Hoover, led by high jumper-hurdler Bernie Nelson, stole thunder usually heard only by San Diego High opponents.
The Cardinals were 6-0 in dual meets and along with Grossmont and Point Loma won a dual meet from the usually unbeatable Hillers.
Nelson, who cleared 6 feet, 4 inches, was the County’s first state champion since Grossmont’s Hal Norris won at 56-5 ½ in the shotput at Sacramento in 1950.
Point Loma’s Herman Thompson made a splash in the 100-yard dash, and Dick Bronson continued Grossmont’s domination in the shot put.
3/4/53
Tom Williams of Vista set a school record of 4:55.4 in the mile as the Panthers defeated Mar Vista, 61-41, in a Metropolitan League dual meet.
3/6/53
Charlie Rose set a Coronado school record with a 6-foot, 1 3/4-inch high jump in the Islanders’ 57-38 dual meet win over St Augustine.
Oceanside won the 880-yard relay in 1:36.9 and defeated Metropolitan League rival Sweetwater, 53-51.
–Football star C.R. Roberts ran a leg on the relay, won the 100 in :10.8, and was second to John Foster‘s 21-10 ½ broad jump.
Point Loma scored 44 points to win the City Prep League relays, a series of medley events and field events with winning scores based on teams’ combined heights and distances.
Kearny was second with 38, followed by Hoover, 34, Grossmont, 31, San Diego, 29, La Jolla 20, and Helix, 2.
Grossmont, the Class A defending champion, maintained in Class B and C, winning each.
Individual event honors went to the Pointers’ Herman Thompson, who won the 100-yard dash in :10.4 and teammate Bob Miller, who took the 120-yard high hurdles in :15.3.
3/20/53
Both teams were disqualified for lane violations in the 880 relay, but Kearny already was in the house with a 55-44 victory over Point Loma.
The Pointers’ Herman Thompson was a double winner at :10.1 and :23 in the 100 and 220.
3/24/53
Jim Giyer set a Grossmont school record of 4:35.2 in the mile, but Hoover, led by Bernie Nelson’s three wins, defeated the Foothillers, 60-44.
Nelson’s ran :15.2 and :20.5 in the high and low hurdles, respectively, and high jumped 5-11 ¼.
3/27/53
Hoover improved to 3-0 in dual meets with a 55-49 win at Point Loma, although the Pointers relay squad of Waldo Palmer, Jesse Denny, Hal Krupens, and Herman Thompson set a school record of 1:33.2.
Bernie Nelson set the pace for Hoover with wins of :15.3 in the high hurdles, :20.2 in the lows, and 6-1 in the high jump.
4/9/53
Fred White of Chula Vista, chasing the school record of 56-1 3/4 set by his brother Kenny in 1950, took the County lead with a 55-10 toss in a 77-26 victory over Vista.
Coronado and Escondido battled to a 52-52 deadlock, the second this season for the Islanders, who earlier had a 52-52 stalemate with Chula Vista.
4/10/53
San Diego lost a dual meet for the first time since 1948, a span of 26 victories and one tie, as Grossmont stunned the Hillers, 55 1/2-48 1/2.
The Cavers held a 16-2 advantage in the sprints, but the Foothillers made up the deficit with a 17-1 advantage in the distances and shot put.
Grossmont’s Dick Bronson hurled the shot 55 feet, 5 inches, and Jim Giyer won the mile in 4:36.7.
San Diego’s Halden Grey was a double winner in the 100 (:10.2) and 220 in a time-disputed :21.7. Grey’s best time before and after was at least one second slower.
Hoover improved to 4-0 with a 73-31 win over Kearny. Bernie Nelson high jumped 6-3, third best in school history. Alvin Cordray cleared 6-3 ½ in 1938 and Jack Razzeto 6-5 ¼ in 1948.
Nelson also won the 120-yard high hurdles in :15.5 and the 180 lows in :20.9.
4/17/53
Beating San Diego in track and field no longer was news. Point Loma stunned the Hillers, 69-35, in Balboa Stadium and the Peninsula thinclads did it by barging into San Diego’s figurative kitchen.
Junior Herman Thompson won the 100 in :09.9, 220 in :22.5, broad jump at 21-9, and anchored a school record, 1:32.0 victory in the 880 relay, events San Diego had dominated locally.
Bob Miller also bruised the Hillers with wins of :15.6 and :21.1 in the high and low hurdles.
Football star C.R. Roberts won the 100 in :10.3 and broad jump at 21-5 ½, and ran a leg on the winning relay (1:37.8) that was the difference in Oceanside’s 56 ½-47 ½ win over San Dieguito.
4/23/53
Fred White of Chula Vista broke the school shot put record held by his brother.
Fred pushed the 12-pound ball 56 feet, 2 ½ inches in a dual-meet with Oceanside, which outscored the Spartans, 56 ½-46 1/2. Kenny White reached 56-1 ¾ in a CIF divisional meet in 1950.
Russ Elwell of Coronado set a school record of 53 feet and Charlie Rose tied his early-season school record of 6-1 ¾ as Coronado beat Mar Vista, 88-16.
Point Loma’s Herman Thompson became the seventh sprinter in County history to cover 100 yards in :09.8 and tied George Able’s school record, set in 1938.
Thompson negotiated the distance in a dual meet with La Jolla in Balboa Stadium.
5/1/53
Escondido won the 12-team Vista Relays with 41 1/2 points. Oceanside was second with 34. C.R. Roberts of Oceanside won the Open 100 in :10.3 and was part of the Pirates’ :47.3 winning effort in the 440 relay.
