Hot weather and hot tracksters are heating up the San Diego Section.
Twelve section bests were recorded in league finals last week and the real racing (and jumping, vaulting, and throwing) begins with the Section trials, an all-day carnival at Mt. Carmel High Saturday.
STATE MEET IS GOAL
Qualifiers move on to the section finals May 25 and the champions and other survivors head north to Buchanan High in Clovis for the 96th State meet May 31-June 1.
The starter’s pistol will echo often as more than 100 races will be contested, beginning at 9:30 a.m. with the first heat of the girls’ 400-meter relay and ending with the sixth and final heat of the boys’ 1,600-meter relay at 5:59 p.m,
The track events will be accompanied by at least 24 field event competitions.
At least 1,000 athletes will be on hand. Nine competitors in each event will qualify for the May 25 Masters meet, which will run concurrently with a B-level meet for additional athletes who met a qualifying standard.
Bring a sufficient amount of sun block lotion or spray and stay hydrated.
The Mt. Carmel concession stand hot dogs and hamburgers are recommended.
MONGIOVI IMPROVES IN 400
Most impressive league finals performances included a :54.99 400 by Melissa Mongiovi of West Hills. Her time was seventh fastest in San Diego Section history.
Suzie Acolatse of Mission Hills moved to 10th in the 100 meters after an :11.85 clocking and Cathedral’s Hannah Labrie-Smith is now 11th after her :14.53 in the 110 hurdles.
100—(Fully automatic) Brown (Valhalla) 10.76, Smith (Mt. Miguel) 10.80, S. Pater (Mt. Carmel) 10.83, Molton (Hilltop) 10.84, Lucas (Poway) 10.85, Lewis (San Marcos) 10.88, McNair (Morse) 10.94, Le (Scripps Ranch) 10.94, Mayberry (Francis Parker) 10.94. Southern California & State–Muhammad (Sherman Oaks Notre Dame) 10.36aw & Valentine (Upland) 10.36aw.
200—Artis (La Costa Canyon) 21.77, Molton (Hilltop) 21.96, Lucas (Poway) 22.02, S. Pater (Mt. Carmel) 22.03, Lewis (San Marcos) 22.09, Brown (Valhalla) 22.13, Morgan (St. Augustine) 21.9, Doan (St. Augustine) 22.18, Ricks (Valley Center) 22.20, Thomas (Scripps Ranch) 22.20. Southern California & State–Muhammad (Sherman Oaks Notre Dame) 20.87aw.
400—Thomas (Scripps Ranch) 47.98, Howard (Steele Canyon) 48.65, Grigoriev (Rancho Bernardo) 49.54, Gronotte (Westview) 49.63, Dehaven (Granite Hills) 49.67, Smith (Eastlake) 49.88, Johnson (Helix) 49.91, Woods (Olympian) 49.96, S. Pater (Mt. Carmel) 49.97, Warren (Helix) 49.99. Southern California–Parish (Etiwanda) 47.31a. State–Kurtz (Brentwood Heritage) 47.03a.
DT—Song (West Hills) 194-4, Ogundeji (Madison) 179-10, Newman (El Camino) 178-2, Maffei (Escondido) 166-4, Navarrete (University City) 160-9, Braddock (Eastlake) 154-7, Savage (Morse) 153-10, Barker (Rancho Bernardo) 152-4, Hampton (Helix) 152-1, Long (Poway) 151-7. Southern California & State–Song.
GIRLS
100—(Fully automatic) Acolatse (Mission Hills) 11.85, Johnson (Cathedral) 12.17, Rehm (San Pasqual) 12.29, Zlatic (La Jolla) 12.30, Labrie-Smith (Cathedral)12.33, Hernandez (Mt. Carmel) 12.40, Lawson (Eastlake) 12.41, Patterson (Rancho Bernardo) 12.43, Oliver (Morse) 12.43, Gonzalez (Mater Dei) 12.44. Southern California & State–Washington (Long Beach Poly) 11.51a.
200— Acolatse (Mission Hills) 24.56, Johnson (Cathedral) 24.77, Zlatic (La Jolla) 24.88, Hernandez (Mt. Carmel) 24.95, Mongiovi (West Hills) 25.05 (24.6h), Carrillo (Steele Canyon) 25.1, Labrie-Smith (Cathedral) 25.40 (25.00w), Stephens (Francis Parker) 25.43, Bell (Morse) 25.58, Patterson (Rancho Bernardo) 25.63. Southern California & State— Washington (Long Beach Poly) 23.34.
400—Mongiovi (West Hills) 54.99, Armitage (Clairemont) 55.58, Lopez (Carlsbad) 55.98, Hernandez (Mt. Carmel) 56.28, Smith (Eastlake) 56.44, Zlatic (La Jolla) 56.86, Leonard (San Pasqual) 57.47, Bell (Morse) 57.52, Schroeder (Bonita Vista) 57.77, Garces (Eastlake) 57.85. Southern California–Mongiovi. State–Dorner (Rancho Cordova) 54.37a.
