Hoover’s 25-2 record and second consecutive San Diego Section Class AA championship did not reflect a season-long struggle to stay ahead of the Eastern League posse.

Back-to-back league losses for the first time since 1957-58 and top-to-bottom league challenges, including one from rising Crawford, tested the Cardinals’ mettle.

Coach Charlie Hampton’s team showed its grit, rebounding in tough games down the stretch, led by a fiery guard and floor leader, Rick Potter.

A 50-49, overtime victory over San Diego before 1,800 persons at Cal Western University’s new, Golden Gym, including one girl on the San Diego side who fainted during the frenzied final moments,  would mark the last championship in Hampton’s career.

Hampton would coach the Cardinals one more season before becoming head coach at San Diego City College, leaving behind six league championships and three ties for second in his 11 years.

Hoover started the season with 14 consecutive wins, including 51-41 over Grossmont, thought by many to be the Cardinals’ most imposing threat.

The Redbirds defeated San Diego, 62-49, in the Kiwanis Tournament Unlimited Division final but were upset in Eastern League play by Crawford, 43-34 (the Colts’ first win in against their neighborhood rivals since the school opened in 1957), and then lost at San Diego, 57-54.

San Diego’s win exhausted a San Diego standing room crowd of 1,600, which nervously watched a back-and-forth game that was tied 16 times.

Elburt Miller scored 10 of his 20 points in the third quarter and Graig Nettles eight of his 15 in the final quarter as the Cavers, trailing, 48-43, moved ahead, 55-52, and held on.

San Diego, at 3-0, held a 1½-game edge on the Cardinals, 2-2.  Hampton considered the prospect of running the table in the final 4 league games.  “It’s possible, but not probable,” he said.

The Cardinals won their last 11, including a last-second, overtime, 56-55 battle at Crawford (15-7), a return match with San Diego, and a 38-36 close shave with Chula Vista (17-7) in the playoffs.

CAVERS CAVE

The Cavers were 19-8, with five of their defeats by no more than two points. A late, regular-season, 37-33 loss at Hoover was the most galling, especially to guard Graig Nettles.

An all-Southern California second-team selection and future 21-year player in the major leagues, many with championship New York Yankees clubs and the San Diego Padres’ 1984 World Series participants, Nettles had the worst night of his career.

The 6-foot guard, who launched jump shots from beyond the future three-point arc, was zero for 19 from the field.

After the final buzzer and in frustration, Nettles drew aim one more time.  He fired a shot that appeared to be going through the hoop, but rolled around and out.

“Zip, zero, nada?” smirked a colleague of mine in the Evening Tribune sports department.

“Nettles was colder than last week’s potatoes,” noted Chuck Sawyer in The San Diego Union,

ZEBRAS HEAR IT

San Diego coach Bill Standly held his tongue after the Cavers dropped a 72-70 decision to St. Augustine (“We played lousy defense in the first half, but there were some things going on out there I’d rather not talk about”) but Standly went Code Red after a 70-69 loss at Crawford.

“I may get a bad name with the officials over this, but they choked; they blew that ball game for us,” said Standly, referring to referees Jerry Tooze and Bert Nichols.  “Officials don’t (usually) beat you in this game, but they beat us tonight.”

The Cavers led, 69-66, when Crawford’s Paul Janicki drained a long looper from the side with 39 seconds left.   Ron Kroepel followed with a steal, was fouled, and converted two free throws for a 70-69 Colts advantage.

San Diego’s Elburt Miller drove down the middle of the court and crashed into Crawford’s Dick Woodson.  Miller was called for “progress”, charging in more conventional nomenclature.

Crawford took possession and stalled the last 16 seconds. Standly paced and raged inside the Cavers’ dressing room that Woodson should have been cited for a blocking foul.

CANDID COACHES

Point Loma coach John Early led the Pointers to a tie for the Western League title, sweeping favored Clairemont, 35-32, and 49-44. The Pointers actually made it three in a row, including a 39-33 victory over the Chieftains in the Kiwanis Tournament consolation finals.

“Eiler can’t beat me,” the outspoken Early announced before the regular-season finale.

Early was more comfortable in a rumpled suit than the button-downed, upwardly mobile Clairemont mentor Dick Eiler, who brought attention to himself by periodically chugging from a quart of milk positioned next to Eiler’s seat at home games.

“There never was a doubt in my mind,” Early said amid the Pointers’ five-point-victory celebration  on the Chieftains’ floor.  “I’ll beat him every time.  He fools around with his defense too much.”

