Originally posted June 22, 2017.

Coronado paid an old debt.

Hoover’s playoff advance was halted at the foul line.

Merrill Douglas ended a great run at San Diego High.

Lincoln showed that patience had virtue.

—John Kovac was a football coach who happened to come along at the right basketball time at Coronado.

The dour Kovac without prompting often recalled that he coached future NFL stars Lenny Moore and Roosevelt Grier when Kovac guided the Penn State freshmen team.

Relocating to San Diego’s trans-bay community in the early ‘fifties, Kovac still saw football in his future but found himself directing the Islanders’ basketball program, with stunning success.

Kovac’s teams posted a three-season, 63-13 record with players who weren’t very tall but had roadrunner speed and swarmed on defense.

Despite starters Charlie Love, Willie Dickey, and Roger Nix returning from the 21-4 squad in ’54-55, Kovac’s preseason appraisal was loaded with typical coach speak:

“We will be very short and not nearly as fast or sharp as last year.  We hope we’re not in for a long year.”

Coronado raced through the Avocado League schedule, finishing 12-0 and winning by an average score of 65-40.  They were 27-1 overall, losing only to Hoover, 49-45, in an early December game.

Love, Dickey, Nix, Jon Crawford, Steve Solier, and Dennis (Swede) Grimaud, none taller than Nix’s 6-feet, 1 inch, were the principals as the Islanders won their last 25 and the CIF Southern Section Southern Group (small schools) championship.

As one of the top seeds, the Islanders had a first-round bye in the playoffs and then blew out Tustin, 75-55, with a 28-13 fourth quarter on the neutral Sweetwater floor as  Herman Wright led all scorers with 25 points. Charlie Love added 16, and Roger Nix 15.

They sweated out  a 55-50, semifinals victory over San Jacinto, after having built a 34-19 halftime lead at neutral Hemet High and then seeing top scorer Roger Nix foul out midway through the second half.

(“Neutral” courts, as mandated by the CIF, meant that host teams usually played at venues close to home.  Hemet was less than three-and-a-half miles from the Tigers’ facility.)

Nix and his teammates then surprised and silenced most of the 2,300 persons in attendance at Azusa College with a 60-54, championship game victory over Azusa Citrus and high scoring Billy Kilmer.

Winning on the road was the sweetener.  Citrus had beaten Coronado, 63-58, in the finals the year before as the visiting team at Point Loma High.

Kovac left Coronado and moved to Hoover as an assistant football coach in 1956.

Two years later the transplanted Pennsylvanian joined the staff at San Diego Junior College and became the Knights’ head coach in 1961.  Kovac started the new Mesa College program and posted a 30-14-2 record from 1964-68.

CARDINALS HAVE HUGE RESUME

Hoover won the postseason Beverly Hills Tournament title in 1944-45 when there were no CIF playoffs because of World War II.  The East San Diego squad had not gotten that far before or since.

Three days prior to their win over Coronado, the Cardinals came from behind in the fourth quarter for a  41-39 win at Long Beach Poly, giving them victories over two of the three eventual Southern Section champions in less than a week.

Poly won the Central Group (large) playoff championship, defeating Montebello, 74-63, after the Oilers had beaten Hoover, 69-57, in the semifinals.

Hoover was 11-1 in the City Prep League and opened the postseason with a 63-52 win at Point Loma over Newport Beach Newport Harbor, which had knocked out Helix, 66-60, in the first round.

Next was a quarterfinals test at Manhattan Beach Mira Costa against nearby Redondo Beach Redondo Union.

Hoover led, 54-47, with 2:45 remaining.  Redondo went into a press.  Rex Hughes, who had 28 points and 15 rebounds, scored with 46 seconds left to forge a tie at 54.

The Seahawks stole a pass as Hoover attempted to get the ball down court after Hughes’ basket.  Traveling was called on Redondo.  Hoover inbounded again, Walt Baranski to Larry Elliot, who passed crosscourt, where Bill Landry drained a 15-foot jump shot with 15 seconds remaining for a 56-54 win.

The Cardinals were eliminated in the semifinals before an overflow crowd at Long Beach City College by Montebello and jump-shooting Jerry Pimm, whose lovely floaters and 28 points kept the Cardinals at a distance and in foul trouble.

Pimm found the range firing behind screens as Hoover’s man-to-man defenders, trying to keep up with Pimm, constantly bumped into one of Pimm’s teammates, usually center Bill Doner.

HOOVER’S EDGE IN FIELD GOALS

The Cardinals outscored the Oilers, 46-40, from the field, but the winner had an 18-point advantage at the free throw line, converting 29 of 39 attempts, 10 by Pimm, and 13 by Doner.  Hoover was 11×23.

