SCOTTSDALE — Late Saturday night, the last pitch will have been thrown, the last out recorded.
The Pac-12 Conference as we’ve known it will, for all intents and purposes, cease to exist.
Arizona and Stanford were set to square off in the Pac-12 Baseball Tournament championship game at Scottsdale Stadium. One last champ to be determined in the Conference of Champions before it folds.
Oregon State and Washington State, the last holdouts, will try to revive the Pac-Something. It may never be the same.
While the competition — the joy of sport — played out under the lights, devoted employees of the conference and its broadcast network carried out their responsibilities until the very end.
The Pac-12 Networks delivered their final live telecast Friday night — Arizona’s 6-3 victory over Stanford in the tournament semifinals. Roxy Bernstein, a Cal alum, delivered a heartfelt signoff.
Arizona runner Tommy Splaine, right, dives in for a triple as the ball skips by Stanford third baseman Temo Becerra during Friday’s Pac-12 Baseball Tournament semifinal in Scottsdale.
Bernstein was back on the call for the championship game on ESPN2 alongside former UA baseball standout Wes Clements. Clements worked the Pac-12’s last regular-season event — Arizona’s title-clinching walk-off win over Oregon State last Saturday — with play-by-play announcer Daron Sutton.
The Star sat down with all three in Scottsdale to discuss their Pac-12 memories and the league’s downfall. All three grew up in California within the conference footprint — Bernstein in Hillsborough, Clements in Hawthorne and Sutton in Laguna Hills. All three have called Pac-12 sporting events for multiple seasons.
Below are their responses (lightly edited) to five questions about the Pac-12 Conference’s glorious past and murky future.
What has it meant to you to be associated with the Pac-12 Conference?
Arizona's Chip Hale, right, gets congratulated by coach Jerry Kindall as Hale rounds third base during the NCAA championship against Florida State in June 1986.
Bernstein: “It’s meant a great deal. ... I take a lot of pride in it. Having grown up on this league and been around this league, this is the league I always wanted to be around and thought it was the epitome of what college athletics was about.”
Clements: “Well, it’s my whole athletic career. Without the Pac-12, I wouldn’t have been playing pro ball, not a day in my life. Without the Pac-12, I never would have known, God love him, Coach JK, Coach Jerry Kindall. And Jim Wing. And Jerry Stitt. And my teammates. We have about 13-14 that are on a text group right now from the team (that) won the national championship (in 1980). The Pac, it’s in our blood. It’s infectious.
“Once you get into the Pac — and I’m sure it’s no different than it is the SEC and the ACC or whatever — but for us, we know we’re the Conference of Champions. Nobody else can say that. And nobody will come near close to what the Pac has done.
“Without the Pac, I wouldn’t be talking to you right now. I wouldn’t be sitting here. So it’s a part of all of our lives. I’m indebted to the conference. I’m indebted to the University of Arizona. And I’m indebted to the Pac-12 Network.”
Sutton: “Boy, it’s meant a ton. Being someone who was born and raised out west and respecting schools like USC, UCLA, Cal and Stanford within the borders of California where I grew up, there was just always a high regard I had for the athletics, and then the academics that went along with it.
“On a personal note, to have a major-league broadcasting career pause and to have the Pac-12 Network reach out, to have an opening and to provide a lane to step into ... it’s meant the world. I haven’t regretted a single broadcast. I’ve been one of the few that’s been lucky enough to do every single sport in this conference.”
Who is your favorite Pac-12 athlete or figure of all time and why?
Bernstein: “Kevin Johnson. I grew up a Cal fan, and Kevin Johnson was my guy. I wanted to be like KJ.
“Everything about Kevin, the way he carried himself, the way he played. I even got to know him. I was a ball boy at Cal as a kid when Kevin was playing there, so I’ve known Kevin forever. He could not have been a nicer person.
Kevin Johnson, middle, flanked by Kenny Battle, left, and Tom Chambers enjoy the Suns' performance from the bench in the fourth quarter of their playoff game against the Portland Trail Blazers on May 26, 1990 in Phoenix.
“I was waiting for my parents to pick me up after a game, and he stood out there waiting with me until my parents got there for like 15-20 minutes. ... That goes to show you who Kevin is.”
Clements: “I’m gonna give you two. People out there will say, ‘Well, wait a second. How come you’re not going to mention Terry Francona?’ I hit right behind him, and he had a magic wand. He was the most advanced hitter that I’ve ever seen in college.
“Now I’m gonna fast-forward (to) Adley Rutschman. I nicknamed (him) the Andrew Luck of college baseball. So I’m going to add Andrew Luck, because he’s as good as we’ve ever seen, ready to come out of college and do what he did. Him and Rutsch are very close (in terms of) how quickly they did it and got it done. Undoubtedly, I’m going to leave some people out.
“The list of the greatest in the history of all sports (from the Pac-12 Conference), it’s insane. How many people know that Katie Ledecky is from Stanford?
“How about Florence Griffith-Joyner? You can go on and on and on.
Arizona's Jennie Finch, second from left, smiles with her teammates before their game against Northridge on Feb. 24, 2002.
“(Troy) Aikman. Marcus Allen. Cheryl Miller at USC.
“And then of course ours. Sean Elliott. Steve Kerr probably made the best biggest shot in the history of the NBA from ex-Wildcats. And then Kenny Lofton.
“Look at Jennie Finch. Who’s better than her, ever? Rachel Garcia, maybe?
“Gymnasts, swimmers, tennis players. It just never ends.”