800— Sammer (Rancho Bernardo) 2:12.39, Gillespie (Otay Ranch) 2:13.01, Harbison (Westview) 2:13.85, Miller (PR) 2:15.14, Seamans (Torrey Pines) 2:15.28, Charles (Canyon Crest) 2:16.0, DeBrosse (El Camino) 2:16.13, Bernd (Canyon Crest) 2:16.26, Fierro (San Dieguito) 2:16.39, Erlenbach (Scripps Ranch) 2:17.42. Southern California–Huebner (La Quinta La Quinta) 2:11.94a. State–Maxwell (San Lorenzo Valley) 2:09.34a.
1600—Emma Abrahamson (La Costa Canyon) 4:51.33, Sorensen (Torrey Pines) 4:56.74c, Bernd (Canyon Crest) 4:57.49, Charles (Canyon Crest) 4:57.70, Seay (Mt. Carmel) 4:58.97, Miller (Pacific Ridge) 5:00.92c, O’Connell (Torrey Pines) 5:01.07, Lawson (La Costa Canyon) 5:02.26, Kay (Patrick Henry) 5:03.25, Rohner (Rancho Buena Vista) 5:04.45. Southern California–Smith, Newport Beach Newport Harbor, 4:49.61a. State–Maxwell (San Lorenzo Valley) 4:43.01a.
3200— Emma Abrahamson (La Costa Canyon) 10:36.01, Lawson (La Costa Canyon) 10:44.00, O’Connell (Torrey Pines) 10:44.24, Sorensen (Torrey Pines) 10:45.48, Seay (Mt. Carmel) 10:45.91, Ellie Abrahamson (La Costa Canyon) 10:57.94, Bosler (La Costa Canyon) 10:59.82, Miller (Carlsbad) 11;04.61, Ortlieb (San Pasqual) 11:06.59, Kay (Patrick Henry) 11:10.66. Southern California & State–Baxter (Simi Valley) 10:06.74a.
100IH—(Fully automatic) Labrie-Smith (Cathedral) 14.53, Rehm (San Pasqual) 14.78, Johnson (Cathedral) 14.82w, Chang (Otay Ranch) 14.92, Hancock (La Jolla) 14.93, Young (Serra) 15.16, Magdalena (Olympian) 15.20, Murray (Poway) 15.21, Van (Steele Canyon) 15.31, Garcia (Rancho Bernardo) 15.43. Southern California–Payne (Long Beach Poly) 13.80a. State–Wallace (Castro Valley), 13.43a.
300IH— Labrie-Smith (Cathedal) 42.80, Hancock (La Jolla 43.48, Rehm (San Pasqual) 43.99, Garcia (Rancho Bernardo) 43.91, Johnson (Cathedral) 44.08, Van (Steele Canyon) 44.66, Spencer (San Diego) 44.83, Bell (Morse) 45.5, Young (Serra) 45.77, Cuhna (West Hills) 45.90, Magdalena (Olympian) 46.14 (45.9), Lyons-Walker (Morse) 46.14, Murray (Poway) 46.15. Southern California & State–Miller (Temecula Great Oak) 41.31a.
4×100— Cathedral 47.99, Mission Hills 48.44, Rancho Bernardo 48.64, University City 48.73, Poway 48.84, Morse 49.00, Eastlake 48.9, San Pasqual 49.13, Olympian 49.0, La Costa Canyon 49.35. Southern California & State–San Jacinto, 45.04.
4×400— Rancho Bernardo 3:56.23, Carlsbad 3:56.74, Mt. Carmel 3:59.48, Cathedral Catholic 3:59.57, La Jolla 4:00.26, Del Norte 4:00.80, Bonita Vista 4:00.83, Eastlake 4:01.76, La Costa Canyon 4:01.99, Torrey Pines 4:02.29. Southern California & State–Etiwanda, 3:47.07.
HJ— Callahan (Coronado) 5-6 ½, Slack (Vista) 5-6, Yates (Rancho Buena Vista) 5-4, Rowlett (Carlsbad) 5-4, Gorman (Rancho Bernardo) 5-3, Vanderhoff (Valhalla) 5-3. Nine at 5-2. Southern California & State–Kleffer-Wright (South Pasadena, 6-0).
PV—Tolda (Cathedral) 12, Farr (Patrick Henry) 11-7, Lian (Rancho Bernardo) 11-6, Bartsch (Coronado) 11-5, Jackson (Ramona) 11-3, Madigan (Scripps Ranch) 11, Moss (Otay Ranch) 10-6, Fox (Valhalla) 10-6, Girley (Carlsbad) 10-6. Three at 10-3. Southern California & State–Merritt (Rancho Santa Margarita) 13-8.
LJ—T. Dozier (Steele Canyon) 18-7, Zlatic (La Jolla) 18-3 ½, Cromer (University City) 18-2, Staab (Scripps Ranch) 18, Hopson (Coronado) 17-8, Muhammad (La Jolla Country Day) 17-8w, Kennedy (Serra) 17-7 ¼, Van (Steele Canyon) 17-6 ¾, Rackley (La Costa Canyon) 17-6 ¼, Slack (Vista) 17-5 ½. Southern California & State–Corrin (N. Hollywood Harvard-Westlake) 20-11.