Larry Elliot, Hoover’s all-City forward and second-team all-Southern California selection, scored 22 points, 14 in the second half, but Elliot fouled out, as did guards Bill Landry and Walt Baranski.

Landry actually held Pimm scoreless for the game’s first seven minutes, but acquired three personals during that time.

Hoover defeated Glendale Hoover, 57-53, the following evening for third place and a final, 25-5 record.

HORNETS STEP UP

Lincoln, 2-18 and 6-16 with virtually the same squad in its first two seasons, reaped the fruits of their sometimes painful development, which originated with games on the Hornets’ outdoor, asphalt court and in Municipal Gym.

Coach Don Smith’s club, with City League player of the year and three-year starter Bob Mendoza leading the way, were 10-2 in the league and 20-4 overall.

A 62-46 loss to Hoover in the first round of play was erased with a 56-43 victory before a packed house in Lincoln’s new gymnasium in the second round of CPL play.

The Hornets’ foray into the playoffs started with a 62-54 win over Grossmont.

The postseason ended quickly and with finality in a 71-52 loss to Long Beach Poly, led by the  Southern California player of the year, 6-foot, 7-inch Jim Hannah.

Two busloads of Lincoln students arrived at Long Beach Jordan at halftime of the second-round contest.  Poly led, 36-23.

The seemingly awestruck Hornets were outnumbered everywhere. Poly had more cheerleaders than Lincoln had players and the Jackrabbits’ bench was a long, green and gold line.

“We were like a bunch of elementary school kids (in that environment),” said Hornets guard Brad Griffith.

DOUGLAS MOVES ON

—Merrill Douglas, who succeeded Bill Schutte as head coach in 1940-41, stepped down at San Diego High and moved across Russ Boulevard to San Diego Junior College.

Douglas, who missed three seasons serving in the military in World War II,  guided teams that averaged 19 wins and posted a 236-76 (.756) record in 12 seasons.

The San Diego Junior College Knights won the Metropolitan Conference championship in Douglas’ first season.  He also served as the school’s athletics director and took the same position when Mesa College opened in 1964.

Olympians teams and high schools eventually would play football and compete in track and field and soccer in the Merrill Douglas Stadium on campus.

DAVEY, DAVEY…?

No, not Davey Crockett, but La Jolla had a couple sharpshooters by the same name. Clyde Crockett led City Prep League scores with 209 points in 12 games, a 17.4 average. Crockett’s younger brother, Doug, had 94 points and a 7.8 average.

Mission Bay’s Leroy Brandt (15.2) was runner-up to Clyde in league scoring, followed by Jim Gilchrist (14.0) of San Diego, Lincoln’s Bob Mendoza (13.6),  Willie West (13.2) of San Diego, Bill Landry (11.7) and Larry Elliot (11.3) of Hoover, and Brad Griffith (10.8) of Lincoln.

Helix’ Gael Barsotti led Metropolitan League scorers with an 18.4 average in eight games. Chula Vista’s Bill Collins (15.8), Helix’ Ronnie Mulder (15.4), and Grossmont’s Lowell Raper  (12.5)  followed.

Prep writers of the day did not list scoring beyond league play and Avocado and Southern League scorers, such as Coronado’s Roger Nix and others, were not listed at all.

NORMANS DEFEND

Beverly Hills defeated Hoover, 45-42, for its second consecutive Kiwanis Tournament Unlimited Division title.

San Diego, waiting on several players still playing football, surprised Inglewood Morningside, 51-46, in the first round. Months later Morningside scored a 64-62 win over Beverly Hills for the CIF Northern Group (small schools) playoff title.

Mar Vista’s Larry Boyd, who earned all-Southern California second-team honors in 1954-55, scored 99 points in four games to break the Kiwanis scoring record of 96, set  the year before by Morningside’s John Arrillaga.

Boyd scored 25, but the Mariners couldn’t overcome the 19 each by Jon Crawford and Willie Dickey, who led Coronado to a 53-49 triumph in the Limited final.

ABOVE THE TREE LINE

Helix reportedly had 14 players on varsity and JV, standing at least 6-3.  The varsity measured 6-6 Bill Turpin, 6-5 Ronnie Mulder, and 6-5 Mel Robinson.

Tallest Metro Leaguer was Grossmont’s Lee Carick, a 6-9 reserve center.

Andy Dunn, a reserve forward at Point Loma, and Lincoln backup center Bill Beatty stood highest in the City League, each at 6-5.

