Best local sports story of 2016: The Colin Kaepernick struggle

Colin Kaepernick’s protest began as a solo sit-down during the national anthem of an NFL preseason game. In later games, he was joined by teammates as the groundswell grew.

“I am not looking for approval. I have to stand up for people that are oppressed,” he said. “If they take football away, my endorsements from me, I know that I stood up for what is right.”

Kaepernick, the quarterback of the free-falling 49ers and the most famous graduate of Pitman High, waged an ongoing protest against racial oppression and inequality that made him a national lightning rod. Many in his hometown of Turlock turned against him. He was the subject of major criticism as he modified his protest from a sit-down to a kneel-down each week.

Others across the country, however, believed he was calling attention to a legitimate issue.

Everyone, from conversations in the barbershop to talking heads on the networks, had an opinion on Kaepernick.

“I think he cares about some real legitimate issues that have to be talked about,” President Barack Obama said. “And if nothing else, what he’s done is he’s generated more conversation around some topics that need to be talked about.”

Kaepernick’s movement is The Bee’s top local sports story of 2016.

1. Kaepernick’s rehab from three offseason surgeries alone should have filled his priority list. He was not the starter when the season started, but his protest gained momentum even as he stood on the sideline.

“Once again, I’m not anti-American,” he pled. “I love America. I love people. That’s why I’m doing this. I want to help make America better.”

On the field, Kaepernick’s season lurched up and down, mostly the latter. He eventually regained his spot at starter in October but struggled along with his talent-poor team. At times, he seemed to be running a race against himself. Was his struggle on the field going better than his saga off the field, or vice versa?

Skeptics were quick to jump on the fact that he didn’t vote in the general election and, in fact, never has voted.

“I think it would be hypocritical of me to vote,” said Kaepernick, who expressed displeasure with both presidential candidates. “I was against the system of oppression. I’m not going to show support for that system.”

Kaepernick also pledged $1 million to groups fighting oppression.

Regardless, it has been a rocky ride for the former Nevada star since 2012, when he led the 49ers to within a completed pass of a Super Bowl title. His future with the 49ers is murky. Kaepernick’s annual fundraising golf tournament for Camp Taylor at Del Rio Country Club once again drew much support in June but was conspicuous by the absence of visual backing from the 49ers organization.

The 49ers were winless under Kaepernick until he leaped across the goal line for a game-winning 2-point conversion against the Los Angeles Rams on Christmas Eve.

2. Oakdale opened the football season with a humbling loss to traditional rival Sonora. Coach Trent Merzon and his staff juggled personnel and – presto! – an eventual state champion was born. The Mustangs (14-2) punctuated their second state finals appearance in five years with an emphatic 47-0 victory over Bishop’s in the Division III-A State Bowl in La Jolla.

Oakdale, triggered by its relentless Wing-T offense, overcame a loss to Manteca and simply got better and better. The Mustangs’ catalyst was running back,Will Semone, the Stanislaus District’s Player of the Year.

Semone’s transfer from Valley Oak League rival Central Catholic wasn’t major news until his full impact was measured. He rushed for a district-record 2,851 yards – a staggering 1,684 yards in six playoff games. His school-record 337 yards were instrumental in Oakdale’s 51-14 thrashing of Christian Brothers in the Sac-Joaquin Section D-III final. He followed that performance with 303 yards during the Mustangs’ win over Sutter in the NorCal regional bowl.

Over the final five quarters of the season, Oakdale outscored its opponents 68-0.

3. Seattle Mariners officials arrived in Modesto to break the landmark news in September – the Modesto Nuts switched Major League Baseball affiliations from the Colorado Rockies to the Mariners. Modesto carried the Oakland Athletics banner for 30 years, and the Rockies took over for the past 12 years.

The Mariners, in another important move, purchased a majority interest in the Modesto ballclub. The partnership is only the second of its kind in the California League. The San Francisco Giants are are the majority owners of the San Jose Giants.

“We thought, ‘How can we make a long-term solution?’ That’s when we started to talk about making an equity investment,” said Kevin Mather, president and COO of the Mariners. “We came up with a very short list, with Modesto being on top of that list. I knew it (Thurman Field) was a great facility for player development, and we’re excited to be here.”

Cal League unrest, a subplot of the 2016 season, resulted in the dissolving of the High Desert (the league champion) and Bakersfield franchises. That shrank the Cal League to eight teams. Seattle and Colorado swapped Advanced-A teams, as the Rockies’ Cal League team resurfaced at The Hangar in Lancaster.

The Nuts qualified for the playoffs eight of their first nine years under Colorado stewardship, but stumbled to losing seasons the last three years. Still, local fans enjoyed the maturation of young stars Troy Tulowitzki, Nolan Arenado, Dexter Fowler, Trevor Story and others. Mitch Canham, a catcher for Lake Elsinore in 2008, was named the Nuts manager for 2017.

