When news of the deaths of two California Highway Patrol officers from El Niño flooding first hit the headlines, George Avakian thought, "It better not be Britt."
Avakian, retired from coaching soccer at Foothill College, immediately thought of his star goalie from 1976, Britt Irvine, the captain of the team that won the state championship and became a CHP.
Unfortunately Avakian's worst nightmare was confirmed. Irvine, who grew up in Los Altos, graduated from Los Altos High School in 1976, attended Foothill College and graduated from San Jose State University, was one of the two officers who died early Feb. 24.
Irvine and his partner, officer Rick Stovall, both based in Santa Maria, were on their way to help a disabled motorist on Highway 166 when they were swept away by a raging river that ate away 100 yards of the two-lane highway.
The officers were found upside down, inside their patrol car, in the swollen river.
"If there was any way of getting out of that car, Britt would have done it because he was in such good shape," said Bill Fallon, a Los Altos resident since 1964.
Fallon, who lived just down the street from the Irvine family on Angela Drive, said Irvine and his kids were playmates.
After Irvine became a CHP officer, he used to patrol Interstate 280 in this area.
One year on Christmas Day, on his way to his folks for Christmas dinner, he stopped off at the Fallon house, "with his lights flashing, his siren going. 'No presents,' he said. 'You're all under arrest,'" Fallon remembered with a chuckle.
"He had an incredible sense of humor," said Shelly Bosmans Bowers, a Los Altos mom who dated Irvine throughout high school and college.
When she was at Foothill College, Bowers broke her neck in a swimming accident. Luckily she recovered fully, but at the time she wore an elaborate neck brace. Coincidentally at the same time Irvine wore a cast for a broken wrist.
"We'd walk together, and he'd joke and say, 'Don't walk so close to me. I don't want people to think I was driving the car,'" Bowers remembers.
"We were always good friends. There's not a single person who wasn't touched by Britt," she said. Especially Avakian.
"He was one of the most elite athletes and human beings I've ever coached," he said, emotion choking his voice.
"High integrity, honor, daring, challenge, pain, loyal. That's just a list. But that's what comes to mind when I think of Britt," Avakian said.
Irvine's parents, Joe and Maxine, moved to Sebastopol about eight years ago, said Joe Irvine, 87.
Recently he and his son, who turned 40 on Jan. 31, began swimming together in the Masters Swimming program.
"Britt was so proud of his dad winning all those medals," Avakian said.
Services were scheduled for Irvine and his partner last Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Pacific Christian Center in Santa Maria. More than 2,000 mourners, including Gov. Pete Wilson, were expected to attend.
Irvine is survived by his parents; his brothers Stanley of Boulder, Colo., and Joe of St. Louis; and sisters, Jane of Alaska and Judith of Sebastopol.