Football is back in real football time, but the Covid still looms, with the likelihood of canceled games and quarantines.
And the pandemic, which reduced the 2020 season to an abbreviated schedule of 2021 spring games, probably was a factor in the turnover of coaches.
There will be at least 13 new head coaches (not counting eight-man teams) when action begins this week, according to John Maffei of The San Diego Union-Tribune.
Eleven, actually.
Charles Bussey returns to Valhalla, where Bussey was 40-40 from 2011-17.
New Mt. Carmel boss Drew Westling was 28-18 from 2016-19 at Hilltop.
Others: Canyon Hills (nee Serra), Brandon Harris. Classical Academy, Josiah Cruz. Francis Parker, Stephen Cooper. Grossmont, Chris Holmes. Maranatha, Nick Novak. Mar Vista, Syd Reed. Olympian, Jimmy Clark. Orange Glen, Tido Smith. Tri-City Christian, Neil Breight. University City, Paul Lawrence. Westview, Neil Donnelly.
CATHEDRAL SCHEDULE…YIKES!
Top-ranked Cathedral opens against rugged Torrey Pines and then it gets tougher… games against Corona Centennial, Helix, Concord de la Salle, and Mission Hills Chaminade, not to mention Western League contests versus Lincoln and St. Augustine.
Because of racist remarks toward the Lincoln team by players on the Dons’ squad, head coach Sean Doyle, the captain of the ship will have to sit out two games, probably when the Dons open City Conference play against Madison in Week 7.
DONS IN TOP 5
Cal-Hi Sports’ preseason top 50 has strong San Diego Section representation.
Cathedral is fifth, just behind No. 4 De La Salle. Carlsbad is 14th, Mission Hills 23rd, Lincoln 26th, Eastlake 36th, and La Jolla 50th.
St. Augustine and Torrey Pines have “on the bubble” designation.
AT RISK
Several species of the Manzanita plant are listed as endangered in California and the San Diego Section league by that name since 2011 has been declared extinct by the CIF, at least for the present.
The far flung circuit (173 miles between Buckman Springs’ Mountain Empire and Blythe’s Palo Verde Valley and which also includes Calexico Vincent Memorial, Calipatria, and Holtville), is back to being called the Desert League.
Since Mountain Empire joined in 1960 the league had been known as the Desert or Mountain-Desert.
‘BYE
The San Diego Section bid Happy Trails to the Metro Pacific, whose members merged with the Metro Mesa or Metro South Bay leagues.
Several other teams changed leagues (see table below) and San Diego Southwest notified the CIF that it will play only a junior varsity schedule. Newcomer Coastal Academy is in Oceanside.
For a complete list of teams and schedules, use the “Football / Scores / By Team” or “Football / Teams menu.
Hoover, as newspaper accounts and the school yearbook indicated, might have been an undefeated, 12-0 champion.
Published reports in The San Diego Union show that the East San Diego team played only a couple military teams in early-season March, emerging victorious in each.
Other games may not have been reported.
Schools were cutting back on travel because of World War II.
And apparently there was an outbreak of an infectious disease.
A hint was provided in the season review in the 1942 “Dias Cardinales”.
“The team returned from Easter vacation wearing smiles that proved as contagious as the measles the (early) season brought,” wrote a student on the yearbook staff.
Hale and hearty, Hoover had spent the vacation week winning the prestigious, Pomona 20-30 Rotary Club championship, an event usually owned by San Diego High, which had won six titles in the 10 previous tournaments along with 14 Southern California titles.
Roy Engle, the hero of Hoover’s first win over San Diego in 1935 (search “1935: Redbirds and Rioting”) had played for USC in the 1940 Rose Bowl, and joined the school faculty and served as an assistant football coach in 1941.
Engle’s tenure as baseball coach was similar to that of John Brose’s first season at San Diego. Hoover’s John Perry and San Diego’s Mike Morrow both anticipated calls to active military duty and had stepped back.
The 24-year-old Engle, a favorite of school principal Floyd Johnson, would eventually return to Hoover as head football coach and had a long career (1955-77) in that position.
San Diego High, under coach Ed Ruffa, was the dominant track-and-field squad and won the Southern Section team championship in a tight competition with Glendale.
Special thanks to Southern Section historian John Dahlem for contributions to this narrative.
Coach Roy Engle and 1942 Hoover Cardinals. Ray Boone (second row, second from left) and Bob Stevenson (top row, sixth from left) were first-team all-CIF picks. Courtesy, John Dahlem.
Some season highlights, with track and field in italics.
3/3/42
Don Le Grande and Lou Ortiz each hit home runs and Le Grande and Bob O’Dell had three hits apiece as San Diego opened the season with a 6-2 win over the Marine Corps Recruit Depot on the Base diamond.
3/5/42
Oceanside officials notified Point Loma that the Pirates were canceling a track meet scheduled tomorrow.
The Pirates also announced that because of transportation difficulties the school would not compete in track or baseball this season, although they participated in some later events.
3/6/42
Bob O’Dell’s two-run home run in the seventh inning broke a 3-3 tie and Bob Usher’s four hit pitching provided San Diego with a 5-3 victory at Long Beach Wilson.
Grossmont won the 880-yard relay to defeat Sweetwater, 54 ½-49 ½, in a Metropolitan League dual meet opener and Escondido topped La Jolla, 68-36.
3/9/42
Hoover pounded Fort Rosecrans pitching for 18 hits and won, 18-6, at Hoover.
3/11/42
The Cardinals made it two in a row over the Fort Rosecrans army squad, 4-1, at Navy Field as Bob Stevenson allowed four hits.
3/14/42
Trailing, 5-1, in Balboa Stadium, San Diego scored 4 runs to tie in the ninth inning and another in the 10th to defeat Long Beach Wilson, 5-4.
Bob O’Dell singled, Bob Usher doubled, and O’Dell scored on Don Le Grande’s infield hit.
–La Jolla’s Bill Cook, in a decathlete-like performance, won the high jump (5 feet, 8 inches), 70-yard high hurdles (:10.3), and tied for first in the pole vault (10-0), but Sweetwater won the dual meet, 68-34.
–Fred Gallup was the 100-yard dash (:10.3) and 220 (:23.8) winner, and won the broad jump (19-10) as Escondido nipped Coronado, 57-47.
3/21/42
San Diego topped Redondo Beach Redondo Union, 11-1, in Balboa Stadium after a March 14 game at Redondo was canceled.
The Hillers, leading, 3-1, broke open the contest with a six-run sixth inning for their third straight win over a Northern opponent.
3/21/42
San Diego defended its Southern Counties’ Invitational championship with 27 2/3 points. Glenn Willis and Don Smalley finished 1-2 in the dashes and led the winning relay squad.
Ed Pohl won the 220-yard low hurdles in :24.3 and George Schutte was fourth in the shot put at 47 feet, 11 inches.
3/25/42
Hoover, Point Loma, Escondido, and defending champion San Diego entered the 10th annual Pomona 20-30 Club tournament scheduled to begin March 30.
John Swezey and catcher Ray Boone prepped for championship game against Long Beach Poly.
3/28/42
San Diego won a triangular meet in Balboa Stadium, outscoring Pasadena and Hoover, 70-26-25, respectively.
Ed Pohl set school records of :09.3 in the 70-yard high hurdles and :13.1 in the 120 lows and Glenn Willis tied Jimmy Willson’s 1929 record of :09.8 in the 100.
Willis also won the 220 (:22.3) and anchored the winning 880-yard relay team (1:30.4).
Dual met scoring had the Hillers over the Bullpups, 71-33 and 78-26 over Hoover.
–Point Loma runners set two school records in the Pointers’ 61 ½-41 ½ win over Coronado. Evan Stover ran the 440 in :53 and Finster took the 120-yard low hurdles in :13.8.
3/30/42
San Diego forfeited to El Monte and was out of the Pomona tournament because the Hillers did not arrive in time for the game.
Hoover won two games, 7-1 over Pasadena and 4-2 over Redondo Beach Redondo Union.
Escondido defeated Fullerton, 4-2, but lost to San Bernardino, 8-6.
Point Loma advanced in the consolation bracket, 7-1, over Long Beach St. Anthony after bowing to Los Angeles Cathedral, 5-3.
3/31/42
Hoover raced into the Pomona finals with victories over Redlands, 3-1, in the morning quarterfinals and 22-5 over Burbank in the afternoon semifinals.
Point Loma dropped a 3-0 decision to Pomona and was eliminated from the consolation bracket.
4/1/42
Hoover unleashed a 19-hit attack and routed San Bernardino, 16-3, for championship of the 10th annual event.
Pitcher Bob Stevenson did not allow a run until the Cardinals had built a 15-0 lead through seven innings.
Bob Haddock and Olney Patterson each had four hits and Skippy Long added a pair of two-base hits.
Cardinals coach Roy Engle was a catcher on the 1936 Hoover team that, along with future Hall of Famer Ted Williams, won the consolation championship.
4/10/42
Rain interrupted a Hoover trip to Long Beach Poly and San Diego and guest Pasadena could get through only three innings. The Cavers led, 3-0.