Sutton: “That one’s easy as a baseball guy. I’m gonna predate myself a little bit. It’s Jackie Robinson. My dad is a Dodger Hall of Fame player, Don Sutton. I’m still madly in love with the organization. But just the social impact as a parent, as a baseball player myself, as someone who tries to be credibly active in amateur baseball and to see it grow still in the major leagues with more African American players.
“I met him when I was very, very young. I immediately think of Jackie Robinson when I think of the Pac.”
When you learned last year that the league was breaking up, what was your reaction?
Pac-12 Networks broadcaster Daron Sutton sports some holiday wear before Arizona's game vs. UC-Davis on Dec. 22, 2018, at McKale Center.
Bernstein: “I was crushed. I was sad more than anything. Sure, there was anger and frustration. This clearly could have been avoided. But at that point, it was the reality. Sadness set in, and I just couldn’t come to grips with (the fact) that this wasn’t going to exist anymore, at least the way we know it.”
Clements: “Anger. Quite frankly, I’m still angry. And everybody that I know is angry. Nobody is saying, ‘Everything evolves.’ It’s just anger. We’re the best ever. Of course they didn’t call me, rightly so, but I don’t think it needed to happen.”
Sutton: “I was saddened. I was saddened for the history, saddened for the communities. All these schools are going to go on ... still great institutions, good academics, good memories being made. And as a parent of three college students that have just gone through the experience, I get it. I get embracing that part of it.
“But I was saddened for the history of it, for the rivalries. Something as simple as UCLA always playing Arizona in softball, Oregon State always making sure that they wrestle against Arizona State, the secondary sports that everybody doesn’t think of.
Pac-12 Networks analyst Wes Clements, left, and play-by-play man Roxy Bernstein call the Pac-12 Baseball Tournament semifinal between Arizona and Stanford on May 24. It was the final live telecast on Pac-12 Networks.
“I think of the unique rivalries that will go away. And I’m saddened. I was saddened then, and I’m saddened now.”
How does it feel to be part of the last Pac-12 sporting event?
Bernstein: “I’ve been so good this year about compartmentalizing and not wanting to think about the bigger picture. I would just throw myself into every game, whatever game I had, whether it was football, whether it’s basketball, just worry about the game, the players, the programs. I was really good about it until this week, because this is the finale.
“It’s a heavy responsibility to do it properly, to honor the league and what it means. At the same time, the realization that this is it. It’s weighed heavily on me all week.”
Clements: “Just look at who I’ve been able to work with. I’ll probably forget somebody, but Roxy Bernstein and J.B. Long and then Daron Sutton. ‘Watty’ (Jim Watson), who is a blast to be around. I was an absolute baby when I came into this. ... It’s been the best experience of my life, point blank, post-baseball, being able to sit and have fun and talk about the best game in the world.”
Arizona’s Blake McDonald (2) and Clark Candiotti (44) celebrate the Wildcats' 4-3 walk-off over Oregon State with teammate Brendan Summerhill (4). The May 18 victory at Hi Corbett Field clinched the Pac-12 regular season championship for the Wildcats.
Sutton: “I’m honored. It was fun to see what Arizona did (last week), and if Oregon State would have closed out the win, it would have been fun (too). But to be in Tucson, to be on the call for an incredible win — which I did not think was going to happen; I did not think they were digging out of that hole — and to see the celebration for a unique team with a unique coach who has been forever tied to that program in Chip Hale.
“I am not really a reminisce/melancholy guy. Like a lot of us, I’ve had a lot of different pivots throughout my career. I treasure the memories, then enjoy moving to the next thing. This one has paused me a little more. I’m a little bit more in quicksand trying to move on from this one because for a decade, I’ve been able to see ... the best athletes in the world. I just called the beach volleyball championship, and it was amazing to be a part of. And then shifting gears to this.
“I’ll always treasure that I was a part of the last regular-season game, that it was so darn good. And then I’ll treasure being a part of this tournament too.”
What do you think the future holds for the Pac-12? Will we see some version of a football super league, with the other sports reassembling into something akin to what we’ve known for so many years?
Bernstein: “I don’t think that the model going forward is sustainable in terms of Cal and Stanford in the ACC, the other schools going to the Big 12 and the Big Ten, all the travel. At the end of the day, they’re supposed to be student-athletes and it’s supposed to be about the college experience. It takes away from what college athletics is about when you’re spending the majority of your time on airplanes, in airports, hotels.
“I think — this is just my gut feeling — that probably, at some point, hopefully sooner rather than later, we’re going to go back to a more regional model. Does that mean that the Pac-12 reforms? I don’t know. I just know that the model is not sustainable for these schools to be crisscrossing the country.”
Clements: “Well, here’s what my gut senses ... Washington State and Oregon State made a good decision to keep the Pac. Because I think it’s going to turn around and get unraveled sooner than we think. I do think there’s going to be some form of the Pac-12 coming again. The big question is when and how quickly.
“The best-case scenario is it comes back to what it was, and we add some more and end up being a super conference on the West Coast.”
Sutton: “I think it’s a possibility. I want to be clear; I don’t have knowledge. But I’ll tell you why I say that — because a lot of coaches will say that to me. They do have knowledge. They are close to the situation — Olympic-sport coaches who are constantly asking questions, because they’re the ones who are answering to parents, they’re the ones who are recruiting, they want to know what the next five years look like.
“It’s been mentioned to me enough by coaches that I don’t think it’s far-fetched at all. A super league doesn’t seem crazy, nor does the reformation of these Olympic sports, pulling them back together.”