JUMP SHOTS

Julian was ousted from the playoffs for the smallest schools, 78-43, by Brea-Olinda…Grossmont won a coin flip with Helix to determine playoff pairings after the teams tied for the Metropolitan League title…Lincoln topped the Foothillers at Hoover behind 20 points by Bob Mendoza and 14 by Brad Griffith…Helix led Newport Harbor, 17-12, after one quarter at Garden Grove High, but Ronnie Mulder was sidelined for long periods with 4 fouls…Lincoln’s first victory over San Diego in football or basketball was a 55-53 thriller in which the Hornets overcame a six-point San Diego lead in the fourth quarter…Mendoza’s two free throws, after a layup by Griffith, put Lincoln in front, 54-51, in the final minute…San Diego coach Merrill Douglas surprised Lincoln in the league opener with a zone defense that stymied the Hornets, 35-30…late-arriving football stars Willie West (guard) and Deron Johnson (center) were starters for the Cavemen…Escondido made 29 of 44 free throw attempts in a 65-59 win over Vista…the Cougars and Panthers committed 46 fouls in the 32-minute game …Coronado set an Avocado League points record in an 81-55 victory over Escondido…Helix posted the highest total in the Metropolitan League in a 79-50 conquest of Sweetwater…Coronado’s starters played all but two minutes in a 71-32 rout of Escondido…La Jolla’s George Graham set a City League Class B record with 33 points in a 68-46 win over Kearny…San Diego’s sophomore team, paced by Edward Lee Johnson’s 17.2 average, was 20-0…Vista played in the post-Christmas Banning tournament and Helix was in the Fillmore event…Chula Vista topped Bell Gardens, 50-46, for the consolation title at Chino….

Football, basketball, baseball, and track and field, the majors, remained seasonal sports for the best athletes, who usually participated in at least three.

Single-sport concentration and club teams were a half-century away, but a change of another kind took place in high school hoops this season.

There were many more games in which the competing teams scored at least 100 points.  Winning totals in the fifties and sixties were becoming common.

Sixty or more points were scored by the winning team in 19 games, compared to 5 in 1951-52.

Those 60-plus outbursts the season before had involved losing teams from tiny or barren programs: Brown Military (2), San Diego Vocational (2), and Julian.

City Prep League and Metropolitan League squads showed the way and Rich Gehring and the Escondido Cougars were in the vanguard.

The Cougars mounted a late-season run to tie Chula Vista and then defeated the Spartans, 53-51, in a Metro title-deciding playoff for the  league crown.

Coached by Jim Ahler, who had success at Hoover after World War II, Escondido started slowly, 2-5 in mid-December, but warmed following the Kiwanis Tournament and Christmas Holidays.

Chula Vista, the usual Metro League boss and annual Southern California small schools contender, was 6-0 until Gehring scored 23 points and teammate Don Portis 20 as the visiting Cougars defeated the Spartans, 62-50, and reversed a 42-38 loss in the league opener.

Escondido won its last seven league games and caught Chula Vista in the standings, both finishing at 11-3, as Gehring averaged 22.1 points over that stretch.

Gehring scored 25 and led the fourth-quarter, come-from-behind triumph over Chula Vista before more than 1,000 persons at San  Diego State three days after the regular season ended.

Escondido trailed by as many as seven points in the fourth quarter before Gehring’s basket and two free throws iced the 53-51 victory after the Spartans tried to freeze a lead in the final two minutes.

Gehring, who averaged 22.8 points in his final 10 contests,  followed with 28 points in a 53-47, CIF small schools’ playoff victory over Calipatria and 20 points in a semifinals, 54-45 loss to Hemet.

The burly, 6-foot, 5-inch center also played end in  football and was the Metro League’s hurdles champion in the spring.

MORE POINTS

Gehring set a school record with 35 points in a 74-44 win over San Dieguito and averaged 18.4 with 258 points in 14 league games.

The outburst against the Mustangs was the difference in a points battle with Vista’s Ed Myers, who averaged 17.2 with 241 points in circuit play.

Gehring, who led the County with 440 points (17.1) for the 16-9 Cougars,  was almost matched in the CPL by Point Loma’s sharpshooting Ronnie Robertson, who scored 377 points in 22 games (17.1) and led the Pointers to the major CIF playoffs.

Helix’ Jerry Hurst nudged Robertson for the CPL scoring championship, scoring 227 points in 12 games and averaging 18.9 to Robertson’s 214 (17.8).

San Diego’s Willie Pitts averaged 15.6 points and was third in league play, topped by a 34-point effort (16 field goals, 2 free throws) when the Cavers announced a disputed school single-game scoring record in an 80-40 win at Grossmont.

Not to be outdone, Hoover got into the scoring trend, defeating Grossmont, 72-45.

Grossmont also was easy pickings for Robertson, who had 34 points in a 55-38 victory.

Chula Vista’s Lavon Baker (15.0) scored 210 points in league play and was third behind Gehring and Myers.  Oceanside’s Dick Whaley (14.3) had 200.

KIWANIS, TOO

Beverly Hills defeated Grossmont, 74-51, as the teams set a Kiwanis Tournament record of 125 points.