SP— Sierra (El Capitan) 42-3, Walker (Rancho Bernardo) 39-10 ½, Tausaga (Mt. Miguel) 39-9, Ward (Hoover) 39-3 ½, Mohamed (Imperial) 38-9, S. Dozier (Steele Canyon) 38-1, Ellis (Westview) 38, Cheadle (Escondido) 37-11 ¼, Jackson (Francis Parker) 37-7 ½, Helgeson (El Camino) 37. Southern California & State–Scarvelis (Santa Barbara Dos Pueblos) 42-4.
DT— S. Dozier (Steele Canyon) 128-4, Haury (Scripps Ranch) 127-6, Smith (Helix) 127-0, Osby (Escondido) 122-3, Sierra (El Capitan) 122-3, Anderson (Rancho Buena Vista) 122-3, Jackson (Francis Parker) 122-2, Helgesen (El Camino) 120, Panebianco (Helix) 118-10, Bell (Calvin Christian) 117-9. Southern California–Jacobs (Arroyo Grande) 163-11 1/2. State–Okwelogu (Clovis West) 164-1.
2013: Augie Escamilla, 90
Escamilla coached hundreds of Boys’ Club teams, notably 1947’s “Bat Busters”. Eddie Heard, Don Bransford, Don Strickland, and Willie West played for championship San Diego High football squads in 1954-55.
Augustine (Augie) Escamilla, whose voice was heard at major track meets in San Diego for more than 30 years and who was a respected educator and coach for five decades, passed away on May 1 at age 90. A service will be held at Greenwood Mortuary on May 21.
Virtually every outstanding San Diego High or Lincoln athlete in the 1940s and ‘fifties came under the guidance of coach Escamilla, who served 14 years in administrative capacities at the Boys’ Club of San Diego and at Memorial Junior High in Logan Heights.
Augie also was a counselor at junior and senior high schools for the San Diego City Schools’ Health Department for 10 years and was an academic counselor for 21 years at San Diego City College.
Escamilla was well known for his calls at the annual San Diego Section track championships. When an outstanding performance took place on the field, you could depend on Augie to begin an announcement, “Listen to this one, ladies and gentlemen!…”
He also usually informed the crowd that “Your announcer had the pleasure last night of attending the Southern Section finals at Cerritos College….”
The Southern Section championships on Friday night preceded the next afternoon’s San Diego Section meet.
Escamilla was born in the Mexican state of Jalisco. His father immigrated to New Mexico in search of employment, then was followed by Augie, age 6; his mother and two sisters in 1929. The family eventually settled in Fillmore in Ventura County.
Escamilla was a devoted runner and competed in many Masters events.
A FUTURE AZTEC
Augie ran track at Fillmore High and was a student leader in the class of 1940. His senior class advisor and one of the school’s track coaches saw promise and contacted C.E. Peterson, San Diego State’s legendary coach, who invited Escamilla to attend the school and turn out for track.
Augie was a distance runner who never stopped running. He still was competing in his fifties. Escamilla was running the mile in under five minutes on the Masters track circuit, which was popular in the 1960s and ‘seventies.
1959: East and West San Diego
A town divided.
The City Prep League, founded in 1950, and which followed a smaller, 1930-32 alignment of the same name, was history.
Hoover, St. Augustine, San Diego, Lincoln and Crawford, schools located east of U.S. 395, became part of the new Eastern League.
Point Loma center Dennis Wise and quarterback Don Sada stoked Pointers’ Western League entry.
Point Loma, Mission Bay, La Jolla, Kearny, and Clairemont, schools west of 395, represented the new Western League.
Clairemont, the city’s 10th high school, opened and took three lettermen from Kearny and eight from Mission Bay, schools affected by the nascent Chieftains’ enrollment boundaries.
U.S. 395, a Southern portion of which became State 163 in 1972, was a perfect geographical separator, although two schools were very close to the dividing line.
EAST IS BEAST
San Diego High, on Park Boulevard, probably was 100 yards east of 395 as the highway entered Balboa Park. Kearny’s front doors faced Linda Vista Road, in actuality 395.
Geography also favored the various enrollment figures.
The Eastern League embraced the large schools. They would participate in the AAA division in Southern Section playoffs. The Western League would be part of the Southern Section’s AA playoffs in all sports except football.
Southern Section playoffs would be closed to schools in the new San Diego Section, which would begin in 1960.
Bob McCutcheon, coach of small school champion Ramona, conferred on cool mountain evening with halfback Melvin White.
CARNIVALS & CARNIVALS
Three carnivals in two leagues.
That was the menu for the opening of the season. The sixth annual Metropolitan League frolic was a two-venue affair.
Six Northern schools, paired by Escondido-El Capitan, El Cajon Valley-Grossmont, and Helix-Mount Miguel, met at Aztec Bowl.
El Cajon Valley’s Merrill Eacker intercepted a pass and ran 89 yards to a touchdown against Grossmont as the gun sounded the end of the teams’ 15-minute quarter.
Eacker’s touchdown was the only score of the night and gave the Braves a newfound feeling of success. They had lost 14 in a row in the regular season.
The Metro’s Southern schools teed up at Chula Vista. The Mar Vista and Hilltop B teams were scoreless as were the Chula Vista and Sweetwater reserves. Mar Vista shut out the Hilltop varsity 14-0 and Chula Vista’s varsity topped Sweetwater, 7-0.
