Serrano Plaza, a 22-foot long cement bench, will be built at the base of the staircase of the baseball stadium, according to Cathedral Catholic’s Director of Capital Campaigns Eileen Clifton-Benjamin.

Construction of the plaza will most likely begin next summer, and the monument will honor Coach Dick Serrano, a Dons physical education teacher and sports coach of forty-five years. A scholarship and endowment fund will also be established in Serrano’s name.

Six months ago, according to Mrs. Clifton-Benjamin, a committee was formed with the intention of actualizing the dream of Serrano Plaza. Along with team members Eileen Clifton Benjamin and Jackie Semenza, the group is mainly comprised of alumni baseball players taught by Serrano: Everett Hernandez (80’s), Gar Millay (80’s), Rook Balelo (late 70’s), Renee Acosta, Al Gomez (97), and Frank LoPresti.

“Our whole job is to network and come up with fundraising ideas to raise enough money to get the plaza built,” said Mrs. Clifton-Benjamin.

According to Mrs. Clifton-Benjamin, the team needs to fundraise around thirty-five thousand dollars in order to build the plaza. Approximately nineteen thousand dollars has been raised so far. Also, an additional $49,250 has been donated for the scholarship and endowment fund. Alum Carlos Quentin, a professional baseball player for the Chicago White Sox, has given the largest gift to date.

“We’re getting closer, and we’re really excited because we now feel like this will happen; hopefully, maybe by the end of the year , we will have enough money to begin construction,” said Mrs. Clifton-Benjamin. Ideally, the team would like to start construction by summer.

The design of the plaza was created by the same architects who produced the landscape architecture of the campus, Wallace, Roberts, and Todd. However, the company which will actually construct the plaza has not been decided upon; however, a donation has been promised by RCP Brick Company.

“My goal is to see this happen within a year, because I know that Coach Serrano will be touched by it, and he deserves that,” said Mrs. Clifton-Benjamin.

Dick Serrano started working at USDHS in 1966. “I never wanted to leave. When I first started in 1966, the idea back then was that faculty people would come and teach at our school for two or three years, and then move onto public schools. But we became such a tight knit group; after two to three years, we had a tremendous loyalty of faculty and coaches.”

Coach Serrano taught physical education and coached cross-country, football, basketball, and baseball in his 45-year career at USDHS. Retiring in 2000, after thirty years of coaching baseball, Serrano passed on the position of varsity coach to current coach Mr. Gary Remiker. Today, Coach Serrano works in the CCHS athletic department.

During his time at Uni, Serrano held the highest winning record of baseball in San Diego County and instructed several athletes who continued on to play in both major and minor baseball leagues. According to Coach Serrano, eighty percent of his 1978 baseball team either went to college or ended up signing professionally.

Some notable players of Coach Seranno’s include Barry Zito of the San Francisco Giants, former Chicago Cub star pitcher Mark Prior (now with the Texas Rangers), and the Tampa Bay Rays’ Chris Richards. “These were all guys trained by Coach Serrano who went on to be great successes,” said Mrs. Clifton-Benjamin.

In addition to commemorating Coach Serrano’s success, the plaza will also help link the traditions of USDHS to Cathedral and also involve alumni. “It’s always been their philosophy to tie certain people, or certain things of Uni with Cathedral, to show that this was not just a new school that started up, but in transition from one school to another,” said Serrano.

“I coached baseball for 30 years, and we never had a home field. We always traveled everyday to go practice…Now that we have moved to this school, it has been such a pleasure to see the facilities we have.”

“If it hadn’t been for the administrative team of Mike Deely, Dave Smola, and Jim Tschawn and the tireless work of Eileen Clifton, this (Serrano Plaza) would never have happened,” said Coach Serrano. “It’s going to be nice to have your name associated with a field.”