Early said Eiler employed a man-to-man defense, 2-1-2 zone, and a 1-3-1 zone “and we still scored 24 points on layups and stuff under the basket.”

Early, who played football at St. Augustine in the ‘forties and at San Diego State in the early ‘fifties, had a final zinger.

“Also, you may put this in print:  I told that referee (Arch Dugan) that if he was going to let Eiler call the game for him, why didn’t he wear Eiler’s shirt?

PRINCIPAL NOT AMUSED

Early was referring to a goal tending call on his 6-foot, 5-inch center Joe Soares at the end of the third period.

“They had a little too much size for us, with Soares and (Glen) Willardson,” said Eiler. ”I hope Point Loma does well in the playoffs.”

Both teams, tied in the league with La Jolla, each with a 5-3 record, were voted into the postseason.

Early, meanwhile, was called on the carpet by principal Don Giddings, who took a dim view of the coach’s remarks.

HIGHLANDERS’ COACH RIPS

Helix’ Bob Speidel, after his team made 6 of 51 shots from the field for 12 per cent in a 58-20 loss to Grossmont, also was not at a loss for words.

“If we had really fought and got beat by 30 points we could hold our heads high, but we were scared,” Speidel said to Roger Conlee of the Evening Tribune.  “We choked.  We talked ourselves out of our shots.”

FOOTHILLERS THE BEST?

“When we play up to our capabilities we’re the best team in the area,” Grossmont coach Locke Olson told Conlee at the season’s midpoint.

“We could be head and shoulders above all of ‘em,” said Olson.  “We just clutched up against Hoover and San Diego,” referring to two December losses.

Olson said Grossmont’s problem was at the guard position.  “If we had a backcourt man like Rick Potter at Hoover, we’d be extremely tough.”

The Foothillers rolled with Dick Baker, a 6-foot, 7-inch center with a nice touch around the rim.

“Richard just wipes off the boards,” Olson said.  “When he’s working we really go.  When he loafs, the team can’t do a thing.”

Grossmont averaged 71 points a game in a 12-0 Grossmont League campaign.

ARE WE BACK?

Convinced they were relevant again after seasons of 10-12, 9-10, and 4-17 following the departure of Tom Shaules and Sammy Owens after the 1957-58 season, St. Augustine, off to a 4-1 start, held its first basketball rally in several years.

“We just hope the student body and team can keep their heads,” first-year head coach Hal Mitrovich said on the eve of the Saints’ Eastern League opener at Hoover.

The Cardinals defeated the Saints, 48-47, in overtime to move to 11-0.  “I’d rather be good, but I’m glad to be lucky,” said Coach Charlie Hampton.

THAT KIND OF GAME

“Hoover Edges Lincoln But Was It Basketball?” That was the headline the day after in the Evening Tribune.

A sloppy, physical, 48-43 win at Lincoln (10-12) saw a Hoover player, Jim Surber, sustain the team’s first technical foul since 1956, although Lincoln was whistled for 25 fouls to the Cardinals’ 12.

Ever diplomatic, Charlie Hampton observed that “they upset us and I guess that’s what made us play their game.”

Lincoln coach Warren Barritt, a football coach by trade, predicted that 48 points would win the game and used 11 players.

“We outplayed them; we outscrapped them,” said Barritt.  “We platooned, because we thought it would run ‘em out, and I think we succeeded there.  They aren’t invincible.”

A small group of Hoover supporters jeered so loudly at one point in the game that Lincoln’s Mickey McFarlin walked off the free throw line three times before shooting.

DECEMBER SOUTH VS. NORTH

San Diego lost at Inglewood Morningside, 46-45, but won at Inglewood, 58-46.  Point Loma won at Inglewood, 50-49, and at Morningside, 51-37.

Hoover defeated visiting Burbank Burroughs, 46-34, and Glendale Hoover, 55-53, in overtime.  Glendale Hoover topped San Diego, 69-59, and San Diego beat Burroughs, 62-48.

Grossmont beat Redlands, 59-51.

EARLY-SEASON TELL?

Hoover beat Hilltop, 64-57, and Grossmont, 51-41.  After Grossmont slapped Hilltop, 70-47, Lancers coach Paul Pruett said of Locke Olson’s Foothillers:  “Grossmont’s as good as Hoover.  They have better material.”

Hoover and Grossmont were in different brackets at playoff time, with most experts seeing them in the finals, but San Diego, which edged Grossmont, 50-44, in the Kiwanis Tournament, repeated against the La Mesa squad, 65-62, in the semifinals as Graig Nettles scored a career-high 29 points, offsetting 30 by Grossmont’s Dick Baker.

