Bill Sandback, the most successful baseball coach during the first decade of the CIF’s San Diego Section, died Friday afternoon in San Diego. He was 85.
Sandback’s Crawford High Colts won four large-school section baseball titles and reached the section championship game seven times in his eight seasons between 1962 and 1969. Including American Legion games, Sandback posted a .743 winning percentage (391-133-7) at Crawford. He later coached Mesa College’s baseball team for 14 seasons.
In a sport with no state playoffs, Crawford was named the Cal-Hi Sports’ Baseball Team of the Year in 1965 when Bob Boone was named the state’s Player of the Year.