, and while most of them caused more water in my eyes, it also made me smile as each was a reminder how loved he was by so many.
One of the posts really struck a nerve. It came from Mike Furlong who was a member of Isaacs’ coaching staff. Furlong was one of the first people to message me Sunday.
We shared the utter shock of what had happened. He answered my Facebook post with, “Forget about basketball – he was a good man.”
And he was. It was almost impossible to be in a bad mood when Red was around.
I know when you are young, you tend to think you’re invincible, but the reality of the situation is that life is short and you need to embrace every day.
There is a large group of people feeling something huge is missing in their lives right now. And there is. I hate writing these stories, which seem more frequently occurring.
But as I talked to my wife about dreading writing this, we talked about how it helps me heal. It makes me think of all the good times and memories.
Hopefully it helps all of you too.
I always will remember one phrase Randy would say: “How great was that?” I heard it so many times, I can picture him saying it – vividly.
In regard to how that simple phrase relates to his friendship of over 40 years, I can say, “Pretty darn amazing.”
RIP Big Red.
Editor’s note: Dennis Miller is a contributing sports writer for Embarcadero Media Foundation’s East Bay Division. To contact him about his Pleasanton Preps column, email acesmag@aol.com.
