When Troy Buckley was a baseball coach at Santa Clara University, he could ask parents with rousing enthusiasm if they wanted their sons to be Broncos.

At Long Beach State, asking if they’d like to see them become "Dirtbags" can sometimes call for careful explanation.

"If you look it (Dirtbag) up in the dictionary or on Wikipedia, it probably doesn’t sound too good," Buckley acknowledges.

But as they come to Les Murakami Stadium on Friday night for the opener of a three-game series, the Dirtbags (23-23, 9-6 Big West) celebrate the 25th anniversary season of one of the unique names in college sports.

And, they have a former UH assistant to thank for it.

When Dave Malpass, an assistant coach for Murakami in the late 1980s, went to Long Beach State in 1989 as coach of the infielders, it was to a downtrodden program that had gone 14-45 the year before and had to scurry just to round up recruits. The school’s campus field was in the midst of a re-renovation and the team struggled against junior college teams in the winter offseason. 

So, Malpass took his charges down the street to Whaley Park, an all-dirt Pony League facility that challenged both their physical and mental toughness on a daily basis. By the time they trod back to campus in the evening, they looked like a scruffy, dusty mess. "One day, I told our head coach (Dave Snow) we looked like a bunch of ‘dirtbags,’ " Malpass said.

"Dave said, ‘Yeah! We need something like that, an identity,’ " said Malpass, a Cleveland Indians scout the past 13 years.

They embraced an underdog, all-out, down-and-dirty attitude and Malpass had T-shirts with "Dirtbags" made up, bestowing them upon the hardest-working players. "Guys would draw blood (working so hard) every day that it was like a badge of honor," Malpass said. "Pretty soon everybody on the team wanted one." 

They won their first 18 games, beat UH in an NCAA regional, and went to the College World Series. By the time they got to Omaha, finishing 50-15, they were the 49ers and The Beach, the school’s traditional nicknames, no more. They were the "Dirtbags." 

Malpass said, "It took on a life of its own and became more than I ever dreamed or imagined."

So much so that alum Paul Goydos wore a "Dirtbags" hat in The Players Championship golf tournament.

"That spirit is something that we try to install and pass down," Buckley said. "We bring back former players to talk about what it means to be a Dirtbag."

With 17 NCAA appearances and four World Series trips since becoming the Dirtbags and 14 alums on major league rosters this year, including Evan Longoria, Jered Weaver and Troy Tulowitzki, the Dirtbags have done well by it.

The logowear rights alone bring five-figure royalties, an official said.

"People suggested I patent the ‘Dirtbags’ nickname," Malpass said. "But it belongs to the program. It is their identity."

So much so that "Dirtbags" requires less of an explanation each year.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.