Gil Guerrero began his athletic career by leading the Birmingham Elementary team to the eighth grade basketball championship in 1964.

Gil Guerrero

Guerrero continued on at Waite, where he played two sports, basketball and golf, and also attained high academic honors. In basketball, he played varsity all four years of high school, but it wasn’t until his senior year that he began to excel.

Now, Guerrero is being inducted into the Toledo City Athletic League Hall of Fame.

Gil Guerrero’s heart will always remain with East Toledo.

The 1968 graduate of Waite High School, who is now the head golf coach at Owens Community College, the teaching golf pro at Detwiler and the head boys’ basketball coach at Start High School, said he will always love the place he grew up.

“It was one of the best times of my life,” Guerrero told The Press in 2008. “Back then you didn’t have video games, no Grand Theft Auto. You would go to school, play sports, do your homework, go to sleep and then you would wake up and do it all over again.

“You can take the boy out of the east side, but you can never take the east side out of the boy,” he said.

At Waite, he led the City League in scoring and was selected as the Toledo Times Player of the Week three times. As co-captain, he led Waite to a 13-7 record. Guerrero was named first team All-City, first team All-District 7, first team AP All-Northwest Ohio, and honorable mention all-state.

In golf, he earned a varsity letter three years, earned HM All-City his junior year and first team All-City his senior year. As captain his senior year, Guerrero helped lead Waite capture a Blue Division co-championship. He also placed second in the City League championship, shooting a 72 at Ottawa Park Golf Course. He earned the Phil Conser Award and the University of Michigan Award for his leadership and talent in sports at Waite his senior year. For his academics, he was inducted into the Waite Chapter of the National Honor Society.

Guerrero received a scholarship to play basketball at Syracuse University. At Syracuse, he played in the 1970-71 NIT at Madison Square Garden, but was sidelined during his senior year due to injuries.

After college, Guerrero traveled to Miami, Florida, to pursue his love of golf. He turned professional in 1975 and became an assistant golf pro at Hidden Valley Golf Course. There, he learned the golf teaching craft under his mentor, nationally renowned golf teacher Bob Toski.

In 1979, Guerrero became the assistant pro at Fountainbleau Golf Club and played in the Central Florida PGA series and in the Jamaican Open. Guerrero returned to Toledo in 1981 to become head pro at Ottawa Park until 1985. At Ottawa Park, he played in local PGA tournaments and won the Belmont Country Club Pro-Am by shooting 68.

Named the head golf coach at Start High in 1966, Guerrero coached golf 20 years for the Spartans. He coached many players who achieved All-City honors, one of whom was his oldest son, Steven. He also trained three players who earned CL Player of the Year honors and who also won the City championship. One of the three was his youngest son, Michael.

In 1987, Gil began his varsity basketball coaching career as an assistant at Waite for his brother, Joseph, and then Gil moved to St. Francis DeSales in 1990 as an assistant. He helped direct St. Francis to the City title and a district runner-up finish.

In 1991, Gil was named the athletic director at Start and head varsity boys basketball coach in 1993. In 1997, his Start team won the City championship and finished second at districts. As a result, he was named City Coach of the Year, District 7 Coach of the Year, Metro Coach of the Year, AP NW Ohio Coach of the Year, and shared the Ohio coach of the year honors. In 2004, he was again named City Coach of the Year. Recently, he returned to the head varsity boys coaching position at Start.

Guerrero is also in his fifth year coaching the Owens Community College golf team. His teams have won the Ohio Community College Athletic Conference championship three of the last four years. Three out of the last seasons, his Owens teams have had an individual or a team qualify for the national championships. His 2008 team finished 14th in the nation. Guerrero was named the OCCAC Coach of the Year in 2007 and 2008.

Gil earned his master’s degree in education from Bowling Green State University in 2004 and teaches students with special needs at Start.

Married to Christine Sobczak, they have two sons, Steven (deceased) and Michael, 27 (spouse Stacy), and two grandchildren, Taylen Michael and Ciera Marie. His parents are Gilbert and Lupite Guerrero, brothers are Joseph and Mario and sister is Andrianna.

“I wouldn’t want to do anything over again,” he told The Press. “I would never trade anything I’ve experienced for a second chance.” (excerpts from a file story by Press contributing writer Nick Huenefeld)

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