We’ve been idle since the state high school track meet and probably won’t be posting much for the next month, as our two grandsons, 13 and 12, from Connecticut have made their annual invasion.

For Susie and me, this represents  4-5 weeks of never-ending activity, a veritable jailbreak every day.  It seems like we are training with the SEALs.

We wouldn’t have it any other way.

The boys met us in Las Vegas on June 21.  From there came a tour of Hoover Dam, a visit to the magnificent meteor crater near Winslow, Az., and a day at the Grand Canyon.

It’s not all swimming pools and movies.  Some culture is added.

Oh, I’d better not forget.  Happy 48th anniversary today to my beautiful bride.

San Diego High continued to transition to mediocrity from the championship squad of three seasons before and tiny Coronado mixed with the big boys.

Bryan (Pesky) Sprott and five members of the Hilltoppers’ nationally-acclaimed 1916 team now were leading the University of California’s powerful squad and coach Clarence (Nibs) Price was on the Bears’ football coaching staff.

San Diego High was on its third coach in three seasons.  Price moved to Berkeley after the 1917 campaign and Clint Evans, who coached during the flu-interrupted 1918 season, had announced his retirement and relocated to Idaho.

Vladimir Victor Ligda embarked on what would be a one-season stint as the Hilltoppers’ coach.

Ligda was of Russian descent but born in France.  He attended high school in Oakland, and had achieved some success in  track and field for California-Berkeley.

Ligda was introduced in an expansive article in The San Diego Union, which noted that he was a 1904 Cal graduate and had run :51.0 to win the 440-yard race in the annual big meet against Stanford.

That Ligda was incorrectly identified as “Vernon” Ligda seemed to presage a problematic tenure.

ACROSS THE BAY

Coach Wyman Feeler’s Coronado Islanders made quick work of County League competition and looked forward to a second season in the playoffs, in the same calendar year.

Coronado had lost to Fullerton, 18-0, in a 1918 Southern California finals game that was played in March, 1919.  The CIF had managed to get two teams together three months after the normal end of the season.

The year of 1918 was notable for the Asian flu pandemic that killed an estimated 50-70 million people (at least 3 per cent of the global population) and for the end of fighting in World War I.

Some teams were able to complete seasons in January and February, others had theirs suspended, and still others were idle all season.

POLY NOT HARVARD MILITARY

Coronado, which won games by scores of 74-0 and 66-0, and  was not scored on in three County League encounters, had lost only to college or service teams.

The Islanders were supposed to open the season against San Diego, but Feeler changed his mind, saying he wanted to take on San Diego at the end of the schedule.

A Hilltoppers-Islanders game did not materialize and Coronado was assigned to a CIF first-round playoff at Hollywood Harvard Military.

Harvard apparently backed out of the game, this during a time when the CIF had difficulty filling playoff brackets.  The postseason did not have the cachet it would develop in later years.

Wyman Feeler telegraphed the Union sports department that Long Beach Poly was replacing the Hollywood school.  Poly, with an enrollment of 1,100 and many adults on its squad, would take on Coronado, high school enrollment 100, including 47 boys.

Feeler probably didn’t want the game, but it promised a revenue bump for the school and Feeler agreed when the CIF scheduled the contest in San Diego’s City Stadium, a ferry ride and long walk from the island.

Islanders supporters in “machines” circled the streets of Coronado the night before the playoff, honking  horns, stopping pedestrians in the quiet community, and inviting all to come to a pep rally at the school, highlighted by a bonfire, speeches, and a performance by jazz musicians.

The trans-bay eleven was no match for the champions of the Los Angeles County League the next afternoon.  Poly was a 59-0 winner and then defeated Santa Monica, 21-0, in the semifinals and claimed the championship with a 47-0 victory over Fullerton.

FOOTBALL OR TRACK, COACH?

Victor Ligda’s resume indicated in the years following graduation that he had been an assistant professor of physical education and athletic director at the University of Arizona, and assistant professor of p.e. at Berkeley.

Ligda also had been track coach at Los Angeles Manual Arts and most recently instructor of boxing and wrestling at Camp Fremont in Menlo Park.

Football?

Ligda’s sport was track and field and he made announcements during the football season that were about the spring sport, which didn’t begin until February.

Ligda created a football pentathlon, which consisted of  punting, drop kicking, placekicking, “loose” field running, a dash from one end of the field to the other, tackling, and running through hurdles placed as obstacles.

He also publicized a Stadium Day track and field carnival that was to take place in December and served as  coach of the cross-country team.

WHAT’S GOING ON?

Grumbling was heard on the Hilltop and in the local press after a lackluster tie in the Orange League opener with Orange and a loss at Whittier.

According to Don King in “Caver Conquest,” Ligda had the team show up at Whittier 10 minutes before kickoff as punishment for some players’ “horseplay” on the overnight trip to Orange.

The Union reported that the team did not have lunch during the Whittier train trip and had to immediately change from street clothes to its moleskin uniforms.

On Nov. 1, an anonymous columnist for The Sports Mint in the Union expanded on the Hilltop football program:

“Going behind the scenes we  learn that the material this year is average, that coach Victor Ligda is a hard worker but not a top-notch football coach, for his specialty is track.

It was  pointed out that fifth-year player Elmer Langdon became involved in  coaching the team but that Ligda disapproved and requested Langdon to cease.  “Does Ligda fear Langdon is stealing his thunder?” wondered the writer.

Ligda did not endear himself to the squad after a late-game loss to Pomona, 16-14.

“It was just a piece of hard luck,” said Ligda.  “The boys ought to have had that game but they slacked up a little toward the end.”

