Speaker Bios
Tom Gamboa was born in Los Angeles, California and attended Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California. He was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles as a first basemen. He chose to attend the University of California, Santa Barbara (B.A., History, 1971) on a full scholarship and played primarily center field, along with a little first base for the Gauchos. While at UCSB he won All-Big West Conference honors in 1969 and 1970.
After college Gamboa played outfield for and was the manager of Stratford (Ontario) in the Canadian Baseball League, where he was a two-time All-Star in 1971 and 72. Gamboa has gone on to manage in the minor leagues as high as AAA and coached first and third base as well as in the bullpen for the Chicago Cubs and Kansas City Royals in the major leagues. Most recently he served as the bench and 3rd base coach for Team Israel in the 2017 World Baseball Classic.
Jerry has coached at all levels of professional baseball from single-A to the Major Leagues. The Colorado Rockies added Weinstein to their major league staff before the 2012 season. After the 2013 season, the Rockies reassigned Weinstein, putting him in charge of player development in the minor leagues. He currently is the double-A manager for the Hartford Yard Goats, who are the minor league affiliate of the Rockies. During the 2017 World Baseball Classic he managed Team Israel. Weinstein is a member of the Sacramento City College Athletic Hall of Fame, the California Community College Hall of Fame, and the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
Matt Villegas has over 15 years of coaching experience beginning in 1992. Raised in Yuma, AZ Villegas was a standout infielder/utility player who could be trusted to play any position on the field but spent the majority of his playing days at 3rd base. After playing 4 years for the Yuma High Criminals. Villegas was committed to play at Arizona Western College before a major shoulder injury derailed his days as a player. Villegas immediately went in to coaching as a JV assistant at Cibola High School under the guidance of coach Tony Steen and his summer ball coach and current Mt View High (Mesa,AZ) coach Mike Thiel .
After a long hiatus in which he always remained a staunch “student of the game” Villegas resumed his coaching career in 2010 in Ventura, Ca at Buena High School under Head Coach Mark Magdaleno. While at Buena H.S., Magdaleno tabbed Villegas as his “defensive coordinator” where Villegas oversaw all aspects of defensive play for the Bulldogs in a season where they maintained a stellar .975 fielding pct and finished the season at 22-6 before they lost in the CIF Southern Section Quarterfinals.
Villegas then landed his 1st Varsity Head Coaching job at cross town rival Ventura High School, a post in which he held for the 2012 and 2013 seasons at which point Villegas jumped at the opportunity to go back to school to finish up his studies and receive his Bachelor’s degree from UCSB while also having the opportunity to serve on Andrew Checkett’s staff as an undergrad assistant 2014-15. While at UCSB Villegas worked closely with the Gauchos IF and Hitting coach Eddie Cornejo.
Villegas has also served as an assistant coach for the Santa Paula Halos in the California Collegiate League under head coach Jimmy Walker and also has been an associate scout with the Seattle Mariners, assisting Area Scouting Supervisor Ryan Holmes.