Happy trails, Victory League.
A bi-product of World War II, gasoline rationing, security scares, and travel restriction, the league served its purpose for four calendar years (search 1943: V is Key) as school bosses and students strived for normality.
San Diego and Hoover, which joined teams in the Metropolitan League in1942 and again when the Victory was formed, returned this season to the Coast League, in which the Hilltoppers first rolled in 1923 and which Hoover had joined in 1937.
The Compton Tarbabes, little brothers to the Compton College Tartars, united with San Diego, Pasadena, and Pasadena Muir in a revived Coast League, while smaller city schools and suburbans were back in the Metropolitan League, back in business following four years in drydock. The remaining few took seats in the Southern Prep League.
Art Barnard of La Jolla won the 120-yard high hurdles and Ernie Smith of San Diego the broad jump in the Southern Section finals. Each was a runner-up in his event in the state meet.
2/28/47
San Diego opened the season with a 77-27 dual meet victory at Grossmont.
3/6/47
Jack Littler, not as well known as his golf champion brother Gene, won the 100-yard dash in :10.8 and the broad jump at 19 feet, 11 inches, as La Jolla won a dual meet, 73-27, over visiting Vista.
3/7/47
Graydon Calder high jumped 6-1 and Bobby Smith pole vaulted 12 feet as San Diego beat the host Long Beach Wilson Bruins, 63-41. Ernie (Bud) Genet tied with Bob Van Doren for first at 45-9 in the shot put and won the broad jump at 20-3.
–Grossmont beat Sweetwater, 72-32, and La Jolla, with Art Barnard winning the 100 in :10.3 and 220 in :23, swamped Escondido, 90-14, and Kearny beat Coronado, 77 1/3-26 2/3 in opening Metropolitan League dual meets.
3/13/47
Jack Lucas set a La Jolla record of 2:06 in the 880 and Art Barnard tied his school record with a :10.3 100 as the Vikings defeated Sweetwater, 70-34. Grossmont beat Point Loma, 77-27, and Escondido defeated Coronado, 66 1/3-37 2/3.
3/14/47
Bryan Benson went 48-6 ½ and Volney Peters 48-6 ¼ in the shot put as Hoover won a Coast League dual at home, 69-35, versus Long Beach Wilson.
3/20/47
Art Barnard set a La Jolla school record with a :22.6 220 and Jess Estrada tied Jack Lucas’ recent school record of 2:06 in the 880 in the Vikings’ 57 1/2-46 ½ win over Point Loma on the Vikings’ track.
3/21/47
Sophomore Gene Sieben doubled in host Sweetwater’s 84-20 win against Coronado, winning the 120-yard high hurdles in :15.7 and 180 lows in 21.4.
3/22/47
Team champion Redondo Beach Redondo Union scored 30 points to San Diego’s 29 1/5 in the Southern Counties Invitational at Huntington Beach.
Hoover and Grossmont were fourth and sixth with 14 and 8 ½ points each. La Jolla was second with 18 points in the small schools’ division, won by Fullerton with 19. Point Loma was 13th with 5 points and Coronado did not score.
Hoover’s Bob Lange and San Diego’s Bobby Smith tied for first in the pole vault at 12 feet, 3 inches.
3/25/47
Brown Military scored 47 ½ points to San Dieguito’s 43, and host Ramona’s 12 1/2 in a Southern Prep League triangular meet. Miller of Brown won the 100 in :10.8, 220 in :23.3, and broad jump at 20 feet, 5 inches.
3/27/47
Jess Estrada set a La Jolla record of 2:04.2 in the 880 and Art Barnard won the 100 in :10.1 and 220 in :22.7, but San Diego claimed the nonleague dual meet, 70-34, in Balboa Stadium.
4/10/47
Hoover and San Diego were favored to fight it out for the Coast League dual-meet championship, but Compton beat both in their triangular showdown on the San Diego State oval. The Tarbabes scored 51 ½ points to San Diego’s 43 and Hoover’s 36 ½.
Bill Fell was a double winner in the 100 (:10.1) and 220 (:22.6), Jerome Walters won the 880 (2:00.4), and Chuck Kohl took the mile (4:33.7) for the visitors.
Joe Azevedo put the shot 51 feet, ½ inch, Bobby Smith pole vaulted 12-3, and the Hilltoppers won the 880-yard relay in 1:31.1.
Ernie Smith of San Diego and Jack Razzeto of Hoover tied for first in the high jump at 5-11 ½. Karl Preibisius won the 120-yard highs in :15.8 for the Cardinals.
