The Weekly Newspaper of El Segundo
Herald Publications - El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 110, No. 52 - December 30, 2021
Inside
This Issue
Certified & Licensed
Professionals.......................8
Classifieds............................4
Crossword/Sudoku.............4
Entertainment......................2
Legals..............................9-10
Letters...................................2
Pets......................................11
Real Estate.......................5-7
Sports.................................3,8
Travel............................... 2,11
Weekend
Forecast
Amazing Rescue to Ring in New Year
Doggie rescue. T32 with the grab of a dog who somehow found itself on the the overpass of the 105 freeway east of PCH. Firefighter Howell suffered a few minor bites while the dog was safely brought to
ground. You never know what kind of call you’re going to respond to when the tones go off. We hope this rescue is a good sign for the New Year to bring happiness, peace, health and prosperity. Herald
Publications wishes you a joyous 2022. Photo courtesy City of El Segundo.
Michael Wagner Hits the Superfecta: Family Man,
Teacher, Coach, ESUSD School Board Member
By Duane Plank
Michael Wagner was all set to become a
lawyer years ago, following in the footsteps
of the great television barristers Perry Mason,
portrayed by the debonair Raymond Burr, or
See Michael Wagner, page 12
the aw-shucks Matlock character that Andy
Griffith created years after his star-turn on his
eponymous show set in fictional Mayberry.
But fate intervened, and Wagner decided to
pursue a career as an educator and coach. And
to add to his resume, Wagner was elected to the
El Segundo Unified School District (ESUSD)
school board in November of 2020, a post that
allows him to sate his ambitions to look out
for and lead young El Segundoans.
After working towards seizing a law degree
from Loyola Marymount University, Wagner was
embarking on some lawyerly clerking, trying to
work his way up the ladder in the law industry.
Residents Reflect on Another Year
Gone, Another One Beginning
By Kiersten Vannest
This year has been one of continuous
change and unprecedented circumstances.
A pandemic still rages, but vaccines were
tested and released. A new president was
inaugurated, a record number of jobs opened
up, and a record number of workers resigned.
Juneteenth was made a national holiday,
Britney Spears ended her conservatorship,
and a massive asteroid narrowly missed our
planet this month.
As the year 2021 comes to a close, and
we ready ourselves to cautiously welcome
2022, El Segundo residents reflect upon
the happenings of the year, as well as their
hopes to ring in the new year.
Erin Harrington, a local children’s book
writer, says, “Living through a pandemic
across the country from my family was
one of the hardest, loneliest moments of
my life, but living in El Segundo made it
easier.” Harrington was not the only one
who struggled with the ongoing pandemic.
Mary Storm reflects upon the last year
with resilience as she describes losing her
husband to cancer after an eleven-year
battle. “With Covid-19 happening simultaneously,
I was unable to have a funeral
for him, and the burial was two cars with
a priest between them,” she says. Christina
Minutillo had a similar experience; she lost
her grandfather at 95 this year and could not
attend a service on the east coast. Others
It was then that Angelo Jackson, who had
coached Wagner during his prep football career,
called. It seems Jackson had a coaching gig
at Inglewood High School, which was great,
but Jackson was a tad bit short on assistant
coaches. So, he recruited Wagner to join the
staff of the Sentinels in the early 1990s. Wagner
remembers Jackson’s sage advice offered at the
time: “That lawyer thing may be something
you don’t want to do, because you are pretty
good at this coaching and teaching thing.”
Wagner took Jackson’s advice to heart but
decided to finish-up nabbing his law degree.
Then the epiphany struck him that “I am not
going to be a lawyer,” so he took courses geared
towards becoming a teacher and continuing his
coaching endeavors.
He said that the tutelage of the long-time prep
coach Jackson, who Wagner cited as “another
father figure in my life,” has been instrumental
in molding Wagner into the man he is today.
Wagner related that he had recently had a twohour
conversation with Jackson, where one can
assume the topics veered from the intricacies
of the football-themed run-pass option or zone
blitz to more salient topics.
Wagner cherishes the impact that a coach
can make on a young student-athlete and
relishes the times when a man Wagner may
have coached 15 years ago looks him up and
regales him with current stories about how
Wagner’s sage guidance “helped him to develop”
as a young man.“Growing up in Los
Angeles, there are a lot of things that you can
be influenced by,” Wagner said. He credits
Jackson and his stepfather with keeping him
on track, with Jackson, the man who is more
than a football coach, beseeching Wagner to a
laser-like focus on education and football and
avoiding the sometimes-dubious schemes and
plans of outsiders and interlopers.
The Wagner bio: He is an educator and
coach with more than 20 years of experience
in administration, teaching, and coaching at
public and private schools. He currently works
as an Adapted Physical Education Specialist
for the students in the Palos Verdes Peninsula
Unified School District and has previously
held positions including roles as an Assistant
Principal/Dean of Students at Animo Locke
High School and as the Principal at Serra and
School Board Member Michael Wagner. Photo courtesy of
Michael Wagner.
See Residents Reflect, page 9
Friday
Sunny
60˚/46˚
Saturday
Sunny
59˚/43˚
Sunday
Sunny
61˚/43˚