The Metro’s dual-site event drew about 16,000, with 10,000 at Aztec Bowl and more than 6,000 at Chula Vista.
CITY JAMBOREE GOES DAYTIME
Crawford halfback Don Young scored first touchdown in city carnival, shaking off La Jolla’s Dan Berry (22), Don Holder (31), and Bob Young (66). Crawford’s Dave Flesner (40) is interested observer.
The East-West split worked well in the 21st annual City Schools’ carnival matchups. Teams from each league would be matched in five quarters of play.
The city carnival was played in the afternoon for the first time since 1943, when athletics was deemphasized in the early years of World War II.
The decision to schedule the carnival during the day was made by the City Schools’ Athletic Council as an experiment, according to Charles Byrne, the City Schools spokesman.
“There is no secret that the carnival has been changed from (from night time) because of the trouble experienced (with) rowdy gangs in past years,” said Byrne.
Daytime attendance would play a factor in whether the game returns to its previous format. “This is an important financial project for the schools involved,” Byrne pointed out.
SMALL CROWD
The estimated turnout of 12,000 was the lowest since 1943, when only 8,000 turned out, but San Diego provided the usual fireworks. Emile Wright streaked 56 and 51 yards and H.D. Murphy ran 55 yards in an eight-minute, three-touchdown spree.
The Cavers’ 21-0 rout of Mission Bay gave the East a 34-12 victory.
East teams rushed for 349 yards in the five, 12-minute quarters, which started with Clairemont’s outpointing Crawford, 6-0, followed by Crawford’s outscoring La Jolla, 7-6, Lincoln and Point Loma deadlocking, 0-0, and Hoover’s outscoring Kearny, 6-0.
St. Augustine did not participate. The Saints opened their season the night before at Hoover with a 31-7 victory over Brawley.
San Diego’s H.D. Murphy (arrow) waltzed through a yawning hole in the Chula Vista defense to score touchdown in 34-14 playoff victory.
DEEMPHASIS?
Hoover coach Roy Engle spoke at the weekly Union-Tribune Quarterback Club luncheon about a disturbing trend.
“In two or three years it’s possible most if not all of our football games will be played in the afternoon,” said Engle. “The crowds will be lighter and the whole program will be deemphasized. That’s just my personal opinion but I know it’s shared by all of the other high school coaches in the area.”
Engle also decried the lack of junior high athletic programs that make it difficult for San Diego high schools to compete against schools from Los Angeles and surrounding areas.
EXPANSION, CONTRACTION & COACHES
El Capitan coach Jim Erkenbeck found an easy fit for halfback Joe Sewall, all-Metropolitan League at Grossmont in 1958.
The Metropolitan League greeted two new schools. El Capitan in Lakeside and Hilltop in Chula Vista joined Helix, Grossmont, Mount Miguel, El Cajon Valley, Sweetwater, Chula Vista, and Escondido.
Fallbrook, effectively unable to meet Avocado League athletic standards, moved to the smaller De Anza League in nearby Riverside County. The Avocado, lighter in numbers, offered a more symmetrical lineup of Vista, San Dieguito, Coronado, Mar Vista, Carlsbad, and Oceanside.
The far-flung Southern Prep League numbered Ramona, Mountain Empire in Campo, Rancho del Campo, Army-Navy in Carlsbad, and San Miguel School in National City.
New coaching appointments included Birt Slater (Kearny), Chuck Coover (Mission Bay), Don Henson (Clairemont), Jim Erkenbeck (El Capitan), Bob Tomlinson (Hilltop), and Dick Washington (University).
University, in its third year, was fielding a virtual junior varsity squad.
MOUNTAIN POWERHOUSE
Ramona won its second consecutive Southern California small schools title in its fifth consecutive appearance in the playoffs and third championship game in a row.
Ramona Bulldogs with bite included two-way players Roy Breshears, Mike Smith, Ron Rodolff, and Melvin White (from left).
The Bulldogs defeated first-year Rialto Eisenhower, 14-7, before about 3,500 fans at the nearby San Bernardino Orange Show Bowl.
Ramona’s 23rd victory in a row came after coach Bob McCutcheon’s squad broke from a scoreless deadlock as Melvin White ran 14 yards and Allen Brown 4 yards for third-quarter touchdowns.
San Diegans considered Ramona a “mountain community”, although foothill would be more accurate, with its elevation of 1,430 feet in a valley below Mt. Woodson and Iron Mountain.
Expansion had not yet come. Population was maybe 4,000 but at least half that many showed up when the Bulldogs eliminated Needles 20-6 in the semifinals the previous week.
NEED A LIFT?
Talk about being a good sport and nice guy…
After Tom Carter’s St. Augustine Saints had beaten Shan Deniston’s Lincoln Hornets, 21-6, in the final game for both teams, Deniston gave Carter a ride home.
No report on whether Carter’s vehicle was in the shop for repairs or that the single-minded Carter had forgotten to fill his tank and run out of gas.
Thurlow broke records set by his prep coach, went on to play in NFL.
