The 77-year-old driver killed in a crash in Thousand Oaks Monday was a hall-of-fame volleyball coach at Royal High School in Simi Valley, school officials said Wednesday.
Bob Ferguson Jr. was a Simi Valley resident, the Ventura County Medical Examiner’s Office reported.
Ferguson had coached volleyball at Royal from 1988 until his retirement in 2001. He was a 1995 inductee of the Ventura County Sports Hall of Fame and will be inducted into the CIF-Southern Section Hall of Fame in October.
The legendary coach was 277-29 with 13 Marmonte League titles and two CIF-Southern Section championships in 14 girls volleyball seasons at Royal.
His boys volleyball teams were 131-10 with five league titles and four CIF-SS titles in seven seasons at Royal. When he retired, his boys teams had won a CIF-SS record 101 straight league matches.
His son Travis, who now coaches in Rockwall, Texas, and daughter Heidi succeeded him as Highlanders coaches.
The school is hosting a memorial in the gym at 10 a.m. Saturday on the Royal High campus, 1402 Royal Ave.
Ferguson’s family believes the accident occurred when he suffered a diabetic emergency on the way home from purchasing his insulin.
“It appears he had a medical emergency,” said Ferguson’s son-in-law, Rick Buonauro.
Crash details emerge
Ventura County Sheriff’s officials provided more details Wednesday about the two-car crash, which took place shortly before 4:30 p.m. Monday on Olsen Road, west of Hardy Lane.
Ferguson, who had been driving a Nissan Versa sedan, rear-ended a Toyota Prius at high speed in the left lane of Olsen, said Senior Deputy Marcos Moreno.
The Nissan continued into the center median, where it hit a tree, then spun back onto the roadway, Moreno said. Ferguson was taken by ambulance to the hospital, where he later died. The medical examiner's officer determined the cause of death was multiple blunt force injuries.
The Prius, which was driven by a 62-year-old Thousand Oaks man, was pushed about 500 feet down the road. The Prius driver was taken to the hospital with moderate injuries and later released.
The collision shut portions of Olsen Road for hours and also closed the off-ramp from northbound Highway 23 onto Olsen for a time.
The accident remains under investigation by the sheriff’s Thousand Oaks traffic bureau. Anyone who saw the crash or has information is asked to call Moreno at 805-494-8271 or marcos.moreno@ventura.org.
This story may be updated.
Joe Curley is a staff writer for The Star. He can be reached at joe.curley@vcstar.com. For more coverage, follow @vcsjoecurley on Twitter/X, Instagram/Threads and Facebook.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Driver killed in Thousand Oaks crash was legendary local coach
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