1945 Track: San Diego’s Norman Stocks Led Hilltoppers, Victory Leaguers
There would be no state meet for the fourth consecutive year and the Southern California Divisional and Finals, highlights of the season, were financially inconvenient or unattractive to some schools with San Diego connections.
Wartime shortages, away from the battlefields.
Only El Centro Central from the Imperial Valley and Army-Navy and Escondido from the Southern League, representing a total of 22 athletes, continued competing after their league meets.
The lack of outside participation opened the door for fourth-place finishers from each event in the Victory League finals, mandated by CIF commissioner Seth Van Patten. Three qualifiers from league meets throughout Southern California was the general rule.
HIGHER
Victory League coaches voted to continue the 70-yard high hurdles through the league finals and then go to the 120-yard high hurdles in the Southern Section Divisional meet at San Diego State.
San Diego State had a straightaway long enough to accommodate the longer hurdle test. The CIF finals at Ontario Chaffey would be of 120 yards and the 120-yard lows would be contested at 220 yards.
The high hurdles had been 42 inches from 1915-38, when the CIF went to 39 inches for the 120 yards. Victory League schools opted for 70 yards during the war years. Beginning in 1946 the 220-yard lows, 30 inches high, would reduce to 180 yards at CIF meets.
4/3/45
Bob Marr was first in the 440 in :54 and 120-yard high hurdles in :15.7, and George Pinnell hurled the shot 45-2 in host La Jolla’s 79 ½-24 ½ win over Brown Military.
—San Dieguito outscored Escondido, 63-54, in a hexangular track meet on the Mustangs’ track.
Instead of a dual (2) or triangular (3), the six Southern League schools competed in a dual meet format.
Army-Navy had 33 3/5 points, trailed by Ramona, 9 ½, Vista, 8, and Fallbrook 7.
Football star and future coach Bob (Chick) Embrey scored 16 points for Escondido. Bill Dawson had 14 for San Dieguito.
—Tom Powell’s :10.2 win in the 100-yard dash stood out in San Diego’s 90 ½-13 ½ rout of Sweetwater. Grossmont punished Kearny, 97-7, and La Jolla walloped Coronado 87 ½-16 ½.
4/6/45
Earl Caldwell tied the school record of :09.2 in the 70-yard high hurdles and Lloyd Schuneman won the 880 in 2:07.1 as Hoover won its 15th consecutive dual meet, 53 ½-50 ½, over visiting Point Loma.
The Cardinals had not lost since a 69 ½-34 ½ defeat to San Diego in 1942.
4/7/45
Bob Marr won the 120-yard high hurdles in :16, 220 low hurdles in :25.4, and anchored a 1:35.4 victory in the 880-yard relay as La Jolla swept small school honors in the 24th Southern Counties’ Invitational at Huntington Beach High.
Don Ide of La Jolla won the high jump at 6 feet, 1 inch, Dave Hough the 220 in :22.8, and George Pinnell the shot put at 48 feet.
The Vikings scored 32 points, outdistancing Huntington Beach (19) and Bonita (14). El Monte won the large school championship with 29 points. Grossmont scored 19 and San Diego 12. Hoover did not participate.
Norman Stocks of San Diego won a 440 race in :52.5. Grossmont’s Jim Madden claimed the mile in 4:42.2, and teammate Gilbert Martin the shot put at 48-6 1/8.
4/10/45
Earl Caldwell again equaled his school record of :09.2 in the 70-yard high hurdles and won the 120-yard low hurdles in :14.4 as Hoover defeated Coronado, 86-18.
4/13/45
Norman Stocks of San Diego ran the 440 in :50.1, fastest time in Southern California since 1943, leading the Hilltoppers past Coronado, 85-18.
Stocks, who also won the 100 (:10.4) and broad jump (20-2 ½), bettered a 1944 effort of :50.7 by Jeff Lawson of North Hollywood.
—Hoover set a league record with a 99-5 win over Kearny. The Cardinals would have to wait until 1954 to equal the record in a 99-4 win over just-getting-started Lincoln.
—Sweetwater’s Wally Hartin took the County lead with a :13.7 clocking in the 120 low hurdles but Sweetwater fell to Point Loma, 62-42.
4/17/45
Grossmont defeated guest Hoover, 69 1/3-34 2/3, ending the Cardinals’ streak of 17 consecutive dual meet victories.
Foothillers shot putter Gilbert Martin set a school record of 51 feet, 1 inch, bettering his record of 50-7, set in 1944. Duane Close posted a Grossmont record of :53 in the 440.
—Harry West ran the 120-yard low hurdles in :13.2, setting a San Diego High record and tying the Southern Section record.
