Time out with Chris Madrigal
By Vince D’Adamo
SPORTS REPORTER
D’Adamo: How long have you been involved in coaching one way or the other whether it’s at the high school or youth level?
Madrigal: Never at the high school level. I actually wound up coaching by accident and default. Calistoga is a small town. They are always scraping to find someone to help. I started baseball three years ago. This year I was an assistant coach. Many times in the spring I can’t commit to being a full-time coach because I have to travel for the winery during the spring.
Usually by late spring, I can commit. With football, my boys decided they wanted to play last year and coach Taylor Martin was the only person coaching the JV. He asked if I wanted to help and said, “Well, OK.”
It turned out to be one of the best experiences I have ever had. I’ll be an assistant coach again this year. I’m sort of learning as I go. It was sort of by default. The need was there. When you start getting involved with kids, it’s usually the same parents that involved in all of it.
D’Adamo: In the limited amount of time you have coached, what have you enjoyed most about it?
Madrigal: I think what I enjoy the most is the maturity level that you see from the beginning of the season to the end of the season.
In football, I saw a lot of kids that were afraid to get hit and by the end of the season they had matured not only physically but mentally. I see that a lot in Cub football.
I hate to use the phrase “they might have been a real pain in the butt three years ago,” but they turn into nice young kids by the time they get to the majors. I think that’s the most rewarding thing.
D’Adamo: You have had a chance to see Cub football come back, the A’s win the Minors division Upvalley TOC and the Majors team have a solid regular season. How much have you enjoyed seeing that revival?
Madrigal: It’s much nicer to win than to lose.
One of the first years that my son was involved in Little League, Tom Pelter was the coach. We lost every single game, but I think they learned as much that season as they did any other season I’ve been involved with — but it is a lot easier to win than lose. It’s great being part of that change where kids can become more proud of what they’re doing.
D’Adamo: People see the robotic Xs and Os of coaching, but how much of coaching is relating to youngsters?
Madrigal: I underestimated that part. Just because I have a certain way of handling my kids at home, and I have three kids, that does not mean that it’ll work on the field with a group of kids or individual kids.
I think that’s probably my biggest learning curve is how to relate as a whole to a number of different personalities. I have my kids figured out. Certain things work. It’s sort of a trial and error process.
D’Adamo: Which sports did you compete in when you were younger?
Madrigal: In a couple of areas I was a pretty good athlete but most areas I was just by need. I went to high school in Calistoga. In those years, the early ’80s, you played every sport.
I ran cross country and played football. I played basketball. I sat on the bench. I played baseball my junior year and ran track both of my varsity years. In those years, I was in the largest class in Calistoga history.
There were 50 graduating seniors. When you have 50 seniors and half of those people don’t play sports, if you can run, you play every sport.
D’Adamo: Of the coaches you had in high school, whom do you still consider a strong influence?
Madrigal: I’ve got to say, not so much for his Xs and Os, but his personality and the way he communicated was Frank Stagnaro. If you took him at face value you could probably dismiss him, but if you took a chance to know him and understand him, he was really an incredible guy.
D’Adamo: Outside of coaches, who else do you consider to be influences that you have had throughout your life?
Madrigal: Obviously my father, who started his business with just a pair of pruning shears in 1974 and has been able to build our business to what I consider a dynasty.
I’ve had teachers like Richard Johnsen, who at the time I had him, I thought he was a hard teacher, but in the end I come out of it thinking he was an incredible teacher.
He found a way to communicate with people and send them to higher forms of education.
Of course, Frank Stagnaro was a huge influence. I had no money to go to college. He’s the guy that said, “Hey, we can find you money. You just need to be able to get in.”
It’s people like that who can influence you like that and keep you moving on that road up. It’s easy to beat a kid down. The people that can inspire you are the ones that really influenced me.
D’Adamo: Shifting gears for just a moment, regarding Madrigal Vineyards, what have you enjoyed most about being involved in what most people would consider the wine capital?
Madrigal: Beyond the glitz and glitter of Napa Valley and the wine auction, this business is a small farming community. We’re like any rural farming community.
Most of my friends are small winery owners. We all have kids and do things together. I think that’s one of the most rewarding things about being in the wine business.
D’Adamo: Name a historical figure, dead or alive, in or out of sports you would most like to meet.
Madrigal: I think Thomas Jefferson would be a pretty interesting character because he sort of encompasses a lot of what I do.
He wasn’t just interested in one thing.
When he was interested in something he figured it out. I’m not perfect at everything, but I have a lot of interests that I like to discover.
He was just one of those guys.
How could I go wrong with a conversation with him?