[img]1372|right|Jerry Chabola||no_popup[/img]It is great to be alive when the honors come. So many times awards are handed out after a person has passed away.
In the case of longtime Culver City High School teacher and athletic director Jerry Chabola, he is happily, enthusiastically alive.
Mr. Chabola continues to contribute to the Culver City community after retiring from teaching and coaching. The honors keep flowing for his service and commitment to education and coaching.
Last week Mr. Chabola was named one of the five Distinguished Service award winners for the CIF Southern Section.
The Southern Section also inducted 11 people into the CIF-SS Hall of Fame at a luncheon in Long Beach. There are 580 schools in the CIF-SS. The Culver City football stadium last year was named after Mr. Chabola.
“I was really excited when the CIF office contacted me to let me know I was receiving the award,” he said. “The nomination came through Tom Salter, the Culver City Athletic Director.”
Last year several Chabola peers and his son got together and decided to name the new football field and stadium after him. The idea was presented to the School Board, and the plan sailed.
“That was an incredible experience,” Mr. Chabola said. “Almost beyond words. Tom was also involved along with my son Casey and other coaches and administrators.”
Having the stadium named after him was unusually special to Mr. Chabola because his father died a month after the 2013 ceremony. “I was able to share that special experience with him before he passed away. That was a totally awesome moment.”
Born in Pennsylvania, Mr. Chabola and his family moved to Venice when he was in the first grade. He attended St. Monica High School in Santa Monica. After college he started his teaching and coaching careers at Mt. Carmel High School in Poway, Imperial High and La Salle High in Pasadena.
Mr. Chabola started working for the Culver City school district in 1990. He taught Social Studies and also coached baseball, girls soccer and boys and girls lacrosse. In 1999 he was named Culver City High School Teacher of the Year.
While he was the athletic director for 19 years, he served as president of the South Bay Athletic Assn., was CIF Southern Section Council Representative, was a member of CIF Southern Section Nominating Committee, and he was on the first Lacrosse Southern Section Advisory Committee.
One of his proudest accomplishments at Culver City High was his involvement in the Vanguard Program. “Every year for nine years we took a group of seniors that were good students but needed that extra push to reach their full potential,” Mr. Chabola said. “We enrolled them into the program which used special instruction and field trips to open their hearts and minds to bigger things. A lot of those kids have gone on to do a lot of great things.”
Behind every outstanding man is a standoutwoman. In Mr. Chabola’s case, she is the well-known Janet, his wife of 44 years.
Mr. Chabola his dedicated his life to his family and kids all over the state of California. He still tutors at elementary schools in Culver City. “It’s been a pleasure serving the Culver City community,” Mr. Chabola said.
Mr. Finley may be contacted at sfinley50@aol.com