LANGDON ISSUED CLEARED

On Nov. 5 a paragraph at the end of a midweek story absolved Ligda of alleged pettiness in regard to Langdon’s coaching the team but made Ligda seem derelict in his head coaching responsibility:

“For a couple of days last week Ligda was refereeing afternoon games and was unable to be with the team, so he asked Langdon to help him out by leading the practice for those two afternoons.  Ligda is taking full charge now himself.”

The school band played “Hail! Hail! The Gang’s All Here” as the Hilltoppers headed to the train station on Friday for its Saturday afternoon game  at Fullerton.

“Coach A.E. Shaver accompanied the team,” it was reported.   Ligda was to follow in a private vehicle that evening after supervising track practice.

The 35-0 loss to Fullerton was followed by a 7-0 win over Santa Ana and a 35-0 rout of San Pedro on Thanksgiving Day, giving the Hilltoppers a final record of 6-3-1, their best since the 12-0 of 1916.

The three losses were against Orange League foes and left the Hilltoppers in fifth and last place.  Issues with Ligda continued.

“The team has been handicapped in that they haven’t had a strong hand to lead them,” wrote a Union reporter.  “Coach Ligda, it is claimed, has let the players have too much their own way in running plays….”

ALOHA!

Victor Ligda resigned at the end of the school year and took a teaching position in Hawaii, where he resided for many years.

Ligda’s experience with championship Manual Arts track teams and devotion to preparing the Hilltoppers, even during football and basketball seasons,  did not translate.

San Diego was winless in three track dual meets, losing to Los Angeles, 77-37, Manual Arts, 67-45, and L.A. Lincoln, 62-50.

EASY ED

There is no record of how many touchdowns Ed Suggett scored in his long and legendary career at Coronado.

Suggett scored seven touchdowns in one game for Coronado in 1916 in  what may have been  his freshman season and probably scored at least 150 points (25 touchdowns) each in 1916 and 1917.

Individual touchdown records were of seemingly passing interest.  Reporters at games or taking results  on the telephones were more interested in starting lineups and substitutions.

Suggett scored so often in Coronado blowouts that no official notice was given.

Touchdowns sometimes were ignored by the media, although more complete records were available for San Diego High.

For prep historians, mystery seems to always surround  Suggett.

Here was Suggett again in 1919, in at least his fourth season with the Islanders after reportedly serving in the military during World War I.

Suggett was listed as having played for the “Balboa Park Sailors,” during the war, but when?  He also was reported in the starting lineup when the Islanders met Fullerton in the 1918 championship, which was played in March, 1919.

Ed Suggett went to score more touchdowns at Whittier College, played minor pro football, and became the first coach at Compton College in 1927.

QUICK KICKS

Ralph Nobel, an  Army officer in Europe, was killed in action…Nobel was head coach at San Diego in 1913…many players who saw service in the military during the war returned to high school and continued eligibility…Bob Sieben, a hurdler and sprinter for the 1917 Hilltoppers’ track team, served with the Coast Artillery at Fort Rosecrans on the Point Loma peninsula, as did Fred Kunzel…Long Beach placed seven players on the all-Southern California first and second teams…San Diego and Coronado had none…Five of the eight schools in the County played football…Ramona, Fallbrook, and Julian were decades away from fielding squads….

San Diego Section track-and-field entries placed in eight of 32 events at the 98^th state track championships in Clovis Saturday.

—About 26 per cent of the entries, out of 96 total at the beginning of Friday’s trials, scored points amid the 102-degree heat of Buchanan High. And with no individual champion for the first time in 14 years.

It wasn’t a total loss.

Fourteen boys and nine girls produced season bests.

UC BATTLER IS REWARDED

University City’s Allen Siegler represented to me what the state meet is all about, competition and the opportunity to improve.

Siegler took a 1600 season best of 4:14.09 into the trials and qualified fourth at 4:12.22. He was eighth in the finals, but Siegler came to compete.

The wiry senior hung tough against a demanding pace and whacked another three seconds off his best to close at 4:09.29, eighth all-time in the San Diego Section.

SIX RACES IN TWO DAYS

Devin Alvarado of Rancho Buena Vista was outstanding in the Friday trials.

Alvarado ran the sixth fastest 110 hurdles in section history, :14.06, clean with no wind.

The Longhorns’ senior an hour later raced to :37.45 in the 300 intermediates, tied for 13^th all time, and contributed strongly  as the Longhorns qualified in a Section season best, 3:18.84 in the 4×400 relay.

Coming back in three events on Saturday took its toll.  Alvarado was fourth in the highs in :14.10, seventh in the intermediates at :38.26, and RBV was well out of it at 3:20.33 in the 4×400.

NIGHTHAWKS EMERGING

The rising and still developing Del Norte program of coach Chris Ruff scored its first points in a state meet since the school opened in 2008.  Michelle Altice was fifth in the discus at 146-3 and fourth in the shot at 45-1 ¼.

Mount Miguel’s Laulauga Tasauga-Collins rallied for second in the shot put at 45-1 ½ after fouling out in the discus, with no measured throw despite coming into the meet with the best sectional qualifying mark, 167-3.

CAP AND GOWN?

Cathedral senior Dani Johnson, whose career was so promising after she set section records of :13.86 in the 100 hurdles and :41.30 in the 300  in 2015,  qualified in both races Friday night.

Johnson, who overcame a bothersome early-season injury, ran :14.11 and :43.10 and then withdrew from the finals sometime after the trials.

There were reports that Johnson returned to Cathedral for graduation on Saturday.

