Hall of Fame Class: Tom & Danielle Warde

Anteater water polo is a family affair. From The Campbells to The Newlands to The Klatts and so many more, familiar faces come through the program and leave their indelible mark. Two of the three sets of family members in the UC Irvine Hall of Fame are water polo families, and a third is set to make their own unique mark – The Wardes.

“Going in with Danielle, that’s like a dream come true. How do you beat that? It’s kind of surreal.”

“Being able to do it with my dad is awesome, I don’t think a whole lot of people in the world could say that.”

Not too often do you hear of the father-daughter water polo duo reaching the highest highs and both entering a Hall of Fame; even more rare is having them gain access together in the same class. Tom and Danielle Warde are doing just that as inductees to the UC Irvine Hall of Fame.

Tom found his way to UC Irvine and Southern California after starting up north. He started swimming at eight years old, mostly to be prepared since the family had recently moved to Huntington Beach and were so close to the beach. He took to it pretty quickly as one of the fastest backstrokes in the nation by 10 years old and a CIF champion in high school, but the team concept caught his attention a little more.

“I started transitioning to water polo around age 14 because the camaraderie seemed much more fun.”

Warde took part in all sorts of sports and didn’t get into swimming until later on and water polo much later. His play was enough to catch the eye of UCI and the legend at the time, Ted Newland.

“From there it just exploded. I was a second-team All-American in high school but wasn’t really on the radar of the big schools, and that’s where Newland comes in and he takes a pretty darn good player and turns them into a world-beater.”

Four years, 279 goals, NCAA Player of the Year, and a third national title for the Anteaters later, Warde showed how pretty darn good he could be. And sure, the accolades, the wins, the records are all special and important, but the biggest thing to him wasn’t tracked like that.

“The biggest thing I took from my time at UC Irvine was coach’s mentorship. He would make sure you were at practice every day; when you get there, you work hard, and if you do those things, I promise you I’m going to make you the best player you can possibly be.”

Him being coach Ted Newland. A Hall of Famer in his own right and one with countless Hall of Famers molded from his coaching. Hall of Famers that would come back to practice and train with him more even after they had exhausted their time at UC Irvine, or even who were never Anteaters to begin with.

“We would practice against former players or current national team players, players from other schools would come just to get coached by coach Newland. We would have evening workouts against them, and by the time you’re in a game, it’s easier in a lot of ways.”

Guys like Chris Duplanty, Julian Harvey, Pablo Yrizar, all honing their crafts alongside Warde in this recreated environment of playing against a big-name school before it happened. Warde recounted huge matches up at Cal and Stanford like it was no problem.

“We went up and played in a packed house and everybody’s going crazy, and we just perform under the pressure, and it was a thrill to shut them down in their houses. He created that culture and environment, you wanted to play for that guy and others would come and want to be part of that.”

Danielle’s journey took a much different route to end up entering the Hall of Fame in the same class as her father.

“There was never really any pressure to play water polo or go to UCI. My dad having played and played at UCI was always in the back of my mind.”

Danielle followed her father in playing a multitude of sports while she was growing up and none of them in the pool. Soccer, basketball, track and field, active in all of them along with her brother, also a future Anteater water polo player, Ryan. Swimming and water polo didn’t come into the picture until she was around 11 or 12, and Danielle jumped right into water polo and fell in love with it.

When the college offers started coming in, UC Irvine was in the mix along with the big schools. Still no pressure to pick the family business, but she made her decision in a similar fashion to her father.

“It came down to coach Klatt. Really, he was the reason I went to UCI, and I’m sure my dad was happy about it.”

Head Coach Dan Klatt already six years into his head coaching career at the school he played water polo at also under the legendary Newland, and oddly enough coaching his sister on the team at the time.

Danielle chose coach Klatt and UC Irvine, and she found out quickly what all that was about.

“It was kind of shocking when I first got to UCI because the first time I played, my dad and I both walked out of there like ‘did we make a mistake?’”

Warde was such a star at the high school level, she said she often dominated just on her own skillset. That wouldn’t be the case as a Division I athlete. Much like her father, she was coached from a pretty darn good athlete to something more special.

“That ended up being one of the best things that could have ever happened to me. Anyone that plays for Klatt comes out of the program not just a good water polo player but just an overall good human.”

Warde and her incredible crew with names like fellow Hall of Famer Jessy Cardey, Jillian Yocum, and Hannah Croghan to name a few matched her father’s teams with trips to the NCAAs in each of her years, multiple Big West titles, 203 goals, and the foundation of a dominant women’s water polo program. And behind it all, the mentorship weaving together the fabric of a family mentality first and foremost.

“He knows that water polo is not going to be forever, so he works on not just developing your game but developing you as a person and wants you to be successful in life. He cares about water polo and wants to win and wants to go to NCAAs every year, that’s the goal. He’s different from a lot of people and coaches; he develops you as a person, and it’s probably similar to coach Newland and probably where he got it.”

The Anteater water polo way – from Newland to Warde and Klatt and back to another Warde and on building and nurturing and lifting up the UC Irvine family.

And what more significant example of that family than two generations being recognized for their contributions to the Anteater family and joining the Hall of Fame family, together.

“The idea of going in, honestly you feel like you’re one of the figureheads sitting on top of something, and what you’re on top of is the whole pyramid below you of the program that’s lifted you up, and you happen to be the guy that’s getting the accolade.”

“I feel like I have impostor syndrome, like I don’t feel like I deserve it. I had such great players alongside me every year. I never would have been as successful as I was without them, and having Dan and my parents in my corner, it’s really because of them.”