An on-field reunion for Fairless' baseball family

      When Calvin Valvo looks across the UNLV Wilson Stadium diamond today at Green Valley coach Rodger Fairless, he will be looking at his competition.
      The Cimarron-Memorial coach will also be looking at his former coach, his mentor and his friend.
      Nineteen years ago, when Fairless took over as Eldorado High's baseball coach, Valvo was a senior there.
      "We hated him while we were playing," Valvo said of the 12-player team that advanced to the state championship game with mediocre talent. "But the things he was doing made you a better player and a better person.
      "It was different than anything we were used to seeing. He was like Gen. Patton."
      Ten state championships later, Fairless hasn't changed much.
      He shouted out instructions like a drill sergeant from the dugout Thursday as his 25-3 Green Valley team prepared for its 5 p.m. Southern Conference tournament game against the Spartans (20-7).
      But Valvo knows now that Fairless can be a different person away from the field.
      When Valvo's father died in 1978, Fairless rounded up his Eldorado assistant coaches and some Sundevil players for the funeral.
      "He comes off sometimes like he is Mr. Barney Badass with no sensitivity, but he's got it," said Valvo, who coached under Fairless at Valley for six years before replacing him as head coach after the 1989 season. "He is definitely a guy who cares about the people that have been on his teams."
      Fairless will be surrounded by former players today.
      Silverado (19-9) and coach Brian Whitaker will meet Chaparral (16-13) and coach Rich Ebarb in the 2 p.m. elimination game, also at Wilson Stadium.
      Whitaker played for Fairless at Valley in 1981-82. Ebarb, the Cowboys' first-year coach, was on Fairless' Valley teams in 1985-86 and was one of his assistants at Green Valley from 1994-96.
      And Valvo, Whitaker and Ebarb all have former Fairless players as their assistant coaches.
      "I think this is just the beginning," Valvo said. "Sam Thomas -- one of Rodger's assistants now -- played for him, and there is probably going to be more in the future."
      "They have all done a heck of a job," Fairless said. "The thing that makes me happiest is that they are all successful.
      "All three (head coaches) are hard workers."
      Hard work seems to be the anchor of Fairless' coaching philosophy.
      "I always liked the way (Fairless) coached because that's how baseball needs to be played -- hard," Ebarb said. "His idea of baseball is, `Let's go out, get dirty and have some fun playing this game.' "
      And players embraced that philosophy, Ebarb said.
      "When we lost our only game (at Valley in 1986), 95 percent of the kids on the team wanted to run after the game," he said.
      Whitaker played in the Cincinnati Reds organization, advancing to the Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts. But he was never taught anything as a pro that he hadn't already learned from Fairless.
      "I think that may be the ultimate compliment," Whitaker said.
      Valvo still says 95 percent of the baseball he knows comes from Fairless, the same quote he gave this newspaper in 1989 when he succeeded Fairless at Valley.
      But all three Fairless players-turned-coaches said they have developed their own styles.
      "They are all individuals," Fairless said. "Maybe there is one or two things they learned from me."
      Fairless is still teaching lessons.
      In the Gators' 18-2 victory over Chaparral on Friday, he emerged from the dugout after Todd Wadding singled to right in the third inning for the Cowboys. After a short discussion with the plate umpire and Ebarb looking on, Wadding was called out.
      It turned out, Ebarb had made an illegal substitution when he replaced his pitcher and thought he had moved Wadding from right field to designated hitter.
      "It was real hard for me to do," Fairless said. "If it had been a regular-season game, I probably would not have said anything."
      Ebarb said it was a rookie mistake he won't make again.
      Valvo, the veteran of the three coaches, said one of the biggest wins in Cimarron's short baseball history came in its first year against Green Valley and Fairless.
      "It's always neat to beat Rodger because you know you have to beat a team of excellence," he said.
      Valvo has stressed to his players this week to play baseball and not get caught up with the opponent, a coaching concept he likely acquired from Fairless.
      "It's a kids' game," Fairless said. "It's going to be the kids against the kids, not the coaches against the coaches."
      For the remainder of the Southern Conference tournament, when Fairless looks across the diamond, he will have at least two of his kids in the opposing dugout.