Beverly Hills forward Dick Eiler, who moved south after attending the University of Utah and became head coach at Clairemont in 1960-61, set a single game record of 30.

Eiler’s four-game total of 85 bettered the mark of 72 by Kearny’s David Miramontes in 1950.

San Diego stunned Santa Monica with a 28-point third quarter in a 57-49 victory. Samohi outscored the Cavemen, 37-29, in the three other eight-minute periods

VIKINGS SAIL

For the first time the tournament featured an all-San Diego final.

Paul Darrock’s 21 points, aided by 10 each from Dale Luther and Bob Hetzler, led the La Jolla Vikings  to an overtime, 54-49 victory over San Diego on the Cavers’ floor. Tom Cofield had 20 and Ellsworth Powell 12 for San Diego.

A starting forward for La Jolla was Bob (Bones) Gutowski, who set a world track and field record of 15 feet, 8 inches, in the pole vault in 1957 while competing for Occidental College in Eagle Rock.

VISITORS RELAX

The 24-team Kiwanis began on Thursday and did not end until Monday.

With Sunday off, Beverly Hills and others had a chance to visit San Diego tourist attractions.  Billeting at the Marine Corps Recruit Base allowed the visitors to get by on expenses.  Beds and meals were free.

STRANGER THAN FICTION

San Diego dropped a December game to Long Beach Poly, 47-39, although Poly, the home team, had 25 personal fouls to 11 for the Cavers, who outscored the Jackrabbits, 23-9, at the free-throw line but were outscored from the field, 38-16.

ANOTHER TIE

Chula Vista and Escondido resolved their Metro League title deadlock with a playoff, because only one team would be invited to the eight team smalls schools postseason.

CIF small schools playoffs were divided into two, eight-team groups, Northern and Southern.

San Diego and Point Loma each finished with 9-3 CPL records and both qualified for the large, Central Group, 24-team postseason.

CPL president Lawrence Carr of San Diego High  conducted a telephonic vote after the final Friday night games and league bosses gave the No. 1 nod to Point Loma, which twice defeated San  Diego.

The Pointers were byed into the 16-team second round against Colton, which had eliminated Point Loma, 44-36, in 1951-52.

The Pointers (17-9) dropped a 48-39 decision to the Yellowjackets at the same venue, San Bernardino Junior College, as the previous season and by an almost identical score difference.

San Diego (17-7) went out in the first round, beaten at Anaheim, 50-39.

Army-Navy, 13-0, in the regular season and Southern Prep League champion, was eliminated in the small school playoffs, 72-36.

SIGN OF THE TIME

Dick Bogenrife of Midway, Ohio, scored 120 points in a 137-47 victory over Canaan.  Midway coach Dick Strasburg said he “had planned for several games to turn him loose.”

Perhaps coincidentally, Bogenrife’s onslaught came three days after Mel (Fatty) Frye of Clarington set a state record with 80 points.

JUMP SHOTS

San Diego High’s single-game scoring record had stood since 1916-17, when the Hilltoppers defeated Escondido, 76-23, although a more significant victory was in a 1935-36 playoff game against Huntington Beach, which the Mike Morrow-coached Hillers outscored either 73-45, as reported in Don King’s Caver Conquest, or 82-45, as reported in the Los Angeles Times…Ramona’s Bruce Furman, all of 5 feet, 1 inch, was a favorite of Kiwanis spectators…Mar Vista’s Glenn (junior) and Al Maisey (senior) were the only brothers in the CIF Southern Section to start every game…Hoover’s 11-12 record under first-year coach Charlie Hamption, was its poorest since before World War II…Kearny was 7-5 and third in the CPL and its 16-7 record was best in school history…St. Augustine’s Hank Zumstein tied Jim Mooney’s 1951-52 school record of 36 points in one game….

Bud Milke was on the bench as a head coach for 500-plus basketball games in his career, more than half at Mar Vista High and Castle Park, and rolled with the deathless prose of Grantland Rice:

“For when the One Great Scorer comes To write against your name, He marks—not that you won or lost—but how you played the game.”

Milke, who passed recently at near 90, was a standout in football and basketball at San Diego State and embarked on a five-decade run as coach at two South Bay high schools and as a coach and administrator at Southwestern College.

Milke retired in 1992 after holding numerous positions at Southwestern, including nine seasons as basketball coach, beginning in 1964-65.

His first coaching position was in 1953-54 at Mar Vista, where Milke’s teams, seldom with a player taller than his 6 feet, 4 inches,  were 148-118 in 10 seasons, including five in which the  Mariners finished second or higher in the Metropolitan League.

Milke moved to Castle Park High in 1963-64, stunning Metro League observers when the first-year Trojans posted a 23-7 record and won the league championship.

