It was a massive reunion of family, friends, kids from the neighborhood, sports connections and folks from all walks in a spirited celebration of life for Lance Stewart, the former Laguna Beach High athlete and coach who died suddenly in December. He was 61.
In a packed facility at The Ranch at Laguna Beach, 400 people attended Stewart’s service on Jan. 18, many from the volleyball community. There were 300 in a standing-room-only ballroom and 100 attendees in an outside courtyard. Among the speakers were several coaches, including Evan Chalmers, who provided a variety of amusing quips and tales about his Laguna Beach High classmate and multiple-sports teammate. Chalmers spent the bulk of his football and baseball coaching career at Newport Harbor High, and, like Stewart, has a deep volleyball background.
Considered the finest athlete in Laguna Beach history as a three-sport standout in the early 1980s, Stewart was a longtime club and high school coach in the area, mostly at Laguna Beach, where he coached boys and girls in several different stints.
“Lance was a great coach who coached both of my kids at Laguna Beach, and they’re now 52 and 48,” said Byron Nelson, whose daughter, Sara, was the 1989 Orange County girls volleyball player of the year at Laguna Beach. Sara Nelson went on to play at UC Santa Barbara, one of hundreds of former area players to compete at the collegiate level.
Stewart coached the Laguna Beach boys from 1988 to 1990, 2004 to 2011 and 2020 to 2024, winning seven league titles, three CIF state regional championships and a CIF Southern Section banner.
His Laguna girls won 10 league titles, CIF championships in 2006 and 2007 and a CIF state regional title during his time from 2004 to 2012 and 1989 to 1990. Known as the Artists in 1989-90, they compiled a 37-7 record in Stewart’s first two seasons and were No. 2 and No. 3 in The Orange County Register final rankings.
Stewart coached the Corona del Mar girls volleyball team to an unprecedented two consecutive state championships in 1992 and 1993. Both squads were named the Mizuno-USA Today national champions.
“Lance Stewart was an incredibly confident and passionate coach,” said Kimberly Coleman, a three-time All-CIF Southern Section Division 1 selection for Corona del Mar in all three of Stewart’s years with the Sea Kings. “He made me believe I could do anything no matter who I was competing against.”
Stewart coached at the collegiate level and worked in real estate and health and wellness, all while enjoying great success as an artist. He earned a degree in fine arts at UC Berkeley.
Stewart stepped down as Laguna Beach’s boys volleyball coach last summer after the 2024 season. Stewart was a special education teacher’s assistant with the Laguna Beach School District and also assisted his daughter’s Thurston volleyball program.
As an athlete, Stewart served as a record-breaking quarterback for Laguna Beach’s football team, was an All-CIF player on the basketball team and was a four-year varsity letterman in volleyball, in which he led Laguna to an undefeated and CIF championship season in 1981 as a setter, meriting Orange County, CIF Southern Section and California State High School player of the year honors. Stewart played football at Cal and led the Golden Bears to their first Collegiate Club national championship.
He is survived by his wife, Deanna, and children Chanel McConnell, Larry and Lance, granddaughter Stetson, mother Judy Blossom and sisters Gretchen and Shawna.
Richard Dunn, a longtime sportswriter, writes the Dunn Deal column regularly for The Orange County Register’s weekly, The Coastal Current North.