Grossmont’s 22-3 season was the best since Ralph Chaplin’s 1946-47 team was 15-2.

POINTS

Unofficial leading scorers, based on total points (games played may not be accurate and leading scorers from small school leagues were not always covered):

ONE-GAME BESTS

Point Loma’s Joe Soares scored a school-record 41 points, within one of the record St. Augustine’s Jacob Crawford set in the 1959 Kiwanis Tournament, as the Pointers defeated El Cajon Valley, 86-36.

Point Loma and Grossmont, which slammed El Capitan, 86-42, in a Grossmont League game, shared single-game team highs for the season.

BACK-HANDED COMPLIMENT

Point Loma defeated La Jolla, 47-35, although Joe Soares didn’t score until late in the first half, had four fouls at halftime, and fouled out at 7:11 of the fourth quarter with 11 points.

“For once, Joe didn’t take a shot every time he got the ball,” said Coach John Early.  “He passed off more.  He was more of a team man.”

HARDWOOD PAVING

El Cajon Valley and Helix, the last two Grossmont League schools without gymnasiums, each announced plans for on-campus, 1,500-seat buildings that would be available sometime in the 1962-63 season.

Longtime Helix coach Bob Divine often remarked, “If the playoffs were on asphalt we’d win every year.”

The last two asphalt strongholds, the schools practiced outdoors for years.

Evening Tribune reporter Roger Conlee also noted the gyms would have glass backboards, better than the outmoded fan-shaped backboards.

TOURNAMENTS

Suburban coaches were not happy and this was reflected in the Kiwanis field’s shrinking from 32 to 24 teams.

The court bosses complained that a majority of games were played on city floors (see Hoover and San Diego), giving the urbans an unfair advantage.

Since there was a CIF rule limiting teams to one tournament, nine schools stiffed the Kiwanis and went elsewhere.

COVINA

Helix opened with a 36-34 win over Covina Charter Oak but then was eliminated by Downey Warren, 56-48.

CHINO

Chula Vista was defeated in the finals by Pomona, 50-39.  Hilltop measured Escondido, 47-40, for third place.

Chula Vista advanced with victories of 45-37 over Upland, 56-48 over Rialto Eisenhower, and 33-23 over Escondido.

Hilltop advanced by nudging Chino, 36-33, and Buena Park, 38-37, before bowing to Pomona, 61-49.

Mar Vista lost to Pomona, 56-31, and was shoved out of the consolation bracket by Santa Ana Valley, 72-25.

Before losing to Chula Vista, Escondido defeated Pomona Ganesha, 39-32, and Garden Grove Rancho Alamitos, 58-47.

SECOND ANNUAL MUSTANG-OPTIMIST

Laguna Beach topped El Capitan, 78-69, for the championship. The Artists opened with a 64-17 win over San Marcos and followed with a 60-53 triumph over Calexico.

El Capitan had beaten Capistrano, 37-29, and Vista, 55-53, after Vista beat El Centro Central, 53-39.

Vista outscored Calexico, 59-51 for third place. Host San Dieguito lost to Calexico, 53-41 and to El Centro Central, 37-34.

PLAYOFFS

Helix and Monte Vista tied for the second place in the Grossmont League and a 7-7 vote, by two administrators from each school, could not choose the league’s second participant, so Helix defeated the Monarchs, 44-38, in a hastily prepared “Play-in” game.

Coming back the next day at Hoover, the Highlanders had no chance, bowing, 65-33.  San Diego won its first-round playoff, 45-36 over Point Loma; Chula Vista sent Clairemont packing, 59-37, and Grossmont ousted Hilltop, 58-32.

Vista (14-6) defeated Fallbrook (15-3), 81-67, for the Class A small school championship at Escondido.

The CIF approved a third-place game and Grossmont edged Chula Vista, 55-54.

SIGN OF THE TIME

The Spreckels Building, on Broadway between First and Second avenues, was sold for $1.65 million to a Beverly Hills couple.  The six-story edifice, erected in 1912, for years was the tallest in San Diego.

JUMP SHOTS

San Dieguito’s 25-game winning streak, which started after a loss to Helix in the opening game of the 1960-61 season, came to an end when Helix struck again, topping the Mustangs, 40-29, in the opening game this season at Mount Miguel…Crawford’s Paul Janicki set a school record with 30 points as the Colts outscored Lincoln for the first time in school history, 65-60…the Colts were coming, with three juniors, Larry Blum, Ron Kroepel, and Dick Woodson, in the starting lineup…Robert Anderson set a record for first-year Monte Vista with 31 points in a 61-58 win over Oceanside in the Kiwanis Tournament…maybe it was the intimate surroundings of 700-seat Dougherty Gym, but San Diego coach Bill Standly contended that St. Augustine’s floor was not the standard, 94 feet by 50…”When you try to run, get a fast break going, you’re there before you get started,” claimed Standly….