5/2/53
Hoover completed a 6-0 dual-meet season with a 61 ½-41 ½ victory at San Diego as Bernie Nelson won the high hurdles (:15), lows (:20.1) and high jump (6-0).
Nelson’s Cardinals teammate Dave Abbott hurled the shot 53 feet, 6 inches, an outstanding effort but on this day second to (next paragraph).
Grossmont junior Dick Bronson bettered the school record with a 58-foot, 10 1/2-inch toss but Point Loma won the last-event relay in 1:34.8 and the meet, 55 ½-48 ½.
Bronson bettered Clyde Wetter’s school record of 58-4 7/8 in 1951.
5/5/53
City Prep League Class B and C finals were held in Balboa Stadium, where La Jolla’s Bob Gutowski set a B record with a pole vault of 11 feet, 10 ½ inches.
Less than four years later (three years, 357 days), Gutowski vaulted 15-8 for a world record as a member of the Occidental College team in Eagle Rock.
5/8/53
CITY PREP LEAGUE FINALS, @BALBOA STADIUM
Three meet records were set despite “nippy weather” before an estimated crowd of 3,500 persons.
Hoover’s Bernie Nelson set a record of :14.9 in the high hurdles, won the lows in :20.1 and signed off early after beating the competition at 5 feet, 8 inches, in the high jump.
Grossmont’s George Davis ran the 880 in 2:02.1 and teammate Jim Giyer the mile in 4:32.4.
Hoover, the dual-meet champion, scored 45 1/3 points, edging Point Loma (43 7/12), which was followed by Grossmont, 37 ½, San Diego, 23 ½, Kearny, 19 ¾, La Jolla, 14 ½, and Helix, 8.
METROPOLITAN LEAGUE FINALS, @VISTA
No meet records were set and San Dieguito scored 34 ¾ points, followed by dual meet champion Coronado, 31, Oceanside, 26, Vista, 25, Sweetwater, 20 ½, Escondido, 18, Mar Vista 13, Chula Vista, 9.
Escondido’s Rich Gehring was a double winner in the 120 high hurdles (:15.4) and 180 lows (:20.0).
SOUTHERN PREP LEAGUE FINALS, @CAMP PENDLETON
Fallbrook won seven of 12 events and scored 128 ½ points to runner-up Army-Navy’s 97 ½. Mountain Empire followed with 28, Ramona 27 ½, and Brown Military, 1.
Best mark was a :10.3 in the 100-yard dash by Manning of Army-Navy.
5/16/53
A CIF Divisional meet for City Prep, Southern Prep, Metropolitan, Orange, and Sunset leagues was held on what The San Diego Union writer Harry Monahan declared was a “soggy, windswept” San Diego State track.
Santa Ana led team qualifiers with eight. Hoover and Grossmont each had seven.
Bernie Nelson survived disaster in the 120-yard hurdles when he tripped on the third barrier and fell. Nelson regained his feet and finished fourth in his race to qualify for the Divisional semifinals the following week at Ontario Chaffey.
Nelson also made the cut in the 180-yard low hurdles and high jump.
Point Loma’s Herman Thompson was not as fortunate. Thompson arrived late in the afternoon, missing a chance to qualify in the 100 and 220.
The junior speedster anchored The Pointers to victory in one of the 880-yard relay heats in 1:33.6.
Grossmont individual winners were Jim Giyer, who ran the mile in 4:35.4, and Dick Bronson, who led all shot putters with a toss of 53-5 5/8.
5/19/53
Kearny’s Lee Buchanan won a 440 heat in the Chaffey divisional semifinal in Ontario in :50.9. Grossmont’s Jim Giyer won one of the mile races in 4:30.5 and teammate George Davis took an 880 heat in 2:01.3.
Tom Noonan of Coronado cleared 6 feet for the first time and got over 6-2. Bernie Nelson of Hoover qualified in the high jump at 6 feet and advanced in both hurdle races.
5/23/53
SOUTHERN SECTION FINALS, @OXNARD HIGH
Point Loma, Hoover and Grossmont tied for eighth in the Southern Section finals with 6 points each at Oxnard High.
Bernie Nelson tied with three others for third in the high jump at 6 feet, 1 inch, but qualified for the state meet along with Coronado’s Tom Noonan on the basis of fewer misses.
Nelson also was fourth in the 120 high hurdles in a wind-aided :14.6 and fifth in the 180 lows, won in :19.2 on the breezy afternoon.
Jim Giyer of Grossmont was fourth in the mile and Dick Bronson was second in the shot put at 56 feet, 3 3/4. Don Vick of Ontario Chaffey won at 61-1/8. Fred White of Chula Vista was third at 54-4 7/8.
Waldo Palmer of Point Loma tied for first with Turner of San Bernardino in the broad jump with a best of 22 feet, 4 ¾ inches.
Charlie Cota of Kearny tied for first in the Class B pole vault at 12 feet. Bob Gutowski of La Jolla tied for third at 11-8.
Armstrong of Grossmont won the Class C shot put at 50-10 ¾. Bodenhamer of Kearny was fifth in the Class C 120-yard low hurdles.
5/30/53
35TH STATE MEET, @FRESNO
Bernie Nelson completed a brilliant season by winning the state high jump at Fresno’s Ratcliff Stadium with a leap of 6 feet, 4 inches.
Grossmont’s Dick Bronson, fifth in the shot put at 55-2 3/8, was the only other County entry to score.
