Page 10 - Mid Valley Times 12-3-20 E-edition

Longtime RHS aquatics coach Laure Gross dies after year-long battle with leukemia
Thursday, December 3, 2020
Parlier High releases football schedule
By Jon Earnest
Mid Valley Times
Laure Gross, longtime coach and teacher at Reed- ley High School who helped establish the school’s water polo program, died Nov. 28 at his Reedley home after a year-long battle with leuke- mia. He was 70.
Gross coached and taught at RHS beginning in 1973, and remained at the school for 38 years be- fore retiring in 2011. He is the second iconic coach at Reedley High to pass away in the past month. Chuck Jensen, coach of the Pirates’ Valley champion basketball teams in the mid 1960s, died on Nov. 17 at his home in Nebraska.
Gross coached the school’s first water polo team in 1974, featuring both boys and girls on the roster. Mark Givens, “Voice of the Pirates” for more than two decades, was on that first team and also was on the swimming team.
“Laure was a God- fearing and God-following man. He will be missed by many,” Givens said.
Gross had pushed for a new swimming pool facil- ity at Reedley High since he took the job in the early 70s. But the project didn’t come to fruition until the
summer of 2014, after he had retired from coaching and teaching.
During the dedication of the new RHS aquatics complex, Gross shared his thoughts to the crowd in at- tendance.
“It is a dream come true. I didn’t think it would happen in my lifetime,” he said.
Friends and former stu- dents praised Gross on so- cial media.
Ann Laemmlen Lewis, a member of Gross’ 1976 water polo team, in a Face- book post called her coach “one of my greatest men- tors and friends. He always went the extra mile for me during all my years of competitive swimming and playing water polo. I loved him dearly.”
In addition to his coach- ing duties (including soc- cer), Gross taught many English as Second Lan- guage classes.
Gross is survived by his wife, Jenifer, two sons, two daughters and six grand- children.
No services are planned, according to the family. In a social media post, the family said they will hold off on a celebra- tion of life “until the world is a safer social place... hopefully in Spring 2021.”
Photo Contributed
After a year-long battle with leukemia, longtime Reed- ley High coach and teacher Laure Gross died on Nov. 28 at the age of 70. He retired from RHS in 2011 after serving 38 years with the school.
Photo Contributed
Laure Gross is pictured standing in the back row with his first Reedley High School water polo team in 1974. Gross went on to coach the Pirates in water polo and swimming for nearly four decades.
By Jon Earnest
Mid Valley Times
Provided California’s prep football season is played in early 2021 with- out any COVID-19 inter- ruptions, Parlier High School will manage to get in a full schedule of games.
The Panthers come off a 4-7 season in 2019, including a tie for fourth place in the seven-team West Sequoia League. The season was capped off with a 42-15 loss at Lind- say in the opening round of the Central Section Di- vision VI playoffs.
David Muro enters the second season of his second stint as PHS head coach (he previously guid- ed the team in 2011-2012). Practice begins later this month, and the team will host Immanuel High School in a scrimmage at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec.
29 at Panther Stadium. Conditions permitting, the Panthers kick off the campaign in Fresno on Fri- day, Jan. 8 against McLane High School. Varsity kick- off is scheduled for 7:30
p.m. at McLane Stadium. Following a Jan. 15 game in Oakhurst against Yosemite High School, Parlier opens its home sea- son Friday, Jan. 22, against Avenal High. After a bye on Jan. 29, the Panthers host Caruthers on Fri- day, Feb. 5, in its opening
league game.
Parlier’s other home
games are against WSL ri- vals Minarets (Friday, Feb. 19), Orange Cove (Feb. 26) and a Senior Night contest with Farmersville High (Friday, March 19) to close out the regular season. The Panthers’ WSL road games are against Riverdale (Feb. 12), Fowler (March 5) and Orosi (March 12).
Fresno State football returns to action
grateful for the opportu- nity to return to competi- tion, and we look forward to the challenge that Wednesday will bring.”
The Sunbirds are led by senior guard Jessica Malazarte, a Third-Team All-PacWest selection, and one of three FPU women to eclipse 1,000 career points last season.
The game was not open to the public, though live stats and video stream- ing was made available through the Lancer’s web- site.
On the men’s side, head coach C.J. Haydock has secured a December contest against Fresno State at the Save Mart Center. Both teams are still in the process of fi- nalizing more games for the month of December. More information and updates can be found on the university’s website, FPUAthletics.com.
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By Rick Curiel
Mid Valley Times
The Fresno State football team will be back in action this Satur- day after a two-week hiatus due to several Bulldog players reportedly testing positive for COVID-19. As a result of pandemic measures, Fres- no State was not able to participate in the last two games of the 2020 season, a Nov. 21 matchup against rival San Jose State and a Nov. 27 game against San Diego State.
Saturday the Bulldogs will trav- el to take on the University of Ne- vada, where the top two Mountain West Conference offenses will go toe-to-toe. Fresno State enters the game with the top scoring offense
in the conference with an average of 467.2 yards per game. Nevada’s offense is just behind the Bulldogs with an average of 446.5 yards per game.
Part of Fresno State’s explosive offense comes at the hands of se- nior running back Ronnie Rivers, who on Saturday can set the all- time Fresno State record for ca- reer touchdowns. He is currently tied for the top spot with 44 touch- downs.
Balancing the Bulldogs’ running attack has been the emergence of sophomore wide receiver, and for- mer Sanger Apache standout, Jalen Cropper. In Fresno State’s last out- ing against Utah State, Cropper pulled in 10 catches for 202 yards
and three touchdowns, earning him Mountain West Player of the Week. But in order for the Bulldogs to come away with a win against the 5-1 Wolf Pack, defense will have to step up and make some stops. One player stepping up on defense has been senior linebacker, and Sanger
High grad, Arron Mosby.
After being hampered early in
the season while recovering from an injury, Mosby has been seeing more time on the field that has translated to more tackles. His six tackles during the Utah State game was second best on the team.
Saturday’s game is scheduled to kick off at 7:30 p.m. It will be tele- vised on FS2 and broadcast on 940 AM ESPN radio.
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Fresno Paci c women's basketball season kicks off with non-league games
Contributed
The Fresno Pacific women’s basketball trav- eled for a road exhibition against California Baptist on Wednesday afternoon, marking the university’s first live competition since March.
Earlier this month, FPU Athletics announced an institutional approval allowing both Sunbird basketball programs to participate in non-league competitions prior to the start of the PacWest Con- ference season, which is slated to begin in January.
“A lot of people have spent a lot of time en- suring our safety and al- lowing us to do what we love to do, and there’s an incredible level of appre- ciation as we track toward this game,” said fifth-year head coach Tim Beaure- gard prior to the team’s first game of the season. “We are ecstatic and
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