Bill Sandback, a transplanted Minnesota hockey player who came West in 1960 and spent a year teaching at Memorial Junior High before becoming coach at Crawford in 1961, was building a dynasty.
The Colts won their third San Diego Section championship in the last four seasons and eventually were named state team of the year by the Cal-Hi Sports newsletter.
We’re not sure when the newsletter anointed Crawford but it had listed state No. 1 teams as far back as 1899.
Sandback, in retirement and enjoying Friday breakfasts with friends at the D.Z. Akins restaurant in San Diego’s college area, was unaware of the honor until we brought a Cal-High Sports record book to one of the weekly repasts.
“Hey, let me see that,” said the affable coach who left Crawford at the end of the decade and became head coach at Mesa College.
Crawford’s 22-4 record included a 15-0 season for pitcher Bob Boone, who went on to a long career as player, manager, and front-office administrator in major league baseball.
Boone was one of several future professionals and big-leaguers this season, including San Diego pitcher Brent Strom, who still was working as pitching coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2024.
2/18/65
Mount Miguel got one hit, Jim Colesanta’s two-run home run in the first inning, and made that hit stand up in a 4-1 victory over Hilltop.
2/26/65
San Diego, a 6-2 loser to La Jolla in its first game, lost again, 16-6, to visiting Madison despite the Cavers’ Doug Hunt swinging a 4-for-4 bat.
Explanation: Coach Bernie Flaherty was waiting for Chris Johnson, Brent Strom, Clarence Calvin, Alex Dantzler, and John Meiers, still involved in the Cavers’ basketball team pursuit of a San Diego Section championship.
3/2/65
Ken Henderson hit grand slam home runs in the first and second innings and Crawford walloped Point Loma, 14-0, in a rematch of the 1964 San Diego Section championship game, a 4-3 win for the Colts in eight innings.
“This team comes to play,” said Crawford coach Bill Sandback to Harlon Bartlett of the Evening Tribune. “The team with the fewest mental errors and hustle will win our league.”
–St. Augustine’s Steve Christopher allowed one hit and outdueled Bernard Linn and Grossmont, 3-1.
3/5/65
Home runs by Billy Bolden and Fred Childs were the difference in Kearny’s 4-0 win over visiting Inglewood Morningside.
–Davey Davis’ three-run home run in the top of the seventh inning turned a 5-3 loss into a 6-5 win for Castle Park against Granite Hills.
–Pitcher Al Salvatierra and catcher Tommy Garrett hit home runs and Lincoln cruised, 12-2, as host Chula Vista committed 11 errors.
–Junior Morton struck out 12, allowed 4 hits, and socked a two-run home run in San Marcos’ 5-4 win over San Dieguito.
3/9/65
Hoover’s Six-foot, four-inch Lloyd Hutchinson hit two, 360-foot home runs and 6-7 pitcher Kenny Bangsburg hit a three-run home run and hurled a 9-5 win over Kearny.
–Dennis Maley and Doug Hunt had three hits each, Louie Panza homered, and San Diego’s 17-hit attack clobbered El Capitan, 16-2.
—Mike Adamson struck out 14 and Point Loma blanked Chula Vista, 2-0.
—Bob Forrester had five hits in Monte Vista’s 5-2 win over Morse. Charlie Duke hit a grand slam home run in University’s 5-2 win over Marian, and the Sweetwater battery of Victor Gallardo and Jimmy Melillo also went deep in a 4-2 win over Grossmont.
3/12/65
Lefthander Joe Verdon gave up four hits and, aided by catcher Greg Ewald’s two-run single in the sixth inning, beat San Diego, 4-2, in an Eastern League opener.
–Helix nipped Chula Vista, 1-0, in nine innings when Jim Coddington singled and scored on an outfield error.
–Mission Bay’s Don Bair struck out 13 and stopped Clairemont on four hits, 4-2.
–Point Loma, which had scored 8 runs in an 0-4 start, erupted in a Western League opener, 15-1 over La Jolla.
Paul Ehrich gave the Vikings four hits and Roger Esty and Dave Johnson hit home runs.
–Bob Boone’s three-run home run in the first inning was too much for Lincoln in Crawford’s 5-1, Eastern League opener with the guest Hornets.
–Leroy Acebedo homered for Poway’s only hit in the fifth inning, which tied the game, 2-2, and four consecutive walks in the seventh gave the Titans a 3-2, Palomar League win over Carlsbad.
–George Lawton’s three-run home run and Junior Morton’s three-hit pitching was the difference in San Marcos’ 6-0 win over Marian.
