Remembering Cliff Tedmon: A coach, lawyer, super sports fan and so much more
Clifford Earl Tedmon lived quite a life, 98 years’ worth of adventure and personality. He was the beloved, kindly old fellow with the bristling white mustache who drew a crowd because he always had a story to tell.
He grew up The Great Depression, in the cold of Minnesota. He served in World War II in the Navy and used the GI Bill to graduate from the University of Minnesota. He became a teacher and coach at La Sierra High School in Carmichael. He later worked for Aerojet, helping create rocket fuels that launched Apollo and Mercury space missions, then became a highly regarded trial lawyer in Sacramento with his son, Scott Tedmon, whom he encouraged to pursue his other passion of coaching basketball.
Cliff Tedmon died last month in Sacramento, making his memorial a feel-good celebration of a life lived to the fullest.
He and Scott Tedmon were law partners for decades in Sacramento. The father teared up in 2016 when the son was appointed by the governor’s office as a judge in Sacramento Superior Court. The father also watched his son coach the basketball team at Sacramento Adventist Academy High School, the cozy tree-lined campus in Carmichael, to record championship heights.
“My dad and my best friend in life,” Scott Tedmon said. “What a life. When I was judge-appointed, I called Dad. He started crying. I did too. He was so proud. I’ll never forget it. Even in his late 90s, Dad came to our basketball games. We’d put him in the corner in his wheelchair so he wouldn’t get run over. And during COVID, when everything was on Zoom, Dad watched my court sessions on a stream. He was my greatest supporter and best critic. Sharp to the end.”
Scott Tedmon said his father’s life took a dramatic turn when Cliff was a young boy. Living in a poor part of St. Paul, Minn., Clff Tedmon once told his own children decades later of a lasting lesson. In 1931, he pulled his 5-year old brother in a wagon in 10-degree weather to a bread line. Cliff Tedmon asked for an extra can of soup to feed the family.
“The guy opened it up and dumped it on the sidewalk,” Scott Tedmon said, the story sticking with him his entire life. “My dad was 7, and even then, he said he could either be bitter or be better. He said then that he would never treat anyone like that. He would treat people the right way. He did that the rest of his life.”
Scott Tedmon said his dad’s message was to always strive, find what works and find what fits. For Cliff Tedmon, that was practicing law after his stints as a teacher and coach, after his days as an engineer.
“Law was his sweet spot, and I never met anyone happier being a lawyer,” Scott Tedmon said with a laugh. “Dad gave up his bar card to practice law at 91 years old. That was long enough, he said.”
Scott Tedmon said his dad would have been a “great coach” had he stuck with it. He taught math and science at La Sierra in the mid 1950s and was the assistant football coach and head track coach. How he treated players stuck with him.
“At the games, the players would take turns carrying me onto the field and into the locker room,” Scott Tedmon said. “Dad would have me sit on the bench next to the players during the game and in the locker room. He created an inseparable bond that lasted a lifetime. That same bond was true between Dad and my two younger sisters, Kathy and Lisa. We were so lucky.
“A few years ago, one of my teams did Christmas carols at Dad’s house. Surprised him. They were terrible, but he loved it. What a life.”