SPIKE DUST
Ruff’s uncle, Bruce Ruff, was the San Diego Section 440 champion for El Cajon Valley, running :48.6 in 1967…The tiny San Francisco Section (17 schools, including several that don’t participate) produced its first winner since 1983…Pamela Amaechi of Lincoln won the discus at 164-1 and was third in the shot put at 45-1 1/2 …so many runners, beaten down by a fast pace at Clovis, lost contact with the leaders, fell back, and turned in performances far below their season  bests…Friday and Saturday results, including leaders and San Diego results:

 SATURDAY FINALS

BOYS

100—Brock, West Hills Chaminade, :10.43.

200—Norman, Vista Murrieta, :20.42.  8. Shaheed, Mt. Carmel, :21.87.

400—Norman, Vista Murrieta, :45.77.

800—Cortes, Temecula Great Oak, 1:50.75. 12. Chinn, Poway, 2:00.47.

1600—Cortes, Temecula Great Oak, 4:04.61.  8. Siegler, University City 4:09.29, Section No. 8 all-time.

3200—28. Boone, Mt. Carmel, 9:33.69.  29.Pope, Torrey Pines, 9:55.14.   30. B.  Prince, Sage Creek, 9:56.55.

110 HURDLES—Anderson, Upland, :13.59.  4.  Alvarado, Rancho Buena Vista, :14.10.

300 HURDLES—Burton, Westminster La Quinta, :36.44.  8. Alvarado, R.B.V., :38.42.

4×100 RELAY—Vista Murrieta, :40.32.

4×400 RELAY—Vista Murrieta, 3:14.97.  7. Rancho Buena Vista, 3:20.33.

HJ—Carbin, Piedmont Hills Mt. Pleasant, 7-0.

LJ—Holmes, Oakdale, 25-5.  3. Battikha, St. Augustine, 23-11.  5. DeRoos, Tri-City, 23-7 ¾.

TJ—Osling, Lancaster Antelope Valley, 48-9 ¼. 8. DeRoos, Tri City, 46-6 ½.  Battikha, S.A., 46-5 ¾.

SP—Osborn, Anaheim Esperanza, 69-10 ¾. 5. Lenford, Oceanside, 58-5.   9. Clark, Poway, 55-6 ¾.  10.  Miller, El Camino, 53-5.

PV—Gordon, Huntington Beach Marina, 16-8.  3T. Brown, La Costa Canyon, 15-8.  7. Hamson, Poway, 15-8.

DISCUS—Osborn, Anaheim Esperanza, 200-10.

GIRLS 

100—Rain Williams, Westlake Village Oaks Christian, :11.39.  8. Patterson, Rancho Bernardo, :11.85.

200—Barnes, Ventura St. Bonaventure, :23.23.  7. Patterson, R.B., :24.06.

400—Roberts, Carson, :52.28.

800—Brewer,  San Ramon California, 2:06.86.  12. Akins, R.B., 2:13.60.

1600—Gehrich, Las Flores Tesoro, 4:45.51.

3200—O’Keefe, Davis, 10:12.02.  20. Moran, Mt.Carmel, 11:02.83.  22. Loren, Canyon Crest, 11:06.86.  24. Barrett, Westview,  11:13.13.

100 HURDLES—Davis, Agoura, :13.38.  Johnson, Cath., scratched.

300 HURDLES—Woodward, Vacaville, :40.62.  7. Bell, Steele Canyon, :42.89. Johnson, Cathedral, scratched.

4×100 RELAY—Carson, :45.06.

4×400 RELAY–Carson, 3:42.80.

HJ—Palka, Westlake Village Oaks Christian, 5-9.  Snow, Carlsbad., no height.

LJ—Foster, Clovis North, 20-7 ½. 10. Stallman, Ramona, 18-2 ½.

TJ—Davis, Agoura, 42- 5 ½.  8. Nash, Calvin Christian, 38-2.

SP—Bruckner, San Jose Valley Christian, 49.5 ¾.  2. Tausaga-Collins, Mount Miguel, 45-1 ½. 4. Altice, Del Norte, 45-1 ¼.

PV—Baxter, Anaheim Canyon, 14-2.

DISCUS—Amaechi, S.F. Lincoln, 164-1.  5. Altice, Del Norte, 146-5.

FRIDAY TRIALS

BOYS

100—Brock, West Hills Chaminade, :10.54.  Others:  Morgan, Poway, :10.87; Goodwin, Christian, :10.89. Stokes, Del Norte, :10.94.

200—Diego-Willams, Gardena Serra, :21.13.  7. Shaheed, Mt. Carmel, 21.84.  Others, Goodwin, Christian, :22.04. Ellis, Bonita Vista, DQ, lane violation.

400—Norman, Vista Murrieta, :47.26.  Others: Shaheed, Mt. Carmel, :48.52.  Gunter, Del Norte, :48.92.  Ellis, Bonita Vista, :48.95.

800—Hall, Davis, 1:53.33.  4. Chinn, Poway, 1:53.46. Others: D. Prince, Chula Vista High Tech, 1:55.37.  Page, Eastlake, 1:58.8

1600—Janes, Riverside M.L. King, 4:10.86.  9. Siegler, University City, 4:12.22. Others:  Martinez de Pinollos, Cathedral. 4:16.97. Johnson, La Costa Canyon, 4:17.53.

110 HURDLES—Anderson, Upland, :13.78.  7. Alvarado, Rancho Buena, :14.06, Section No. 6 all-time. Others:  Thomsen, Calvin Christian, :14.61.  Kleppe, Rancho Bonita Vista, :15.0.

300 HURDLES—Burton, Westminster, La Quinta, :36.61.  5. Alvarado, RBV, :37.44, tie Section No. 13, all-time. Others:  Adams, Granite Hills, :39.36. Carter. Torrey Pines, :40.07.

