1970-2016: Walton or Leaf, Take Your Pick

Bill Walton was 33-0 in his senior season at Helix.  T.J. Leaf was 25-5 at Foothills Christian.

Walton’s Helix team dominated the San Diego Section, but the Highlanders’ 70-56 victory over Chula Vista in the AA finals in 1970 marked the end of season. Southern California playoffs were reserved only for Southern Section squads.

Leaf’s Foothills Christian team, benefiting from the modern CIF, competed beyond the San Diego Section playoffs, most recently reaching the Southern California regional semifinals.

Walton was a 6-foot, 11-inch center who played with his back to the basket, and scored and played defense with equal abandon.

Leaf is a 6-10 power forward with a wider range of offense but did not command defense as did Walton.

If pro basketball is the correct measuring stick, basketball has evolved and improved to a point in the San Diego area that we now can claim many NBA or international players.

Before Walton you could count the number of NBA players from San Diego on one hand plus two or three fingers.

Leaf put Foothills Christian on national radar.
Leaf put Foothills Christian on national radar.

Leaf is moving on to UCLA, where Walton won two national collegiate championships and NBA titles with the Portland Trail Blazers and Boston Celtics.

Leaf is a longshot to match Walton’s  post-high school achievements but that will not diminish the mark he made at Foothills Christian.  T.J. finished his career second to his brother, Troy, as the San Diego’s Section’s career scoring leader.

Leaf was at the wheel as the small El Cajon school traveled with the big shots, playing a national schedule against teams in California and the U.S.

Thirteen of the Knights’ 30 games were against opponents outside the San Diego Section, including three against Chino Hills, the No. 1 team in the country, and another against nationally ranked Waterloo Sacred Heart of Connecticut.

Walton seldom ventured beyond the County, but his performance in December, 1969, at the prestigious Covina Tournament got him on the national stage.

Helix defeated Rancho Cucamonga Alta Loma, 90-35, Montebello, 72-48, El Monte Arroyo, 92-57, Long Beach Millikan, 71-49, and Pasadena, 110-68.

Millikan went on to win the major Southern Section championship.

Against the playoff-bound Pasadena Bullpups, Walton scored 50 points, had 34 rebounds, and made Sports Illustrated and its Faces in the Crowd feature.

Walton was head and shoulders above the crowd.
Walton was head and shoulders above the crowd.

The Highlanders averaged 88.2 points a game, went past 100 five times and topped 90 on 10 other occasions.  Walton scored 964 points and averaged 29.2, but he is remembered as much for his unselfish play and dominating defense.

Foothills Christian won by an average score of 71-52, had games of 97 and 96 points and bettered 80 in eight other contests.

Leaf scored 852 points and averaged 28.4 points, shot 68 per cent on field goal attempts and made 29 three-point baskets with an average of 39 per cent from behind the arc.

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0 thoughts on “1970-2016: Walton or Leaf, Take Your Pick

  1. Walton shot 78% from the field. He couldn’t dunk. Jabbar rule. He only play 2 or 3 games all out. Mike Dupree was 1st team all CIF 20.1 pog. Mike Dupree, a junior, led CIF in scoring as a senior. 87-52 avg margin of victory. I saw most of the games. Gary Cunningham, Wooden’s asst. Told him Walton was better than Jabbar. Against the Southern Section Champs, Walton had 50 points, 34 rbs, 16 blocked shoots. They won 110-68.

  2. With all things equal, meaning Walton and team all had the same top training, were able to play travel ball, practiced the 3 point shot, and recruited 3-point players, (we all know schools nowadays recruit) etc…. Helix and Walton smokes everyone.

  3. The two best basketball players ever to come out of California (or US) was class of 1970.
    Bill Walton (Helix, La Mesa) and Ray Lewis (Verbum Dei, LA).
    Google Ray Lewis, Im sure you’ll agree.

    1. Verbum Dei would have a been a super challenge for Helix. Greatness didn’t follow Raymond Lewis after high school. He moved around and didn’t find a niche. I once heard Walton heap praise on a San Diego player, Elias Delgadillo, as 6-6 banger from Castle Park.

  4. No way any team in the 70s could come close to beating the Foothills Christian team from this year. Especially if you played the game by today’s rules with a 3 point line.

    1. Points well taken. Evolution, training, instruction all have made the game better. Did you see both teams. I did. When i wrote the article recently I tried not to take sides and pretty much stuck to stats and such. Leaf is an outstanding player. Walton was a great player, at Helix, at UCLA, and in the pros. I don’t recall Helix having a long-range shooter. I doubt anyone was even thinking about that great addition to the game that would come. With Walton in the post Helix could get up and down. Once an opponent’s shot went up and didn’t go in the hoop, there was an outlet pass to a couple jackrabbits already heading down court. Walton played the game at both ends, no disrepect to Leaf and his pals.

      1. Robin, thanks for writing. Denny Crum was the Wooden assistant who saw the game at the Covina Tournament. As Bill Center once told me, Crum returned to UCLA and met Wooden. “I just saw the best high school player ever”, or words to that effect. Wooden, surprised, is said to have looked around and whispered to Crum, “Better than Lewis (Alcindor)? Crum nodded. “Step into my office,” Wooden said quietly.
        Search for my post: “1970-2016 Walton or Leaf, Take Your Pick” for some stats on that Walton team. I did not have the 78% shooting

  5. I’m a fan of the Chula Vista high school team but because of the final game of my senior year, I have always followed the career of Bill Walton. I feel that he was always a part of “our” team too. If my memory serves me right, the Spartans outscored Helix in the final quarter to make it a closer game. Our two juniors, Bob Tagye and Don Weimer, went toe to toe with Bill as did our two seniors, Randy Schutjer and Kerry Dineen (who went on to a career in Major League Baseball). Of course, I don’t think Chula Vista has had as great a basketball team since then but I’ve always been proud that we at least had a chance to share in the glory that Bill Walton did. GO SPARTANS!!!

    1. You made the CIF finals. That’s pretty heady stuff. Helix has to be considered the No. 1 team in County history, all because of Walton.

  6. Agreed–Walton pretty much beats everyone–best college player ever–If I have not told you, my all time favorite player is Elgin Baylor–beautiful.

    1. Baylor had all of those twisting moves. You were a classic jump shooter with a smooth stroke that could have been used as an instructional tool. Reader: Spence is a legendary former St. Augustine basketball and baseball star, was drafted No. 1 in 1967 by the Chicago Whie Sox.

  7. Great piece but your most important point was the level of competition. Leaf has faced much better overall teams than Walton did at Helix.

    1. You make a very good point. I tried to be balanced and not make it look as if I favored Walton, but Helix’ manhandling of Millikan and Pasadena, two top Southern Section teams, can’t be ignored. The question is could Helix have continued to sustain that level against the number of intersectional teams Foothills played?

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@
=
Away game
League game
>
>>,>>>,...
Overtime
2x,3x,... Overtime
I-V
A-AAA
O
Division I to V
Division A to AAA
Open Division
1T, 2T, ...
}, {
Final standing tie
Win, loss by 45 pt 'mercy' rule
*
**
***
^

^+
^^
1st round playoff
Quarterfinal playoff
Semifinal playoff
Championship
SoCal Championship
State Championship
8
8*
8**

8+
8-man team
Intraleague playoff
Southern Section playoff
8 vs 11-man team
~
-4
All boys, 2x enrollment
4 vs 3 grades, 9-12 vs 10-12
[
]
CA tiebreaker win,
loss
#, ##
!!
Forfeit win, loss
Game called, shortened or postponed
%Citrus-Desert Playoff

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