Hamlet Nalbandyan
A Glendale Unified School District teacher, best known for his
coaching accolades in girls' basketball, died Tuesday night at his
Pacoima home.
Marc Ward, an industrial arts and technology teacher at Toll
Middle School, died of an apparent heart attack, Toll Principal Jan
Canfield said, although an autopsy report -- required for all sudden
deaths in the county -- has not yet been completed by the Los Angeles
County Coroner's Office.
Ward, who began working at the district in 1990, was 48.
"We're all shocked," said Canfield, who received the news late
Tuesday. "All of our thoughts are with his family. His wife [Bella
Tamayo] is a woman of deep faith, and that's helping her a lot during
this trying time.
"He was so young."
Ward, who had been teaching at Toll for the last three years,
coached the Crescenta Valley High School girls' basketball team from
1992-97.
He won four Pacific League championships in his five years and had
a 118-24 overall record ( an .830 winning percentage) before
resigning, citing the need for more time for himself and his family.
In his final season, he guided the Falcons to the championship
game of the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section
Division I playoffs, where Crescenta Valley lost to perennial power
Ventura High, 59-55.
The championship appearance was the first for the Falcons since
1976, and they haven't been back since. Before Ward took over the
Falcon program, Crescenta Valley won just 56 games in the previous 16
years.
One of the players Ward coached was Michelle Greco, who graduated
from Crescenta Valley in 1998.
She went on to become a two-time Pacific-10 Conference scoring
champion at UCLA and last year won a WNBA championship with the
Seattle Storm.
"I owe a large part of my success to Coach Ward," said Greco, who
is on the Italian national team. "He taught me so much about
basketball and life.
"Basketball was his passion, and that was displayed in how we
played and how we were coached. A lot of people didn't like how he
screamed at young high school girls, but maybe we needed that. I
think when he left the program, it slipped a little."
Former Hoover High boys' basketball coach and current Toll
physical education teacher Kirt Kohlmeier remembered Ward as being
someone who cared most for his players.
"He really enjoyed the kids," said Kohlmeier of Ward, who coached
Hoover's sophomore basketball team in 2003 and was an assistant under
Kohlmeier. "He was a kid-type person, and I think he had a lot of fun
coaching."
Ward, who also coached golf at Hoover High School, is survived by
his wife, son T.J. and stepchildren Camille and Carl.
Funeral services are pending.