Grossmont, hosting on a crushed gravel track, defeated La Jolla, 63 ½-33 ½, in a Metropolitan League dual, with the relay called off because of the weather.
4/17/42
Evan Stover won the 440 in :52.3 and added a leg in the 880-yard relay, in which his team set a school record of 1:35.8, as Point Loma scored a 63-41 win over Sweetwater.
La Jolla defeated a squad from the 184th Infantry, 60-44.
The soldiers had been deployed to Del Mar, San Diego and Lindbergh Field for defense of a possible Japanese attack but would move within days to Fort Lewis, Washington.
Bob Usher was a pitching and hitting standout for San Diego.
4/17/42
Hoover, the “Yankees of the West” in California prep circles, as so described by The San Diego Union, knocked out 17 hits and topped San Diego, 9-1, in the first game of what was called the city diamond championship.
Two singles, a walk and doubles by battery mates Bob Stevenson and Ray Boone staked the Cardinals to a 4-0 lead in the first inning.
Stevenson, who scattered eight hits, homered and the Cardinals piled up four more runs before Skippy Long tripled to score Olney Patterson in the eighth inning.
The series would resume in one week at San Diego.
Strong wind helped propel Hoover’s Jim Lakin to a :22.4 220 and Williams of Brawley to a :09.9 100 in Hoover’s triangular meet victory in El Centro.
The Cardinals outscored El Centro Central and Brawley, with 64 ½ points to the host’s 40 /1/2 and the Wildcats’ 23 ½.
San Dieguito won the Southern Prep League team title at Fallbrook with 68 points. Vista had 63, Fallbrook 26, and Army-Navy and Ramona, 6 ½ each.
4/23/42
Glenn Willis won his customary three events and took part in another win as San Diego won a triangular track meet at Long Beach Poly.
The Cavers scored 66 points to Long Beach’s 46 2/5 and Hoover’s 18 3/5.
Broken down into dual meets, the Hillers defeated Poly, 68-46, and Hoover, 72-30.
Willis’s wins were :09.9 in the 100-yard dash, :23.0 in the 220, 21 feet, 11 inches, in the broad jump, and the 880-yard relay, which the Hillers were first in 1:32.5.
Ed Emerson added to the San Diego total with a 4:45 mile.
4/24/42
Hoover won the city diamond series, 4-3. when Gene Gesler came on in relief of Hoover starter Bob Stevenson and handcuffed San Diego, allowing one run and two hits in the final six innings.
San Diego outhit the Cardinals, 10-8, and led, 2-1, into the seventh inning.
The Hillers’ Don Le Grande, with four hits in four times at bat, had given his team the lead with a second-inning home run.
Hoover put together two walks, two hits, and a San Diego error to score three runs in the seventh.
5/1/42
Bill Bailey was moving to San Diego High to become head football coach but not before his Point Loma squad claimed the Metropolitan League championship.
The Pointers’ 18-hit attack overwhelmed Grossmont, 15-5. Eddie Correia homered and Edgar Woods had three hits.
Escondido’s 6-3 win over La Jolla clinched second place for the Cougars.
San Diego wrapped an 8-0 dual meet season with a 69 1/2-34 ½ victory at Hoover.
Glenn Willis ran the 100 in :09.9, 220 in :22.5, won the broad jump at 21 feet, and participated in the relay team’s 1:32.8 win.
5/2/42
Evan Stover set a school and Metropolitan League meet record of :51 in the 440 and ran a leg on the winning (1:35.2) relay as Point Loma scored 43 1/3 points to win the team championship in Balboa Stadium.
Stover’s mark bettered the :51.9 by Coronado’s Colin Guillmette in 1941. Guillmette dropped down to Class B for this meet and set a 660-yard run record of 1:27.
San Diego State’s track, usually the site, was unavailable. The host Aztecs had a track meet with Santa Barbara State.
Sweetwater was second with 24 1/6, followed by La Jolla, 18 1/6, Coronado, 17, Grossmont, 13 1/3. Escondido, 13, and Oceanside, 5.
5/8/42
Road team Hoover defeated Long Beach Wilson, 4-3, on relief pitcher Clark Higgins’ two-run home run in the eighth inning of the CIF semifinals playoff.
Higgins took over for starter Gus Gesler in the third inning and shut out the Bruins for the final six innings.
The Cardinals had received a bye in the first round into the round of four of the eight-team CIF postseason. Long Beach Poly defeated Santa Barbara in the other semifinal, 16-9.
5/9/42
San Diego dominated the Southern Section divisional meet in Balboa Stadium with 67 points.
Glenn Willis ran a :09.8 100, :22 flat 220, won the broad jump at 21-8, and anchored a 1:31.6 relay victory.
Evan Stover of Point Loma won the 440 in :51.3. Athletes from San Diego, Hoover, the Metropolitan League, and Imperial Valley loop took part.
5/15/42
Hoover, playing at home, scored five runs in the eighth inning, breaking a 3-3 tie and giving the Cardinals an 8-3 victory over Long Beach Poly for the CIF championship.
Roy Engle, a Hoover football and baseball star from 1933-36, coached the Cardinals to their 12th consecutive victory.
Bob Haddock tripled and scored on an error in the first inning and pitcher Bob Stevenson added a home run in the second.
The Cardinals scored another run in the third, but Poly’s Don Richardson drove in two runs in the fifth inning and tied the game with a home run in the seventh.
Ray Boone and Don Parker each singled in two runs and Bob Haddock singled in another in Hoover’s, clinching five-run seventh.
5/16/42
The CIF team championship came down to the final event and San Diego ran its best race of the year to nose out host Glendale for the title, 25 points to 23. Glendale Hoover was third with 15 ½.
Don Smalley, Jack Cawley, Ed Pohl, and Glenn Willis teamed to win the 880-yard relay in 1:29.6 to break a tie with the Dynamiters at 20 points each.
Smalley won the 100 in :10, with Willis second, and Willis won the 220 in :22.3, with Smalley fourth. Ed Pohl was first in the 220-yard low hurdles in :24.6.
Point Loma’s Evan Stover was third in the 440.
ALL-CIF
Hoover’s Ray Boone and Bob Stevenson were first-team selections, with Bill (Skippy) Long and Bob Haddock on the second team. Don Le Grande and Bob Usher of San Diego made the second team and Sam Rosenthal the third.
STRIKES AND SPIKES
CIF boss Seth Van Patten, facing lack of interest and emerging war-time travel restrictions, put together an eight-team playoff, beginning with quarterfinals, that included Hoover, Long Beach Poly, Long Beach Wilson, Santa Barbara, El Monte, Redondo Beach Redondo Union, Azusa Citrus, and Pasadena…Evan Stover, third in the CIF 440, held Point Loma’s school record until Ron Steele ran :49.5 in 1960…there was no state track meet this year and would not be another until 1946… Point Loma, with 13 points, won the Southern Section Class C track championship…one month and a day after the baseball title game Hoover coach Roy Engle and San Diego State basketball coach Morris Gross were commissioned in the naval reserve and left for Annapolis for training prior to joining the navy’s physical development program…Gross went in as a Lieutenant, Engle as an ensign… San Diego coach John Brose, 9-5 this season, held the position until Mike Morrow returned from the Navy for the 1945-46 school year…Glenn Willis scored an astounding 191 points in 14 meets the most since Fred Montpelier had a similar total in 1932…Don Smalley had 141¾ and Ed Pohl 133¼, according to Hillers statistician Kearney Johnson.…
1952 Baseball: By Any Name Cavers Are All-Time Winners
San Diego High, under second-year coach Les Cassie, enjoyed its greatest success in a sport the Cavemen had dominated almost since the CIF Southern Section was formed in 1913.
It won 35 games!
And lost only two, a stunning won-loss percentage of .946!
The historically powerful squads located on the beautiful campus at the South entrance to Balboa Park have been known by many mascot names, such as Hilltoppers, Hillers, Hillmen, Cavemen, and Cavers, but most appropriately as Winners.
Cassie continued tradition of powerful program.
They claimed the school’s 16th and final CIF Southern Section championship this season. Those championships, from 1917-52, were as many as the combined total of the 13 other Southern California championship teams.
Cassie had been coach at San Diego Junior College when the legendary Mike Morrow, coach of 15 of those titles, retired after the 1950 season. Cassie and Morrow swapped jobs, with Morrow moving on the SDJC.
Several games and victories were unreported in local newspapers and seven were against non-high school or military teams.
The Hillers were hardly a two man team, but Bob Borovicka’s and Bob Thorpe’s names appeared in virtually every line score or game story.
Borovicka posted a 15-1 record, 177 strikeouts in 143 innings, a 1.75 earned-run average, and hit 10 home runs and drove in 48. Thorpe was 14-1 with 158 strikeouts in 133 innings and a 1.70 E.R,A.
The Cavers’ first six victories:
7, USS El Dorado 1.
10, Sweetwater 1.
9 USS Bradford 1.
12, USS Bradford 10.
12, Oceanside 5.
12, Sweetwater 0.
Much of the information above was from Caver Conquest, the definitive history of San Diego High athletics by Don King.