4×100 RELAY—Vista Murrieta, :41.33. Others:  Mt. Carmel, :41.82.  Rancho Bernardo, :42.50. Del Norte, :42.61

4×400 RELAY—Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, 3:16.76.  Rancho Buena Vista, 3:18.84. Others:  Mira Mesa, 3:21.61.  Mt. Carmel, 3:28.95.

HJ—Six tied at 6-8.  Others:  Nelson, Del Norte, 6-6.  Rokach, Rancho Bernardo, 6-4. Heid, St. Augustine, no height.

LJ—Holmes, Oakmont, 24-3.  8. DeRoos, Tri City, 23-0 ¾.  9. Battikha, St. Augustine, 23-0 ¼.

TJ—Thompson, Stockton Stagg, 48-5 ¾.  11.  Battikha, St. Augustine, 46-9 ¼. 12.  DeRoos, Tri city, 46-6  Other: Riggins, Olympian, 42-3.

SP—Osborn, Anaheim Esperanza, 69-3. 8.  Clark, Poway, 56-3.  9.  Lenford, Oceanside, 55-7.  12.  Miller, El Camino, 54-0 ¼.

DISCUS–Osborn, Anaheim Esperanza, 194-10.  Others: Clark, Poway, 169-5.  Miller, El Camino, 166-10.  Anderson, Ramona, 161-9.

PV—Ten, including Brown, La Costa Canyon, and Hamson, Poway, qualified at 15.2.  Other: Thomsen, Calvin Christian, 14-8.

GIRLS

100—Rain Williams, Westlake Village Oaks Christian,, :11.49.  6. Patterson, Rancho Bernardo, :11.75.  Others:  Fletcher, Scripps Ranch, :12.11. Stallman, Ramona, :12.14.

200—Rain Williams, Westlake Village Oaks Christian, :23.0  8. Patterson, R.B., :24.17.  Others:  Simpson, Morse, :25,01.  Fletcher, S.R., :25.09.

400—Roberts, Carson, :53.15.  Others:  Kaseberg, Torrey Pines, :57.97.  Ornelas, Olympian, :58.16. White, Valhalla, :59.01.

800—Brewer, San Ramon California, 2:08. 10.  Akins, Rancho Bernardo, 2:10.14. Others:  McCarthy, Carlsbad, 2:11.37.   Robinson, La Jolla, 2:12.25.

1600—Gehrich, Las Flores Tesoro, 4:50.14. Others: Brown, La Costa Canyon, 5:03.32; Donnelly, Torrey Pines, 5:04.93. Bernd, Canyon Crest, 5:18.09.

100 HURDLES—Davis, Agoura, : 13.50.  6. Johnson, Cathedral. :14.11. Others:  Nealis, Valley Center, :14.57.   Bell, Steele Canyon, :14.64.

300 HURDLES—March, Reedley, Immanuel, :42.34.  4. Bell, Steele Canyon, :42.51. 9.  Johnson, Cathedral,  :43.10.  Others, Nealis, V.C., :46.16.

4×100 RELAY—Carson, :45.16.  Others:  Torrey Pines, :48.42.  San Diego, :49.53.  La Costa Canyon, :49.61.

4×400 RELAY—Calabasas, 3:44.71.  Others:  La Jolla, 3:53.03.  Olympian, 3:55.52.  Torrey Pines, 3:59.22.

HJ—4 tied at 5-7.  5T, Snow, Carlsbad, 5-5. Others:  Hickey, Coronado, 5-3.  Dixon, Morse, no height.

LJ—Longmire, Rancho Verde, 20-7.  8.  Stallman, Ramona, 18-10. Others: Barnes, Olympian, 17-6. Campbell, Mt. Carmel, 17-0 ¾.

TJ—Davis, Agoura, 41-1.  11.  Nash, CalvinChristian, 38-2 ¼.  Others:  Barnes, Olympian, 37-2 ¾.  Joseph, San Diego, 36-8 ¾.

SP—Bruckner, San Jose Village Christian, 51-9.  4.  Altice, Del Norte, 43-10.  8. Tausaga-Collins, Mount Miguel, 42-0.  Other:  Tuilefano, El Camino, 40-3 ¼.

DISCUS—Bruckner, San Jose Valley Christian, 165-6.  4—Altice,  Del Norte, 146-8.  Others:  Wagenfeld, Calvin Christian, 132-4. Tausaga-Collins, M.M., no distance, 3 fouls.

POLE VAULT—2 tied at 12-6.  Others:  Wagenfeld, Calvin Christian, 11-6.  Becker, Canyon Crest, 11-6.  Myers, Poway, 11-6.

 

Do well in the section finals.  Get to the state meet.  Qualify in the Friday trials.  Rest up for the finals.  Finish in the top 5 Saturday.  Get a “PR”*. Score a point or more and earn a medal.  Maybe finish first.

That’s the season goal.

Ninety-six San Diego Section entrants, less a few because of those in more than one event, will converge with qualifiers of like aspirations from 9 other state sections Friday at Buchanan High in Clovis, where temperatures of at least 100 degrees are expected.

It’s the 102^nd anniversary of the state meet and the 98^th year.  The event was  suspended from 1942-45 due to World War II travel restrictions.

From 1913 through 1962 athletes got their business done in one day, usually with trials in the morning and finals in the afternoon or in the evening.

The state meet went to two days in 1963,  the first  being  held at Berkeley’s Edwards Stadium.

History won’t be on the minds of locals  but they all will represent the area’s hope of continuing a tradition of at least one individual champion.

The last year in which the San Diego Section did not have a gold medalist in boys’ or girls’ competition was 2002.  The 13 consecutive years of at least one entry finishing first is in jeopardy this year.