Milke’s son, George, Jr., a longtime figure in South Bay education circles, was a baseball star at Mater Dei, pitched at USC, and was named the outstanding player of the 1974 College World Series.

Norman Powell has earned a spot in the Toronto Raptors’ rotation and is making his bones on  basketball’s biggest stage.

The 6-foot, 4-inch guard from Lincoln High scored a career-high 25 points in 34 minutes and shot 8 for 11 from the field to lead the Raptors to a 118-93 win over Milwaukee and put Toronto into a 3-2 playoff series lead over the Milwaukee Bucks last night.

After a superstar career at Lincoln, it took Powell until his senior season before he averaged 16.4 points a game, starred on defense, and blossomed into an all-conference player at UCLA.

Powell’s professional career so far has been similar to his development at UCLA.  Drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks with the 46^th pick in the second round of the 2015 NBA draft, Powell soon was traded to Toronto.

He got into 46 games as a rookie but appeared in 76 games in 2016-17, started 18, and averaged 8.4 points and 18 minutes.

 

The twists and turns of the season weren’t so much about the drama of last-minute shots and frenetic finishes but of quirky schedules, odd venues, and some World War II-like travel.

Home games often meant hitting the road.

Coronado and Chula Vista met in the Metropolitan League’s most important game…at Point Loma.

It was Chula Vista’s home game, but the Spartans did not have a gymnasium.

There were no high school gyms in the South Bay area.  The same almost could be said for the city.

Most venues had basketball courts, some outdoors and few with adequate seating indoors:  San Diego High, Point Loma, Grossmont, San Diego State, Coronado, Municipal Gym, and Hoover

(The few schools in the north or East County played off-campus or in tiny, dimly-lit edifices, some of barely regulation size playing surfaces).

WHERE AM I?

Chula Vista’s “home” court could have been Hoover.  That’s where the Spartans played Escondido, Oceanside, and Sweetwater in league clashes…but it met San Dieguito in the Southern Section playoffs at San Diego.

Chula Vista and Sweetwater played another league game…at San Diego State.

Point Loma lost a “road” game to Chula Vista, in the Pointers’ gym

“Home” was either 10 (Hoover), 8 (San Diego), or 14 (Point Loma) miles from the Spartans’ campus in west Chula Vista.

Playing at Hoover was, for the Northern schools, almost a throwback to a decade before when there was wartime gasoline rationing to keep automobiles off the road and to conserve rubber.

By traveling to the Cardinals’ East San Diego campus, Escondido shaved 22 miles off what would have been 74 miles round trip to Chula Vista.

Oceanside would have had to travel 92 miles roundtrip but instead just 72.

Sweetwater played Mar Vista and Mar Vista played Oceanside, both games in Balboa Park’s Municipal Gym.

Mar Vista’s game in Oceanside would have been 100 miles up and back.  The mileage would have been similar for Sweetwater.

It didn’t generate a “Hoosiers” atmosphere, but the cavernous, multi-court emporium in Balboa Park was convenient.

Within a couple years, there would be arenas at La Jolla and Sweetwater, easing but not solving the problem. More high schools were on the way.  Helix opened later this year and Lincoln, Mission Bay, and El Cajon Valley were coming soon.

The problem wouldn’t be solved until the mid-’sixties, when almost all schools had their own layouts.

For now, Sweetwater and several others were forced to conduct their practice maneuvers under sunny or cloudy skies or not practice at all because of  winter rains.

NEW SHERIFF

Ivan Robinson’s County-record, 38-point outburst against Kearny in the final game of the 1943-44 season had withstood  assaults in the ensuing years.

Hoover’s Dick Barnes scored 36 in one game in 1944-45.  San Diego’s Ben Cendali had 37 in 1947-48.

But Robinson’s mark finally fell this season when Fallbrook center Paul Lockridge knocked down 21 baskets and 5 free throws for 47 points in a 90-31 win over Brown Military.

The feat had the aura of “Ripley’s Believe it or Not”.

Lockridge’s twin, point guard Frank, backed up his brother with 20 points and dished several assists.

TRAVEL WEARY

Grossmont and Hoover competed their regular seasons with big wins on the final night of league play.

Coach Ralph Chaplin’s Foothillers clinched second place in the City Prep League with a 46-45 win over La Jolla and Hoover knocked off San Diego, 44-36, in a display befitting the Cardinals’ preseason favoritism.

(The Cardinals were 11-3 in December and averaging 44 points a game, but they were surprised by Grossmont, 48-34, in the CPL opener and flattened out to 6-5, finishing in a tie for third in the league, and 17-8 overall).

The teams pulled a three-hour trip the next day to play in the Beverly Hills Tournament.