It officially was a down year in San Diego Section basketball.  Every team in the final Union-Tribune Top 10  poll was eliminated by the quarterfinals round of the Southern California regional tournament.

Three of the six from the original 32 in five divisions made it past the semifinals into a championship game, but all were beaten on the road.

The Christian boys (24-10), Division IV No. 13 seed who eliminated No. 1 Riverside Hillcrest, 43-42, in the semifinals, were 1 for 14 from three-point range and bowed to View Point of the Los Angeles City Section, 57-43, in the finals.

San Marcos, the 3 seed in girls D-II, was 6 for 25 from the arc and completed a 22-8 season with a 56-43 loss to top-ranked Redondo Beach Redondo Union.

Mater Dei (22-14), a No. 9 seed which battled uphill through the rounds, defeating No. 8 La Canada Flintridge Prep, 78-55; No. 1 Bonita Vista, 75-67, and No. 5 Tulare Mission Oak, 71-50, could not finish in girls’ D-III, dropping a 53-50 decision to No. 6 Fullerton Sunny Hills after leading, 24-14, at halftime.

The season marked the third consecutive  in which there will be no state champion from the San Diego Section. The La Jolla Country Day girls were the last to achieve the feat when they defeated Palo Alto Eastside Prep, 40-36, in 2014-15.

The three remaining San Diego teams,  eliminated in the semifinals, were No. 5 San Diego, 67-48, by No. 1 Santa Clarita Christian in boys D-IV; No. 13 San Diego Southwest, 72-52, by No. 7 Van Nuys in boys’ D-IV, and the Cathedral girls, 15 seed who were pushed out by neighboring San Marcos, 71-55, in D-II.

SINGER LEADS

Helix’ John Singer, who did not coach this season due to illness, still leads active San Diego Section coaches with 668 victories, all-time No. 2 behind El Camino’s Ray Johnson, who won 763.

Six San Diego Section teams, from the original 32, reach the semifinals of the Southern California state regional playoffs tonight.

An all-San Diego Section final is possible in Boys Division V, but both teams, 5 San Diego and 11 San Diego Southwest, face higher seeds on the road, 1 Canyon Country Santa Clarita Christian and 7 Van Nuys, respectively.

The Cavers, following the remergence of their football team, are making their first appearance in a Southern Califronia semifinal since they lost to Burbank Burroughs, 59-50, in 1955.

At least one girls team from here will be in the D-II finals, because 15 Cathedral (21-11) or 3 San Marcos (21-7) meet tonight at San Marcos.

Christian (23-9), seeded 13th in boys D-IV, is at 1 Riverside Hillcrest (32-3) tonight and 9 Mater Dei will travel 300 miles North to face No. 5 Tulare Mission Oak (25-7) of the Central Section in girls D-IV.

Mater Dei roiled the brackets last week when it rode a 28-20 last quarter to upset No. 1 Bonita Vista, 75-67, after losing twice to the Barons in the regular season.

For the other 26 teams in the playoffs the season ended last week, their conclusions reminiscent of  the popular 1960’s surfer tune “Wipeout.”

Local clubs, even those favored in the seedings, went down under a wave of Southern Section power.  All of the teams in the final Union-Tribune Top 10 were given happy trails sendoffs in the first or second round. Hardest hit were our big ones in the Open Division and D-I.

Mission Bay (56-34 to Torrance Bishop Montgomery), and Foothills Christian (88-62 to Chatsworth Sierra Canyon) fell early in the Open Division.  Torrey Pines, the 2 seed in D-I, was beaten in overtime by 15 Taft Woodland Hills, 81-74.

The only question about theTorrey Pines defeat was why Taft was a 15 seed.  The Torreadors long have been a Los Angeles City Section blueblood and annually one of the better teams in Southern California.

Tonight’s matchups:

Mission Bay, by virtue of late-season wins over Torrey Pines and Foothills Christian, emerged as the No. 1 team in the final Union-Tribune poll.

The Buccaneers defeated favored Torrey Pines on the Falcons’  floor, 64-62, in the semifinals of the San Diego Section Open Division playoffs and then beat Foothills Christian, 52-45, in the finals after splitting with the Knights during the season, winning, 72-56. and losing in overtime, 61-58.