It has been a thin season locally.

The table below reveals San Diego Section athletes who rank  in the state’s Top 10 in each event and who qualified, as recorded by athletic.net.  Most Top 10 athletes,  from here, or in other sections, will be in Clovis.

EVENT	NAME	SCHOOL	MARK & RANK	STATE	NAME, SCHOOL
G Discus	Tausaga-Collins	Mount Miguel	167-3, 2nd	186-10	Bruckner, San Jose Village Christian
G Shot put	Tausaga-Collins	Mount Miguel	47-2 ¼, 3rd	54-7	Bruckner, San Jose Village Christian
B Long Jump	Batthika	St. Augustine	24-5, 3rd	25-11 ½	Holmes, Oakmont
	DeRoos	Tri-City Christian	23-11 ½, 9th
G 300 Hurdles	Bell	Steele Canyon	:41.99, 4th	:41.01	Woodward, Vacaville
B Pole Vault	Brown	La Costa Canyon	16-5, 4th	17-2	Gordon, Huntington Beach Marina
	Hamson	Poway	16-0, 6th
G 100	Patterson	Rancho Bernardo	:11.59w, 6th	:11.17w	Williams, Westklake Village Oaks Christian
B Shot Put	Lenford	Oceanside	63-3/4, 6th	71-7	Osborn, Anaheim Esperanza
B 400 Relay		Mt. Carmel	:41.65, 7th	:40.63	Vista Murrieta
G Triple jump	Nash	Calvin Christian	39-9, 7th	43-2	Davis, Agoura
G 100 Hurdles	Johnson	Cathedral	:14.02w, 8th	:13.45	Robinson, El Cerrito
	Nealis	Valley Center	:14.17, 10th
G High Jump	Snow	Carlsbad	5-6, T10th	5-8 ¼	Earle-Rouse, Arcata
	Hickey	Coronado

*–Personal record.

w–wind aided.

There undoubtedly other San Diego Section qualifiers not in the Top 10 who will improve and come home with medals.

There might be a winner in the group.

It’s what makes the state track championships one of the elite high school events in the country.

Roscoe Cook, Bobby Staten, Willie Jordan, and Charles (Sugar Jet) Davis comprised a swift foursome of San Diego High athletes who surprised the field and brought home a Southern California track championship.

The biggest surprise was by Cook, who entered the season as the most important and accomplished of the quartet.

Some background:

Cook was the 1956 CIF Southern Section Class B sprint titlist, having run away from the field the previous spring with best times of :09.7 in the 100-yard dash, and :21.0 in the 220.

It was expected that Cook and Staten would dominate the short races and low hurdles and that Davis, one of the city’s best quartermilers, and Jordan, a complementary sprinter, would round out a championship 880-yard relay team.

A downpour shortly after the first race canceled the Southern Counties’ Invitational at Huntington Beach High in the first week in March, delaying the usual official beginning of the season.

With no early reading on what to expect, the Cavemen then prepared for a intersectional dual meet in Balboa Stadium with powerful Compton Centennial.

UNBEATEN AT HOME

Cook had never lost a race in San Diego but he was beaten in a :09.9 100 by Centennial’s tall, long-striding Preston Griffin, a newcomer to the Southern California scene.

Griffin also took the national lead with a 24-foot, 6 ¾-inch broad jump. Cook was third despite breaking a 19-year-old school record with a leap of 23-10.  Griffin’s teammate, John Blaylock, was second at 23-11 in a remarkable competition.

The final and stunning indignity came in the 220 when Griffin, jogging the last 15 yards, eased to a :21.6  and Cook was a well-beaten third.  Griffin also withstood a charge by Staten as Centennial won the 880-yard relay in 1:28.8 and the meet, 60 1/2-43 1/2.

Seven weeks later, Griffin blazed a :09.5 100 in a semifinals, qualifying meet and appeared unbeatable.  On the same day Cook won a heat in a season-best: 09.8 in another divisional competition at Arroyo High in El Monte.

Cook quietly also served some notice as he took the measure of  Alhambra’s Rusty Weeks, who’d run :09.6 the week before.

SHORT AND QUICK

After the loss to Griffin, San Diego coach Birt Slater put Cook on a training regimen of repeated starts and short dashes.

Cook would spot other San Diego sprinters five yards and then try to “eat ‘em up” inside 50 yards.

Teammates who offered the competition for Cook came up with the description of the exercise.

“We believed that if Roscoe could lead Griffin after fifty yards he stood a good chance of winning,” said Slater.

Rising 10,064 feet to the East, Mt. Baldy provided the backdrop on a warm, hazy afternoon, when the top athletes arrived at Chaffey High in Ontario for the Southern Section championships on May 25.

Centennial was the prohibitive favorite for the team championship and Griffin was favored in three events, 100, 220, and broad jump, plus the relay.

Cook and Griffin were side by side in the starting blocks as they took their marks for the century race.  Kearny’s Ed Buchanan was next to Griffin.

‘EAT ‘EM UPS’ PAY OFF

Cook broke fast out of the blocks and led Griffin at 50 yards. The San Diego runner still was in front a yard from the finish line, but Griffin closed strongly.

Officials and time keepers huddled for several moments before Cook was declared the winner in :09.4, which broke the Southern California record by Griffin a week earlier and tied the national interscholastic mark set by Cleveland’s Jesse Owens in 1933.

Staten was second to Griffin in the 220 (Cook, who did not like the longer sprint,  was fourth).  The 6-foot, 2-inch Griffin rolled down the Chaffey straightaway in :20.3 to Staten’s :20.5 and bettered the national record, but the race had a wind reading of 4.83 miles per hour, over the allowable limit of 4.473.

