San Diego High, under second-year baseball coach Les Cassie, enjoyed its greatest success in a sport the Cavemen had dominated almost since the CIF Southern Section was formed in 1913.
It won 35 games!
And lost only two, a stunning won-loss percentage of .946!
The historically powerful squads located on the beautiful campus at the South entrance to Balboa Park have been known by many mascot names, such as Hilltoppers, Hillers, Hillmen, Cavemen, and Cavers, but most appropriately as Winners.
They claimed the school’s 16th and final CIF Southern Section championship this season. Those championships, from 1917-52, were as many as the combined total of the 13 other Southern California championship teams.
Cassie had been coach at San Diego Junior College when the legendary Mike Morrow, coach of 15 of those titles, retired after the 1950 season. Cassie and Morrow swapped jobs, with Morrow moving on the SDJC.
Several games and victories were unreported in local newspapers and seven were against non-high school or military teams.
The Hillers were hardly a two man team, but Bob Borovicka’s and Bob Thorpe’s names appeared in virtually every line score or game story.
Borovicka posted a 15-1 record, 177 strikeouts in 143 innings, a 1.75 earned-run average, and hit 10 home runs and drove in 48. Thorpe was 14-1 with 158 strikeouts in 133 innings and a 1.70 E.R,A.
The Cavers’ first six victories:
7, USS El Dorado 1.
10, Sweetwater 1.
9 USS Bradford 1.
12, USS Bradford 10.
12, Oceanside 5.
12, Sweetwater 0.
Much of the information above was from Caver Conquest, the definitive history of San Diego High athletics by Don King.
3/1/52
San Diego recorded its seventh straight nonleague victory, defeating visiting Norwalk Excelsior, 12-1, at Golden Hill playground.
Bob Borovika restricted the Pilots to five hits and struck out 13. Bob Thorpe tripled and singled and Jim Harper singled twice.
3/4/52
San Diego visited and defeated Chula Vista, 3-2, on Rudy Venzor’s ninth-inning home run.
—Art Weber and Walter Fleak not only combined to no-hit St. Augustine, but La Jolla also crushed the Saints, 21-0.
—Hoover’s Wally Keogh and Roy Dezonia combined to no-hit Brown Military, 10-0.
3/6/52
Bob Borovicka struck out 11 and homered as San Diego topped the visiting Naval team TraPac, 6-3.
–Chula Vista profited from three hits, four errors, and five walks, and scored all its runs in the third inning of an 8-7 win over La Jolla.
3/15/52
San Diego scored 10 runs in the last two innings and beat visiting Grossmont, 20-0.
–Tom Tomaiko’s three-run home run in the first inning was enough for La Jolla to top Helix, 4-1.
3/17/52
Rain or wet grounds postponed several games, but San Diego improved to 2-0 in the CPL, squeezing in an 8-4 victory at home over Helix behind Bob Borovicka’s pitching and 380-foot home run.
3/21/52
Mar Vista, Sweetwater, and Chula Vista, each playing three innings, defeated San Dieguito, Oceanside, and Escondido by a combined score of 13-5 in the Metropolitan League carnival.
Some 2,500 persons attended the soiree at Lane Field. Play of the game was an inside-the-park home run by Bob Goodbody of Escondido.
—Bob Thorpe allowed two hits and struck out 15 and Rudy Venzor and Bob Borovicka hit home runs good for five runs in the Cavemen’s 11-2 rout of La Jolla.
The victory, matching teams with 2-0 records, put the Cavers into undisputed first place in the CPL.
—Kearny and Hoover kept pace, the Komets blanking Helix, 4-0, and Hoover topping Grossmont, 11-5.
3/25/52
San Diego improved to 15-0 with a 20-3 rout of Hoover. Bob Borovicka, and Richie Johnson each hit three-run home runs and Eddie Boyle added a bases-empty home run.
—Ernie Merk’s two-run single with the bases loaded in the last of the ninth inning pulled out a 6-5 victory for upstart Helix over Grossmont.
3/27/52
San Diego opened the second annual Lions Club tournament on its home diamond with a 7-4 win over Chula Vista.
First baseman Billy Adams and pitcher Bob Thorpe, moved to the outfield, led the Cavemen’s attack. Adams contributed a three-run triple and singled twice and Thorpe had three hits.
–Frank Powell allowed two hits, struck out 13, and pitched Hoover to a 4-0 win over Brawley at Hoover.
–Tom Tomaiko hit two home runs and La Jolla edged St. Augustine, 6-5, on the Vikings’ diamond.
3/28/52
Al Pearson outdueled Jack Osborne and El Monte defeated Kearny, 2-1, in a Lions quarterfinals game at University Heights playground.