Probably spent from the night before, Grossmont bowed to Los Angeles Loyola, 41-36, and Hoover, which led, 43-30, after three quarters, fell to Santa Monica, 48-47.

TRAVEL WEARY, CONT.

San Diego and Grossmont began play in the Southern Section playoffs almost two weeks later.

The CIF “optioned” a doubleheader to the San Diego City Schools Association, which sponsored the contests at Point Loma.

Newport Beach Newport Harbor and Anaheim tied for first place in the Sunset League, necessitating a coin flip to determine opponents.

Grossmont defeated Anaheim, 34-31, in the first game and San Diego eliminated Newport Harbor, 46-34, in the nightcap.

Instead of being competitively idle four days, until the following Tuesday, the Hillers and Foothillers were required to travel to Redondo Beach the next day for the quarterfinals round.

Compton sent Grossmont (17-6) to the sideline, 48-37, and South Pasadena topped San Diego (18-6), 46-39.

Chula Vista (15-8), the defending small schools champion, fought back after trailing, 27-18, at the end of the third quarter but was beaten in the semifinals on a late free throw, 34-33, by Bonita at Pomona.

POWELL IS BACK

A football injury sustained on Nov. 10 had dealt a crushing blow to San Diego’s Southern Section football playoff hopes and sidelined Charlie Powell for the first 11 games of the basketball season.

The Hillers were 7-4 in the absence of Powell and his 225-pound presence at center but were 11-2 after he returned for the opening of league play Jan. 11.

The big center scored 12 points in a playoff victory over  Newport Harbor and had 19 in his final game, a postseason, 55-42 win over Hoover in the Zane Fentress charity game that attracted a sellout crowd of 1,000 persons to the Hilltop Gym.

FRIGHTENING INJURY

Fentress, a 190-pound wrestler for Hoover, was competing in a Southern Section playoff wrestling match against San Diego’s Tom Loman, who weighed more than 250.

Fentress sustained a severe injury and was temporarily paralyzed from the waist down.

CIF wrestling rules eventually had a weight limit for the heavyweight division and  a super heavyweight class was added.

HELP AGAIN FOR ZANE

Another benefit for Fentress was held a week later, with a unique format.

Hoover and Grossmont met in a game that featured only players returning for the 1951-52 season.

Hoover returnees won, 47-29.  The Hoover Alumni defeated the San Diego Alumni, 62-40, in a companion skirmish.

Names to remember:  Hoover’s Bob Metzler, who scored 16 points, and Grossmont’s Noel Mickelson, who had 15.

KIWANIS TO SENTINELS

Inglewood won the 16-team, third annual San Diego Kiwanis tournament, 50-45 over Hoover.  San Diego was consolation champion, 45-38, over Grossmont.

Kearny’s David Miramontes scored 72 points in four games to break Bill McColl’s record of 69 in 1947 that was tied by Grossmont’s Phil Embleton in 1949.

San Diego High and the Downtown Kiwanis sponsored the event.  Individual teams were supported by their area Kiwanis clubs.

Visiting squads, including El Monte, Inglewood, Beverly Hills, and Santa Monica, were housed in barracks at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot.

HONORS

San Diego’s Percy Gilbert was an all-Southern California first-team selection and La Jolla’s Jim Ranglos made the second team.

Ranglos led CPL scorers with a 15.3 average in 10 league games and Gilbert and Grossmont’s Ray Preston tied for second at 12.2. Mark Davis or Coronado (138) topped Kenny Iles of Escondido (128) in the 10-game Metro scoring race.

SIGN OF THE TIME

The Muni facility did not just host prep games.

The San Diego Park and Recreation Department announced pairings for its 31-team preseason tournament, which promised to keep the building busy.

Former Hoover star Dick Barnes, who passed up the NBA after being drafted in the fifth round by the New York Knicks, was playing for Al Riley Concrete.

Among other entries were Buono Bail Bonds, Clementine McDuff, Crown Carpet, and Mutual Fire.

SET SHOTS

The City Prep League was 19-1 against the Metropolitan League from the opening game in late November until league play after the New Year…Metro League clubs were 9-27 against all opposition overall in the same span…San Diego set a Compton Invitational single-game point total in a 66-48 win over Norwalk Excelsior but bowed the next day to Los Angeles Cathedral, 41-30…El Centro Central was one point short of a Kiwanis point record in a 74-32 win over San Diego Vocational…Ron Maley, younger brother of San Diego football boss Duane Maley, was coach at Kearny…San Diego played host to Hoover in the CPL finale with a reversed format… the varsity game tipped at 6:30 p.m., followed by the Class B contest, won by San Diego, 39-27…the Caver B’s 9-1 league record equaled that of the varsity…Hoover bowed to Ventura, 67-55, in the Santa Monica B Tournament, while San Diego was eliminated by L.A. Mt. Carmel, 30-27, after defeating Long Beach Poly, 36-28….