On a day of records and outstanding performances, the 220 was the only race determined to be over the wind limit.

Staten also tied a national record of :18.5 in the 180-yard low hurdles, although San Bernardino’s Junior Howard edged Staten  in the same time.

CAVEMEN LEADING

San Diego was leading in team scoring with 15 points entering the final event, but Centennial, which had 14 points, was favored in the 880 relay and had set a record of 1:27.1 the week before.

Cook and Davis positioned the Cavers but Jordan lost ground on the third leg.  Centennial ran into trouble when it botched an exchange.

Staten was well off the pace after he got the baton from Jordan, but Staten’s :20.8 anchor 220 caught leaders Carl Skavarna of Chaffey and Charlie Miller of Long Beach Poly.  All three teams clocked 1:27.3, but Staten reached the finish line first.

“Another coach timed Bobby in the relay,” said Slater.  “By that time I couldn’t stand up.”

After an adjustment in the scoring for the 100, in which Cook and Griffin were declared tied for first following review of a film of the race, San Diego still was the team champion with 19 ½ points to Centennial’s 16 ½.

LET’S LOOK AT THE FILM

It was a stellar afternoon for area athletes.

–Mission Bay’s Jim Cerveny set a Southern Section record with a 1:53.3 victory in the 880 and would set the state record of 1:52.7 the following week in the state meet at Berkeley.

–Lincoln’s Luther Hayes edged Griffin in the broad  jump at 23-11.

–Kearny’s Ed Buchanan was third in the 100 at :09.7 and third in the 220 at :21.0. Cook was fourth in :21.1.

–Grossmont’s Jim Wade was third in the shot put at 61-5 ¾, and Kearny’s Bob Reynolds tied for third in the pole vault at 12-6.

Three days after the meet, CIF commissioner Ken Fagans announced that a review of finish line photos showed that Cook and Griffin had dead heated.

Howard’s victory over Staten was upheld, and the placings in some of the lower classes had been adjusted.  Sweetwater’s Jim Stewart was elevated to fourth from fifth in the B 220.

Although there had been some discussion of  wind during the day, only Griffin’s 220 was recorded as wind-aided, but Cook’s and Staten’s hopes of sharing a national record were dashed.

Dick Bank, a Los Angeles track authority, historian, and high school contributor to Track and Field News, the sport’s publication of record, challenged the operation of the wind gauge at Chaffey and refused to accept any of the  records, including the stunning :09.5 and :20.8 sprint times by Arcadia’s Tom Boswell in Class B.

Cook’s and Staten’s marks went into the record book as wind-aided.

SPIKE DUST

Roscoe Cook graduated from the University of Oregon after he tied the world record of :09.3 in the 100 in 1959 and the world indoor record of :06.1 in the 60-yard dash…Cook  earned a P.H.D. in education from the University of Massachusetts and taught and counseled in the Los Angeles school district for 30 years…Bobby Staten  was senior co-captain of the USC track team in 1961 and  a collegiate standout in the low hurdles and races from the 100 to 440…Staten completed a long career in the Los Angeles Probation Department…Charles Davis acquired the nickname “Sugar Jet,” which was  a popular breakfast cereal of that name…Davis was a 48-second quarter miler at San Diego State and went on  to a career as a corporate executive in Los Angeles…Berkeley became only the third Northern school since 1930 to win the state team title, scoring 22 points while San Diego and Centennial tied for second with 10 each…Griffin won the 100 in  :09.6…Doug Smith of Taft Union was second, Cook third, and Buchanan fourth, each in :09.7…Hayes won the broad jump at 23-8 1/2, Wade was third in the shot put at 60-7 3/4,  and Staten was third in the 220 in :21.4 behind Griffin’s :21.1…the morning-afternoon competition took its toll on the Cavemen…Staten pulled out of the 180-yard low hurdles trials, which were 5 minutes after the 220 heats…San Diego recovered to finish second in the relay in 1:27.2, Berkeley the winner in 1:27….

Competition and controversy were different words with different meanings, but they blurred in the far-flung Coast League, whose fratricidal members regularly accused their brethren of academic or residential mischief.

San Diego High was on the receiving end of a far-out allegation that threatened to stop one of the best teams in school history.

Senior Captain Russ Saunders, the 5-foot, 9-inch, 190-pound blocking quarterback and linebacking defender, faced a charge of accepting money three years before in a boxing match that would have made Saunders a professional and ineligible for interscholastic sports.

If the curiously-timed indictment proved accurate, the Hilltoppers would be forced to forfeit nine victories and the opportunity to compete in the Southern California playoffs.

Saunders eventually was absolved of wrong doing, but not before a dizzying chain of events that took on the aura of a  Saturday morning movie serial.

CIF CHASING RABBITS

The intramural dustup was typical of the Prohibition-era, anything-goes Roaring Twenties, a decade when the growing CIF and its commissioner, former Escondido coach Seth Van Patten, struggled to keep order.

The CIF’s rule on age limitation was only that you couldn’t play if you were 21 years old, but that meant that post-graduates and assorted roughnecks still populated the prep scene.

Coast League rivals didn’t trust each other.

Trouble began in the final regular-season game, when Bert Ritchey ran 62 yards for a touchdown that would propel the Hilltoppers to a 9-0 victory over the Santa Ana Saints in a battle of teams with 6-0 league records.

The victory, before a record City Stadium high school crowd of more than12,000, clinched a second straight loop championship for coach John Perry’s squad.

With a long ride home Saturday night and all day Sunday to chew on the loss, officials from the Northern school prepared to make a call on Monday morning and notify Coast League president and CIF playoff coordinator Harry J. Moore that they were protesting.