Foothills, dealing with the drama of star Taeschon Cherry’s, expulsion from the school days before the game with Mission Bay, dropped to third, behind Torrey Pines.

The Bucs, who had dropped out of the Cal-Hi Sports top 20 after a 54-51, regular-season-ending decision to La Jolla, are back in at number 18.  Torrey Pines is 19th. Mount Miguel girls are 18th.

Union-Tribune Boys’ final poll Monday, March 5:

NR–Not ranked.

Others receiving votes: Francis Parker (14-12, 9 points), El Camino (18-13, 4), Christian (21-9, 2), San Diego (22-7, 2).

Poll participants:  John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune; Terry Monahan, freelancer; Steve Brand, San Diego Hall of Champions;  Adam Paul,  Ramon Scott, EastCountySports.com; John Kentera, Prep Talent Evaluator; Rick Smith, partletonsports.com; Bodie DeSilva, sandiegopreps.com; Steve (Biff) Dolan, Mountain Country 107.9 FM; Christian Pedersen, S.D. Preps Insider; Aaron Burgin, Fulltime Hoops; Brad Enright, L.A. Court Report.

There were two races in the Eastern League, one with four teams see-sawing through the season seeking two playoffs berths, and another, weekly shootout between Crawford’s Larry Blum and San Diego’s Elburt Miller.

St. Augustine (19-5), led by Bob Spence, Mike (Zeke) Shea, Jimmy Antl, John Emerson, and Gary Hoffman, held off Crawford (24-6-1), Hoover (18-8), and San Diego (19-8) and won its first league championship in any sport since joining the City Prep League in 1957.

But Crawford, the presumptive favorite at the start of the season, prevailed in the San Diego Section playoffs.

CIF honchos resolved what was described by The San Diego Union’s Chuck Sawyer as a “long and bitter argument” by voting after the 1961-62 season to allow teams to participate in two tournaments.  Several schools had begun a trend of skipping the traditional Kiwanis event to participate in similar tests in other locales.

Coaches, players, and fans had complained about short-sighted goals and thinking  since the Section was formed in 1960.

SCORING SOARING

Blum, a 5-foot, 11-inch guard, scored 737 points in 31 games and broke the County record by one point.  St. Augustine’s Tom Shaules had 736 in 1957-58.  Miller, a 6-3 forward, scored 689 points in 27 games and had the highest average, 25.5.

Miller also broke a 19-year-old San Diego High single-game scoring record.  He had 39 in a 68-55 win at home over Lincoln to better the mark of 38 by Ivan Robinson in the 1943-44 season.

Miller’s record would be topped later in the decade when Oscar Foster scored 40 and then 41.

OTHERS FIND THE NET

There were at least two dozen players after  Blum and Miller who contributed to a sharp, upward trend in scoring.

Kearny’s Dick Dowling (570), Granite Hills’ Bob Lundgren (513), Hilltop’s Bob Gray (479), Crawford’s Dick Woodson (460), Grossmont’s Bill Biggs (453) La Jolla’s Dave Grund (447), and Morse’s Kenny Leininger (407) were among 26 players who scored at least 300 points.

A decade before you could count the number of 300-point scorers on one hand, without counting the thumb.  Eleven players scored 300 or more points in 1961-62.

KIWANIS

The season usually started in the last week of November but the mid-December San Diego Kiwanis Tournament, one of the largest in the state, signaled that basketball would be king for the next three months.

The 16th annual event, involving almost 400 athletes, 32 teams, and eight venues, was the first of six different that kept several local squads busy through the Christmas holiday.

Crawford, 5-0, was top seed in the Unlimited Division and 7-0 La Jolla was favored in the Limited Division for smaller schools.

Granite Hills’ Bob Lundgren scored 41 points in a 62-54 win over San Dieguito.  La Jolla’s Dave Grund made 16 baskets and 32 points in a 72-38 victory against Morse. Larry Blum had 30 in an 82-42 win over El Capitan and 34 in an 81-59 rout of Lincoln.

An all-Eastern League semifinal was averted when Sweetwater upset 8-0 St. Augustine, 60-49.  Crawford eliminated San Diego, 48-41, although Blum was held to six points, all free throws.  Hoover, a 72-53 loser to Hilltop earlier, defeated the Lancers, 49-41, and Sweetwater, 50-43, setting up a Cardinals-Colts final.

DARKNESS

Crawford defeated the Cardinals, 55-49, but its lead was only 46-45 with 4:13 remaining in the game.  At that point the lights dimmed at Peterson Gym.  The approximate 3,000 persons in attendance stirred restlessly through a 32-minute delay.

