Dave Loveton, a long-time local sports writer and college sports information specialist at Santa Barbara City College, died Wednesday night. He was 62.
Dave Loveton, a long-time local sports writer and college sports information specialist at Santa Barbara City College, died Wednesday night. He was 62.
Santa Barbara City College Director of Athletics Rocco Constantino announced Loveton’s death Wednesday night in a social media post.
The post read, “We are incredibly saddened to report that Dave Loveton, SBCC’s beloved Sports Information Specialist, has passed away after a courageous battle with Stage IV renal cancer. Dave never lost his positive spirit or incredible work ethic as he bravely battled for over three years.”
Earlier this year, Loveton was selected as the only member of the Class of 2021 SBCC Vaqueros Hall of Fame. In 2018, he was the runner up for the Top Brass Award, which is given to the top SID in the state. He was also presented an Everyday Hero Award by former SBCC President and Superintendent Dr. Anthony Beebe during a Coaches vs. Cancer event in 2018. In addition, Loveton is credited with helping build the SBCC website into an award winning publication.
Loveton was hired by the Santa Barbara News-Press in September of 1981 and worked for 24 years as a sports writer, serving as the beat writer for SBCC and Westmont College. He was named the Southern California Golf Writer of the Year in 1997 with the paper.
He was hired by City College in 2006. He grew up in Glendale and played basketball at Glendale High School and Glendale Community College before attending UCSB from 1979 to 1981.
Following the announcement of Loveton’s Hall of Fame induction, Mike Robles, the director of sports information for the California Community College Athletic Association, said that Loveton was “truly one of the top sports information professionals in the CCCAA.”
“The volume of information he produces is impressive, but not as much as the quality,” Robles said. “His coverage of SBCC Athletics is thorough. He’s a tremendous writer and he is steadfast in his primary goal of putting the spotlight on the Vaqueros’ student-athletes, coaches and teams.
“We’re spoiled to have someone as talented as him among our ranks because if you ever want to point to someone that does it right, you only need to point to Dave. The CCCAA state office is grateful to have Dave help us in covering the CCCAA state tennis championships in Ojai and Ventura each year because he treats the teams like they were his own and provides excellent recaps and information. I’ve been around many great SIDs in the last 32 years and Dave is definitely among the best that I’ve worked with. By their nature, SIDs would rather stay behind the scenes, but Dave’s induction into the Hall of Fame is well-deserved and he’s earned the recognition.”
Constantino referred to Loveton as “a perfectionist in his work and a friend to us all.”
He added, “He sought to make every student he covered feel like a superstar and one of the things most important to him was to make sure he recognized as many students as possible. He also took great pride in honoring our coaches for their great accomplishments as well.
“Dave’s passing leaves a tremendous void in the SBCC family and in the community of Santa Barbara, where he lived for the past 42 years. He was an extremely talented award-winning journalist, a loyal Vaquero and his friendship was unconditional. We will miss the ‘big guy’ every day. Our gameday experience will not be the same without him.”
Details on a memorial service were not released.
email: mwhite@newspress.com
