2010-2017:  To Our Subscribers and Passers-by

Next month, on Feb. 14 [2017], will mark the seventh year since we undertook a challenge.

I wanted to write the history of San Diego County high school football.

That’s where my career started and where it will end.

Well, I didn’t write the history (that is almost infinite), but I gave it a shot.

I attempted to write a narrative about each season. More than 100.

I just counted.

The number includes all seasons from 1914 forward.  I combined the years 1891 to 1913.

Almost all of the narratives are broken into short subjects, vignettes and photographs (pictures mostly from rustic and ragged microfilm at several Southern California sources).

Some years, like 1955, include multiple entries and, starting in 2013, football was covered on a week-to-week basis.

Most seasons usually required an average of about 2,000 words, although there are some with less and many with more.

My superstar writing friend Dave Kindred told me, “It wouldn’t sell and it would be too long,” when I suggested to David that maybe I’d write a book about this parochial subject.

He was right on both counts. But thanks to Henrik Jonson, my cyber guru, we put together a web site:  Partletonsports.com.

Partleton was the name on my father’s birth certificate when he was born in Barbados, “Little England” as it was known.

Dad changed his last name to Smith after he entered the United States following service in the Canadian army in World War I.

I asked him often why he hadn’t been more inventive. He could have changed his name to Jones.

I’m going to continue looking for nuggets of information in football, basketball, track and field, and probably baseball.

It’s a labor of love and in retirement you have to have interests.  I’ve got season tickets to San Diego State basketball and I catch a prep football or basketball game every week.

That and trying to keep Susie happy and watching our 4 grandsons grow up.




2016: Dick Coxe, 95, Coached Many Champions

There was not a track and field event in which Dick Coxe did not have expertise, but he probably preferred the grueling discipline of cross country.

Friends and former athletes will honor Coxe with their recollections of the demanding, straight-shooting and compassionate mentor in a celebration of his life on Sept. 18 from 1-4 p.m. in the Captain’s Room of Marina Village, 1936 Quivera Way, San Diego, 92109.

Coxe, who recently passed  at age 95, coached 30 years at area high schools Mar Vista, Sweetwater, and Lincoln, and at San Diego Junior College and Mesa College

“He had champions in events ranging from distance, jumps, relays, weights and sprints (as a college volunteer assistant at Hoover in 1952, Coxe even coached pole vaulters),” remembered Mesa distance runner Rich Cota.

“Dick Coxe was organized, structured, and focused,” said Cota.  “He took great pride in having well-rounded dual meet teams. To him, this proved your coaching ability.  Plus, there was a winner and a loser.”

Mesa's first-year championship track squad. Front row, from left: Raymond Dixon, Pete Folger, Bob Oliver, Jerry Crites, Jimmy Fox, Doug Wright, Harold Moore, Ronald Ivory. Middle row, from left: Bob Hose, Dennis Christian, Dave Roman, Bill Trujillo, Rudy Knepper, Larry Rinder, George Watson, Frank Valenti, Jim Eddington. Top row, from left: Rex Ellis, Steve Lees, Bob Odom, Bob Millar, Howard Butler, unidentified, Ken Krause, Coxe.
Mesa’s first-year, 1965 championship track squad. Front row, from left: Raymond Dixon, Pete Folger, Bob Oliver, Jerry Crites, Jimmy Fox, Doug Wright, Harold Moore, Ronald Ivory. Middle row, from left: Bob Hose, Dennis Christian, Dave Roman, Bill Trujillo, Rudy Knepper, Larry Rinder, George Watson, Frank Valenti, Jim Eddington. Top row, from left: Rex Ellis, Steve Lees, Bob Odom, Bob Millar, Howard Butler, unidentified, Ken Krause, Coxe.

The graduate of Hoover High and San Diego State developed, among dozens of others, 1972 Olympic long jump bronze medalist and 1976 Olympic gold medalist Arnie Robinson at Mesa, where Coxe’s  teams produced 15 state and 4 national community college champions from 1964-65 through 1981-82.

His first-year programs in 1964-65 at the school on Kearny Mesa won the Pacific Southwest Conference and state cross country championships in the fall and the conference track championship the following spring.

“I know I’m biased,” Cota said, “but I believe Coach Coxe thought his greatest accomplishment was winning the state cross-country title in ‘sixty-four, our first year.”

Included among Coxe’s  standouts were Bob Hose, who set an American community college record of 1:48.3 in the 880; Wesley Williams, and James King, who went on to become world-ranked 440-yard intermediate hurdlers.

Williams, who won the state 300 intermediate hurdles championship in 1967,  claimed  the National AAU indoor 600-yard title in 1974 and ’75 and King was the Pan American games winner in 1975.

Williams anchored the state mile relay championship quartet in 1968.  King was leadoff man in 1968 and the first runner on the title-winning 1969 foursome.

Bill Trujillo was a state individual champion in 1964 and

Coxe was an active observer at Mesa during retirement.
Coxe was an active supporter of Mesa programs in retirement.

Mesa’s mile relay squad of Bill Millar, Jay Elbel, Wes Williams, and Harold Moore set a national community college indoor record of 3:20.9 in the inaugural 1966 San Diego Indoor Games.

A scholarship in Coxe’s name is being established at Mesa College, c/o Simone Sherrard, 7250 Mesa College Drive, San Diego, 92111.




2016: The Grandkids

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.




2016: Siegler, Alvarado, Altice Lead Way in 98th State Meet

San Diego Section track-and-field entries placed in eight of 32 events at the 98th 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 13th 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.

 




2016: Locals Have Hopes in 98th State meet

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 102nd anniversary of the state meet and the 98th 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.




1957: Looking Back, Cook’s and Cavers’ Great Day

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 school record with a leap of 23-10.  Griffin’s teammate, John Blaylock, was second at 23-11 in a remarkable competition.

Cook, Staten, Davis, and Jordan (clockwise from upper left) carried San Dkiego High hopes.
Cook, Staten, Davis, and Jordan (clockwise from upper left) carried San Diego High hopes.

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.

Clook (left) matched big Griffin in 100.
San Diego’s Roscoe Cook (left) matched big Griffin in 100-yard duel.

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.

Unbeaten Cerveny set Southern Section and state records in 880.

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, with Staten running a powerful anchor leg,  recovered to finish second in the relay in 1:27.2, Berkeley the winner in 1:27….