How the 1976 Warriors put Stanislaus State College on the map

Stanislaus State College in the spring of 1976 was still in its teens.

It had opened only 16 years before and had spent the last 11 on its rural campus outside Turlock. The school sought an identity, something with more gusto than its “Turkey Tech” nickname. Stanislaus needed validation, an impact moment.

Within a 10-day period in faraway Ohio, it received two.

The first came from the Warriors’ NCAA Division III golf title – the first of an incredible dozen – in Springfield, Ohio. Then, 171 miles to the east in Marietta, the Stanislaus baseball team took home its own national championship.

When the baseball team returned home, it was welcomed by, well, silence. Finals had been completed. Nearly everyone had gone home for the summer. There would be no school-wide celebration.

Forty years later, that void will be filled.

The Warriors, who shocked the world – but perhaps not themselves – are gathering for the anniversary of one of Stanislaus’ signature sports moments. Cherie Bowen, the widow of coach Jim Bowen, welcomes all players and their families to a party Friday night at the Bowen home in Turlock.

On Saturday, a barbecue in the team’s honor will be held at Warrior Field at 2:30 p.m. before Stanislaus’ doubleheader against Fresno Pacific. Finally, the Warriors of ’76 will be recognized that night during Stanislaus’ men’s and women’s basketball games against Cal State East Bay.

“No one was around to congratulate us back then,” Cherie Bowen remembered. “I’m glad the school is doing something now.”

That Stanislaus team didn’t exactly pound opponents into tiny particles. The Warriors went 33-20, a good if not Ruthian record. They started 5-9, and, after they were swept four games at Grand Canyon, their chance at a national title seemed like low comedy.

“We led during three of those games in Arizona,” remembered Gary House, the Stanislaus right fielder and lead-off man. “We were playing terrible and hitting below .200.”

House, the team’s unofficial historian, eventually went into the Navy and now lives in Martinsburg, W.Va. His heart, however, never left the Stanislaus diamond. He still stays in touch with Cherie Bowen.

“We finally got the idea, without having a meeting, that we should take it out on our opponent,” House said. “My feeling was that talk was cheap. It was time to play.”

House’s roommate was left fielder Rusty Kuntz, the team’s cleanup man and today – the first-base coach of the World Series champion Kansas City Royals. But back then, Kuntz was struggling like everyone else. He bent to tie his shoestring at his apartment and wrenched his back, thus contributing to the team’s early slump.

“He healed up,” House raved, “and his bat started smoking.”

Stanislaus’ season upticked with a doubleheader sweep at Nevada, where the Warriors never had won. The team soon was rolling. Kuntz and former Modesto High and Modesto Junior College star Dan Boer formed a powerful hub in the middle of the order. Second baseman Mike Valponi, designated hitter Mel Anderson, shortstop Matt Goodrich and catcher John Farmer enriched the lineup. The ace in the rotation was Gene Oliver.

The Warriors lost the Far Western Conference title to UC Davis 4-3 on the regular season’s final day, but they sustained their momentum at home against Westmont in the district playoffs. They dropped the opening game of the best-of-three series 7-5 but recovered with wins of 5-2 and 10-9.

How they won Game 3 is part of Stanislaus lore. The seesaw game veered toward Westmont, which scored twice in the 10th to lead 9-7. Stanislaus rallied to 9-9 and, with House on second, Boer lined a single to right. House made up his mind to steam for home, though it didn’t matter. Bowen, the third-base coach, already was waving House to the plate.

The throw beat House to the plate, but he somehow slid around the tag and scored. To this day, it’s still called “The Slide.”

“I was going to try and run him (the catcher) over, but as I got closer, I noticed he (the catcher) left the back part of the plate unprotected,” House said. “I hit the plate with my hand. Not only did the catcher not tag me, he had the ball in his bare hand, and he missed me anyway. Then everybody jumped on top of me.”

From that point, Stanislaus could not be stopped. To a man, the Warriors figured if they escaped California, they would beat everyone else.

Bowen, an Iowa man, merged unbridled baseball passion with Midwest values. He eventually coached 25 seasons, leading the team to 639 victories (49 in the postseason) for the Warriors before he died in December 2009. No one around Stanislaus has forgotten him.

“With Jim, it was God, family and the baseball team,” Cherie Bowen said. “He had values and he stuck to them.”

He was also superstitious. Before each inning, he would kick third base for luck. Socks stayed unwashed during winning streaks. Teaching fundamentals, however, was a constant.

“We’d play Humboldt State on a Tuesday, and Jim could tell you where to play everybody, how to pitch them and which pitchers were slow to the plate. He taught us a lot along the way,” Kuntz told The Bee in 2014. “At the time, I remember thinking, ‘What the heck is this guy doing?’ And then all of a sudden you get in his shoes and you realize how important that detail was.”

Stanislaus rolled through Monmouth (Ill.) in the regionals at Burlington, Iowa, 13-10 and 7-3. The Warriors qualified for the national tournament at Marietta and swept three games to the title. Unearned runs led to a 5-4 win over Ithaca (N.Y.), but, in Game 2, they trailed Montclair (N.J.) 9-8 in the bottom of the ninth.

More magic ensued. Hits by House, Tony Kobliska, Boer, Kuntz and Anderson delivered the tying and winning runs.

Stanislaus’ momentum could not be checked. The Warriors blasted Ithaca 13-6 for the title, clinching it with four runs in the ninth. Boer, the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, went 4 for 5. In the three games at Marietta, he collected a double, two triples, a home run and eight RBIs.

“We were just a group of guys who came together,” said Boer, a coach at Johansen High who’s in his 36th year with Modesto City Schools. “Our team jelled. Bowen was like (Giants manager Bruce) Bochy, pushing all the right buttons.”

The stories surely will be embellished as the 1976 Warriors reunite this weekend. They’ll relive The Slide, Boer’s bat and Farmer’s memory (he died in a plane crash in January 1978).

Eleven members returned in 1977 and successfully defended their Division III title. Over those two years, Stanislaus blitzed its opponents 13-1 in the postseason. The team was inducted to the Stanislaus Hall of Fame, along with the ’76 golf team, in 2003.

Looking back, the Warriors of 40 years ago broke through the day-to-day grind and offered a glimpse of a soon-to-be university.

“They could be rascals and typical college kids, but on the field they were all business,” Cherie Bowen said. “Jim always thought of them as family.”

This story was originally published February 5, 2016 at 11:08 AM with the headline "How the 1976 Warriors put Stanislaus State College on the map."