IT WAS OUR FANS, SAY SAINTS

The complaint did not originate with us, Saints officials told Moore, but had come from three Saints fans who were said to have previously resided in Coachella and who recognized Saunders as having participated in the desert community smoker on July 11, 1922.

The Santa Ana Three, apparently so vested emotionally with the Saints’ fortunes, supposedly had returned to Coachella, and was able to produce tickets that announced the main event as being between Saunders and Herbert Miller, plus a statement from Miller’s manager.

Manager D.H. Metzler testified his boxer received $40 and that Metzler and Miller “understood” Saunders, whose family resided in Coachella at that time, to have received $25, even though professional boxing was barred in California in 1922.

The muscular Saunders, who was no more than 15 or 16 at the time of the fight, told San Diego reporters that the townspeople of the Coachella Valley “built the boys a fight arena.”

Saunders said the  match was promoted to help pay back the people that built the arena, and that he had received no money and was not aware of the fact Miller had received money.

HILLTOPPERS’ RIDICULOUS DEADLINE

With stunning eagerness, Coast League bosses convened Tuesday at league headquarters in Whittier and, after hearing the charge, informed San Diego officials they would have until 4 p.m. Wednesday to respond.

Perry and vice principal Edgar Anderson, who attended the meeting at Whittier High, returned to San Diego about midnight. The Hilltoppers would have to launch their own investigation and be at another meeting in Whittier in 16 hours.

The playoffs would begin Saturday, with Fullerton a first-round opponent for San Diego or Santa Ana.

Facing the stunningly narrow time frame, Hilltop officials swung into action.

Principal Glenn Perkins and James Saunders, the player’s father, chartered a small plane, piloted by Henry Ryan of the Ryan Flying Company.

“The tale of the trip to Coachella is an epic,” declared a front-page story in The San Diego Union.

FIRST HEMET, THEN INDIO…

Buffeted by winds, Ryan struggled to get the plane’s altitude above 3,000 feet, over clouds and mountains.

“After flying almost two hours, working continuously to get around clouds, Ryan was forced to drop several thousand feet through a hole in the clouds to get his bearings (and make) a landing at Hemet,” the article continued.

After refueling, the party traveled on to Indio, stopping again for gas and directions.

Friends in Coachella, apprised of the situation Wednesday morning, were waiting and prepared to assist the San Diego contingent.

Perkins, armed with affidavits in support of Saunders from the former commandant of the sponsoring American Legion post in Coachella, gave Ryan the signal to take off for Whittier at 2 p.m.

Meanwhile at Whittier High, San Diego High officials on site, including Russ Saunders, watched the sky for the sight of an airplane.  They finally spotted one that passed over and headed Northwest.

The travelers set down again at 3:40 p.m. at the nearest landing field in Montebello, six miles from the meeting site, with only minutes to spare.

“Sloshing through the mud of an open field to a nearby highway, Perkins and James Saunders flagged down a passing motorist, and, with the aid of a five-dollar bill, purchased a mad cap ride to Whittier,” wrote Don King in Cavers Conquest, the athletic history of San Diego High.

Perkins presented Coast League principals with the information that proved the fight was a charity event, with neither fighter receiving money.  Saunders was cleared and San Diego continued to get ready for Fullerton.

Newspapermen were told by Harry Moore that the vote in the hectic meeting, attended and hotly contested by lawyers from both sides, was a unanimous, 8-0 to absolve Saunders.

Santa Ana honcho W.M. Clayton emphatically denied Moore’s  statement.  Clayton said he had voted against Saunders, making the tally 7-1, according to the Los Angeles Times.

RITCHEY NURSES INJURY

The Cavers defeated Fullerton, which hadn’t been scored on all season,14-6, but Bert Ritchey, who had scored 26 touchdowns in eight games (Perry had held Ritchey out of game 9, a 33-0 victory at South Pasadena) was used sparingly against the visitors.

Ritchey had been playing with a sore knee and it threatened to keep him out of what now was a playoff season of only two games.

Covina was next up in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in the championship contest, but Perry figured the Hilltoppers would have a bye after Fullerton and not have to play for two weeks, until Dec. 19.

PLAYOFF SWITCH

Chicanery was not limited to the Coast League.

Instead of playing Covina in the Los Angeles Coliseum on Dec. 19, San Diego was informed that the title contest would be played on Dec. 12 at Covina, where temporary bleachers were being constructed to accommodate a crowd of more than 4,000.

Wrote a Los Angeles Times reporter: “In a more or less bad frame of mind over alleged poor treatment in the matter of transfer of the game from the Coliseum to Covina,  the San Diego High team was prepared to leave today for Covina.

“It wasn’t the change of venue that rankled the Hilltops so much, however, as it was the switch in date,” wrote the Times correspondent. “The tilt was originally scheduled for December 19 but through deep and dark channels was suddenly moved up to December 12, tomorrow, and the field switched to Covina.”

Playoff coordinator Harry Moore said that Covina was being afforded the home game because the Colts  already had played three playoff contests on the road.

Al Penrose, in The San Diego Sun, hinted of a setup and blasted  Moore for the suspicious switch. Covina was going to the expense of  creating bleachers for a 4,000 crowd and, Penrose wrote, “Neither team will make hardly more than expense money.”

With virtually no participation by Ritchey, the Hilltoppers manned up, twice stopping the Colts inside their three-yard line, but Covina had 18 first downs to 8 and the rushing thrusts of halfbacks Sleepy Don Rieke and Earl Needham continually kept the visitors on their heels.

