'Ultimate wingman': Agoura High grad Emhoff could be first first gentleman

If Doug Emhoff plays his cards right, he may one day lead Agoura Hills’ biggest parade of the year.

Emhoff is the spouse of Vice President Kamala Harris who is vying to become the first woman president of the United States. She's set to formally accept her party’s nomination at the Democratic National Convention that launches Monday in Chicago.

Emhoff, a nonstop campaigner, is expected to speak to a primetime audience during the convention. If Harris wins on Nov. 5, he’ll become the nation’s first first gentleman. He would also be the first Jewish spouse of a president.

If that’s not enough firsts, Emhoff would be the only Agoura High Charger ever wed to arguably most powerful person in the world. He graduated from the school in 1982.

“We’re tickled pink about it,” said Illece Buckley Weber, mayor of Agoura Hills. “We would love him to come visit us.”

Buckley has this idea about Reyes Adobe Days, the festival held each fall in her city. She wants Emhoff to be part of the annual parade one year.

“We would love him to be the grand marshal,” she said.

Emhoff, already the nation’s first second gentleman, has been a constant presence in the news. He led the U.S. delegation to the Paris Olympics. He campaigns in support of Harris in appearances ranging from Los Angeles to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, speaking out against antisemitism while fighting for gender equity and reproductive rights.

The high-powered entertainment lawyer made headlines for saying “that’s all he’s got?” after former President Donald Trump criticized his wife. He was in the news again after acknowledging an affair during his first marriage, which ended in 2009.

In the conga line

He was born in Brooklyn. His family moved to Westlake Village when he was 16. He enrolled at Agoura High School during his junior year and graduated in 1982.

The yearbook shows he was part of the school newspaper. Other activities included tennis, skiing and backpacking. His senior photo reveals him with curly hair, dressed in a suit and tie.

Though a school employee declined to share another yearbook photo for fear it would be embarrassing, she said it showed Emhoff leading a conga line during a vice versa dance. Also known as Sadie Hawkins, the dance flips the tables with girls asking boys to be their dates.

Bill Gillette hung out in the same circles as Emhoff. They took several of the same classes at Agoura High, both graduated in ’82 and ended up at Cal State Northridge.

“He’s way smarter than I am,” Gillette said with a laugh. While they were at Northridge, Gillette drove Emhoff and two others friends in a Nissan Sentra that lacked air-conditioning. They motored to Las Vegas to celebrate New Year’s Eve.

Later, they became Facebook friends. They chatted again at their 20th reunion, Gillette said. Emhoff was quiet but taking things in, just like he did in Vegas.

“The rest of us were partying, and he was just observing,” Gillette said. He remembers him being supportive and comfortable with a complementary role.

“He’s the ultimate wingman,” Gillette said.

Emhoff graduated from Northridge in 1987 and earned a law degree from USC three years later. He built a high-profile career, representing clients including NFL athletes, production companies, a studio executive and a school board.

He and Harris met when she was California's attorney general. Harris' best friend helped arrange a blind date. Their first contact came when Emhoff texted her from a Lakers game. She's a sports fan too but roots for the Golden State Warriors.

Despite the hoops rivalry, they hit it off. They married less than a year later at the Santa Barbara Courthouse in 2014.

A visit to Cal Lutheran

Emhoff is not the only famous alum. Tara Davis-Woodhall, an Agoura High grad, won gold in the long jump in the Paris Olympics earlier this month. Other former Chargers include actress Heather Graham and musicians Rob Bourdon, Mike Shinoda and Brad Delson who formed the band Linkin Park.

Two years ago, Deborah Klein Lopez invited Emhoff to be part of the ground-breaking ceremony for the wildlife bridge being built over Highway 101. He couldn’t make it.

Now, the Agoura Hills city council member, part of Agoura High’s class of '86, wants to invite him to the bridge's opening ceremony after the project's planned completion in 2026.

“I love the connection,” she said. “I want him to come out here.”

He’s been close. He came to California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks in June, speaking about gender pay equity in a panel held at the campus training facility used by the professional women’s soccer team Angel City FC.

“He talked about being from right around the corner,” said team co-investor Lorrie Fair Allen, a former Olympic soccer player. She met Emhoff on a delegation to New Zealand for last year’s World Cup.

Holding his breath

Emhoff stirs complicated emotions for some. Ari Averbach, senior rabbi of Temple Etz Chaim in Thousand Oaks, graduated from Agoura High in 2001. He’s never met the nation’s second gentleman but feels a connection. They wandered the same hallways. They sat in the same classrooms.

They’re both Jewish. That part of the bond simultaneously excites Averbach and makes him hold his breath. He cited the tendency for people to unfurl a widespread blanket of blame and use Jews as scapegoats.

“We get hate mail,” he said. “During COVID we got things in the mail that blamed Jews.”

Averbach's anxious about the election's repercussions but expressed hope people look beyond race and religion.

Other former Chargers focus on the history Emhoff could achieve. Gillette imagines his former classmate in rooms once used by Abraham Lincoln.

“He’s going to be living in the White House... which is pretty damn cool,” he said.

Tom Kisken covers health care and other news for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at tom.kisken@vcstar.com .

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This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: 'Ultimate wingman': Agoura High grad Emhoff could be first first gentleman