HONORS
Halfback H.D. Murphy was the lone San Diegan on the Helms Athletic Foundation’s all-Southern California first team. Tackle Oliver McKinney and guard Tom Meshack of San Diego High were on the second team and quarterback Steve Thurlow of Escondido and end Tony Gilham made the third team.
Guard Charles Jones and back Melvin White of Ramona made the all-Southern California .lower division third team.
With only two representatives, Hall of Champions executive director F.W. (Bill) Whitney and Evening Tribune writer Paul Cour, on the loaded Los Angeles-area, 21-man selecting panel, it was becoming more difficult for San Diego players to gain recognition.
EMBREY WATCHES AS RECORD BROKEN
The middle of three brothers (preceded by Toby, followed by Nick), Steve Thurlow was an outstanding, three-sport athlete at Escondido and went on to star at Stanford and for the New York Giants of the NFL.
After a 7-1 season in 1958, the Cougars came up short on defense and finished 5-4, but Thurlow left coach Bob (Chick) Embrey with a reminder of his brilliant senior year in a final-game, 39-7 rout of Hilltop.
Thurlow rushed and passed for 286 combined yards and set a school season record with 1,506 combined yards. Embrey held the record 15 years, having combined for 1,430 in 1944.
LEGEND-TO-BE AT OCEANSIDE
Twenty-three-year-old Herb Meyer was named head football coach at Oceanside.
Unbeknownst to Meyer, and anyone else around the mediocre Pirates program, but the 1953 Oceanside graduate and backfield mate of C.R. Roberts was etching the first chapter of what would be Meyer’s legendary career.
The Pirates, after an opening, 13-6 loss to La Jolla, won six of their last seven games to tie for the Avocado League championship.
Forty-five seasons later Meyer would call it quits with 339 victories, ranking him in the top 20 all-time among U.S. prep coaches. He would spend 17 seasons at Oceanside, then, in 1976, open the new El Camino High in Oceanside and stay there for 28 seasons.
Although beaten, 34-14, by Kearny in season finale, Doug Page’s 43-yard touchdown run was a highlight of Chiefs’ season. Almost making tackle is Komets’ Joe Eggert.
MISPLACED CONFIDENCE?
Clairemont coach Don Henson waxed optimistic about his first-year team, which inherited 11 lettermen and was anointed Western League favorite: “We’re in a position to finish on top. We’re not going for second place.”
Although he had questions about the quarterback position, Henson said, “I think we can fill everything else in adequately.”
The Chieftains finished 1-6-1 and didn’t win a league game.
Point Loma’s Bennie Edens said, “We’ll give a good account of ourselves in this league and I think we could give a good account of ourselves in the other league, the Eastern .”
The Pointers were 4-4 overall, and 1-2 in nonleague games against the East, including a 46-0 loss to San Diego, and were 3-1 for second in the West.
Al Tanoai, behind Jim Arnout (left) and Barney Turner, was one of the leading scorers in Metropolitan League with 10 touchdowns and scored the winning touchdown in the Red Devils’ rivalry game with Chula Vista. The 7-6 victory put the defending league champs in front but a tie with Mount Miguel the next week and loss to Helix the week after opened the door for Chula Vista.
CAVERS RATED TOO HIGH?
San Diego coach Duane Maley complained that the Grid Index, a publication out of Santa Ana, tabbed the Cavers’ second in Southern California preseason rankings. Too high, said the Cavemen’s mentor.
The Top 10: 1, Riverside Poly; 2, San Diego; 3, Long Beach Poly; 4, Montebello; 5, Monrovia; 6, Santa Monica; 7, Redlands; 8, Pasadena Muir; 9, Inglewood Morningside; 10, Downey Pius X.
FACIAL ISSUE?
Granite Hills High, scheduled to open in the fall of 1960, originally was to be called El Granito High, but the dictionary offered several definitions of “granito”, one of them being pimple. El Granito was dropped.
El Capitan was to be called the Knights, but to avoid a conflict with the San Diego Junior College Knights, El Capitan became known as the Vaqueros.
League championship coaches Art Filson, Mar Vista, Avocado; Al Gilbert, Chula Vista, Metropolitan; Birt Slater, Kearny, Western, and Duane Maley, San Diego, Eastern, gathered at weekly Union-Tribune Quarterback Club luncheon, at which newspaper photographer asked Gilbert to demonstrate his grip after winning a recent tournament at Bonita Golf Club. In the history of staged photo-ops, this one rated near the bottom.
MR. TOUCHDOWN
H.D. Murphy’s four touchdowns in a 53-13 win over Hoover tied a “modern” San Diego High record by Tom Powell, who scored 4 TD’s in a 72-0 rout of Hoover in 1944.
Bert Ritchey scored 4 touchdowns in his sophomore debut in 1924 in a 33-0 win over Sweetwater.
The all-time record, “modern” or pre-historic, is 5. Byron (Pesky) Sprott scored that many in 1916 in an 84-6 victory over Orange High.
SIGN OF THE TIME
Escondido’s Grape Day, started as part of a celebration of California’s 1850 Admission Day in 1905 but discontinued in 1949, was experiencing a revival as the city honored the area’s favorite fruit.
