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Eastlake High honors former principal

Titans now play in Stan Canaris Stadium

By Phillip Brents

Whether it was selling cook books in front of a Vons supermarket store to help raise funds for the EastLake Educational Foundation, playing Santa Claus for students at both Eastlake High School and Olympicview Elementary School or just being a good friend with whom to talk for students having a problem, Stan Canaris left his indelible mark at Eastlake High School.

Canaris, who retired in June after 36 years of service within the Sweetwater Union High School District as a teacher, football coach and dean of activities at various schools, received perhaps the highest honor from the community he served after the school formally dedicated its athletic stadium in his name during a gala cermony during halftime of the Eastlake-Bonita Vista football game Sept. 21. Canaris, 62, oversaw the opening of the school in 1992 and served as vice principal before assuming the role of principal in 1995.

The school’s stadium is now formally known as Stan Canaris Stadium.

"If anybody deserved it, it was Stan Canaris," said Troy Vierra, who serves as the school’s wrestling coach and helped push the groundswell stadium-naming drive that was initally opposed by three of district’s five school board members.

"He wasn’t your typical principal. He knew the community. He went out into the community. He had a way of getting people to do things. By his leadership, he made you feel that was part of your job — to go the extra mile," Vierra continued.

Canaris served as Vierra's photography teacher while at Hilltop High School, where he served as that school’s head football coach. Canaris also taught at Sweetwater High School and served as dean of activities at Mar Vista High School before coming to Eastlake High School.

Canaris and his wife, Brenda, were chauffered onto the field during the halftime ceremony in a 1963 Corvette amid fanfare from the school’s marching band. Tribute was then paid in speeches by local dignitaries, including new school principal Sid Salazar, Sweetwater Trustees Jim Cartmill and Arlie Ricasa, who originally voted for the stadium-naming measure, San Diego County Board of Education President Nick Aguilar and The EastLake Company president Bill Ostrum.

It was under Canaris’ leadership that the school, then the newest in the district, earned recognition as a California Distinguished School as well as numerous athletic banners.

Both current and former students lauded the naming of the stadium in Canaris’ honor.

"I think it’s great that we were finally able to do something like this for Mr. Canaris. He invested a lot of time, money and concern in our school, academically and in athletics, as well," explained Nic Gonzalez, an Eastlake High senior. "It was a tribute made by our entire school which was filled with much thought and sincerity. Our field is no longer just a field. Everyone who walks and competes on that field plays on it with much more dignity and pride."