3/1/52
San Diego recorded its seventh straight nonleague victory, defeating visiting Norwalk Excelsior, 12-1, at Golden Hill playground.
Bob Borovika restricted the Pilots to five hits and struck out 13. Bob Thorpe tripled and singled and Jim Harper singled twice.
3/4/52
San Diego visited and defeated Chula Vista, 3-2, on Rudy Venzor’s ninth-inning home run.
—Art Weber and Walter Fleak not only combined to no-hit St. Augustine, but La Jolla also crushed the Saints, 21-0.
—Hoover’s Wally Keogh and Roy Dezonia combined to no-hit Brown Military, 10-0.
3/6/52
Bob Borovicka struck out 11 and homered as San Diego topped the visiting Naval team TraPac, 6-3.
–Chula Vista profited from three hits, four errors, and five walks, and scored all its runs in the third inning of an 8-7 win over La Jolla.
3/15/52
San Diego scored 10 runs in the last two innings and beat visiting Grossmont, 20-0.
–Tom Tomaiko’s three-run home run in the first inning was enough for La Jolla to top Helix, 4-1.
3/17/52
Rain or wet grounds postponed several games, but San Diego improved to 2-0 in the CPL, squeezing in an 8-4 victory at home over Helix behind Bob Borovicka’s pitching and 380-foot home run.
3/21/52
Mar Vista, Sweetwater, and Chula Vista, each playing three innings, defeated San Dieguito, Oceanside, and Escondido by a combined score of 13-5 in the Metropolitan League carnival.
Some 2,500 persons attended the soiree at Lane Field. Play of the game was an inside-the-park home run by Bob Goodbody of Escondido.
—Bob Thorpe allowed two hits and struck out 15 and Rudy Venzor and Bob Borovicka hit home runs good for five runs in the Cavemen’s 11-2 rout of La Jolla.
The victory, matching teams with 2-0 records, put the Cavers into undisputed first place in the CPL.
—Kearny and Hoover kept pace, the Komets blanking Helix, 4-0, and Hoover topping Grossmont, 11-5.
3/25/52
San Diego improved to 15-0 with a 20-3 rout of Hoover. Bob Borovicka, and Richie Johnson each hit three-run home runs and Eddie Boyle added a bases-empty home run.
—Ernie Merk’s two-run single with the bases loaded in the last of the ninth inning pulled out a 6-5 victory for upstart Helix over Grossmont.
Chula Vista’s Clyde Nelson was safe at first after San Diego’s attempted pickoff. Cavers’ Billy Adams took throw from Bob Borivicka.
3/27/52
San Diego opened the second annual Lions Club tournament on its home diamond with a 7-4 win over Chula Vista.
First baseman Billy Adams and pitcher Bob Thorpe, moved to the outfield, led the Cavemen’s attack. Adams contributed a three-run triple and singled twice and Thorpe had three hits.
–Frank Powell allowed two hits, struck out 13, and pitched Hoover to a 4-0 win over Brawley at Hoover.
–Tom Tomaiko hit two home runs and La Jolla edged St. Augustine, 6-5, on the Vikings’ diamond.
3/28/52
Al Pearson outdueled Jack Osborne and El Monte defeated Kearny, 2-1, in a Lions quarterfinals game at University Heights playground.
The 5-foot, 5-inch Pearson was better known as “Albie” Pearson and for his nine seasons in the major leagues and .270 career batting average
–Phil Heubach singled in two runs in the top of the seventh inning in Hoover’s 3-1 win over La Jolla at San Diego High.
–Helix committed seven errors and dropped an 8-6 decision to Fullerton at Hoover.
–The Cavemen clobbered Point Loma, 19-3, at Hoover for a 17-0 record. Catcher Jim Harper started the onslaught with a grand slam home run in the second inning.
3/29/52
San Diego, which five days before unloaded on Hoover, 20-3, got a stronger test from the Cardinals in the Lions championship before about 200 persons at Lane Field.
San Diego won the rematch, 6-2, scoring all its runs in the third inning. The Cavemen eliminated Fullerton, 4-2, in a morning semifinal, while Hoover was getting past El Monte, 4-3.
Hoover hit the ball hard against Bob Thorpe and Rick Flore—centerfielder Dave Moss collected 10 fly ball putouts—but couldn’t put enough hits together.
Shortstop Richie Johnson, who scored the Cavers’ first run, was named the tournament’s outstanding player.
San Diego’s Eddie Boyle was safe at third as ball got past Hoover’s Jim Schaubel in Lions Tournament championship, won by San Diego, 6-2.
4/1/52
Three City Prep League teams scored a combined 36 runs.
La Jolla won its third straight, 12-3, over Kearny as Tom Tomaiko homered and doubled twice and Dick Corrick and Eddie Olsen contributed two hits, and the Vikings drove Kearny ace Jack Osborne from the mound.
—Strange line scores:
Point Loma committed six errors and mustered only five hits but beat Grossmont, 13-7. Grossmont had eight hits and five errors.
—Hoover’s Boice Brooks set Helix down on two hits and doubled in a run in the Cardinals’ 11-1 triumph.
—Fred Armer was 3 for 4 and drove in three runs with a third-inning home run and Chula Vista was a rude host to Escondido, 7-1, in the Metropolitan League’s feature game.
4/2/52
The Metropolitan loop stuck it to city foes when Chula Vista beat Hoover, 4-1, behind Bob West’s two-run double and Sweetwater outlasted St. Augustine, 8-6.
4/3/52
Rain, which fell more than 18 inches in the 1951-52 calendar year, took a holiday, but unseasonable fog made a surreal afternoon presence in Encinitas, where Chula Vista moved into first place in the Metropolitan League with a 7-4 victory over San Dieguito in a game that was called after six innings.
Chula Vista’s Al Aleman maneuvered through the shroud and found third base with a third-inning, three-run triple, key hit in the game.
—The winning Spartans (3-0) got a boost when “Greasy” Bob Ganger’s Mar Vista Mariners surprised unbeaten Sweetwater, 3-2
—Oceanside, up the road a few miles, escaped the fog when it went inland to Escondido and took an 8-3 loss.
Escondido first baseman Stan Nichols went 4 for 4 and Cougars pitcher Ray Garcia scattered four hits.
4/4/52
San Diego High, 19-0 and cruising, visited the Linda Vista-residing Kearny Komets and were surprised, 6-2, as Jack Osborne held the Cavemen to four hits.
“Big” Osborne, as described by writer Gene Earl, struck out 10, tripled twice and singled, pinning Bob Borovicka with his first loss of the season.
Borovicka homered but so did Danny Baker and Dick Bates for the Komets, who also were backed by strong defensive play from Ollie Harris and Joe McNamara.
The Cavers dropped to 5-1 in the CPL. Kearny improved to 2-1.
—After a one-year hiatus, CPL schools were back in the Pomona 20-30 Rotary Club tournament, which began in 1933 and which San Diego High had won seven times.
San Diego, Kearny, Grossmont, La Jolla, and Point Loma represented the “Border Town”, an unflattering cognomen often used by sportswriters north of the County line.
Chula Vista and Escondido of the Metropolitan League also were in the 32-team field.
The 1952 Cavers, back from left: Richie Johnson, Chuck Pappert, Eddie Boyle, Bob Thorpe, Carl Lutz, Bob Borovicka, Billy Adams, Rudy Venzor, Scott Armitage. Kneeling from left: Dave Moss, Bill Row, coach Les Cassie, manager Jerry Miller, Rick Flores, Ron Angelo, Bob Whitworth. Jim Harper. Absent, Mike Arbayo.
4/7/52
San Diego teams were 4-3 in the first round of the Pomona tournament. Games were official after five innings.
John Harper doubled in two runs in a five-run first inning as San Diego knocked defending champion Santa Ana into the consolation bracket, 5-2.
La Jolla defeated Blythe Palo Verde Valley, 7-4. Kearny, boosted by a Dick Bates’ home run, topped Lynwood, 6-3. Grossmont erupted for six runs in the second inning and outscored Bonita, 10-7.
Downey muzzled Chula Vista. Santa Barbara beat Point Loma, and Pomona topped Escondido, 7-3.
4/8/52
An odd and infuriating moment in the seventh inning that had Kearny coach Jim Bass talking to himself or anyone who would listen led to Kearny’s 4-1 loss in 11 innings to Norwalk Excelsior.
As the home team, a Kearny score would have won the game.
Tied, 1-1, the Komets’ Chuck Taylor slugged a drive that went over the centerfielder’s head, but a young fan suddenly ran on the field and pocketed the ball.
Officials ruled Taylor’s drive a triple and sent the Komets’ player back to third base, where Taylor died as an outfield fly ended the inning.
—Bob Borovicka struck out 11 batters in and drove in the tie-breaking run in San Diego’s 4-1 win over South Pasadena.
—Gene Rosen of Fullerton pitched a no-hitter and eliminated La Jolla, 2-1. Newport Beach Newport Harbor defeated Grossmont, 5-2.
—Point Loma and Escondido moved in the consolation bracket, the Pointers beating Chula Vista, 7-4, and Escondido sending Covina home, 2-1.