4. Four Sac-Joaquin Section Masters titles. Four state meets. Three state medals. Oakdale High graduate Hannah Chappell’s résumé, after four distinguished years of throwing the discus, couldn’t have shined brighter.

Chappell, a freshman at Alabama, placed, in order, seventh, second, fifth and third at the pressure-packed CIF State Championships at Clovis’ Buchanan High. Her consistency and technique, against stronger and larger athletes, was her calling card. She became only the third discus thrower in section history, joining Downey’s Suzy Powell and Laguna Creek’s Chaniqua Ross, to accomplish the career Masters sweep.

5. The Sportsmen of Stanislaus Club, a Modesto institution and a health, sports and recreational pioneer in its heyday, announced its eventual sale and closure in September. The sprawling property eventually will become a charter school sponsored by tennis champion Andre Agassi.

Club President Wayne Zipser said the SOS would remain open at least another year to celebrate its 60th anniversary. The SOS membership had diminished to about 550 members, down from around 2,200 during its peak years in the 1980s. The club, limited to men in its early years, drew such national stars as Joe DiMaggio, Muhammad Ali, Willie Mays and many others on the banquet circuit.

6. The Modesto Junior College Pirates were 3-2 when they reached a new level last fall. Consecutive wins over Sequoias, Fresno, Chabot, Laney and Delta gave the Pirates the Valley Conference championship, their first outright title of a Tier 1 league since the unbeaten 1980 team.

MJC (8-3) qualified for the NorCal semifinals, where they lost 27-21 to eventual state finalist American River.

Running back Jay Green, the league’s offense Player of the Year, earned All-America honors by rushing for 1,281 yards. He led the state with 20 rushing TDs and 116.5 yards per game.

7. Manteca High intimidated opponents with arguably the tallest team in VOL history – 6-foot-9 Anand Hundal, 6-8 Tydus Verhoeven and 6-9 Stagg transfer Kenny Wooten. The Buffaloes, 0-3 against VOL and section D-III champion Weston Ranch, responded with their best basketball at the NorCal level.

Thrilling wins over Albany, Archbishop Riordan and Bishop O’Dowd vaulted Manteca (29-6) to the state D-III final, where it dispatched So-Cal champion Ayala of Chino Hills 60-51 at Sacramento’s Sleep Train Arena. The sky-walking Wooten, the difference-maker, eventually switched collegiate commitments from Nevada to Arizona State.

Manteca’s state basketball title was the first by a Manteca Unified School District team.

8. Modesto Christian (32-2) reached the NorCal Open Division finals and closed in on its fifth berth in the state finals. Instead, the Crusaders dropped a heartbreaker for the second year in a row as De La Salle converted a three-point play with 4.9 seconds left to deny MC 41-40. Nico Rojas had put the Crusaders, who rallied from a 10-point deficit, in front with 24 seconds to go.

The game turned out to be a farewell for Richard Midgley, the former Modesto Christian and Cal star who succeeded longtime MC coach Gary Porter. Midgley became the West Coast scout for the Atlanta Hawks. Brice Fantazia, another MC grad, replaced Midgley.

9. Enochs’ Claire Seymour peaked at the right time – the end of the track season. One week after she placed second at the section D-I meet, Seymour won the section Masters title in the 400 meters with a time of 55.65 seconds. She held off Emily Costello of Vista del Lago and third-place Saravaughn King of Armijo to win by a stride.

Seymour, who did not qualify for the finals at the state meet – she was the only Modesto athlete there – vowed to return to the prestigious competition as a senior.

10. Cal State Stanislaus runner Abraham Alvarado, for the second consecutive year, barely was denied an NCAA Division II national championship in the 800. St. Augustine’s (N.C.) freshman Shaquille Dill held off Alvarado’s charge to win at Bradenton, Fla. Alvarado, timed in 1:49.48, traded the lead with Dill all season in national rankings.

The Stanislaus star nearly became the fifth Warrior in school history to claim a track and field national title.

Two months later, Stanislaus track coach Diljeet Taylor was named women’s assistant cross country and distance-running coach at BYU.

11. Sam Young, the winningest head coach in MJC football history, couldn’t pass up the chance to return home. Young, a veteran of 26 MJC seasons and the Pirates’ head coach from 2000 to ’14, was hired by new UC Davis coach Dan Hawkins as a consultant. They served as assistant coaches for the Aggies under Jim Sochor during the early 1980s, and Hawkins remembered Young’s expertise.

So ended the longest run by an MJC football coach in school history. Last fall, Young served as the defensive coordinator during the Pirates’ title season.

Hawkins also tabbed another old friend with Valley roots – former Merced High standout coach Mark Speckman – to be the Aggies’ assistant head coach and running backs coach.

12. Modesto High freshman Coby McCaig remembered his parents’ mantra, “Whatever you believe, you can achieve,” after he lost the Modesto Metro Conference tennis singles final to reigning section champion Ryan Lewis of Beyer.