Norman Stocks was a triple winner in the Hilltoppers’ 78-26 win over Point Loma, :10 in the 100, :51.8 in the 440, and 20-4 ½ in the broad jump.
4/26/45
San Diego won its sixth straight dual meet and was first in 7 of 12 events in a 62-42 win over Grossmont in Balboa Stadium. Top mark was the 4:44.5 mile by the visitors’ Larry Boerner.
The Hillers’ B and C squads also were victorious, ending the Foothillers’ streak of 25 wins in a row in B and 24 wins in a row in C.
Coach Jack Mashin’s lightweight teams had a combined record of 93-9 in dual meets since 1939.
5/3/45
San Diego finished with a 7-0 dual-meet record after an 80 ½-23 1/2, victory over Hoover that ended the Victory League dual-meet season.
Norman Stocks scored 16 ½ points for coach Bill Patten’s Hilltoppers, winning the 100 in :10, 440 in :51, broad jump (21-6 ¾), and anchoring a 1:32 victory in the 880-yard relay.
Hoover’s Earl Caldwell cleared the 70-yard high hurdles in a school-record :09.0, and bettered the meet record of :09.2 by San Diego’s Ed Pohl in 1942.
5/11/45
VICTORY LEAGUE TRIALS, @SAN DIEGO STATE
Norman Stocks bettered his meet record of :53.1 with a :53 effort in the 440.
Chuck Holloway of San Diego set a record of :22.3 in the 220 and Charles Whitmarsh of Hoover set a record at :22.4 220 in Class B. Sweetwater’s Wally Hartin broad jumped to a B record of 20-6.
San Diego’s Bobby Smith, who would go on to compete on the international stage, pole vaulted 11-6 for a Class C record. Joe Page of Grossmont tied a record with a 5-9 high jump.
5/12/45
VICTORY LEAGUE FINALS, @SAN DIEGO STATE
Eighteen league records were set in the three classes as Grossmont won team championships in varsity and Class C, sandwiched around a San Diego team title in Class B.
San Diego’s Norman Stocks ran :50.3 in the 440, Lloyd Schuneman of Hoover 2:01.7 in the 880, and Jim Madden of Grossmont 4:40.3 in the mile.
Other Class A records:
—Gilbert Martin, Grossmont, 48-10 ½ shot put.
—Ray Oyos, Grossmont, 20-10 ½ broad jump.
—Don Ide, La Jolla, 6-0 high jump.
–San Diego, 880-yard relay, 1:31.5.
San Diego coach Bill Patten addressed CIF qualifiers (top, from left) Norman Stocks, Harry Taylor, Harold Landis, (bottom, from left) Howard Sutliff, John Holloway, Joe Acevedo, Ted Simpson.
5/19/45
SOUTHERN SECTION DIVISIONAL, @SAN DIEGO STATE
Don Ide of La Jolla high jumped 6 feet, 2 inches, and Gilbert Martin of Grossmont put the shot 50-3 ½.
Earl Caldwell of Hoover ran :15.5 in the 120-yard high hurdles and Bob Marr clocked :25.4 in the 220 lows. Favored Jim Madden was forced to withdraw from the mile after sustaining cramps. Madden’ teammate Larry Boerner won the race in 4:44.8, nosing out Ted Simpson of San Diego.
San Diego led in scoring with 52 points. Grossmont followed with 41. La Jolla had 31, Hoover 14, Army-Navy 8, Point Loma 7, El Centro Central 6, Sweetwater 5, and apparently Brawley, a surprise entry, 4.
5/26/45
SOUTHERN SECTION FINALS, @ONTARIO CHAFFEY
Norman Stocks won the 440 in :50.2, claiming the only Gold Medal among the 44 San Diego and Imperial Valley athletes entered in the three classes.
San Diego High finished with 12 points, tying for fourth place with Beverly Hills. Glendale Hoover won the team title with 34 points. El Monte had 17 and Inglewood 16.
Stocks was fifth in the 100, won by George Pasquali of Glendale Hoover in :10.1, a time indicative of the meet’s overall subpar performances.
Lloyd Schuneman of Hoover was second to a 2:01.9-winning 880, Gilbert Martin of Grossmont third and Joe Acevedo of San Diego fifth to a 49-2 1/8-winning shot put;
Earl Caldwell of Hoover was fifth to a :15.4-winning 120-yard high hurdles, Don Ide of La Jolla, second to a 6-1/2 winning high jump, and the San Diego relay team, second to Glendale Hoover’s 1:31.4.
Ted Simpson of San Diego, fourth in the Victory League final but elevated to the CIF meets, was fifth in the mile, won in 4:38.2.
Two Army-Navy runners, in the Class A 440 and C 660, also elevated in the fourth-place decree by CIF commissioner Seth Van Patten, did not place.