4/9/52
San Diego won a doubleheader in the quarter and semifinals, 10-0 over Fullerton and 5-2 over Azusa Citrus to gain the championship round against Ontario Chaffey.
Bob Thorpe won the morning game with a no-hit pitching performance and added a triple and two-run single.
Bob Borovicka beat Citrus, allowing two hits and striking out seven.
—Darkness called the Point Loma-Bonita consolation contest after 12 innings and a 3-3 tie. The game was to resume the next day in sudden death.
–Anaheim removed Escondido, 10-4 in the consolation quarterfinals. Point Loma advanced to the consolation semifinals with a 4-1 win over Antelope Valley.
4/10/52
Heavy rain washed out play and the three San Diego teams remaining would have to wait until April 12 as tournament officials decided not to play on April 11, Good Friday.
4/12/52
Bob Thorpe struck out 15 Ontario Chaffey batters and scattered five hits over nine innings as San Diego defeated the Tigers, 10-1, for its eighth championship in the 17 years in which the event was played and the final years the Cavers participated.
Thorpe would have had a shutout, but leading, 8-0, the Cavers opted for a double play, allowing a Chaffey runner to score from third base.
Jim Harper hit a three-run home run that followed a walk to Eddie Boyle and single by Rudy Venzor.
—Point Loma made it a clean sweep for San Diego by beating Santa Ana, 11-1, for the consolation championship after defeating Bonita, 14-4, in a morning contest.
4/15/52
San Diego’s Bob Thorpe singled twice and doubled, and one-hit Hoover, 4-1, allowing only pitcher Bob Schaubel’s first-inning single.
—Tom Tomaiko stole home in the 12th inning with what proved to be the winning run in La Jolla’s 7-5 win at Point Loma.
—Helix erupted against big brother Grossmont, 15-1, as former Foothiller Noel Mickelsen allowed three hits.
—Chula Vista mustered only three hits but six Sweetwater errors propelled the Spartans to a 5-2 Metropolitan League win.
—Erwin Hedstrom had three hits, including a triple and home run, and Jim Oxley homered and drove in four runs in Oceanside’s 13-2 win over San Dieguito.
—Escondido got up early and made a 40-mile jog to Imperial Beach for a morning game and 6-4 loss to Mar vista.
Kearny’s Duke Hottell scored when ball (arrow) eluded Point Loma catcher Bob Duncan. Umpire is Joe Britt. Komets won, 10-5.
4/17/52
Point Loma’s Bitty Martin lost a 1-0 duel at San Diego when he wild-pitched in the game’s only run in the eighth inning.
San Diego’s Bob Borovicka stopped the Pointers on two hits and collected the Cavers’ only two hits.
San Diego stayed one game in front of the CPL pack after Kearny, an earlier winner over the Cavemen, dropped a 6-4 decision to visiting Hoover.
4/22/52
La Jolla, 0-2 at the start of the CPL season, won its seventh straight, 14-2, at Helix and moved to within a half-game of league-leading San Diego.
Eddie Olsen, Dick Corrick, Tom Tomaiko, and Bernie Elms each had two hits, buttressed by Art Weber, who scattered eight hits over nine innings and homered.
—Chuck Taylor singled twice and doubled, and Jack Osborne struck out 10 and allowed five hits as Kearny won at Point Loma, 5-3.
—Hoover took batting practice, with 15 hits in a six-inning, 10-0 win over St. Augustine.
—Kenny Agular stopped Ramona on two hits and Fallbrook enjoyed a 14-0 romp over the visiting Bulldogs.
—Chula Vista hammered Oceanside, 12-4, as Lavon Baker homered and drove in three runs; the RBI matched by Bob Souza, who singled twice.
4/26/52
San Diego had to battle before moving past first-year Helix, 6-5, on the Highlanders’ diamond.
Third baseman Rudy Venzor was just one of many standout players in San Diego lineup.
Dave Moss singed twice and knocked in two runs and Bob Thorpe got the nod over Noel Mickelsen.
4/30/52
La Jolla won its sixth straight and moved to 8-2 in the City Prep League as Art Weber outpitched Bob Thorpe and the Vikings crept to within a half game of the Hillers (9-2) with a 2-0 victory at La Jolla.
Eddie Olsen’s single and a San Diego error resulted in runs in the sixth and eighth innings against the Cavers’ Bob Thorpe, who allowed only two hits. Art Weber went the distance for the Vikings, giving up four hits.
5/3/52
Kearny (6-3) clung to championship hopes in the CPL with a 10-3 victory over La Jolla (8-3), on the Komets’ diamond. Danny Baker and Chuck Taylor each hit two-run home runs. San Diego (9-2) was idle.
5/5/52
San Diego (10-2) finally clinched the CPL title with a ninth-inning, come-from-behind, 7-6 win over Kearny (6-4). La Jolla (9-3) clinched second place, 9-8 over Hoover.
Kearny scored two runs in the top of the ninth at San Diego to take a 5-3 lead.
Scott Armitage singled in Rudy Venzor with the winning run in the Cavers’ rally, which started with a home run over the centerfield fence by Bob Borovicka, leading off the bottom half of the inning.
Bob Thorpe’s double and singles by Venzor and Eddie Boyle preceded Armitage’s clutch safety.
Kearny still had two games to play and won out to finish 8-4, followed by Hoover (6-6), Helix and Point Loma each 4-8, and Grossmont (1-11).
MIGHTY FALL
Grossmont, which lost several future stars, including pitcher Noel Mickelsen and catcher Ernie Merk, as enrollment boundaries favored Helix when the La Mesa school opened in September.
How significant were those player losses? Grossmont had won the CIF major championship in 1951.
5/14/52
A four-way tie for first place in the Metropolitan League necessitated two rounds of postseason games to determine the league’s representative in the CIF Minor Division playoffs.
Oceanside defeated Chula Vista, 6-5, on only four hits but was aided by seven Chula Vista errors. Sweetwater collected 14 hits and eliminated Mar Vista, 8-5.
5/15/52
Sweetwater won the Metro playoffs, 11-3, over Oceanside at Vista. Officially there were four co-champions.
Warming up before the CIF Southern Section playoffs, San Diego walloped Miramar Naval Station, 22-2, as Bob Borovicka struck out 16 batters and had six hits in seven times at bat.
Borovicka’s day included the cycle and half of another: two singles, two doubles, a triple, and home run.
5/22/52
San Diego took a 10-0 lead in the first four innings and beat Fullerton for the third time, 13-3, in the playoff quarterfinals.
Bob Borovicka contributed his usual three hits, two triples and a single, and Bob Thorpe scattered six hits over nine innings and struck out 11.
Bob Borovicka was forced at second base as Chaffey completed double play in San Diego’s semifinal playoff victory.
5/23/52
The Hillers defeated Ontario Chaffey (22-2), their semifinals opponent, 3-2, for the second time when Tigers pitcher Arlen Downs walked San Diego’s Dave Moss with the bases loaded in the eleventh inning.
Pitcher Bob Borovicka, who scored the winning run, scattered 10 hits and shut out the Tigers the final six innings before a crowd of 300 at Lane Field.
5/25/52
Sweetwater took a 3-2 lead into the ninth inning but Thermal Coachella rallied for three runs and a 5-3 victory. Don Bailey had three hits for the Red Devils.
5/31/52
Eddie Boyle’s two-run home run in the seventh inning broke open a tight game and gave San Diego a 6-3 lead in the championship at Santa Barbara.
Rudy Venzor and Scott Armitage each had three hits in a 17-hit attack and the Cavers pulled away to a 10-3 victory.
Bob Thorpe went the distance for the victory.
1952 Track: Grossmont Shot with Mashin’s `Putters
Jack Mashin coached football at Grossmont from 1925-47 and posted an excellent record, 125-66-19 (.644), but he became more known as an international figure in track and field.
Mashin would, under auspices of the U.S. State Department, coach the first Pakistan Olympic team in 1956 in Melbourne, Australia, and his decades-long success at Grossmont led to the friendly mentor’s legendary appellation, the “Fox of the Foothills”.
From 1950-57 Grossmont produced eight shot putters who reached at least 54-feet, 6 inches; two who hit at least 60 feet, and several others of at least 50 feet.
Clyde Wetter (58-4 ¾, 1951) and Hal Norris (58-2 1/2, 1950) now were in college and sophomore Dick Bronson, who had a best of 46-9 ½ in his first meet this season, was going to eventually produce similar results under Mashin’s guidance.
Fox of Foothills Jack Mashin coached all and was master of tack and field.
Mashin, whose teams won 143 league championships in all sports at Grossmont from 1923-59, continued to work with weight men as an assistant coach/consultant at Grossmont and was coaching at Cal Western University in San Diego and at Grossmont College well into his eighties.
Mashin also refereed many Hoover-San Diego football battles and thousands of games in football and basketball.
2/22/52
Bert Kohnhurst was a double winner at :10.3 in the 100-yard dash and :23.6 in the 220 as Grossmont swamped Chula Vista, 86-18. Kohnhurst also would have anchored the 880-yard relay team but Chula Vista forfeited the race.