The 5-foot, 5-inch Pearson was best known as “Albie” Pearson and for nine seasons in the major leagues and a .270 career average
–Phil Heubach singled in two runs in the top of the seventh inning in Hoover’s 3-1 win over La Jolla at San Diego High.
–Helix committed seven errors ands dropped an 8-6 decision to Fullerton at Hoover.
–The Cavemen clobbered Point Loma, 19-3, at Hoover for a 17-0 record. Catcher Jim Harper started the onslaught with a grand slam home run in the second inning.
3/29/52
San Diego, which five days before unloaded on Hoover, 20-3, got a stronger test from the Cardinals in the Lions championship before about 200 persons at Lane Field.
San Diego won the rematch, 6-2, scoring all its runs in the third inning. The Cavemen eliminated Fullerton, 4-2, in a morning semifinal, while Hoover was getting past El Monte, 4-3.
Hoover hit the ball hard against Bob Thorpe and Rick Flore–centerfielder Dave Moss collected 10 fly ball putouts–but couldn’t put enough hits together.
Shorttstop Richie Johnson, who scored the Cavers’ first run, was named the tournament’s outstanding player.
4/1/52
Three City Prep League teams scored a combined 36 runs.
La Jolla won its third straight, 12-3, over Kearny as Tom Tomaiko homered and doubled twice and Dick Corrick and Eddie Olsen contributed two hits, and the Vikings drove Kearny ace Jack Osborne from the mound.
—Strange line scores:
Point Loma committed six errors and mustered only five hits but beat Grossmont, 13-7. Grossmont had eight hits and five errors.
—Hoover’s Boice Brooks set Helix down on two hits and doubled in a run in the Cardinals’ 11-1 triumph.
—Fred Armer was 3 for 4 and drove in three runs with a third-inning home run and Chula Vista was a rude host to Escondido 7-1, in the Metropolitan League’s feature game.
4/2/52
The Metropolitan loop stuck it to city foes when Chula Vista beat Hoover, 4-1, behind Bob West’s two-run double and Sweetwater outlasted St. Augustine, 8-6.
4/3/52
Rain, which fell more than 18 inches in the 1951-52 calendar year, took a holiday, but unseasonable fog made a surreal afternoon presence in Encinitas, where Chula Vista moved into first place in the Metropolitan League with a 7-4 victory over San Dieguito in a game that was called after six innings.
Chula Vista’s Al Aleman maneuvered through the shroud and found third base with a third-inning, three-run triple, key hit in the game.
—The winning Spartans (3-0) got a boost when Greasy Bob Ganger’s Mar Vista Mariners surprised unbeaten Sweetwater, 3-2
—Oceanside, up the road a few miles, escaped the fog when it went inland to Escondido and took an 8-3 loss.
Escondido first baseman Stan Nichols went 4 for 4 and Cougars pitcher Ray Garcia scattered four hits.
4/4/52
San Diego High, 19-0 and cruising, visited the Linda Vista-residing Kearny Komets and were surprised, 6-2, as Jack Osborne held the Cavemen to four hits.
“Big” Osborne, as described by writer Gene Earl, struck out 10, tripled twice and singled, pinning Bob Borovicka with his first loss of the season.
Borovicka homered but so did Danny Baker and Dick Bates for the Komets, who also were backed by strong defensive play from Ollie Harris and Joe McNamara.
—After a one-year hiatus, CPL schools were back in the Pomona 20-30 Club tournament, which began in 1933 and which San Diego High had won seven times.
San Diego, Kearny, Grossmont, La Jolla, and Point Loma represented the “Border Town”, an unflattering cognomen often used by sportswriters north of the County line.
Chula Vista and Escondido of the Metropolitan League also were in the 32-team field.
4/7/52
San Diego teams were 4-3 in the first round of the Pomona tournament. Games were official after five innings.
John Harper doubled in two runs in a five-run first inning as San Diego knocked defending champion Santa Ana into the consolation bracket, 5-2.
La Jolla defeated Blythe Palo Verde Valley, 7-4. Kearny, boosted by a Dick Bates home run, topped Lynwood, 6-3. Grossmont erupted for six runs in the second inning and outscored Bonita, 10-7.
Downey muzzled Chula Vista. Santa Barbara beat Point Loma, and Pomona topped Escondido, 7-3.
4/8/52
An odd and infuriating moment in the seventh inning that had Kearny coach Jim Bass talking to himself or anyone who would listen led to Kearny’s 4-1 loss in 11 innings to Norwalk Excelsior.
As the home team, a Kearny score would have won the game.