–A.J. Moore, Bob Beckman, and Greg Timms had three hits each, George Zorn got 12 Vista Panthers on strikes and gave up three hits in University’s 4-0 win.
3/16/65
Mike Adamson was brilliant, shutting out Mission Bay on three hits for eight innings, but Joel Skinner, with relief in the ninth inning, combined on a no-hitter with Don Bair in Mission Bay’s 1-0 victory.
—San Diego had suffered two of its three losses while awaiting players from the playoff-winning basketball team.
The Cavers evened their Eastern League record with a 3-1 win over Crawford as Brent Strom checked the host Colts on four hits, Chris Johnson doubled home the game’s deciding runs, and Clarence Calvin hit a home run.
3/19/65
Monte Vista raked El Cajon Valley pitchers for four home runs in a 17-7 win. Jeff McCombs drove in eight runs with two homers and Dan Roberson and Rick McGuffin each added another.
–Helix played its first-ever night game at home against Sweetwater, but the Red Devils’ Terry Williams spoiled the evening with a one-hit, 1-0 shutout.
–Bob Boone hit a home run and gave up two hits as Crawford beat Hoover, 10-1.
3/23/65
A six-run second inning was more than enough as Monte Vista took the Grossmont League lead, 6-0 over Grossmont, which entered the game tied with the Monarchs with a 2-0 record.
Bob Forrester allowed three hits and retired the last 10 Grossmont batters.
–Robbie Childs tripled in three runs in the first inning to halt a Mission Bay pitching run of 16 straight scoreless innings.
Childs and Dusty Quick, who tripled in two runs in the fourth inning, combined for six hits and seven runs batted in as the Vikings won the Western League game, 8-3.
3/26/65
Vista batters struck three home runs, a triple, two doubles, and a total of 13 hits but trailed until a Hank Tenney home run tied the score at seven in the seventh inning.
Two of the Panthers’ six errors, however, led to a fourth unearned run and 8-7 victory for University at Beeson Field. The Dons (5-1) took over first place in the Avocado League.
–Brandt Crocker tripled in a run in the sixth inning, hit a three-run homer in the seventh, and Madison knocked Mission Bay out of a tie for first place in the Western loop, 4-3.
3/30/65
Helix’ Dave Elstrom checked Monte Vista on three hits and the Highlanders became the first Grossmont League team in five games to defeat Monte Vista, 9-2.
Football quarterback-outfielder Barry Bronk tripled and hit two singles in three times at bat.
–Paul Ehrich, with Mike Adamson coming on in the seventh, combined on a one-hit, 12-inning, 1-0 victory over La Jolla.
The Pointers’ aces struck out 17, allowing only a seventh-inning single by Dusty Quick. The Vikings’ Jeff McCoy went all the way, losing on Bill Settle’s single that scored Randy Peterson in the 12th.
4/3/65
Rain washed out 16 of 21 games and Crawford’s 9-3 win at the San Diego “swamp,” so described by writer Harlon Bartlett, was the only Eastern League game.
Bob Boone, Jimmy Nettles, and Bob Petretta each had three hits, and Frank Jenkins hit a two-run home run that landed on the adjacent Crosstown, I-5 Freeway, according to Bartlett.
–Chula Vista shaded Mar Vista, 2-1, in eight innings to tie for first place in the Metropolitan League with Hilltop.
–Kearny and Point Loma were tied for first in the Western League after the Komets beat Clairemont, 6-3, and Mission Bay topped Point Loma, 5-2.
4/6/65
Vista’s Matt Taylor (6-0), with help from Tom Heckendorn’s grand slam home run, tamed Fallbrook, 11-1.
–Dirk Van Dyke’s two-hitter stopped Sweetwater, 3-1, as Hilltop held on to its league lead. Tony Pisciotta pitched a three-hitter and San Diego squeezed St. Augustine, 3-1.
–Poway beat Army-Navy, 1-0, in a battle of two-hitters by the Titans Leroy Acebedo and the Warriors’ Dean Werner.
–Crawford’s Bob Boone hurled a two-hitter and the Colts edged Hoover, 1-0.
4/9/65
Two of 20 scheduled games were played, meaning four of the 40 squads in the San Diego Section braved gale winds and rain.
Mission Bay moved into the Western League lead with a 4-2 win over La Jolla and El Cajon Valley scored a come-from-behind, 4-3 win over Grossmont.
Coach Harry Elliott’s El Cajon Valley Braves are one of the few teams yet to be rained out.