The annual North Park Kiwanis-sponsored dinner at the Imig Manor Hotel honored San Diego and Hoover teams, with quarterback Clarence Haines of the Cardinals (left) and tackle Phil Cooper of the Cavers getting the word on UCLA’s single-wing offense from head coach Bill Barnes.
QUICK KICKS
Some San Diego-area schools adopted the wing-T offense made popular by the powerful Iowa Hawkeyes, who won two of the three previous Rose Bowls…Lincoln’s Deniston said he was opting for the single wing…”We’re small…a tenth grader who weighs 76 pounds has asked for a suit,” said Kearny’s Birt Slater…about 200 volunteers from Lemon Grove and Spring Valley raised $10,000 and furnished the labor to give Mount Miguel lights for its football stadium…Helix sophomore George Engle made his first start in the Highlanders’ third game, completing 10 of 11 passes for 145 yards and a touchdown, plunging one-yard for another TD, and directing a 19-0 victory over El Capitan…Hoover ran 56 plays and had more first downs, 12-10, but bowed at Redlands 22-0…Clairemont coach Don Henson, after the Chieftains edged Crawford, 7-6: “Crawford is going to scare the pants off somebody”…the Colts surprised Grossmont, 20-19, the next week but finished 2-6…San Diego’s 21-game regular-season winning streak was snapped when Long Beach Wilson topped the Cavers 14-12 in the season opener…El Capitan and Sweetwater defensed themselves into an 0-0 tie on the same night that El Cajon Valley and Helix waged a scoreless deadlock…through 5 weeks Metropolitan League teams had endured four tie games…”This is a tight old league this year,” said Sweetwater’s Tom Parker…San Diego’s first five opponents were undefeated when they played the Cavers…an 11 p.m. telephonic vote among six Avocado League principals elevated Mar Vista into the Southern Section playoffs…”The sole consideration in the vote was that Mar Vista had beaten Oceanside in our mutual game,” said Mariners principal Myron Smull…Oceanside and Mar Vista had tied for the title with 4-1 league records but the Mariners had a 21-7 victory over the Pirates…Gary Potter’s 14th consecutive point after touchdown boosted Vista past Coronado 14-13 and knocked Coronado out of an Avocado co-championship…San Diego won a coin flip and chose Balboa Stadium as the site of its first-round playoff versus Chula Vista…
Eight St. Augustine players were on the first all-Eastern League squad. San Diego had seven, including player-of-the-year H.D. Murphy.
San Diego’s team in the 1959 College Prep All-Star game against the Los Angeles City squad included recent graduates. From left are Sweetwater’s Wayne Sevier, Ramona’s Gary Mayer, Mar Vista’s Jerry Overton, and Mount Miguel’s Jerry Lipscomb. San Diego’s Ezell Singleton was voted the Star of Stars, but L.A. won, 9-7, with a late field goal. Sevier was a longtime special teams coach in the NFL and Overton was drafted in the fourth round out of Utah in 1963 by the Dallas Cowboys.
1959: Farewell, Southern Section!
San Diego had its own vision of manifest destiny. An inferiority complex, too.
Dr. Ralph Dailard, superintendent of the San Diego City Schools, announced on Sept. 22, 1959, that 15 area high schools were lined up to become members of the proposed San Diego Section of the California Interscholastic Federation.
Dailard said the schools were the nine in the San Diego Unified School District, the five in the Grossmont Union High School District, and St. Augustine, one of the city’s two private schools.
Dailard said the Escondido Union High School district, with one high school, was tentatively listed as wanting to join. One report said Escondido was “luke warm” to the idea.
There actually were 31 schools in San Diego County, but Fallbrook and members of the Southern Prep League were not initially going to be part of a new alignment.
The Sweetwater district, headed by the sports-minded Joseph Rindone, was not ready to join. The Coronado School District, because of its size, aligned with Sweetwater.
“We were invited and we’re considering it,” Rindone told Jerry Magee of The San Diego Union. “The constitution had not been completed and we didn’t want to sign a blank check (for membership).”
The board of education authorized Dailard to take steps toward forming a separate CIF section to begin functioning at the start of the 1960-61 school year.
The school board was made up of private citizens, some of whom may have known whether a football was blown up or stuffed.
Coaches, almost all in favor of staying in the Southern Section and being a part of the competitive and high profile playoffs, were not consulted.
Board members wanted their own, tiny power base.
Chula Vista principal Joe Rindone (fourth from left) was vital to San Diego’s departure from the Southern Section. When Rindone finally agreed to support (from left) San Diego City Schools superintendent Ralph Dailard, San Dieguito’s David Davidson, Escondido’s Guilford (Bud) Quade, Dr. Charles James, Coronado, and St. Augustine principal Fr. John Aherne, the San Diego Section was a go.
CAR DEALER HAS VOTE
One board member, a local automobile dealer and sports fan, didn’t like the idea of San Diego schools being “bossed around” by J. Kenneth Fagans, the commissioner of the Los Angeles-based Southern Section and its 308 schools.
There were vague complaints about the Southern Section’s size, eligibility rules, sites for playoff games, and length of the playoffs.
“We haven’t found the size of the Southern Section a problem,” said Rindone, who, along with retired Hoover principal Floyd Johnson, was a past chairman of the Southern Section executive committee. “Our representative has a voice, just like everyone else.”
