CV’s Will Tavis: Athlete, Coach, Hall of Famer
When 46-year-old Will Tavis is enshrined into the Castro Valley Sports Hall of Fame in April, he will have gained entrance into the exclusive club by being a great athlete, a great coach, and, in a small yet developing way, a great fan.
Tavis, who graduated Castro Valley High School in 1995, was never enrolled at Head-Royce, although people could have assumed it since he was a fixture there as a youth, soaking in the entirety of the athletic scene while his dad, Ed, coached the basketball team.
“I was a gym rat,” Tavis, now a San Ramon resident, recalled recently from his home-away-from-home: the Chabot College baseball diamond. “I’ve always enjoyed sports and love their competitive nature.”
Tavis did more than compete. He was a three-year starter on the Castro Valley basketball team, earning All-League First-Team honors twice and a two-time All-League Pitcher for the Trojans in the spring.
He went on to play both basketball and baseball at Chabot College before focusing on pitching at Metro State in Denver, where his name is still etched on several pages of the record book.
Ask Tavis about his most memorable achievements. He doesn’t talk about helping the basketball team make the playoffs, earning Pitcher of the Year honors as a prep senior, or being the conference Player of the Year as a sophomore at Chabot.
Heck, ask him how many years he was the head coach at Chabot (he retired after the 2023 season), and he’ll say he’s not sure. He notes that he’s proud of his 17 years as an assistant and pitching coach under Steve Friend. Travis served as the Gladiator’s head coach for five years.
“Many great moments,” he says of highlights. “The main thing is the relationship with the players and the camaraderie with the coaches. I didn’t coach to be successful in baseball. I tried to be part of the story and help them be successful in the game of life.”
Tavis credits his dad, his mom, Sandy, and his younger brother, David, for his Hall of Fame-level athletic success. He recalls the day, early in his prep career, that he informed his dad he’d be giving up baseball to focus on basketball.
“He said no,” Tavis recalls. “Basketball was my first love. Fortunately, he didn’t lack the vision of seeing what was coming down the pipeline for me. It wasn’t that I didn’t like baseball. I really had a passion for pitching. You’re in control of the game. Nobody gets to do anything until I say so.”
Soon, Tavis and wife Kelly could be having a similar conversation with 12-year-old son Chase and 9-year-old daughter Haley. While noting it will be their decision, Travis knows what he’ll say.
“I’m a big advocate of kids playing as many sports for as long as possible,” he says. “It’s impossible to do forever, but at a young age while they’re still developing motor skills and fundamentals, there’s a carryover from one sport to another.”
In his first season without a formal title, Tavis still spends a lot of time sharing his experiences with a new crop of Chabot baseball players. The difference now is when he gets in the car to drive home, he can turn off the baseball channel.
“It wasn’t for a lack of passion. It was for lack of time. I wanted to spend more time with my kids, with my wife,” he says of “retiring” last year. “Assistant coach, pitching coach, head coach… they’re all very time-consuming. When you’re fully committed, you want to win. It can consume your life.”
This is the eighth in a series of 16 articles profiling the 2024 inductees into the Castro Valley Sports Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame ceremonies and banquet will be held Sunday, April 21, at Redwood Canyon Golf Course. For tickets, go to castrovalleysportsfoundation.org and click on “Events, Hall of Fame Banquet.”