–Grossmont defeated La Jolla, 60-44, in the Metropolitan League’s big one. Top mark was Foothiller Joe Page’s 6-2 ½ high jump. Art Barnard doubled in the sprints in :10.1 and :22.6 for the visiting Vikings.
–Gene Sieben won the 180-yard lows in :20.7 and Bill Ellis logged a :52.6 440 as Sweetwater beat Kearny, 54-50. Point Loma topped Escondido, 81 ½-22 ½.
4/15/47
Hoover stepped out of the Coast League and dominated Metro power Grossmont, 72-32. Jack Razzetto and Grossmont’s Joe Page tied for first in the high jump at 6-1 1/4.
Hoover’s Karl Preibisius won the high hurdles in :15.7 and teammate Don Donnelly took the 180 lows in :21.2. The Cardinals’ Bill Kirby won the 440 in :51.5. Bryan Benson led a 1-2 Hoover finish with Volney Peters in the shot put at 49-2 ½.
4/16/47
Hoover won the 880 relay in 1:31.8, capping a 69 1/6-34 5/6 victory in a rain-makeup meet with La Jolla at Hoover. Chuck Whitmarsh won the 100in :10.2 and 220 in :22.6 for the Cardinals.
4/18/47
A San Diego quartet of Cleo Williams, Charles Davis, John Holloway, and Harold Miller ran a season-best 1:30.1 in the 880 relay and brought San Diego to victory and a 52-52 deadlock with Hoover before an estimated 2,200 persons in Balboa Stadium in the first-ever night meet between the rivals.
Bill Kirby set a Hoover record of :50.9 in the 440. Chuck Phillips ran 2:03.1 in the 880, and Jack Razzeto high jumped 6-1. Joe Azevedo put the shot 50-8, Bobby Smith vaulted 12-4 ¾, and Harold Miller won the 100 in :10.2 and 220 in :22.7 for San Diego.
–Ray Oyos turned in the season’s best broad jump, 22-3 ¼ in Grossmont’s 85-19 win at Coronado. Joe Page high jumped 6-1 3/8 for the Foothillers.
–Gene Sieben rook the 100 in :10.8 and 180-yard lows in :20.5 as Sweetwater forged a 52-52 tie with Kearny.
4/25/47
Joe Page bettered his school record with a 6-foot, 3-inch high jump as Grossmont wrapped the Metropolitan League championship, 90-14, over Escondido. Bob Mahan won the 120 low hurdles in :13.9 and 120 highs in :15.5, and added a 19-7 ½ broad jump as Point Loma won at Kearny, 76-28.
–Joe Azevedo reached 51-6 ½ in the shot put and Ernie Smith went 22-1 ½ in the broad jump and San Diego routed Pasadena and Pasadena Muir in Balboa Stadium, 91 ½ to 30 ½ to 9, respectively.
4/30/47
Dick Straub won the 100 in :10.2 and 220 in :22.8 and Hoover also scored a multiple win, winning a three-way meet at Pasadena.
The Cardinals outscored the host Pasadena Bullpups, 78 1/10-38 9/10, and the Muir Mustangs, who scored 14 points.
Bill Kirby ran the 440 in :51.4 for another Hoover victory.
5/2/47
Art Barnard of La Jolla won the 120-yard high hurdles in :15 and 180-yard low hurdles in :19.8, fastest ever run by a San Diego County athlete, but Grossmont ran away with the team championship in Class A, B, and C in the Metropolitan League meet at San Diego State.
Coach Jack Mashin’s Grossmont squad scored 62 ½ points each in A and B, and 50 points in Class C.
–Bob Mahon of Point Loma, second to Barnard in both hurdles races, won the broad jump at 21 feet, 11 ¼ inches. Grossmont’s Joe Page high jumped 6-1.
5/5/4
Compton edged Hoover, 58 ½-58, for the team championship in the Coast League championships at Compton College.
Hoover would have 10 entries for the CIF Southern Section Divisional meet as Bill Kirby and Don Donnelly qualified in two events each.
Kirby won the 440-yard dash in :51.2 and third in the 100 to the :10.1 of Compton’s Bill Fell, who also won the 220 in :22.5. Donnelly was third in the high jump and third in the 180-yard low hurdles. Kirby also participated in the 880 relay, won by Hoover in 1:32.
San Diego qualified four, shot putters Joe Acevedo and John Davis, jumper Ernie Smith, who won the high jump at 6-3 and the broad jump at 21-9, and pole vaulter Bobby Smith, first at 12 feet.
Compton won Class B with 67 ½ points to San Diego’s 41, Hoover’s 23 ½, Pasadena’s 23, and Pasadena Muir’s 8. San Diego scored 59 ½ points in Class C, Hoover 51, Compton, 12, Pasadena, 4 ½, and Muir, zero.