No substantive reason was given for the break. In reality a few people in San Diego didn’t like someone in an office 125 miles away holding sway over their fiefdom.
Southern Section officials, while questioning the necessity of a San Diego Section, were ambivalent.
At a meeting at Helms Hall in Los Angeles on Nov. 21, the Southern Section executive committee granted approval for the proposed San Diego Section while declining to make an endorsement.
San Diego wanted to be “big league.” The city and Union sports editor Jack Murphy avidly pursued Los Angeles Chargers owner Barron Hilton and persuaded Hilton to move here after the 1960 season.
“Big League” was not easily defined.
Which would you consider big league? A championship game between 6-3 Clairemont and 6-3-1 Escondido (1962) or a semifinals playoff between 10-0 San Diego and 10-0 Anaheim (1955)?
St. Augustine principal Rev. John Aherne, with (from left) City Schools’ superintendent Ralph Dailard, Grossmont district’s Lewis Smith, and Chula Vista principal Joe Rindone.
RINDONE LEAVES
‘By 1960, Rindone would move on to found Southwestern College in Chula Vista. Before he left, Rindone supported the inevitable move by San Diego schools. The Sweetwater district and Coronado closed ranks and joined the others.
A final step was taken when the CIF state federation approved the San Diego County request after 30 minutes of discussion in Sacramento. Darrell Smith, head of athletics for the city schools, and Lewis Smith, superintendent of the Grossmont district, represented the local group.
Smith reported that small schools and independent institutions in San Diego would be given the “right of self determination as to whether they want to remain in the Southern Section or be included in the San Diego Section.”
Mountain Empire would remain in the Southern Section for several years and Fallbrook didn’t join in football until 1961-62. The other small schools fell into line.
The CIF San Diego Section, 31 strong, was a reality.
Four weeks of playoffs, which were too long in 1959, are the norm in the 21st century, along with a regular-season schedule that essentially has grown from 8 games to 10 and a postseason with the potential of state playoff games.
1959: Duane Maley Bows Out
This wasn’t the expected route of Duane Maley’s farewell tour.
San Diego High was 0-2 for the first time in 46 years.
Maley also was steaming at The San Diego Union sportswriter Jerry Magee and Maley’s boss, principal Lawrence Carr, was steaming at Maley.
Blunt and outspoken, Maley didn’t realize that reporter Magee was going to write exactly what Maley said when discussing the Cavemen’s preseason prospects.
“We’re small, we’re slow, and we’re stupid,” said Maley, words that in future years would have gotten him fired.
Political correctness was not part of the lexicon in 1959. Maley got a sharp rebuke from his principal and the coach and Magee didn’t speak again until very late in the season.
Magee, who came to TheUnion in 1956, was an excellent reporter who covered the preps more comprehensively than any writer before or after he left the high school beat.
Magee became the lead reporter of the new San Diego sports franchise, the Chargers, in 1961, and was one of the country’s most respected football writers and columnists for the next 40 years.
POLY NOT ONLY BEACH TEAM TO BEAT CAVERS
School patio was backdrop as Duane Maley posed with Southern California trophy.
Maley had lined up a rugged schedule for his final season as coach. He would go into administration in 1960, partly because San Diego was dropping out of the Southern Section and forming its own alliance.
Maley liked playing those tough teams from the North and he got all he asked for after penciling in Long Beach Wilson, Long Beach Poly, and Las Vegas in the first three games.
The Cavers were upset at Wilson, 14-12, and beaten, 13-0, in Balboa Stadium by the Poly team which numbered many of the same players which knocked out San Diego, 26-18, in the quarterfinals of the playoffs in 1958.
After surrendering 456 yards to Poly in ’58, the Hillmen held the Jackrabbits to 262, but Willie Martin ran 64 yards for one touchdown and returned a kickoff 88 for another.
Led by tackle Mike Giers, Long Beach defenders made 15 tackles for losses of 94 yards and Giers sacked San Diego quarterback Steve Simon seven times for 57 yards.
Richard (Prime) McClendon led the Cavers with 91 yards in 9 carries.
A 26-13 victory in Nevada got the Cavers rolling. They routed Lincoln 32-0 with 369 rushing yards and seemed on the verge. But St. Augustine, shut out, 51-0, in 1958, pulled off a 12-12 tie.
San Diego’s starting quarterback, the improving Simon, was ejected after inadvertently kicking St. Augustine’s Paul Nacozy in the head.
Simon had tried to hurdle the Saints player during an attempted tackle by Nacozy on an out-of-bounds play in the first half.
Maley raged on the San Diego sideline at Simon’s disqualification and for almost an hour after the game.
San Diego defeated Chula Vista and its big three, Fred Olmsted, Gary Meggelin, and Jim Scarboro (from left).
STRETCH RUN
The Cavers’ 2-2-1 record represented their poorest after five games since a 2-3 start in 1938, but they closed out Maley’s career with a remarkable run of six consecutive victories in which they averaged 45 points a game and gave up only 46.
There would be no opportunity to meet Poly in the playoffs.