Tied, 1-1, the Komets’ Chuck Taylor slugged a drive that went over the centerfielder’s head, but a young fan suddenly ran on the field and pocketed the ball.
Officials ruled Taylor’s drive a triple and sent the Komets’ player back to third base, where Taylor died as an outfield fly ended the inning.
—Bob Borovicka struck out 11 batters in and drove in the tie-breaking run in San Diego’s 4-1 win over South Pasadena.
—Gene Rosen of Fullerton pitched a no-hitter and eliminated La Jolla, 2-1. Newport Beach Newport Harbor defeated Grossmont, 5-2.
—Point Loma and Escondido moved in the consolation bracket, the Pointers beating Chula Vista, 7-4, and Escondido sending Covina home, 2-1.
4/9/52
San Diego won a doubleheader in the quarter and semifinals, 10-0 over Fullerton and 5-2 over Azusa Citrus to gain the championship round against Ontario Chaffey.
Bob Thorpe won the morning game with a no-hit pitching performance and added a triple and two-run single.
Bob Borovicka beat Citrus, allowing two hits and striking out seven.
—Darkness called the Point Loma-Bonita consolation contest after 12 innings and a 3-3 tie. The game was to resume the next day in sudden death.
–Anaheim removed Escondido, 10-4 in the consolation quarterfinals. Point Loma advanced to the consolation semifinals with a 4-1 win over Antelope Valley.
4/10/52
Heavy rain washed out play and the three San Diego teams remaining would have to wait until April 12 as tournament officials decided not to play on April 11 Good Friday.
4/12/52
Bob Thorpe struck out 15 Ontario Chaffey batters and scattered five hits over nine innings as San Diego defeated the Tigers, 10-1, for its eighth championship in the 17 years in which the event was played and the final years the Cavers participated.
Thorpe would have had a shutout, but leading, 8-0, the Cavers opted for a double play, allowing a Chaffey runner to score from third base.
Jim Harper hit a three-run home run that followed a walk to Eddie Boyle and single by Rudy Venzor.
—Point Loma made it a clean sweep for San Diego by beating Santa Ana, 11-1, for the consolation championship after defeating Bonita, 14-4, in a morning contest.
4/15/52
San Diego’s Bob Thorpe singled twice and doubled and one-hit Hoover, 4-1, allowing only pitcher Bob Schaubel’s first-inning single.
—Tom Tomaiko stole home in the 12th inning with what proved to be the winning run in La Jolla’s 7-5 win at Point Loma.
—Helix erupted against big brother Grossmont, 15-1, as former Foothiller Noel Mickelsen allowed three hits.
—Chula Vista mustered only three hits but six Sweetwater errors propelled the Spartans to a 5-2 Metropolitan League win.
—Erwin Hedstrom had three hits, including a triple and home run, and Jim Oxley homered and drove in four runs in Oceanside’s 13-2 win over San Dieguito.
—Escondido got up early and made a 40-mile jog to Imperial Beach for a morning game and 6-4 loss to Mar vista.
4/17/52
Point Loma’s Bitty Martin lost a 1-0 duel at San Diego when he wild-pitched in the game’s only run in the eighth inning.
San Diego’s Bob Borovicka stopped the Pointers on two hits and collected the Cavers’ only two hits.
San Diego stayed one game in front of the CPL pack after Kearny, an earlier winner over the Cavemen, dropped a 6-4 decision to visiting Hoover.
4/22/52
La Jolla, 0-2 at the start of the CPL season, won its seventh straight, 14-2, at Helix and moved to within a half-game of league-leading San Diego.
Eddie Olsen, Dick Corrick, Tom Tomaiko, and Bernie Elms each had two hits, buttressed by Art Weber, who scattered eight hits over nine innings and homered.
—Chuck Taylor singled twice and doubled, and Jack Osborne struck out 10 and allowed five hits as Kearny won at Point Loma, 5-3.
—Hoover took batting practice, with 15 hits in a six-inning, 10-0 win over St. Augustine.
—Kenny Agular stopped Ramona on two hits and the Fallbrook enjoyed a 14-0 romp over the visiting Bulldogs.
—Chula Vista hammered Oceanside, 12-4, as Lavon Baker homered and drove in three runs; the RBI matched by Bob Souza, who singled twice.
4/26/52
San Diego had to battle before moving past first-year Helix, 6-5, on the Highlanders’ diamond.
Dave Moss singed twice and knocked in two runs and Bob Thorpe got the nod over Noel Mickelsen.
4/30/52
La Jolla won its sixth straight and moved to 8-2 in the City Prep League as Art Weber outpitched Bob Thorpe and the Vikings crept to within a half game of the Hillers (9-2) with a 2-0 victory at La Jolla.