“I’m glad to get these games in,” said Elliott. “I’m trying to rotate a one-man pitching staff, you know”, referring to ace Larry Haggard. “This way our games won’t be bunched up at the end of the year.”
–As the teams broke for the Lions Tournament, 36 games had been rained out since the season began.
4/12/65
Avocado and Palomar League squads participated in the eight-team, first annual North County Lions Tournament.
San Dieguito’s Rich Zinniger struck out 20 batters and the Mustangs beat Vista, 2-1. Oceanside’s George Hinds struck out 14 in a 3-0 win over Poway.
Carlsbad decisioned Fallbrook, 4-1, and San Marcos had a bye.
4/13/65
San Dieguito gained finals of the Lions’ North County tournament, 5-0 over San Marcos and Oceanside beat Carlsbad, 10-2, in the other semifinal.
4/20/65
Madison’s Guy Spencer, backed by strong hitting from Greg Gunter, Brandt Crocker, and Dan Whitworth, pitched a no-hit, 5-0 victory over Mission Bay that knocked the Buccaneers out of the Western League lead.
–University’s George Zorn struck out 13 and turned in the day’s second no-hitter, 4-0, over Vista. The victory was the Dons’ eighth in a row.
–Jimmy Nettles’ run-scoring single in the last of the seventh inning gave Crawford’s Bob Boone a 2-1 victory over St. Augustine’s Steve Christopher.
–El Cajon Valley scored 10 runs in the first inning without hitting the ball out of the infield and took over first place in the Grossmont League with a 12-3 rout of Monte Vista.
Monarchs pitchers walked 14 batters and hit one. The Braves’ Ralph Hayes walked six consecutive times in the seven innings.
4/21/65
Mike Adamson struck out 17 and pitched Point Loma into the Western League lead, 5-1 over Kearny.
–Jimmy Nettles homered and added three singles in four times up as Crawford drubbed Morse, 10-2.
4/23/65
Brent Strom struck out 14 and gave up two hits in San Diego’s 3-2 win over Hoover. Clarence Calvin’s single with two strikes and two outs in the seventh scored two runs for the victory.
The Cavers moved to 6-3 in the Eastern League and Hoover fell to 5-4.
–Ron Pietila’s three-hitter and 1-0 win over Hilltop kept Sweetwater in the hunt in the Metropolitan League.
4/27/65
Crawford (10-2) took a 2 ½-game lead with three to play in the Eastern League, 11-5 over San Diego (7-4).
Bob Boone pitched the first five innings for the Colts, who scored seven runs in the first two innings, and won his 11th game against no losses,
–El Cajon Valley wrapped a tie (up 2 games with 2 to play) for the Grossmont League crown, 1-0 over Helix on Ralph Hayes’ home run over he leftfield wall at Wells Park in the fifth inning.
4/30/65
Crawford (11-2) clinched the Eastern League championship, 3-2, over visiting Hoover.
The Colts’ Gary Shourds pitched a four-hitter and his home run in the fifth inning was the difference. At the end of the day Crawford had a 2 ½-game lead with two to play.
–San Diego clinched a tie for second place and the league’s other playoff berth, 7-3 over St. Augustine.
–El Cajon Valley (8-3) lost a chance to claim the Grossmont league title when El Capitan (2-7) battled to a 9-8 win in eight innings.
–Escondido atoned for an earlier, 25-0 whipping by edging Mount Miguel, 6-5. Lincoln blasted Morse, 20-8.
5/4/65
Sweetwater (7-3) moved into a first-place tie with Hilltop in the Metropolitan League when Ron Pietila singled and Jim Finnerty homered inside the park to back Victor Gallardo’s four-hit pitching in a 2-0 win over Castle Park.
–Point Loma and Mission Bay, each 10-4, remained tied for first in the Western League.
Mike Adamson struck out 13 and beat Kearny’s Mike Sigman, 1-0, in a battle of one-hit pitchers.
Don Bair of Mission Bay hurled a two-hitter and Craig Sisson drove in both runs in a 2-0 win over La Jolla.
5/7/65
Crawford coach Bill Sandback had confidence that Centerfielder Jimmy Nettles could step in, so the Colts’ mentor gave ace Bob Boone a day off from pitching duties. Nettles took the ball and responded with a no-hitter in a 5-0 win over St. Augustine
Nettles struck out nine and walked four and got 10-hit support, including two each from Bob Petretta and Bob Boone.
–Point Loma beat Clairemont, 5-0, and Mission Bay lost to Clairemont, 6-5, to give the Pointers the Western League championship.
–Sweetwater (8-4) backed into the Metropolitan loop title, losing to Mar Vista 5-4, while Chula Vista (7-4-1) edged Hilltop (7-5) for second place.