2/26/52
Grossmont scored 39 points to lead defending champion San Diego (31) and La Jolla (31), and Kearny (30) in the varsity portion of the fourth annual City Prep League relays in Balboa Stadium.
La Jolla won Class B (31) and Grossmont Class C (34).
San Diego’s Walter (Red) Taylor won the 100-yard dash in :09.9 and anchored a 1:34.1 victory in the 880-yard relay.
Hoover’s Bernie Nelson high jumped 6 feet, 1 ¾ inches, and Kearny’s John Rushing won the 120-yard high hurdles in :15.3 in the other, standard events.
Grossmont won the distance medley (440, 880, 1320, mile) in 11:11.09.
2/28/52
Tom Parker, later to be a successful football coach at Sweetwater, took over at Mar Vista for Garold (Gerry) Spitler, who left to become recreation director in the Marshall Islands.
Bert Kohnhurst nipped Red Taylor (right) in :09.9 100 in Balboa Stadium. Others (from left) are San Diego’s John Parker, Grossmont’s Tommy George, and Cavers’ Haldon Grey.
3/1/52
Kearny’s Jim Weir (4:46.9 mile) and Roy Howell (2:07 880) set school records as Kearny opened the CPL season with a 67-37 dual-meet win over La Jolla.
3/6/52
Bernie Nelson high jumped 6-1 ¾ for the leading mark in Hoover’s 63-41 City Prep League opening dual meet with La Jolla.
3/15/52
Rain, which fell a fourth-highest-on-record 18.16 inches in San Diego County for the 1951-52 calendar year, was playing havoc. Three CPL duals were washed out.
Sweetwater and arch-rival Chula Vista managed to get in a meet and the Red Devils came away with a 54 ½-49 ½ Metropolitan League victory by winning the 880 relay in 1:39.1.
3/19/52
Continual rain forced a meeting of CPL coaches at the San Diego Education Center, where re-scheduling and makeup meets were coordinated.
San Diego’s John Parker twice broke school record of 14 years and went 23 feet, 9 1/2 inches in broad jump. Parker leaped 22-6 1/2 in this photo taken during Cavers’ 82-21 dual-meet victory over Helix.
3/21/52 Tracks had finally begun to dry out and CPL thinclads posted season highs in four events.
John Parker sailed 23 feet, 8 inches, to break the San Diego High record of 23-6 ¾, set by Bob Logan in 1938.
Parker also won the 220 in :22.5 and was part of the Cavers’ relay team that lowered the best time to 1:32.8.
Parker’s teammate, Hubert Smith, lowered his area lead in the 440 to :51.9.
The short end of a 64-40 team score didn’t diminish the individual accomplishments of Point Loma’s Lincoln Lucero, who topped the San Diego hurdlers, winning the 120 highs in :15.3 and the 180 lows in a school record, season best :20.2.
Point Loma’s Lance Morton set a school record with a 51-3 ¼ shot put.
–Kearny defeated Hoover, 54-50, as Jim Weir logged a school-record 4:37.7 mile and Roy Howell a school record 2:06.1 in the 880.John Rushing doubled in :15.2 and :20.8 in the hurdles and brought the Komets to victory by anchoring a 1:34.1 triumph in the relay.
–The first-ever Grossmont-Helix confrontation resulted in an expected win by the more established Foothillers, 67 ½-36 ½. Bert Kohnhurst led the way for Grossmont with :10.2 and :22.8 sprint victories.
–Coronado’s Harry Sykes ran :19.7 in the 180-yard low hurdles against Mar Vista.
3/29/52
SOUTHERN COUNTIES INVITATIONAL
LARGE SCHOOLS
Compton won this portion of the 31st annual meet with 34 points to San Diego’s 30, but the Cavemen had four first places to the Tarbabes’ two.
Red Taylor won the 100 championship in :09.9, Hubert Smith one of the 440 races in :52.8, Bernard Hansen one of the 880s in 2:03.3, and John Parker the broad jump at 23-4 ¾.
Point Loma’s Lincoln Lucero won championships in the high hurdles (:14.8) and lows (:20).
Burt Kohnhurst was second to Taylor in the 100 and then swapped places with the San Diego athlete in a :22 flat 220. George Davis of Grossmont set a school record with a 2:03.2 880.
San Diego entries had seven first places in 16 events.
Lance Morton of Point Loma put the shot 51-3 1/4 for a school record and led County.
4/1/52
Walter Taylor ran a :09.8 100, fastest in Southern California, and San Diego won 11 of 12 events in a 77 ½-26 ½ win over La Jolla.
Hubert Smith bettered his 440 time with a :51.5 and Taylor also won the high jump at 5-10.
La Jolla’s Andy Skief hurled the shot 48-2 for the Vikings’ only first place.
–John Rushing won the 100 in :10.3, the 120 high hurdles in :15.1, and the broad jump at 20-4 1/2, but Grossmont depth trumped Rushing and the Komets, 60 2/3-43 1/3.
Rushing defeated Tommy George in the short race, in which Bert Kohnhurst did not enter. Kohnhurst won the 220 in :23.
4/4/52
San Diego (5-0) posted the fastest time of the season with a 1:32 in the 880-yard relay in a 73-31 dual-meet win over Kearny in Balboa Stadium. Walter Taylor won the 100 in :10, the high jump at 5-9, and was second to Hubert Smith’s :51.9 440.
John Rushing ran :14.9 and :19.9 in the high and low hurdles for Kearny.
–Sweetwater’s Ted Granger tied the school record with his :15.8 in the 120-yard high hurdles and Don McCarver of San Dieguito cleared 11-5, breaking a school record of 11-3, set in 1946.
4/12/52
Kearny and Grossmont entered small contingents in the Santa Barbara Relays. John Rushing won the small schools broad jump at 22-1.
Dick Bronson of Grossmont was fourth in the large schools shot put at 48-10.
4/17/52
SOUTHERN PREP LEAGUE FINALS, @VISTA
Army-Navy outscored Vista, 96-64 1/2, for the team championship. Brown Military had 48 ½. Fallbrook won Class B and Vista Class C.
One varsity meet record was set by Vista’s Dick Bedford, who covered the 180 low hurdles in :21.7.
Kearny athletes set four school records in a 68-36 win over Helix. John Rushing ran the 100 in :10.2 and 220 in :22.8. Ray Howell toured the 880 in 2:05.6, and the 880 relay team, with Rushing running anchor, timed a reported 1:32.9.
Lincoln Lucero (third from left) led field in 120-yard high hurdles in Point Loma-San Diego dual meet. San Diego’s Bernard Hansen (second from right) was second and teammate Mickey Jackson (between Hansen and Lucero) was third.
4/22/52
LEAGUE TRIALS
Hoover, mediocre (3-3) in the dual-meet season, provided a mild surprise by qualifying for 11 berths in the City Prep League at San Diego State, but San Diego led with 14. Grossmont had eight, La Jolla, Point Loma, and Kearny, seven each.
John Rushing set a record with a time of :19.6 in the 180 low hurdles and Bert Kohnhurst bettered the record with a :21.9 220 on the San Diego State straightaway.
Sweetwater’s defending team champion qualified 10 to dual-meet champion Coronado’s 8 in Metropolitan League trials at Vista. Escondido led with 15.
Harry Sykes, who led Coronado to its first outright league dual-meet championship since 1925, remained undefeated with victories of :10.4 in the 100 and :21.3 in the 180 low hurdles. Ted Granger bettered his Sweetwater high hurdles record with a :15.5.
4/25/52
FINALS
METROPOLITAN LEAGUE, @CHULA VISTA
Dick Geck of San Dieguito ended the unbeaten season of Coronado’s Harry Sykes in the 100, but the Islanders won the team championship with 44 points to 33 for Escondido, which won the Class B and C championships.
Geck’s 100 time was :10.4 and he won the 220 in :23.1. Sykes, a virtual triple winner in almost every meet, won the broad jump at 21 feet, 10 inches, and the 180 low hurdles in :20.9.
George Edwards rallied from fifth place on the final turn to win the mile in 4:58.7, and Charlie Rose was the Islanders’ third winner at 5-11 in the high jump.
CITY PREP LEAGUE, @SAN DIEGO STATE
Writer Gene Earl of The San Diego Union described the conditions at San Diego State as a “biting and oft-time strong wind (that) razored across the Montezuma oval.”
The hefty breezes affected many performances, but favored San Diego still outlasted Grossmont for the team title, 53-49 ½. Grossmont won Class B and Kearny Class C.
San Diego’s Walter (Red) Taylor battled the wind in the 100 and edged Grossmont’s Bert Kohnhurst in :10.1. Kohnhurst won the 220 in :22 after Taylor withdrew, complaining of a stomach ache.
Grossmont led, 48 ½ to 48, but finished fifth in the final event 880-yard relay, won by the Cavers in 1:32.8.
Sprinting, jumping or hurdling, Coronado’s Harry Sykes usually won three events every meet.
John Rushing figured in 18 of Kearny’s 35 points, winning the high (:15.8) and low hurdles (:20.6), placing second to the 23-6 broad jump of San Diego’s John Parker, and anchoring the Komets to second place in the relay.