5/10/47
Hoover outscored Grossmont, 36 1/2-36, followed by San Diego, 22 ½, Point Loma, 22, La Jolla, 18 ½, Sweetwater and Brawley, 13, El Centro Central, 5, Kearny, Brown Military, 4, Kearny, 2 ½, and Coronado, 1, in the CIF Divisional meet at san Diego State.
Art Barnard of La Jolla was a double winner, :14.8, fastest ever in the 120-yard high hurdles by a County athlete, and :20.1 in the 180-yard low hurdles. Joe Page of Grossmont high jumped 6-2. San Diego’s Joe Acevedo won at 51 feet, 1/8 inch in the shot put and teammate Ernie Smith at 21-9 1/2 in the broad jump.
5/17/47
Art Barnard won the 120-yard high hurdles in :14.6 and Ernie Smith of San Diego took the broad jump at 22-6 ½ in the CIF finals at breezy Oxnard High. Barnard was fourth in the 180 low hurdles and Smith tied with Grossmont’s Joe Page for fifth in the high jump.
–Failing to qualify for the finals, Bobby Smith entered the high school portion of the West Coast Relays in Fresno. San Diego High reported that Smith cleared 13 feet, 2 inches, eight inches better than his previous best, and one inch below Bill Miller’s 1929 school record of 13-3.
Smith was the son of Ralph and nephew of Harry Smith, Hilltoppers vaulters of the 1920s, and later was head coach at Lincoln and San Diego City College.
5/24/47
Art Barnard was second to the winning :14.5 of Los Angeles Washington’s Hugh McElhenny in the 120-yard high hurdles in the 31st state meet at the Mineral Bowl in Visalia.
McElhenny also won the broad jump at 22-10 ½, with San Diego’s Ernie Smith second at 22-6 ¼.
Bill Kirby of Hoover was unplaced in the 440-yard dash and Joe Acevedo of San Diego did not place in the shot put.
Rick,
In a recent edition of the San Diego U-T (Aug. 6, 2024) there was a guest opinion titled “ I gave up my chance to compete in the Olympics.” It was penned by Leonard Bloom, a name
I recalled from the mid 70’s when he owned the S.D. Conquistadors.
In his story, Bloom claims to have won the 50 yard dash in the 1947 San Diego County High School Track and Field Finals as a “little jr. high school kid.” And, there was “a photo of him winning in the newspaper.” I think his story is bunk. Pure fiction. Anybody with a track background knows there is no 50 yard dash. What do you think? Could it have been run as an exhibition race?
This PartletonSports 1947 Track Season story brought back some fond memories for me of some of the athletes who I later knew when they were adults. Dick Straub was an enthusiastic and encouraging individual running the all-comers meets at SD State in the late 60’s. Bobby Smith, the legendary Lincoln coach whose powerful Hornet squads were so dominant. As a teammate of Pt. Loma’s Bob Chavez, I cherish his 1966 showdown with Lincoln’s Johnny Mack Ellis in the 100 and 220 at the CIF Finals on Balboa Stadium’s super fast track. Wow ! Ed Thomas was the City College Coach after he left Pt.Loma in ‘64. Did Bobby Smith take the reins after Coach Thomas retired?
It’s amazing that Caver long jumper Doyle Steel’s 25’ 5 1/4” leap into history – a new national record – is still atop the county’s best marks. I saw him make that jump. Wow !
Don Szalay
Bobby Smith did replace Ed Thomas. Both were outstanding coaches. As a young reporter, Bob Chavez was a favorite of mine, but he was married before his senior year, had a job at night and, as he once told me, “I just couldn’t get up” to go to school. Principal Don Giddings, the former football coach, bounced him from school. Fred Ludwig, the coach after Thomas, was unhappy but knew he shouldn’t say something that would piss off the seemingly autocratic Giddings. Chavez had a sore leg but was running some great times as a junior, including a wind-aided :20.9 220 at the state meet trials in Berkeley.
There were meets, especially pre-high school, in the lower exponent classifications that were of 50 yards, not 100, and there was a city boys championship meet in those days. It’s funny, you’re not the first guy to mention Bloom’s story. I didn’t read the Opinion page in the paper that day. I looked at Bloom as more of a promoter than a dentist. He signed Wilt Chamberlin to coach his pro basketball team and I’m not sure Chamberlain ever showed. I think Bloom also owned a hockey team. He had problems with the guy who ran the Sports Arena. The only thing I can validate about his story is that of the 50-yard dash and that was only a sometime event in high school.
Thanks for your comment, Don.