 

St. Augustine felt better about itself, assuaging some of the long-standing frustration from thwarted attempts to secure a league affiliation.

The small, independent Catholic entity that opened its doors in North Park in 1922 enjoyed an in-your-face season and earned the first playoff berth in school history.

The hard way.

With a few community honchos in support and shrewd politicking by principal John Aherne, the Saints eventually would gain membership in the City Prep League, but as freelancers they faced more daunting challenges than the snooty public schools that continued to deny them.

Teams in leagues would be eligible for the playoffs as long as they finished first or second in the standings.

TIGHT FIT

The Saints, with no league and little margin for error, were given a finite number by the CIF:  Lose no more than six games and get to play in the extended season.

Coach John Finan’s squad came through with a 17-6 regular-season record, but there were some nervous moments along the way.  A  53-38 loss in January to the San Diego State freshmen could have torpedoed its chances.

Although no official announcement was reported in San Diego newspapers, the CIF apparently didn’t consider the loss to the Frosh an official game, since it was not against a high school team, or perhaps the CIF didn’t know that the game was played.

Finan’s freelancers also helped themselves with a 6-1 finish.

John Cunningham, a 6-foot, 4-inch, center who went to play for the University of San Francisco and become baseball coach at the University of San Diego, averaged 18.2 points a game, led the County with 474 points, and was the main man in the 18-8 season, including the loss to the collegians.

CARDINALS FAVORED

St. Augustine was a substantial underdog to Hoover, one of the City League big shots aligned against the Saints, in the opening playoff test, having lost to the Cardinals, 48-34 and 61-43, during the season.

Cunningham and teammates Charlie Smith and Hector Sanchez combined for 42 points and the Saints upset the Cardinals, 46-44, before a standing-room crowd of 1,200 at Hoover.

(Perhaps most satisfying was a measure of redemption.  The Saints played Hoover in football amid some fanfare for the first time since 1934 and were destroyed the previous fall, 66-0).

Their breakthrough season ended in the second round on the road, 75-53, to the tall, 22-2 Alhambra Moors, who won the championship with ensuing victories of  55-53 over Baldwin Park, 52-48 over Los Angeles Mt. Carmel, and 46-35 over Burbank Burroughs.

SIZE? NOT TO WORRY

Coronado’s starting lineup averaged 5 feet, 9 inches, with one starter at 6 feet, but coach John Kovac’s speedy Islanders rushed to a 21-4 record and reached the Southern California Southern Group finals for small schools in the lower geographical half of the CIF.

Coronado, enrollment 384 in four grades, dressed nine players on the first day of practice, according to Kovac.

“When we started winning a few more turned out,” said Kovac.  “Now we have 13 (and the ability to scrimmage and simulate game conditions).”

The Islanders, who had some late-reporting football players after the team got to the Southern Group semifinals before a 23-14 loss to Brawley, raced to an 11-1 Avocado League record, losing only at Escondido, 64-63.

Coronado was beaten by future NFL quarterback Billy Kilmer and Azusa Citrus, 63-58, in the championship game at Point Loma High after knocking out San Jacinto, 43-38, Puente, 53-43, and Grossmont, 59-57.

The score was tied on 8 occasions and the lead changed 25 times as Coronado held on to defeat Grossmont in the semifinals.

The Islanders also became the second team in County history to score at least 100 points in a 103-31 win over Rancho del Campo. St. Augustine set the record in 1951-52 in a 104-19 rout of San Diego Vocational.

CAVEMEN SURPRISE

San Diego coach Merrill Douglas wouldn’t have been blamed if he didn’t expect a run from his team, which had lost three December games to Northern squads by an average score of 53-35.

But Douglas also was waiting for football players.

Art Powell ,Willie West, Pete Gumina, Eldridge Cooks, Alden Kimbrough, and Edward Heard were late arriving after going to the playoffs with coach Duane Maley’s gridders.

With a full complement the Cavemen swept the City League with a 12-0 record and were 18-4 when they earned a first-round playoff bye.

San Diego opened with a 49-39 win at Riverside Poly and then faced 31-2 Huntington Beach at Hoover.

SMALL TURNOUT

Only 400 or so fans showed for the Tuesday night game but were treated to a thriller.  The Cavers topped the favored Oilers, 55-53.

Art Powell, who would earn all-Southern California first-team honors, scored 44 points in the two playoff victories.

San Diego moved into the semifinal round three nights later at Long Beach City College against 24-6 Burbank Burroughs.

The Cavers led, 47-46, early in the fourth quarter but a flurry that included seven consecutive free throws helped the Indians ease to a 59-50 win.