McCaig, the No. 4 seed, marched through the section bracket and, eventually, got his revenge by defeating Lewis 6-3, 0-6, 6-2 for the Division I title. 12. He’s believed to the first Panthers player to win a boys D-I tennis title.

13. Pitman’s Adam Velasquez and Oakdale’s Bronson Harmon stood on the highest perch of the awards podium after winning section Masters wrestling titles in Stockton – Velasquez in the 120-pound class and Harmon at 152. Velasquez outlasted Aaron Rugnao of Bear Creek 5-2 in his final while Harmon defeated Jeff Skyrud of Folsom 11-7.

Velasquez (50-7), the district Wrestler of the Year, went on to earn a fifth-place medal with a 4-3 showing at the CIF Championships in Bakersfield. Harmon (41-9), a football star for the Mustangs last fall, was 3-2 at state.

14. The Ceres High softball team rallied around the slogan, “Why not us?” to win the program’s first section title in more than two decades. The Bulldogs (23-5), riding the talent of shortstop and current Washington freshman Nicole Bates, held off Benicia 3-2 in a drama-filled D-III final at Sacramento.

Defense paid off for the Bulldogs in the title game. Pitcher Callie Nunes and catcher Mahlena O’Neal excelled, but center fielder Sabrina Baisdon crashed through the breakaway fencing to pull back a potential three-run homer. Bates clinched the title with an unassisted double play. Bates was named California’s Ms. Softball 2016 by Cal-Hi Sports.

15. Volleyball produced several top-tier teams. Pitman (28-8), the winner of three straight section Division I titles and six straight Central California Conference titles, was one of only two public schools to be invited to the NorCal Open Division playoffs. Ripon, led by Sam McCreath, sealed a D-IV title with a hard-earned five-set win over Trans-Valley League rival Hilmar at Tokay High.

Turlock, the runner-up to Pitman in the CCC and beaten by Pitman in the section final (the Bulldogs did earn a regular-season win over Pitman), won twice at the NorCal level before the Bulldogs lost to eventual state runner-up Menlo-Atherton. Setter Julia Handy, committed to Arizona, was the district’s volleyball Player of the Year.

Sonora, beaten by Christian Brothers in the D-III section finals, upset top-seeded Miramonte of Orinda to reach the NorCal final for the third time in the last four years. Stone Ridge Christian of Merced fell one victory short of a D-VI title for the fourth consecutive season.

16. Downey graduate Karlee Bispo announced the final lap of her brilliant swimming career, The 18-time All-American at Texas, a former Big 12 Conference Swimmer of the Year, competed since she was 8. The only thing she didn’t accomplish was a berth on the always-deep USA team for the Olympics.

One of Bispo’s greatest achievements was her gold medal at the 2013 Final World Championships at Barcelona, Spain. She joined the victorious 4x200 freestyle relay team that also included Katie Ledecky, Shannon Vreeland and Missy Franklin. Bispo also was named Texas Women’s Athlete of the Year in 2011.

17. Central Valley had not won a blue banner, emblematic of a section title, in its 10-year athletics history until the Section Team Dual Wrestling Championships at Lincoln High. The Hawks ended the drought by coasting past Union Mine and, in the final, city rival Ceres for the D-IV title.

Oakdale took its record eighth consecutive section title, and ninth in the last 10, by defeating Vista del Lago in the D-III final. Only Oakdale and Ponderosa have won eight in a row.

Escalon snapped Calaveras’ five-year winning streak in D-V Mariposa pulled away from Waterford to capture the D-VI crown.

18. Merced High graduate Madilyn Nickles, a freshman at UCLA, has reaped the rewards of her outstanding prep career. She was named the Gatorade National Player of the Year, an award presented to her in Merced by two-time Olympian and softball star Jennie Finch. Nickles also was named the Cal-Hi Sports Large School State Player of the Year after she went 20-5 with a 0.63 ERA. MaxPreps named Nickles a first-team All-American as a multi-purpose player.

Last summer, Nickles helped the USA Women’s National Elite Team to a fourth-place finish in the World Cup of Softball at Oklahoma City

19. The Manteca High baseball team (23-7) rallied from behind to defeat Christian Brothers 9-6 to win the section D-III title in Lodi. A two-run single by sophomore Zach Chamberlain put the Buffaloes ahead to stay for their second blue banner in the last three years.

Manteca prepared for its playoff run by edging past Oakdale and Central Catholic in a competitive VOL race.

20. Del Campo’s 49-13 first-round win over East Union was punctuated by an act of sportsmanship that will resonate for years. East Union’s Vinny Torrice, who has Downs syndrome and had never played in a game, was allowed to run 27 yards for a game-ending touchdown as time expired.

Both teams mobbed Torrice and gave him a victory ride. The story received national attention.

This story was originally published December 30, 2016 at 7:54 PM with the headline "Best local sports story of 2016: The Colin Kaepernick struggle."