1935-36: Hilltoppers Win; Cardinals’ Feathers Ruffled
Unlikely season, unlikely conclusion. —A rare playoff run by San Diego teams in the Southern California playoffs. —San Diego High marched through four rounds to win its only CIF Southern Section championship, along the way setting a school single-game scoring record…maybe. —Hoover blitzed Class B opponents in an attempted sequel to championships in 1931-32, 1933-34, […]
Read More1945-46: “We Got (Expletive)!”
“Elevator! Elevator! We Got The Shaft!” The shout is almost as old as the game. Visiting teams’ supporters furious that the referees or the timekeeper were unjust, a polite term for being “homered”. The Huntington Beach Oilers felt that way when the Oilers, 4-0 on the season and a reported 20-1 in 1944-45, were on […]
Read More1940-41 Basketball: Douglas, Wilson Make Coaching Debuts
Two young coaches destined to become legendary in San Diego basketball lore arrived as varsity mentors at the city’s two prep powerhouses. Rickey Wilson, a former San Diego High player, succeeded Lawrence Carr at Hoover and Merrill Douglas, a transplanted Montanan, took over for Bill Schutte at San Diego High. The schools continued to be […]
Read More1948-49: No Games, Snow!
The dateline said San Diego, not somewhere in the High Sierra or North Dakota. Snow had forced postponement of two games. In the dead of winter a couple high school basketball contests in San Diego County were called off because of the flaky white stuff. Southern Prep League games sending Brown Military to Mountain Empire […]
Read More1959-60: Pointers Prevail After Others Falter
San Diego was leaving the Southern Section at the end of the school year but was going out with an unprecedented show of force. Hoover was ranked No. 1 and Helix No. 2 in seeding for the 32-team major playoffs. Glendale, beaten by both Hoover and San Diego, was seeded fourth. Hoover’s undefeated regular season […]
Read More1959-60: Hoover Comes Up Short at Finish Line
Seldom was a defeat as disappointing as that which knocked out Hoover in the semifinals of San Diego’s swansong in the CIF Southern Section playoffs. The Cardinals sustained a numbing, 39-34 loss to Anaheim in the round of four in a season when they were unbeaten for 26* straight games. Coach Charlie Hampton had returned […]
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