The Cavers’ two best players, the 6-foot, 2-inch Powell and the 6-5 Bob Rees fouled out, Rees in the first minute of the fourth quarter and Powell a minute later.

Powell also was lost on fouls early in the fourth quarter the next night in the third place contest, a 52-48 loss to Mt. Carmel. The Cavers led for most of the game but were swept on the backboards in the final six minutes by the taller Crusaders.

MANY IN PLAYOFFS

A total of seven San Diego-area teams gained the playoffs and occupied four of the 16 berths in the Southern Group competition.

Grossmont advanced to its semifinal test with Coronado by defeating Brawley, 48-44, and Ramona, 46-33.

Ramona faced Grossmont after a 48-32 win over Twentynine Palms.

Escondido, without leading scorer Don Willis, was rocked at Calexico, 70-38.

Mar Vista defeated Thermal Coachella, 46-43, and Calexico, 63-38, before being eliminated by Citrus, 66-46. Mar Vista led Citrus, 25-24, at halftime.

OVERTIME SOLUTION

When their teams were tied, 45-45, at the end of overtime, coaches Locke Olson of Grossmont and Don Smith of Lincoln agreed to play the second overtime in sudden death.

Grossmont’s Don Cole quickly scored a layup and Grossmont walked off with a 47-45 win.  The clubs were deadlocked, 43-43, at the end of regulation play.

WHERE’S HOME?

The lack of gymnasiums continued to hamstring City League scheduling.

Lincoln and Mission Bay would open their own facilities in 1955-56, but until then there would be odd venue matchups:

Lincoln played San Diego at Hoover.  Hoover played Kearny at Point Loma.  Kearny played Mission Bay at San Diego.

RANDOM TAKES

–Six Escondido players fouled out and accounted for 30 of the 37 personal fouls assessed the Cougars in a 71-59 loss to Vista.

–Hoover, with 6-5 Bill Kupiec and 6-2 John Adams controlling the backboards, was able to survive a putrid field goal percentage,  20 of 75 shots for 26.6%, but led, 26-3, after one quarter and beat Kearny, 54-32.

The Komets were more putrid, 10×52 from the field for 19.2%.

CHARITY PLUS

–Chula Vista made 26 of 41 free throws attempts in a 44-30 win over Helix.  The host Highlanders held a 22-18 advantage from the field but were only 8 for 25 from the line.

–Frustration probably was the motivation when Sweetwater’s Allen Redman swapped punches with Grossmont’s Dick Cole.  Grossmont (8-2) sent Sweetwater to its ninth consecutive Metropolitan League loss, 37-28.

–Fallbrook trailed Escondido, 49-14, at the start of the fourth quarter…and went into a stall.  The Warriors did not score in the final eight minutes and lost, 59-14.

–Poor shooting  Point Loma, which finished 3-9 in the City League and 3-16 overall, hit 13 of 17 attempts from the floor for 76% and was 12 for 16 from the free-throw line, including two winning attempts by Frank Rogers, and upset La Jolla, 38-37.

JUMP SHOTS

Jim Henry’s 209 points were shy of the City Prep League record of 227 by Jerry Hurst of Helix in 1952-53…La Jolla’s Dave Inman was second to Henry with 165 points (13.8), followed by San Diego’s Bob Rees with 146 (12.3) and Art Powell with 144 (12.0)…Hoover’s Bill Kupiec was next with 135 points (11.3)…many  coaches did not like a new rule, which awarded a second free throw if the first was made, saying the legislation put too much emphasis on  the charity toss, according to Jim Trinkle of The San Diego Union…Brown Military’s 46-39 win over Army-Navy ended the Warriors’ 22-game, Southern Prep League winning streak…Beverly Hills won the Kiwanis Tournament Unlimited Division, 53-33 over defending, two-time titlist San Diego…the Normans got to the Unlimited final with a 39-37 win over Inglewood, which received a last minute technical foul for calling a sixth timeout…the fine led to a pivotal free throw for the winners…Newhall Hart, behind future NFL quarterback Joe Kapp, won the Limited Division, 50-46, over El Centro Central  after opening with a 104-33 win over Oceanside…Inglewood Morningside’s John Arrillaga scored 39 points in an 82-52 win over Escondido and broke a Kiwanis record set the night before when the Saints’ John Cunningham scored 34 in a 77-64 win over Arrillaga’s Monarchs…Morningside went on to win one of the two Southern Section small schools championships by defeating Beverly Hills, 64-62, in the Northern Group final…Grossmont topped Chula Vista, 53-43, for the consolation championship in the post-Christmas Chino Tournament…Allen Good, former Hoover athlete, became coach at La Jolla after Don Hankins stepped down because of a health issue…five years before his brother attained similar honors at Mission Bay, La Jolla’s 6-1 center Jack Cravens would graduate with 8 varsity letters….