Sequoia Gets a Little More Sports ‘Inspiration’

Bob Andersen didn’t just lead ’s baseball team to numerous league championships. He coached numerous sports including swimming, boxing, golf and tennis.

Though he died in March of this year, his inspirational legacy will live on in a grove of trees near the baseball field. Ground was broken Monday for “Inspiration Grove,” a collection of trees located, appropriately, just a few yards behind home plate at Sequoia High School.

The speakers at the event left no doubt that the late coach Bob Andersen, for whom the baseball field is named, was “the inspiration for Inspiration Grove,” Sequoia Principal Bonnie Hansen said.

Hansen teared up as she recalled hearing stories of how much help Andersen had given students.

“The difference he made in kids’ lives outlived him,” she told the sparse gathering in the grove of Redwood trees, which consists of seven mature trees and several recently planted one.

Andersen was one of the most versatile coaches in the history of Sequoia, where his tenure lasted from 1950 to 1980, said Ken Rollendelli of the Redwood City Historic Resources Advisory Committee.

“His first love was baseball, which he coached to winning seasons, including a number of league championships from 1952 to 1964,” he said. “Five of his players went on to play professionally.”

Andersen, who graduated from Sequoia in 1941 and then served in the Navy in World War II, was inducted into both the high school’s and the county’s Sports Hall of Fame.

Other speakers included Dee Eva, who was the driving force behind the creation of the well-known at the main entrance to the high school.

People already have purchased memorial bricks, trees and benches for the grove, which will feature a patio similar to that at military memorial.

“We discussed ways to raise money to benefit athletics at Sequoia and found that previous experience with fund-raising for the Sequoia Veterans Memorial would probably be the best way to proceed,” she said.

The fund will help buy uniforms for economically disadvantaged Sequoia High students as well as helping others attend sports camps.

About $40,000 has been raised, which includes money spent for the baseball diamond scoreboard, which is topped by a sign reading “Bob Andersen Field.”

“In all, we expect to net $28,000 to present to the school,” Eva added.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony for the completed project is scheduled for March 20.

According to Eva, the fence surrounding the grove will be removed so a pathway will come directly from the sidewalk to the patio, as is the case with the veterans’ memorial.

So far 24 memorial bricks have been sold, along with six trees and four benches.

For the most part, the brick orders have honored Sequoia teachers, but they can be placed in memory of anyone. One of the bricks bears the name of Rolandelli’s mother, Theresa.

Eva said she is “still selling bricks, trees and benches. There is plenty of room at Inspiration Grove.”