Hoover outscored the Colts, 44-32, from the field but Crawford had a 23-5 edge in free throws.

La Jolla wrapped the Limited Division with a 65-48 win over Western League rival Mission Bay.

Blum and teammate Dick Woodson were joined on the all-tournament team by Hoover’s Bob Powell and Gilbert Hernandez, and John Adams of Sweetwater.  The Limited Division squad included Lundgren and Grund, Charlie Buchanan of La Jolla, Richard Vera of Mission Bay, and Marty (The Mop) Jensen of Coronado.

MUSTANG-OPTIMIST

La Jolla was 2 for 2 in tournaments after scoring the last nine points to defeat Mission Bay, 51-48, in a repeat of the Kiwanis final.  The Vikings also defeated Kearny, 68-44, and tournament host San Dieguito, 72-57.

SAN BERNARDINO

Elburt Miller set scoring and rebound records and the Cavers topped Redlands, 57-29, for the consolation championship.  San Diego lost its opener, 49-47, to Riverside Poly, and then defeated Riverside Ramona, 65-57, and San Bernardino Pacific, 58-55.

Miller scored 24, 29, 31, and 25 points for a total of 109 and had 78 rebounds.

Froebel Brigham, a starter on Coach Bill Standly’s squad, also served as an on-site reporter, filing game accounts with The San Diego Union.

NEWPORT HARBOR OPTIMIST

Grossmont held off Santa Monica, 60-57, for the consolation championship.

FILLMORE

Helix was beaten by Santa Paula, 71-61, in the semifinals and by Bishop, 47-42, in the third place game.

COVINA

In reaching the finals of the 32-team event, Crawford played five games in six days.  Trailing, 32-30 at halftime of the championship against host Covina, the Colts faltered and saw a 13-game winning streak end with a 57-50 defeat.

Dick Woodson scored 22 points and Larry Blum 20.  No other Colt scored a field goal.

Blum scored 25, 44, 10, 22, and 20 points during the tournament and had a shot at the single game record of 48 but was whistled to the bench with his fifth foul midway of the fourth quarter in an 87-35 win over La Puente.

“I think I had forty-four with seven or eight minutes to play and then picked up three charging fouls running through the key and on two of them there was no contact, so I fouled out and I think we won by fifty,” Blum recalled years later.

Blum was 17×32 from the field for 53 per cent and scored 21 points in the second quarter.

The Colts’ other victories were 68-49 over West Covina Edgewood, 65-43 over San Gabriel, and 67-47 over West Covina.

Hoover was eliminated in the quarterfinals by Crescenta Valley, 50-47, after 69-30 and 60-46 victories over Baldwin Park and Glendale.

Mount Miguel lost its opener, 50-44, to Norwalk and then marched to the Consolation bracket championship, 52-34 over Lawndale Lennox, 44-38 over Edgewood, and 66-44 over Covina Northview.

GROSSMONT LEAGUE

Helix and Grossmont tied for second with 9-3 records. Rather than conduct a vote among league bosses to determine a second playoff participant, Grossmont principal Walter Barnett got his colleagues to agree to a playoff at neutral El Cajon Valley.

The San Diego Section board of managers vetoed.

CIF commissioner Don Clarkson pointed out that the teams had played a schedule of 20 games plus participated in two tournaments and that the board of managers had enacted a rule prohibiting playoffs before the playoffs.

Barnett knew the inconvenience of unresolved ties.  As a lineman on Grossmont’s 1927 team, Barnett was on the field for a 0-0 playoff with Calexico.  The CIF Southern Section ruled that the teams play again to determine the small schools’ champion. Grossmont blanked Calexico, 9-0.

The Foothillers also won the vote for the postseason berth.  Helix finished at 16-11. Grossmont also would close with a 16-11 record after a 56-51 playoff loss to St. Augustine.

SCOTS HAVE A HOME

Bob Divine, who had campaigned for years for a gymnasium at Helix, had mixed feelings.

After more than a decade of practicing outdoors and playing most of their home games at Grossmont, a new facility rose on the Helix campus.

Divine was there as Helix defeated Monte Vista, 49-38, in a Grossmont League game that inaugurated the 1,800-seat showcase.

No longer coaching, Divine was vice-principal at Monte Vista.

MATADORS, OLE!

At 10-2 in the league and with a final record of 20-9, Mount Miguel was breathing rarefied air.

The Matadors, who began play in 1957-58, had posted an overall record of 34-71 in their first five seasons.