Back-to-back home runs by Steve King and Greg Mattinson in the seventh inning gave Grossmont (10-3) a 4-3 win over Helix and a share of the Grossmont circuit title.
El Cajon Valley saved a tie with the Foothillers by beating Mount Miguel, 7-3.
–A telephonic vote resulted in Grossmont’s being selected for the Grossmont League’s No. 1 playoff seeding.
5/11/65
Vista clinched a tie for the Avocado League championship and Poway matched that in the Palomar League.
The 12-2 Panthers’ Matt Taylor improved his record to 10-1 and maintained an earned-run average of 0.61 in the 8-1 win over San Dieguito which included a home run by Tom Heckendorn.
Poway beat San Marcos, 14-8, as Jim Quiring had four hits, including a home run and double, and drove in four runs.
CLASS AA PLAYOFFS
5/14/65
The eight-team first round went to Eastern and Grossmont League teams.
San Diego’s Brent Strom outdueled Point Loma (16-9) and Mike Adamson, 1-0. Strom struck out 13 and gave up one hit, while Adamson kept the Cavers hitless until he was forced to retire with a blister on his finger in the sixth inning.
Paul Ehrich, who had eliminated the Cavers in the 1964 playoffs, retired two batters in the sixth after relieving Adamson, but the Cavers got go him in the top of the seventh. Doug Hunt hit a leadoff single, moved up on a ground out by Clarence Calvin and fly ball out by John Meiers, and came home on Dennis Maley’s single.
–Crawford’s Bob Boone yielded only a sixth-inning single to Ron Houston in defeating Mission Bay (12-11), 10-2, and despite five Colts errors.
–A two-run triple by Larry Haggard carried El Cajon Valley past Sweetwater (14-9), 4-2. Haggard scattered three hits including a home run by Jimmy Melillo. Ralph Hayes supported Haggard with a home run and triple.
–Home runs by Greg Mattinson and Ralph Naisif were part of a 10-hit Grossmont attack that eliminated Chula Vista (11-11), 13-2.
5/18/65
Crawford’s Bob Boone won his 14th consecutive game without loss, struck out 10 and shut down Grossmont (13-12), 8-3, in the semifinals.
Grossmont was generous: Three errors, seven walks, a passed ball, and one hit-by-pitcher.
Frank Alfano homered and Frank Jenkins and Paul Kaufman each had two hits for the Colts.
–San Diego’s five-run burst in the sixth inning on run-scoring singles by Mike Marrs and Steve Shepherd and a two-run double by John Meiers pushed the Cavers past El Cajon Valley (17-7), 7-6.
Cavers reliever Brent Strom shut down the Braves in the sixth and seventh innings.
–Matt Taylor ran his record to 11-1 and visiting Vista ousted San Miguel School, 10-0, in the Class A playoffs.
The Panthers collected 15 singles and one extra base hit. Terry O’Dell was 5 for 5.
5/21/65
AA CHAMPIONSHIP
Crawford (22-4) made it three championships in four years, burying San Diego (19-8), 15-3, at the Marine Corps Depot Beeson Field.
Bob Boone (15-0), making his third start in a week, allowed four hits and the Colts responded with 14, including three-run home runs by Boone, Frank Jenkins, and Greg Werdick.
1-A CHAMPIONSHIP
Tom Heckendorn (9-3) pitched Vista (20-4) to the title, 2-1 over Poway (15-7), which had won in 1962 and ’63, at Palomar College.
Heckendorn gave up three hits, struck out nine and provided a game-winning two-run triple in the fifth inning after the Titans had taken a 1-0 lead in the top of the inning.
I believe the 65 team is the only ECV team to ever win a league championship.
I don’t know the answer to that observation, but I wouldn’t be surprised. The Braves have been playing baseball since the school opened in 1956 against lots of talent and lots of good teams in the Grossmont League and various incarnations.
There were a lot of very good baseball teams that season. I tried to attend as many of the Point Loma games as possible and well remember the away game at Kearny. Every time Mike Adamson pitched you could count on major league scouts being there and this was no exception. As Rick notes, Adamson struck out 17 but I don’t think there was a ball hit into play until the fourth inning by a Kearny batter, Adamson was so over powering that day.
He ended up being drafted by Philadelphia in the first round that year but went to USC on a baseball scholarship. After his second year at there he was drafted and signed with Baltimore. I think arm problems ended his career and he only had a few games in the majors.
Alan, check out the the photo I added to the Lions Tournament story. And thanks for your observations.