Grossmont’s other victory came in the shot put as Dick Bronson reached 50 feet, 11 ¼ inches. Foothillers weight man Dick Barnes won the Class B shot put at 53-5 1/2.
5/3/52
San Diego led all teams with 10 qualifiers in the Divisional quarterfinals at San Diego State, but junior Lanny Carter of Orange made the headlines with a Southern Section record of :48.9 in the 440 around two turns.
Some quarter miles began in a chute and covered only one turn, at about the 220-yard mark. Carter bettered the record of :49.2 by Duane Lewis of Compton in 1940.
John Rushing doubled in the high and low hurdles in :15.2 and :20.1, respectively, and Bert Kohnhurst doubled in the 100 and 220 in :10.1 and :22. John Parker of San Diego set a County record of 23-9 1/2 in the broad jump and broke a school record of 23-8 he set earlier.
San Diego’s Bernard Hanson won the 880 in 2:01.6 and defeated reigning Southern Section champion Bob Suess of Huntington Beach.
Walter (Red) Taylor edged Bert Kohnhurst in :10.1 finish of 100-yard dash at City Prep League championships on windswept San Diego State track.
5/10/52
Walter Taylor won his heat in :10.0 and ran a leg on the relay as the San Diego squad of Taylor, John Parker, Jon Taylor, and Hubert Smith posted the fastest heat, 1:30.5, in the Divisional semifinal meet at Ontario Chaffey.
Grossmont’s Burt Kohnhurst, one of the favorites, finished a nonqualifying third in his heat, won by George Lewis of El Monte in :09.8.
Kohnhurst recovered to win a 220 heat in :21.7. San Diego’s Bernard Hansen won his 880 heat in 2:02.5 and Kearny’s John Rushing won a heat in the 180-yard low hurdles in :19.7 after failing to qualify in the 120 highs.
Rushing also was third at 22-1 in the broad jump and San Diego’s John Parker fifth at 21-6 ½.
Grossmont’s Tommy George doubled in the Class B sprints, winning his heats in :10.2 and :22.5.
Five qualified, including Hoover’s Bernie Nelson, at 5-10 in the high jump, and five made the finals in the pole vault, including Jim Terry of Helix at 11-9 ½.
San Diego, Alhambra, and San Bernardino each led qualifiers with 5 each for the following week finals.
5/17/52
San Diego was fourth in team scoring with 8 points, behind the Compton Tarbabes, who ran away with the championship with 31 points at Huntington Beach.
Kearny scored 6 points, Grossmont 2, and Hoover and Chula Vista 1 each.
SAN DIEGO HIGH
Walter Taylor was third behind a :09.9 100 by George Lewis of El Monte and ran a leg on the 880 relay, in which the Cavemen were second to the 1:30.1 of Long Beach Wilson.
Bernard Hansen was fifth behind a 1:59.7 880 by North Hollywood Harvard’s Bert Purdue.
KEARNY
John Rushing was second in the broad jump at 22-10 ½ and fourth behind the :19.2 in the 180-yard hurdles by Newquist of Long Beach Wilson.
Grossmont’s Bert Kohnhurst (center) was fourth in Southern Section 220 finals. Mal Hughes (white jersey) of Beverly Hills won in :21.2. Mike Larrabee (left), 1964 Olympic 400-meter gold medalist from Ventura, was third.
GROSSMONT
Burt Kohnhurst finished fourth in :21.5 in the 220, won by Mal Hughes of Beverly Hills in :21.2.
HOOVER & CHULA VISTA
Bernie Nelson of Hoover was fourth at 6 feet in the high jump and Fred White of Chula Vista fifth in the shot put at 51-9 1/8.
BEES AND CEES
Tommy George of Grossmont was third in the Class B 100 and fourth in the 220. Teammate Dick Barnes won the 10-pound shot put competition at 53-5/8.
Helix’ Young won the Class C 180 in :18.7.
Ron Vavra of team champion Glendale Hoover won the B 100 in :10.2 and seven years later opened the new El Capitan High program in La Mesa and followed with a long tenure as track coach at Grossmont College.
5/24/51
The 34th state meet was held at the Los Angeles Coliseum. County athletes barely avoided a shutout.
Walter Taylor was fourth in his heat in the 100 in :10.2 but did not place in the afternoon finals. John Rushing of Kearny was fourth in the broad jump at 22-8 ¾.
SAY, AREN’T YOU?
Grossmont coach Jack Mashin need not have asked that question. Mashin was well acquainted, with the shot putter from a school almost 300 miles away.
Jay Humphrey of Strathmore in the Central Section had attended and competed at Grossmont but transferred to the Northern community for his senior year and finished third at 58 feet, 4 inches, behind the 60-9 1/8, national record by Leon Patterson of Taft.
1963 Track: Sensational Finishes by Cavers’ Relay Team, Madison’s Hose
Martin Pedigo, a former University of Oregon broad jumper, became the San Diego High coach and inherited a potential powerhouse.
The Cavers, representative of one of the state’s great programs—184-30-2 in dual meets since 1929—were 14-7 under longtime assistant Henry Wiegand and hadn’t beaten Lincoln, their latest rival, since 1959.
Wiegand deserved another year. Coincidentally, Pedigo, the seventh to occupy the position since Glenn Broderick took over in 1927, was married to a former Cavers cheerleader and student leader that Pedigo met at Oregon.
STATE GETS LARGER
The state meet, in its 45th year, became a two-day event and was more popular than ever. A crowd of 14,000 watched the final day at Edwards Field on the University of California campus in Berkeley..
Read down until you reach the Eastern League trials and finals in B and C field events. An interesting name emerges.
Plus, take in a season of terrific performances, particularly by the San Diego High 880-yard relay squad of Walter Blackledge, Gordon Baker, Raymond Dixon, and Charles Sanford, and the explosive arrival of junior Bob Hose in the 880-yard run for first-year Madison.
2/27/63
San Diego opened with a 63-41, dual-meet win at Granite Hills, winning nine of 12 events.
Lloyd Walker (120 high hurdles, :15, and high jump, 6 feet 2 inches) and Charles Sanford (100-yard dash, :10, and 180 low hurdles, :20.1) won two events each and teamed on a winning 880-yard relay team, 1:33.1.
3/1/63
Hilltop looked like a solid contender in the Metropolitan League, having won a nonleague dual with La Jolla, 64-40, as Darrell Dunafon clocked 1:58.9 in the 880. John Miller set a La Jolla shot put record of 54-8 ½.
Gordon Baker, Charles Sanford, Walter Blackledge, and Raymond Dixon (from left) came close to national record with 1:26.3 run in the 880-yard relay at Berkeley.
3/2/63
Compton Centennial made its almost annual trip South for a quadrangular meet with San Diego (45), Grossmont (35), and Lincoln (22).
Coach Bill Gill’s Apaches had 46 points, but San Diego won the big races. Charles Sanford took the 100 in :09.8, Gordon Baker the 440 in :50.4, and Robert Wash and Raymond Dixon joined Baker and Sanford in a :1:29.2 880 relay win.
Grossmont’s John Rendina won the 880 in 1:58.7 and Paul Manning the pole vault at 13-6 5/8.
—Gary Hafner tripled in Helix’ 79-25 win over Monte Vista, winning the 440 in :51.6, broad jump at 22 feet, and setting a school record at 6-2 ¾ in the high jump.
From left: Crawford’s Bill Sanders (2nd), San Diego’s Charles Sanford (1st) and Gordon Baker (third), and Crawford’s’ Bruce (Chick) Hafer, slightly obscured. (4th). Sanford’s winning 100 time in dual at Crawford was :09.8.
3/9/63
Crawford won a dual with Grossmont League power El Cajon Valley, 53-51, by winning the relay in 1:32.8.
Steve Weston doubled for the Braves in the high hurdles (:14.9) and low hurdles (20.7). Bill Sanders (:10.2, :22.7) doubled for Crawford and was on the relay team and Rick Herrmann turned in a :50.8 in the 440.
—Tom Agsten doubled at Clairemont with a :09.7 100 and :50 flat 440 and Eddy Hanks high jumped 6-2 ½ in Hoover’s 75 ½-28 ½ victory.
—Versatile Bob Hose won the 440 in :52.9 and 120 high hurdles in :16.4 and was second in the broad jump but St. Augustine, behind Henry Daniels’ :09.8 and :23.1 sprint victories won, 65-38.
3/15/63
Tom Agsten of Hoover set a County record of :49.0 in the 440 and raced to :09.9 100 victory as Hoover beat Point Loma, 64-40.
Coronado’s Scott Knox held the 440 record of :49.2, set in the 1961 San Diego Section meet and San Diego’s Norman Stocks ran :49.3 in the Southern Section meet in 1946.
3/26/63
Martin Koenekamp set a Helix record of 1:56.3 in the 880 as the Highlanders defeated El Capitan, 79-25. Two months later, in the Section meet, Koenekamp’s teammate, Don (Flash) Gordon also clocked 1:56.3.
Grossmont’s Paul Manning won San Diego Section pole vault in Balboa Stadium and was third at 14-feet, 4 inches, in state final.
