Charles, "Chick" or “Chic” Wallgren is a retired Placer High School History and Civics teacher who also coached various sports teams at the school. He has one son, Chris. Wallgren earned a Bachelor’s Degree in History from the University of San Francisco. He held an administrative credential from University of San Francisco, and had a lifetime teaching credential, also from University of San Francisco. He taught at Placer High School for 32 years, served in the Air Force and played on the Boston Red Sox. He served on the Placer County Grand Jury, Gold Country Fair board of directors, Auburn Planning Commission and Auburn Area General Plan Committee. In 2010, he ran for election to the Placer Union High School District board of trustees (GoldCountryMedia).
Longtime Placer teacher and coach Chick Wallgren, was an outfielder for the University of San Francisco. “He led the nation in batting,” (.414) his son, Chris Wallgren said in an interview. His father coached basketball and baseball at Placer and had keys to the gym. “I remember going there as a kid, running around the bleachers, shooting baskets while my dad coached. The high school players would ask me, ‘Is your father going to break another clipboard tonight?’” At Placer, Chris' baseball Coach was his father. “I loved playing for my dad,” he said. “He really knew the game, and he knew how to let us play. He was old school. If he wanted us to steal, he’d point to the base and say, ‘Steal! Just do it!’” At Saint Ignatius Preparatory, Chick led the San Francisco Academic Athletic Association his senior year.
Chris' grandfather and Chick's father, Charles A. Wallgren of San Francisco, was a Major League baseball scout for 40 years for the Boston Red Sox and the Baltimore Orioles. He played baseball in the Pacific Coast League from 1929 to 1934 for Portland, Oakland, and San Francisco. “My grandpa played with Joe Dimaggio and his roommate was Dimaggio’s brother,” Chris Wallgren said. His grandparents “knew the Dimaggio family well and had them over for dinner on occasion (PlacerAthleticsHOF).”
