Category: Sports

By JW August / Special to the OB Rag

Billy Hunyady, a popular girls softball coach for nine years at Point Loma High School, has been fired by the school’s Associate Principal. Not only was Hunyady fired, but the entire girls’ softball coaching staff of nine individuals were abruptly fired on July 29.

A veteran coach with 28 years experience, Hunyady calls it an unjustified termination.  More concerning to him, though, he says, is the potential for gossip and speculation in the community and among his players and their families wondering about why he was fired on at the end of July. He worries that some may believe he was fired for “horrible actions, such as a secret relationship with a player or stealing money or abusing any of the athletes in any kind of way,” Hunyady told the OB Rag.

Unfortunately those kinds of actions are not entirely uncommon, but that isn’t why Associate Principal Monika Montiel Turner fired him and the others, says Hunyady.

Hunyady said Turner told him he was let go because there was “too much chaos going on” surrounding the girls softball program, involving players and fans.

Although there were some warning signs, the firing still came as a devastating surprise to the Hunyady. Recognized as the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) coach of the year in 2025, Hunyady is a graduate of Point Loma High, class of 1981, having played on the same baseball team as the school’s famous sports alumnus, pitcher David Wells, of New York Yankees fame.  “I was excited to be coaching  teams from my school, ” Hunyady said.

Junior varsity head coach Chris Ghio, who was a longtime friend of Hunyady, having graduated the same year from Point Loma High as Hunyady, said that when his friend told him the entire coaching staff of nine individuals was fired, “I thought he was joking. They had seen many administrations come and go, and “we have always been treated with respect and appreciation.”

Ghio said he thinks the entire community should be put on notice that they were “disrespected and discarded” by the current administration.

Neither the high school principal, Michael Santos, nor Turner have responded to numerous requests to tell us their side of the story.

Editordude: Before the stairs at Ladera Street at the cliffs, there was nothing except slippery toe holes, a small stretch of rope and the cliffs themselves. Making your way down holding onto a 9′ 6″ log was taking your life in your hands — which I did countless times back in the mid-60s. This was the reality of getting to Garbage Beach below until the 1980s. Thanks to Doug Smith, it all changed.

By Shona Neufeld / San Diego Reader / Aug. 5, 2026

“San Diego City built a staircase at Sunset Cliffs Boulevard and Ladera Street.”

— from Kathy Blavatt’s San Diego’s Sunset Cliffs Park: A History, written for the Ocean Beach Historical Society

There are other entry points to the beach below Sunset Cliffs; but none of them are as easy to navigate as the Ladera Street stairs. Hundreds, maybe thousands of people use them every week. Families come to check out the tidepools, bringing young kids and old folks who otherwise might have trouble making it down there. And of course, there are the surfers, who use them to reach the break at Garbage Beach.

There is no mention of Doug Smith in Blavatt’s account of those stairs. And even after Adam Bloomberg and the Garbage Beach Surf Club held an event on March 29th of this year to honor Smith’s contribution to the stairs’ creation, you could be forgiven for never having heard of him. They intentionally kept publicity to a minimum, handing out only a few fliers to the regular Cliffs crew in order to reduce crowds and allow easy access for the 91-year-old Smith and his friends. “If we had advertised, it really would have been out of control,” said Adam. (I learned about it from local surfer Richard Aguirre while I was out riding my bike.)

by Debbie L. Sklar / Times of San Diego / July 22, 2026

Before there was Del Mar, there was another racetrack.

There’s no sign of it today, but Pacific Beach once had a racetrack — and for a brief period in the 1880s, it became one of the region’s most notable gathering places.

Today, Pacific Beach is known for its boardwalk, beach traffic, and nightlife. In the late 19th century, however, it was part of a developing coastal landscape shaped by real estate speculation, rail expansion, and ambitious efforts to create destination communities.

One of the most ambitious of those early projects was the Pacific Beach Driving Park, also known as the American Driving Park, a horse racing facility established during San Diego’s 1880s land boom.

The track was developed in 1887 after the Southern California Breeders’ Association acquired property for a formal racing venue. Located on what was then undeveloped land near Pacific Beach, the site included a racetrack, stables, and a grandstand designed to support organized races and public events while also helping promote surrounding land sales.

Public Has Until August 24 to Give Feedback to Port

By City News Service / 7SanDiego / July 10-13, 2026

The comment period for a proposed redevelopment of East Harbor Island for a Topgolf and Waterfront Park Project is open, Port of San Diego officials announced Friday.

The port published a Draft Environmental Impact Report for the project, with the public comment period open through Aug. 24.

The project, if approved, would entail a 10.1-acre public waterfront park with a promenade, plaza areas, playgrounds, restrooms and public art. It also includes a 16.5-acre section designated as an entertainment district, with 9.8 of those acres set aside for the popular arcade/ driving range company Topgolf. The remainder is slated as “eatertainment” concepts, to be determined by a competitive public solicitation process.

Additionally, the proposal calls for realignment of Liberator Way with new public parking, sidewalks, planting buffers and reconfiguration of adjacent intersections.

By: Ben Higgins / 10News / July 16-17, 2026

Major League Pickleball is back in San Diego, bringing professional competition to Barnes Tennis Center in Point Loma this weekend [July 18-19].

The event marks year two of Major League Pickleball in San Diego. Day one drew local fans to the venue while cameras and commentators streamed and broadcast matches for viewers around the world as pickleball’s popularity has continued to grow over the past decade.