3/30/63
Hoover coach Raleigh Holt might have been accused of stacking his entry list and going for the rare shutout.
The Cardinals scored a 103-1 dual meet victory over Morse. A Hoover Class C pole vaulter, Hirata, was elevated to the varsity and won his event and set a C record of 12-2.
Morse’s only point was a third place in the 100-yard dash.
—San Diego took a huge step towards its first Eastern League dual-meet title since 1959, 64-40 over Lincoln, which had won the last three.
Lloyd Walker high jumped 6-3 ½ and won the 120 highs in :14.7 and the Cavers swept the Hornets in the sprints, 18-0, as Charles Sanford won the 100 in :09.9 and Raymond Dixon the 220 in :22.2 in a track that had been slowed by recent rain.
3/31/63
San Diego, Lincoln, and Granite Hills each won team championships in the National City Junior Chamber of Commerce Relays at Sweetwater.
The eighth annual event, delayed a week by rain, saw six records broken.
Large Schools Division winner San Diego outscored Grossmont, 45-42, followed by Hoover, 25, Crawford, 22, El Capitan, 21, Helix, 19, and Point Loma and Mount Miguel, 17 each.
Lincoln had 44 points, El Cajon Valley 36, Chula Vista 33, Hilltop 32, Escondido 25, Kearny 15, Clairemont, and St. Augustine 12 among medium schools.
Granite Hills outdistanced the small schools’ field with 50 ½ points, followed by Coronado, 35, La Jolla, 31 ½, Sweetwater, 30 1/3, Mar Vista, 24, Monte Vista, 19, and Mission Bay, 13 2/3.
Grossmont’s Phil Napierski high jumped 6-4 and El Cajon Valley’s Steve Weston ran :14.8 in the 120-yard high hurdles. Three records were set in relays events, which later were not recognized after the Sweetwater track was discovered to be approximately 3 yards short of a 440-yard oval.
Helix’ record 10:36.1 in the distance medley, 440, 880, 1320, and mile. Those distances required 10 trips around the oval, thus about 30 yards short of the official distance.
Bogus records also were set in the 880 and Mile relays and mile run.
Phil Naperski of Grossmont had a best of 6-5 in the high jump and cleared 6-4 on this effort for a record in National City J.C. Relays.
4/3/63
Madison’s Bob Hose, who had run hurdles and broad jumped, won his 880-yard specialty in 2:00.7. Hose, competing for Clairemont as a sophomore in 1962, had finished fourth in the San Diego Section finals with a best time of 1:58.8.
Hose also took thirds in the high hurdles and broad jump but Point Loma won the Western League dual, 84-20.
4/6/63
Tom Agsten won the 100 in :09.8 and the 220 on the Hoover curve in :21.6 but Crawford won the Eastern League dual, 61-43.
The Colts’ Rick Herrmann won the 400 in :49.8 and the Colts set a school record with a 1:29.6 880 relay win.
–Russ Eckhardt set a Granite Hills record of :09.8 in the 100 and La Jolla’s John Miller improved his school record to 54-11 ¼.
—James Kennedy of Lincoln upped his San Diego Section lead in the broad jump to 23 feet, 9 inches.
—Gary Hafner set school records of :49.7 in the 440 and 22-9 ½ in the broad jump and won the 220 in Helix’ pivotal Grossmont League triumph against visiting Grossmont, 53-51.
—Dave Funderburk, a sophomore at Vista, ran 4:27.7 in the mile, a class record.
Eastern League sprinters Tom Agsten of Hoover, Charles Sanford of San Diego, and Crawford’s Bill Sanders appear to dead heat in 100-yard dash at San Diego Section trials. Sanders won in :09.8, with Sanford second, and Agsten third.
4/6/63
Bob Hose broke two minutes for the first time with his 1:59.9 in Madison’s 80-23 loss at Kearny.
4/14/63
Seven meet records were set at the San Diego Relays in Balboa Stadium, most notable the three-man high jump in which San Diego jumpers cleared a cumulative height of 18-8 ½.
The 6-5 ¼ by Tom Maloy, 6-3 ½ by Lloyd Walker and 6-0 by Willie Steel was a foot higher than the record.
Paul Manning led a Grossmont team to 38 feet with a 13-6 pole vault (matched by Escondido’s Bob Good). James Kennedy led 3 Lincoln broad jumpers to a combined 66-3 ½.
Four Helix milers averaged 4:58.7 and they set a 4-mile record of 18:34.8.
Lloyd Walker of San Diego posted a record, :14.5 in the high hurdles and San Diego ran: 42.5 and 1:28.0 in the 440 and 880 baton races.
The anticipated 100-yard dash was marked by a disqualification after two false starts by St. Augustine’s Henry Daniels, who earlier won a heat in :09.9. Crawford’s Bill Sanders got the best of San Diego’s Charles Sanford in the final in :09.8.
Martin Koenekamp went the distance for Helix.
5/1/63
A gusty breeze pushed St. Augustine’s Henry Daniels to a :09.5 100 and :21.4 220. Granite Hills won a 220 duel at Helix from the Highlanders’ Gary Hafner. Eckhardt ran :21.1, Hafner :21.3.
Madison’s Bob Hose logged a :50.5 440 and won the high hurdles in :16.1 and Mission Bay’s Bob Getzen broke the school mile record for the second time, 4:28.2.
Bill Trujillo set a Kearny record with a 4:27.8 mile and La Jolla found a challenger for John Miller in the shot put. Holland Seymore reached 52-5 5/8.
Escondido’s Ed Mathews ran a 1:57.7 880 at Sweetwater.
5/4/63
Henry Daniels beat Charles Sanford in a :09.9 100 and Gordon Baker ran the Balboa Stadium curve in :21.6 as San Diego beat the Saints, 68-36.
—Crawford’s Bill Sanders got into the act at Morse with a windy :09.6 100 and Sanders’ Crawford teammate Rick Herrmann took the 440 in :49.7 in the Colts’ 85-19 breeze.
—Madison’s Bob Hose clocked 1:59.1 in the 880, but saw his school mile record of 4:45 bettered by teammate Loeber, who ran 4:38.7 in an 83-21 loss to big brother Clairemont.
5/8/63
Trials in the Eastern, Western, and Metropolitan leagues saw several season bests and included records in lower classes.
San Diego’s Walter Blackledge won a windy heat in the 220 at Morse in :20.8, and Gordon Baker won the following heat in :21.1.
A wind gauge was on hand and the usual breeze actually was measured at less than the allowable 4.447 miles per hour when the Cavers’ Lloyd Walker set a record in the high hurdles, :14.4.
It seemed of no great importance when a Class C high jump record was made at 5 feet, 10 inches.
Who won the event made the jump noteworthy. The winner was Morse sophomore Arnie Robinson, who would go on to win the 1980 Olympics long jump gold medal.
Robinson also won the San Diego Section title in the C high jump at 5-10, but would finish fourth in the broad jump, won by Point Loma’s Earle Lott, who set a record of 21-10 5/8.
5/11/63
EASTERN LEAGUE FINALS, @BALBOA STADIUM
The season was replete with outstanding performances in almost every event, so Charles Sanford’s :09.7 100 was almost almost routine.
Sanford also set a record in the 180-yard low hurdles (:19.4) and anchored the relay team to a 1:27.7 clocking, the fourth fastest in County history.
San Diego won six events and scored 73 points. Lincoln was runner-up with 41, followed by Hoover 35 ½, Crawford 32 ½, St. Augustine 10, and Morse 1.
League championship records also were set by Tom Agsten of Hoover, :48.7 440; Robert Wash of San Diego, 52-7 ¾ shot put; and Hoover’s Eddy Hanks, 6-6 high jump.
WESTERN LEAGUE FINALS, @CLAIREMONT
Bob Hose of Madison was picking up steam, winning the 880 in a season best 1:57.7.
Holland Seymore, number two to John Miller for much of the season, set a La Jolla record of 56-4 in the shot put.
Point Loma won five events, charged by Charles Streeter’s :19.6 in the low hurdles, and won the team championship with 62 points. Clairemont had 40 1/2, Mission Bay 37 3/4, La Jolla 19, Madison 12, and Kearny 8 ¾.
METROPOLITAN LEAGUE, @ESCONDIDO
Holland Seymore set Western League meet record with shot put of 56 feet, 4 inches.
Mar Vista’s George Butler won the 440-yard race in :50, nosing out Sweetwater’s Gary Gardner, who ran :50.4. Bob Dunn of Hilltop put the shot 54-7 ½.
Jim Pritchard of Escondido won a pole vault duel with teammate Bob Good and Hilltop’s Bob Thoe at 13-6 and the host Cougars outscored Hilltop, 44-40, for the team title.
Chula Vista, rolling with Bill Masseys’ double of :10.2 and :22.6 in the sprints and Massey’s anchor leg for the winning, 1:32.2 relay squad, scored 39 points. Mar Vista had 26 and Sweetwater 22.