As a presumed accommodation to the departing San Diego schools, some of which had complained of long seasons, CIF Southern Section commissioner Ken Fagans announced that there would be two groups of AAA playoff teams.
A three-week, eight-team bracket would be in use only one year. The playoffs would return to a four-week, 16-team bracket in 1960, said Fagans.
Poly was aligned in the Northern Division and San Diego in the Southern.
San Diego dispatched a good Chula Vista team, 34-14, in the first round after being seeded fourth, behind Monrovia, Santa Ana, and Redlands. The seedings had been made weeks earlier, as San Diego was just reaching its stride.
Santa Ana, the semifinals opponent, would be the measure by which the Hillers would determine how far they’d come in the second half of the season.
The Saints were 10-0 and averaging 35 points a game.
With H.D. Murphy, Richard (Prime) McClendon, and Richard Hutchison running in the manner of some outstanding predecessors, the Hillers overcame 12 penalties for 90 yards and rushed for 335 yards in a 26-6 victory.
Murphy gained 119 yards in 14 attempts, McClendon 106 in 11, and Hutchison, in his first start, 58 in 12.
Santa Ana scored with 20 seconds remaining after many in the Santa Ana Bowl capacity crowd of 9,000 had departed.
Before he went into administration, Don Giddings (right) was head coach at Point Loma, 1949-54, and his teams were no pushovers for Maley’s powerful squads.
SCOUTING? AND FOR WHOM?
Monrovia, coached by Mike Giddings, would be the Cavers’ opponent in the finals at Balboa Stadium.
The 26-year-old Giddings was the nephew of Don Giddings, the former Point Loma High coach who had become the school’s vice principal, and Ed Giddings, a San Diego attorney. Ed and Don played at San Diego High in the 1920s and ‘thirties.
The Giddingses and Pointers coach Bennie Edens were in Santa Ana for the Cavers’ game.
Maley’s camp suspected that the Point Loma group was scouting San Diego for Monrovia. “Oh, no,” Edens said with a straight face when questioned by Paul Cour of the Evening Tribune. “We just wanted to see the ball game.”
UNDEFEATED COACH
Giddings had a coaching record of 29-0, including 11-0 in his first season as the Wildcats’ varsity mentor. He also had been undefeated in two seasons of guiding the B squad.
“We feel this: San Diego comes the closest to being the same type team we are,” Giddings told Jerry Magee. “We combine a quick line and fast backs and so does San Diego.”
“And we see no reason to stop now,” Giddings said, discussing his undefeated record.
John Kovac, after scouting the Wildcats with San Diego football aide Jerry Dahms and ex-Coronado star Stew Worden the previous week (Monrovia’s 14-6 win over Redlands before 15,000 at Mt. San Antonio Junior College), made an interesting remark.
“I know (Monrovia) is very perturbed because they’re not going to be playing Long Beach Poly,” Kovac told Magee. The Wildcats apparently were unhappy that they were playing the allegedly lesser San Diego squad.
The Jackrabbits were in the Northern Division finals against Hawthorne.
LET THE CARNAGE BEGIN
Jerry Magee’s lead succinctly described Duane Maley’s last game:
“San Diego High’s precisionists last night offered a stunning testimonial to Duane Maley’s coaching career by overwhelming unbeaten Monrovia, 53-0, in Balboa Stadium.”
San Diego players and supporters in the crowd of 11,000 carried Maley to midfield for the postgame handshake.
Giddings afterward remarked to Paul Cour, “I’ll be back in this town someday.”
Murphy scored three touchdowns on 81- and two-yard runs, and on a 79-yard kickoff return, and ran seven times for 127 of San Diego’s 369 rushing yards.
Simon scored three touchdowns (4, 15, and 64-yard runs) and had 119 yards in 7 attempts and passed for one touchdown and had another called back by penalty.
Hutchison had 60 yards in 12 carries, and McClendon 30 in six, not including a 15-yard point-after-touchdown run.
Had San Diego reached a point where it might have beaten Long Beach Poly in a return match, which would have been possible under the old playoff format?
The Cavers could only wonder.
Eight St. Augustine players were first team all-Eastern League. San Diego had seven, including player-of-the-year H.D. Murphy.
QUICK KICKS
Maley’s 12-season career record was 97-19-3 (.828)…Murphy averaged 9.6 yards a carry and scored 21 touchdowns…McClendon averaged 9.3…Simon, who didn’t play enough to letter behind Ezell Singleton in 1958, overcame early-season jitters and passed for 15 touchdowns…San Diego’s defense was led by Oliver McKinney, Phil Cooper, Willie Bolton, Charlie Dykstra, and Tom Meshack…Larry Wohlford was a standout center…Hutchison got his chance to start in the playoffs after Emile Wright ran afoul of the law and was suspended…Charlie Popa was named to replace Maley as head coach the week after the Monrovia playoff…Maley moved on to vice principal and principal positions in the City Schools…Maley’s son, Dennis, was an all-Eastern League running back and a tough defender in 1964 and later played at the University of Arizona before signing a professional baseball contract…Giddings never was “back in this town someday” with a football team…he moved on to became head coach at Glendale Junior College and defeated San Diego J.C., which numbered several ex-Cavers, 7-6, in the opening game of the 1960 season….