The So Cal Hard Eights swept the Florida Smash on the opening day of competition. Among those leading the charge was Murrieta native Meghan Dizon, a pickleball pro who said the sport caught her attention during the pandemic.

By Debbie L. Sklar / Special to the OB Rag

Shelter Island looks like a quiet stretch of marinas, sailboats, and waterfront hotels today, but its history is anything but ordinary. What appeared to be a natural peninsula was actually a shifting sandbar in San Diego Bay, gradually transformed over decades of harbor dredging, engineering projects,s and the city’s expanding maritime economy.

Even its name tells only part of the story.

1. It Isn’t Really an Island

Despite the name, Shelter Island has never been a true island. It began as a low sandbar near Point Loma that was visible mainly at low tide.

Beginning in the 1930s, harbor improvement projects deposited dredged material onto the shoal, gradually creating the landform visitors see today. Over time, what had once been open water became one of San Diego’s most recognizable waterfront destinations.

On Thursday, June 18, a woman’s body was found near the Ocean Beach Pier. Now, authorities have publicly identified her as Summer Nash, 34.

Nash was seen in the water near the western end of Newport Avenue that day, according to the San Diego County medical examiner’s office. Lifeguards pulled her to shore, where she was pronounced dead shortly before 3:30 p.m., the office reported.

A ruling on the cause of Nash’s death was pending completion of postmortem examinations.

A couple of days after the Rag posted about her unidentified body being found, someone named Avery left this comment to the article:

This woman was my daughter, Summer. She was beautiful, deeply empathetic, and an accomplished athlete. Over the past couple of years, she’s spent much of her time surfing beaches from Tourmaline to Mission. The loss is insurmountable.

Here is some commentary about her time at San Diego State U by GoAztec (2010–2012):
PERSONAL
Summer Montana Nash was born May 18, 1992, in Bozeman, Mont. … Daughter of Avery Ash … Interests include philosophy, nutrition and the outdoors … Enjoys arts and crafts, longboarding and activities with friends … Favorite athlete is Swedish track and field athlete Carolina Kluft … Majoring in environmental studies. …

By Steve Rodriguez

Preface

Major college sports are dominated by the concept of Name, Image, Likeness (NIL), which allows student-athletes to control how their name, image or likeness is commercially used. Since 2021, college athletes have been allowed to monetize their personal brand without losing a scholarship or team eligibility. In many cases, star athletes can make millions of dollars.

However, one gets the impression NIL at the White House means the current President of the United States aggressively seeks like a king of old to unashamedly stamp his name, image and likeness on numerous objects, institutions and concepts as a way of signaling success and legitimizing his legacy. Proposing his own image be placed on a commemorative two hundred and fifty dollar bill – though federal law bars living people from appearing on U.S. currency – is just one example. 

Name, Image, Likeness at the White House

Plaster his face on a two-fifty note?
Name, Image, Likeness goes beyond game day.
Needy king keeps weighty ego afloat.

By Kurt Johnston / UCSD The Guardian / May 26, 2026

1. FIFA ‘Americanizes’ the game

In about two weeks, the U.S., Mexico, and Canada will host the most bizarre World Cup that FIFA has ever organized. Yes, that includes Benito Mussolini’s personal propaganda tournament in 1934, Vladimir Putin’s personal propaganda tournament in 2018, and the Qatari regime’s personal propaganda tournament in 2022. Take a bow, Gianni Infantino.

FIFA is billing the 2026 edition of the world’s biggest sporting event — soon to be President Donald Trump’s personal propaganda tournament — as an overdue expansion of the beautiful game. The month-long spectacle will span three host countries, increasing to 48 participants for the first time in World Cup history. It will instead be remembered for a number of other first-time inclusions that threaten the sport’s integrity.

Most egregiously, all matches will be paused for mid-half water breaks.

by Scott Hopkins / Times of San Diego / May 19, 2026

A first-time occurrence of any kind is big news at a 101-year-old school and Point Loma High’s boys volleyball team accomplished the feat May 16.

Playing in the San Diego CIF Div. V finals, the Pointers defeated Hoover High 3-0 to win the school’s first volleyball title.

The Pointers entered the playoffs as a No. 4 seed with a first-round bye. Next was a match against No. 5 seed Southwest of El Centro. The Pointers defeated them 3-0 before winning 3-1 in a huge match at No. 1 seed Del Lago Academy, sending them on to the finals against the No. 2-seeded Cardinals.

Both the Pointers and Cardinals had to travel to Oceanside’s MiraCosta Community College, site of the finals. But the Pointers arrived ready for action, led by head coach Ethan Phung and assistant Justin Phung.

By Kate Callen

Shortly before 12 noon on May 4, I nearly killed a bicyclist.

After I made a full stop at the 30th & Upas four-way stop sign, I stepped on the accelerator to start moving through the intersection. Within seconds, a speeding cyclist ran the stop sign meant for him and flew past the front of my car.

If I hadn’t slammed on the brakes, I would have crashed into him, and it’s doubtful he would have survived. News stories would have accurately reported that I hit him. Biking activists would have vilified me as a murderer.

This awful scenario happens all too frequently in neighborhoods across San Diego because too many cyclists think stop signs and stoplights are a nuisance.

They will literally bet their lives that they can frighten motorists into giving them the right-of-way that the law doesn’t grant them. If they lose the bet, motorists who obeyed the law can still face criminal prosecution and civil lawsuits.

Bicycling activists often talk about “bike safety.” For them, the term seems to mean that drivers should always be deferential to the needs of cyclists.