GROSSMONT LEAGUE FINALS, @EL CAJON VALLEY
Homeboys Russ Eckhardt and Steve Westin of El Cajon Valley raced to :09.9 and :21.5 victories in the sprints and :15 and :20.2 in the high and low hurdles, respectively, for four of the eight records set on their layout.
Donn Renwick of Grossmont ran :49.3 in the 440, Helix’ Don (Flash) Gordon 1:57.0 in the 880, El Capitan’s Leon Herzog reached 58 feet, 2 inches, in the shotput, and Renwick’s teammate, Phil Napierski, clearing 6-4 in the high jump, also claimed a record.
5/19/63
SAN DIEGO SECTION TRIALS,@BALBOA STADIUM
Seventeen records in Classes A, B, and C were set as the Trials moved to Balboa Stadium, where there was less intrusion from the breezes at Kearny, site of the 1961 and ’62 trials and finals.
Seven Class A records, beginning with the :14.4 Oceanside’s Mike Swaim logged in the high hurdles, first event of the day, set the pace. Swaim handed San Diego’s Lloyd Walker his first defeat.
Bill Sanders of Crawford ran a :09.8 100, Tom Agsten of Hoover a :48.5 440, Darrel Dunafon of Hilltop a 4:23.3 mile, Charles Sanford of San Diego, a :19.3 in the low hurdles, and James Kennedy of Lincoln, a 23-9 ½ broad jump.
The day concluded with San Diego tying a County record with a 1:27.2 880 relay.
Bob Hose was strongly positioned as he completed first lap in the state 880 trial, second to Whittier Lowell’s Dennis Carr in 880. Hose’s second-place qualifying time time was 1:52.8.
5/23/63
San Diego Section weight specialists conducted finals in the discus, an event the Southern Section put on hiatus from 1933-48 and contested by area athletes infrequently and usually in unofficial competition until the San Diego Section was formed and made the discus an official but non-scoring event in 1961.
The discus’ high school weight is 3.9 pounds. In earlier years athletes used an Olympic-sized platter of 4.64 pounds.
A non-scoring competition was held at San Diego State for purposes of choosing a state meet qualifier.
An athlete from the city’s Western League, Point Loma’s John Bishop, won at 145 feet, 11 inches, followed by Grossmont’s Richard Grise at 145-3 1/2.
Grossmont League schools, with much larger athletic venues would, for several years, make the discus an official event in dual meets. City schools did not have discus competition.
Oceanside’s Mike Swaim set meet record of :14.4 in section trials and defeated San Diego’s Lloyd Walker (left) and Lincoln’s James Kennedy.
5/25/63
SAN DIEGO SECTION FINALS, @BALBOA STADIUM
Twelve records were broken in Varsity, B, and C, and San Diego ran away with the varsity team titled with 42 points to Lincoln’s 25, Grossmont’s 20, and Crawford’s 15.
San Diego’s Charles Sanford set a record in the 100-yard dash, :09.6, and was involved in tying two others, :19.3 low hurdles, and 1:27.2 relay.
The Cavers won two additional events:120-yard highs (Lloyd Walker, :14.5), and 220 (Gordon Baker, :21.7).
Madison’s Bob Hose continued to lower his best time in the 880, beating a class field in 1:54.9. Lincoln’s Raymond Darrough followed in 1:56.2 and Helix’ Don Gordon was next in 1:56.3.
Eddy Hanks of Hoover and Tom Maloy of San Diego tied at 6-5 in the high jump but Hanks won with fewer misses.
Lincoln’s James Kennedy, who won the state meet at 24-5 ¾ in 1962, reached 24 feet, 1/2 inch for a meet record, and got the Section’s only spot in the state meet after Kennedy held off Point Loma’s Lyle Schaefer, who jumped over a towel placed in the pit and made 23-11 ¾. Kennedy became the third Lincoln broad jumper to hit 24 feet. Luther Hayes did 24-1/8 in 1956 and Kenny Tucker, 24-3/4 in 1959.
5/31/63
45TH STATE TRIALS,@BERKELEY
Eleven individual winners from the San Diego Section, including members of the San Diego High 880-yard relay team, arrived at Edwards Field on the University of California campus in Berkeley and qualified in 10 of 13 events.
Bob Hose of Madison ran the third fastest 880 in County history. His time of 1:52.8, behind only the 1:52.7 by Mission Bay’s Jim Cerveny on this same track and same meet in 1957 and Hoover’s John Garrison, who ran 1:52.7 at the 1962 state meet.
Hose trailed Whittier Lowell favorite Dennis Carr, whose 1:52 in the same heat with Hose, was one-tenth of a second off the national record set by Bonita’s Ray Van Asten in 1960.
San Diego was in tough in the relay heats. The Cavers ran 1:27.1 but were second to Los Angeles Manual Arts’ 1:26.7 and just in front of L.A. Jefferson (1:27.4) and L.A. High (1:27.5).
Hilltop’s Darrel Dunafon’s qualifying 4:19.6 mile was the second fastest in County history to Jack Hudson’s 4:16.7 in the 1959 state meet.
The only nonqualifiers were San Diego’s Lloyd Walker (high hurdles) and Gordon Baker (220) and Point Loma’s John Bishop (discus).
Mount Miguel’s Gerry Mavrinac led Grossmont’s Richard Monahan with approximately 300 yards to finish line in Grossmont League 880 finals. Mavrinac won in 1:57.5, but Helix’ Don Gordon (left) finished strong to edge Monahan for second.
6/1/63
STATE FINALS
San Diego High executed an almost perfect race, winning the 880-yard relay in 1:26.3, 4/10 seconds off the national record by L.A. Jefferson in 1956.
Not far behind in all-time performances was the 880 run by Madison’s Bob Hose.
The Cavers surprised the field and their half-mile, two-lap odyssey represented a perfect exchange of batons after taking the lead from the outset.
Running in lane 1, not the best starting position, Walter Blackledge got out quickly and forged a lead with a :22 flat leg.
Gordon Baker maintained with a :21.4 second lap and handed the stick and a three-yard lead and the pole position to Raymond Dixon.
With the posse in hot pursuit Dixon held the lead with a :21.6 leg.
Charles Sanford, who had been unplaced in the 100 and low hurdles finals, finished with a :21.3 and with room to spare ahead of Manual Arts, second in 1:26.8.
Bob Hose, who came into the meet with a best time of 1:54.9, completed two hard days and a stunning, personal improvement of three seconds.
Lowell’s Dennis Carr set a national record of 1:50.9 and Hose bettered the previous record of 1:51.9 with a 1:51.7 finish.
Grossmont’s Paul Manning, third at 14 feet, 4 inches, in the pole vault, and defending broad jump champion James Kennedy, fourth at 23-9 ¾, were the other scorers from the San Diego Section.
2020-21 Girls Week 11C: Seven Tried, Two Successful
San Diego Section teams won two of seven Southern California championship basketball games.
Mater Dei defeated host Mission Hills Bishop Alemany, 56-42, in Division II-AA and Rancho Bernardo topped visiting San Pedro Mary Star of the Sea, 72-44, in D-IIIAA.
The Crusaders were a No. 5 seed and Alemany No. 2. Rancho Bernardo was a 2 seed against its 4-seed visitors from the area near the Palos Verdes peninsula.
School is out but there’s a sense of great accomplishment around Mater Dei’s Chula Vista campus. The boys also won, defeating Fresno Central, 67-50.
El Camino suffered a three-point loss to higher seed Studio City Westlake Village and Victory Christian lost by four to higher seed Corcoran, which traveled more than 300 miles.
Seedings precede numbers in parenthesis, which represent the statewide pregame rating of the team by Max Preps.
CHAMPIONSHIPS Saturday, June 19
DIVISION II-AA 5 (51) Mater Dei (20-9) 56, @2 (20) Mission Hills Bishop Alemany (18-3) 42.
D-IIA 8 (46) Westlake Village Westlake (21-3) 50, @3 (28) El Camino (17-6) 47.
D-IIIAA 4 (77) San Pedro Mary Star of the Sea (22-1) 44, @2 (60) Rancho Bernardo (22-8) 72.
D-IIIA 6 (100) Del Norte (14-13) 62, @5 (71) Clovis Buchanan (15-8) 72.
D-IVA 3 (115) Our Lady of Peace (18-6) 45, @1 (152) Bakersfield Christian (18-6) 60.
D-IIIA 6 (52) Del Norte (14-12) 58, @2 (91) Termecula Chaparral (14-5) 52.
D-IVA 7 (117) Paso Robles (14-4) 31, @3 (115) Our Lady of Peace (18-5) 47.
D-VAA
5 (106) Fallbrook (23-8) 39, @1 (80) St. Joseph (23-3) 37.
D-VIAA 3 (458) Playa del Rey St. Bernard (8-6) 28, @2 (302) Victory Christian (14-6) 67.
QUARTERFINALS
Tuesday, June 15
OPEN DIVISION
5 (4) Studio City Harvard-Westlake (22-4) 53, @4 (6) Cathedral (20-3) 59.
6 (11) Bonita Vista (24-5) 46, @3 (7) Clovis West (20-0) 56.
7 (9) La Jolla Country Day (16-5) 44, @2 (2) Corona Centennial (23-1) 79.