Covina led, 13-0, in the fourth quarter before San Diego scored a late touchdown to make the final count 13-6. Covina, which twice was rebuffed at the Hilltoppers’ one-yard line, had outplayed the Cavemen.

It was a sour finish for Perry’s squad and the bitterness lingered.

COVINA’S CHIEF

Wallace (Chief) Newman, a native American and former USC player, was hired by Covina this year after coaching successful teams at the Sherman Institute for Indians in Riverside.

There were rumors that at least three over-age-limit native American players from the  Sherman Institute  resided at Newman’s home and played against the Hilltoppers.

Another  report was that Covina reportedly refused a  CIF order to forfeit the title and ship the winners’ trophy to San Diego.

With all of the drama, San Diego did well to go as far as it did.

GROSSMONT IN PLAYOFFS

Coach Ladimir (Jack) Mashin was building a strong program at Grossmont.

The Foothillers were 4-5 and 5-2-1 in Mashin’s first two seasons and swept to the County League title and a 7-0 record this year, earning a berth in the playoffs.

Fullerton dispatched Grossmont, 34-0, but the Foothillers didn’t conclude the season with a loss.  Mashin made a deal with the Yuma High Criminals of Arizona agreeing to come over the Laguna Mountains for a season-ender.

Grossmont won, 20-0.

PLAYOFF CRAZINESS

There seemed madness to the method of the playoffs, from which the CIF received much of its revenue and which the governing body often had difficulty filling out brackets.

Some schools just weren’t interested.

Fullerton’s loss to San Diego marked the Indians’ third consecutive week in the postseason.  The Indians played Grossmont on Nov. 19, nine days before San Diego was concluding its regular season versus Santa Ana.

Fullerton’s first game was a 13-6 win over Norwalk Excelsior, a week before it played Grossmont.

Covina’s  game with San Diego was the Colts’ fourth in the playoffs.  They also defeated San Fernando, 42-0, Santa Maria, 32-13, and Venice, 26-0.

HYPERBOLE

Los Angeles Manual Arts was described in The San Diego Union as “the greatest football aggregation developed at a Los Angeles high school in recent years.”

Final score, San Diego 46, Toilers 0.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

Six telephones and nearly 100 pounds of pool room apparatus for horse race betting were part of the equipment seized in a raid at the 428 McNeece Building on F Street.

Detective Sergeants Dick Chadwick and George Sears and patrolman Pat Walsh “pulled” what they called the biggest bootlegging establishment found in San Diego.

Frank O’Hara, George Williams, and James Bradley were arrested. The cops said they heard “telephones being used busily and bets made and race track information being received.’”

NEW DIGS AT LA JOLLA

Work began on the grading of property at La Jolla High between Eads and Fay avenues, where the school’s football field would be located.  The present athletic field was scheduled to become tennis and volleyball courts.

NO POLITICAL CORRECTNESS

Sportswriters of the era routinely fostered racial stereotypes and use of slurs.

San Diego’s Bert Ritchey alternately was described as the “black phantom,” “black bullet,”, “dusky”, and even “the ball-packing gentleman of color.”

Covina coach Wallace (Chief) Newman, a native American, was known as a man “with all the craftiness and cunning which characterize his race.”

HONORS

End Rocky Kemp and quarterback Russ Saunders earned all-Southern California, first-team selections.  Bert Ritchey made the second team.

RUSS IS “TOMMY TROJAN”

Russ Saunders, Bert Ritchey, and Rocky Kemp went on the play at USC and Saunders’s defined and muscular physique served as the model for the famed Tommy Trojan statue on the USC campus.

“Racehorse Russ”  probably was the second San Diego-area player in the NFL (after Brick Muller of the 1926 L.A. Buccaneers, who were based in Chicago). Saunders was a fullback on the 1931 Green Bay Packers championship squad  but forsook football and gravitated to Hollywood.

Saunders was an assistant director and production manager on more than 150 films for Warner Brothers and Burbank Studios, often working with USC teammate John Wayne. Rocky Kemp embarked on a career in high school coaching in Long Beach and Ritchey joined the San Diego police department in 1935, retiring as a detective in 1964, and then earning his degree to practice law.

QUICK KICKS

San Diego, population 145,000, was 52^nd among U.S. cities but second fastest in growth to Los Angeles…San Diego was 93^rd in population in the 1920 census…Glendale, which won the 1924 Southern California championship, was rudely welcomed to the ’25 season in a 42-0 loss at San Diego…Santa Ana made it a two-day trip to San Diego, overnighting Friday at the Stratford Hotel in Del Mar…Gerald (Tex) Oliver coached the San Diego B team to a 13-0 win over Huntington Park for the Southern California championship…Oliver would move on to Santa Ana in 1927, become head coach at the University of Arizona in 1933 and at Oregon in 1938…coach John Perry ordered canvas vests for Cavers runners, saying that Manual Arts players “grasped” the sweaters of Hilltop ball carriers, short circuiting 12 plays…the vests were to be tight-fitting…San Diego stayed in Fullerton the night before the game at Covina…San Diego was penalized 6 times for 100 yards, most being 15-yard holding fines, in a 7-0 win at Pasadena…Henry Ryan’s “Ryan Flying Company” became better known as Ryan Aeronautical, with offices near the Lindbergh Field airport on Harbor Drive…expected to sit on the Santa Ana bench during the game with San Diego was Stanford coach Glenn (Pop) Warner…Saints coach Charlie Winterburn played for Warner at Stanford…San Diego High students provided automobile transportation for more than 50 World War I disabled veterans from the Camp Kearny and San Diego American Legion posts…John Perry had players turn in their equipment following the loss to Covina and announced that the Hilltoppers were declining an invitation to play Phoenix Union in a postseason game….