Larry McCollister’s 28 points led a 55-48, league-clinching win over Granite Hills.

EASTERN

After a 13-1 start, Crawford lost five of its next nine games, including 67-56 and 61-59 nonleague losses to Helix and La Jolla, and a 56-54 decision in a head-to-head meeting with St. Augustine.

Saints fans, who sold out their tiny Dougherty Gym the day before, let Crawford coach Jim Sams have it after the often brusque Sams had declared, “We’re better offensively and defensively.  They’ll have to score in the sixties to beat us.”

Crawford fell to 4-3 in league play after a 55-54 defeat at San Diego, where the Cavers’ Froebel Brigham drained a 30-footer with 13 seconds to play and Elburt Miller scored 29 points.

The Colts would not lose again, but their playoff hopes were at risk entering the final night of the regular season. St. Augustine was 8-1, Crawford, Hoover, and San Diego each 6-3.

CIF big shot Don Clarkson was on hand at Crawford to conduct a postgame telephonic vote among principals to determine the league’s second playoff representative.

Hoover knocked out San Diego, 52-45, and Crawford slammed St. Augustine, 89-59, marking the second loss in a week for the Saints, who stumbled against Hilltop, 48-38, three days earlier.

Crawford, which was 3-0 against Hoover, seemed a shoe-in but it was not until a meeting three days later and a second vote did the Colts get in.

Politics almost ruled.  There were some in the Eastern League who resented the Colts and Sams, whose dour personality could be off-putting.

Hoover struggled with a 2-3 start but was 16-5 after guard Tom Nettles cleared eligibility problems involving his transfer from St. Augustine. Some Eastern League principals apparently reasoned that the Cardinals should get the bid because they had swept San Diego and San Diego had swept Crawford in league play.

WESTERN

La Jolla, coached by Bill Reaves, a 1949-50 Vikings standout, was 15-0 at the end of December and guard Dave Grund was averaging 18.8 points.

Despite a 22-5 overall record, the Vikings finished fourth in the league with a 5-5 record. Grund became a target for opponents and officials.

Mission Bay, which featured a front line of 6-foot, 7-inch John Williamson, 6-6 Jeff Ockel, and 6-2 Wally Garman, accompanied by 5-7 playmaker Richard Vera, reversed two losses when it upended the Vikings, 53-40.

Grund was held scoreless by the Buccaneers’ tight, zone defense and was ejected when he shoved a referee after teammate Charlie Buchanan was called for his fifth foul.

Mission Bay, 24-6 overall, was 8-2 in league play and joined by Kearny, 7-3 and 16-10, in the postseason.

PLAYOFFS

Crawford was involved in more intrigue in its first-round victory at Mount Miguel.

The Matadors’ Larry McCollister scored in the final two seconds to tie the game at 33 and send it into overtime.

Colts coach Jim Sams didn’t argue that McCollister’s shot was in the air before the game-ending buzzer but challenged what had happened a few seconds before.

It was not one of Mount Miguel timer Gary Letson’s finest moments.

Letson admitted to officials Nolan Harvey and Mel Kendall that he had started the clock late following a missed free throw by McCollister with four seconds remaining.

Letson also said that he started the clock early, as The San Diego Union’s Dave Gallup recounted, “on an out-of-bounds situation a second or so later, just before McCollister’s tying field goal.”

Harvey and Kendall finally decided 25 minutes later that  McCollister’s basket counted.  Crawford pulled way to a 40-35 win in the extra session.

A 46-42 victory over Mission Bay in the semifinals was followed by a 64-44 championship game victory over St. Augustine.

Blum scored 27 points, his final two coming with 1:08 remaining to break the record. Writer Larry Littlefield said the Saints tried to stall, perhaps in loyalty to alum and recordholder Tom Shaules, when it became apparent that Blum was closing in.

“I wasn’t keeping track of my points, but the fans made so much noise after the last one that I began to wonder,” Blum told Littlefield.

St. Augustine ousted Grossmont, 61-51, and Hilltop (18-9), 48-47, to gain the finals. Mission Bay (24-6) earned third-place honors, 57-47 over Hilltop.

MENTOR SEE, MENTOR DO

Dick Eiler set Kiwanis records in 1952 with 30 points in one game and 85 in four as a standout at Beverly Hills, moved on to play at the University of Utah, and returned to the scene of his exploits here as coach at Clairemont.

Eiler was a disciple of Utah coach Jack Gardner, a legend in the Rockies and a member 11 different halls of fame, including the Naismith College Hall of Fame.

The young coach followed Gardner’s coaching tenets and his flamboyant sideline persona.