Eddie Olsen’s single and a San Diego error resulted in runs in the sixth and eighth innings against the Cavers’ Bob Thorpe, who allowed only two hits. Art Weber went the distance for the Vikings, giving up four hits.
5/3/52
Kearny (6-3) clung to championship hopes in the CPL with a 10-3 victory over La Jolla (8-3), on the Komets’ diamond. Danny Baker and Chuck Taylor each hit two-run home runs. San Diego (9-2) was idle.
5/5/52
San Diego (10-2) finally clinched the CPL title with a ninth-inning, come-from-behind, 7-6 win over Kearny (6-4). La Jolla (9-3) clinched second place, 9-8 over Hoover.
Kearny scored two runs in the top of the ninth at San Diego to take a 5-3 lead.
Scott Armitage singled in Rudy Venzor with the winning run in the Cavers’ rally, which started with a home run over the centerfield fence by Bob Borovicka, leading off the bottom half of the inning.
Bob Thorpe’s double and singles by Venzor and Eddie Boyle preceded Armitage’s clutch safety.
Kearny still had two games to play and won out to finish 8-4, followed by Hoover (6-6), Helix and Point Loma each 4-8, and Grossmont (1-11).
MIGHTY FALL
Grossmont, which lost several future stars, including pitcher Noel Mickelsen and catcher Ernie Merk, as enrollment boundaries favored Helix when the La Mesa school opened in September.
How significant were those player losses? Grossmont had won the CIF major championship in 1951.
5/14/52
The four-way tie for first place in the Metropolitan League necessitated two rounds of postseason games to determine the league’s representative in the CIF Minor Division playoffs.
Oceanside defeated Chula Vista, 6-5, on only four hits but aided by seven Chula Vista errors. Sweetwater collected 14 hits and eliminated Mar Vista, 8-5.
5/15/52
Sweetwater won the Metro playoffs, 11-3 over Oceanside at Vista. Officially there were four co-champions.
Warming up before the CIF Southern Section playoffs, San Diego walloped Miramar Naval Station, 22-2, as Bob Borovicka struck out 16 batters and had six hits in seven times at bat.
Borovicka’s day included the cycle and half of another: two singles, two doubles, a triple, and home run.
5/22/52
San Diego took a 10-0 lead in the first four innings and beat Fullerton for the third time, 13-3, in the playoff quarterfinals.
Bob Borovicka contributed his usual three hits, two triples and a single, and Bob Thorpe scattered six hits over nine innings and struck out 11.
5/23/52
The Hillers defeated 22-2 Ontario Chaffey, their semifinals opponent, 3-2, for the second time when Tigers pitcher Arlen Downs walked San Diego’s Dave Moss with the bases loaded in the eleventh inning.
Pitcher Bob Borovicka, who scored the winning run, scattered 10 hits and shut out the Tigers the final six innings before a crowd of 300 at Lane Field.
5/25/52
Sweetwater took a 3-2 lead into the ninth inning but Thermal Coachella rallied for three runs and a 5-3 victory. Don Bailey had three hits for the Red Devils.
5/31/52
Eddie Boyle’s two-run home run in the seventh inning broke open a tight game and gave San Diego a 6-3 lead in the championship at Santa Barbara.
Rudy Venzor and Scott Armitage each had three hits in a 17-hit attack and the Cavers pulled away to a 10-3 victory.
Bob Thorpe went the distance for the victory.
I have got to hear about the “flu epidemic” 1957 high school football season in San Diego. Boy what a comparison to now would that be?
Go to the blog home page and search (box in upper right corner) 1957. Then scroll to “Different Kind of Opponent” Eerily familiar, I think.
Thanks to Google, it appears that both Thorpe and Borovicka were signed to professional contracts after that season with Chicago (NL) and Cleveland respectively. I did see that Thorpe developed elbow problems within five years (and tragically died in an electrical accident working on a power line in San Diego). He had a couple of very successful seasons for Stockton in Class C. No mention of why Broovicka’s career was short but one might consider how many innings each pitched as prep stars.
Keep the baseball posts coming!!!
Thorpe married a girl from Lincoln, which I attended. He did make it up to Triple-A for awhile with the L.A. Angels. Borovicka played only a year or so. I believe Cassie was known for going to his wheel horses, getting as much as he could out of his starters. Thanks for reading, Alan.
Bill Row was on that 1952 SDHS team. He lived across the street from me. He and Jimmy Gilchrist would play strike out in his back yard. They needed a catcher so I was selected. I was 8 years old and lucky I got older because Jimmy swung the bat and hit me in the back of the head. That ended my catching career.
Well, you turned out the be a pretty good basketball player. Gilchrist became a very good basketball game official.