PLNU Athletics

When Pasadena College moved to San Diego and became Point Loma College, a young man from Northern California arrived as a freshman with aspirations of playing basketball, baseball and high jumping for the Crusaders while preparing for medical school. One Bill Waters had indeed cut out demanding goals.

Early on, his athletic skills were recognized to be outstanding. He soon converted his goal to excel in what is commonly referred as the world’s most demanding measure of athletic prowess—the decathlon. As a sophomore he participated in the NAIA National Championships. Coach Jim Crakes, then coaching USIU, was his sponsor and their relationship was one of mutual admiration from the start.

The next two years under the tutledge of Coach Crakes, who later became a coach at PLNC, Waters accomplished something not even achieved by Bruce Jenner. Waters won the NAIA National Decathlon Championship both his junior and senior years. Coach Crakes believed his most outstanding characteristic to be his ability to concentrate all his resources to the task at hand.

This proved to be true in the classroom as well. He graduated Magna Cum Laude with a 3.642 GPA in his pre-med program, literally defying one of our campus beliefs that it was impossible to major in bio-chem and excel as an athlete. He went on to work as a physical therapist at Grossmont Hospital .

The award for Outstanding Achievement by an Athlete was presented to Waters by Vern Nelson.