Eiler always had a quart of fresh, homogenized milk at his side on the Chieftains’ bench.  He’d take a few gulps each game.  Gardner did it so often that it resulted in a local dairy commercial and his likeness on Salt Lake City billboards.

LEATHER LOOPS

That’s how the Grossmont and Metropolitan Leagues were known.  Those circuits still used leather basketballs.  City leagues employed the now conventional rubber spheres.

NEW FRANCHISES

Madison in north Clairemont and Morse in the Skyline district east of Lincoln were first-year schools, joining the Western and Eastern leagues.  The result was the city teams played balanced league schedules for the first time since 1958-59. League play generally was on Friday with Tuesday reserved for nonleague games.

A TIE GAME…IN BASKETBALL?

Crawford and the San Diego State freshmen reached the end of regulation play in a 57-57 deadlock.

There would be no overtime.

Aztecs varsity coach George Ziegenfuss waved the frosh and Crawford off the court so the main event of San Diego State-Los Angeles State could get under way.

Ziegenfuss was said to consider the fact that a late-ending game would make for an even later return home for the bus-bound Diablos. A gentlemanly concession by Ziegenfuss, who was not a fan of Coach Bill Sharman’s visitors.

OLD WHATSHISNAME

Staffers in The San Diego Union sports department occasionally didn’t hear well or didn’t hear at all when taking reports over the telephone.

Helix’ Al Skalecky saw himself identified in the newspaper as “Hal” Skalecky.  Dick Woodson of Crawford initially was known as “Dave” Woodson. There also was Kearny’s Dick Dowling (“Dave”), La Jolla’s Dave Grund (“John”), and Crawford’s Larry Blum (“Bill”).

Elburt Miller’s first name was spelled “Elbert” throughout his career at San Diego High.

Going on the road almost often resulted in misidentification, because the student reporter calling in the box score would be from the home team.  When La Jolla won a game at El Centro Central, the Vikings’ Rick Eveleth was identified as “J.” Eveleth.

ALWAYS A DIVIDEND

Hoover coach Charlie Hampton stepped down after 11 seasons to replace Hilbert Crosthwaite as coach at San Diego City College.

Often called the “Banker”, because he had the mien of a friendly mortgage specialist, Hampton’s teams won six league championships in his last eight seasons and tied for second in three others.

A Kentucky native who went to Hoover and  played at San Diego State, Hampton’s  222-65 record and won-loss percentage of .774 would stand the test of time.

BIG LEAGUERS

Crawford’s Dick Woodson, and Madison’s Al Fitzmorris went on to major league baseball careers.

Woodson a righthanded pitcher, was 34-32 in six seasons, mostly with Minnesota.  Righthander Fitzmorris pitched 10 seasons with Cleveland and Kansas City and posted a 77-59 record.  Helix’ Ron Slocum was a utility catcher and infielder for the expansion San Diego Padres in 1969.

Clairemont’s Bill Peterson played six seasons as a linebacker with the Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals in the NFL.

JUMP SHOTS

Larry Blum broke the Crawford single game scoring record several times, the first when he had 32 points in the Colts’ second game, a 68-39 victory over Mount Miguel…Paul Janicki had scored 30 in the 1961-62 season…Clairemont set a school record with 78 points against Monte Vista…Oceanside’s Terry Scott bettered the Avocado League record with 35 points in a 97-67 win over University…Scott’s outburst, which topped the 34-point efforts in 1958-59 of Fallbrook’s Pete Sacshe and Oceanside’s Keith Jensen, also led Oceanside to the  section’s highest team output of the season…Clairemont’s Mike Serafin walked on at UCLA, made the team, and was part of two Bruins NCAA championships in the Lew Alcindor era…El Cajon Valley’s Joe Queen set a school record and tied Bob Lundgren’s record for most points by a Grossmont League player with 41 in an 87-63 win over El Capitan…San Diego outscored Crawford, 29-12, in the fourth quarter at Crawford to win the teams’ first league meeting, 63-57…Granite Hills scored 22 unanswered points to  come from 14 points down and eventually put away Grossmont, 61-51…St. Augustine led for the first 10 seconds and for the last 10 seconds of a 56-54 win over San Diego…Gary Hoffman’s basket won the game for the Saints…Dave Grund scored 14 points in a row to fuel a La Jolla comeback in its 61-59 win over Crawford…Vikings junior Rick Eveleth scored only 4 points but had 16 assists and 8 rebounds…Carlsbad defeated Army-Navy, 44-36, before 1,200 persons at La Jolla for the Class A title….