Those who have never experienced life on a community college campus have little idea how enriching and comfortable it can be. Just ask Dan Ripley, who stepped on such a campus fresh out of high school and has basically never left.

The former Olympic and world-ranked pole vaulter is being honored Friday when he is inducted into the Long Beach City College Hall of Champions for his 15 years as head coach of the women's track and field program, where he led the Vikings to three state titles (1995, 1996, 1999), two state runner-up finishes, and seven first- or second-place finishes in the Southern California Championships.

The Vikings finished in the top four at the state meet every year from 1990 to 1999.

LBCC's rich history in track was male-heavy for decades before Ripley arrived and jump-started the women's program.

"When I arrived, Ron Allice's office had shelves of trophies lined up around the room from all of his championships," Ripley said of the legendary former Vikings and Long Beach State head coach, now the head track coach at USC. "You got one for finishing in the top three at the Southern California and State meets, and I remember thinking how great it would be to just have one."

By the time his coaching career ended, he had his own trophy stash. But Ripley is savvy enough about coaching and the community college experience to realize there's more to being a coach and teacher than winning, and that the two-year experience

It was for him. His two years at Cypress College launched his athletic career and set him on a path to eventually teach and coach, although at the time he thought it would be at the high school level.

His state title in the pole vault at Cypress earned him a scholarship to San Jose State.

Even while his athletic career as a pole vaulter was taking off, he was already coaching, returning to Cypress as an assistant in 1976.

He's remained on a community college campus ever since, save for one year when he went into private business with a pole vault manufacturer. He became the head coach at Mt. San Antonio College in 1980 for seven years before being hired at Long Beach City College. When he retired from coaching in 2002, he became a full-time professor in the Life Science Department.

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KEISSER: Ripley long ago found cozy home at LBCC