1958 Track: Lincoln’s Drive to CIF Southern Section Title Crashes

Always striving for higher, faster, further, San Diego -area track and field competitors delivered a bevy of outstanding marks and a consensus that Lincoln, in its fourth season, could become the Southern California team champion, following San Diego’s 1957 championship.

The Hornets didn’t make it, their season ending in disappointment.  Lincoln’s troubles in the Southern Section finals at El Monte’s Arroyo High School are told below.

COLTS QUICKLY GET A KICK

Crawford, a first-year school in East San Diego, took a large parcel of students from nearby Hoover.

One of those students, football-track athlete Arnold Tripp, had shown promise the year before as a sophomore at Hoover, so much that Cardinals track coach Raleigh Holt visited the Tripp family and entreated Arnold and his parents that he stay at Hoover.

Crawford would open in the fall of 1957 with students in grades 10 and 11.  Holt believed Tripp resided in an optional enrollment area.

Tripp apparently liked the idea of being on the ground floor and building a new tradition.  He opted for Crawford, depriving Holt and Hoover of two sub-10-seconds sprinters (Tripp and Larry Fischer) who would help keep the Cardinals among the elite programs.

4/8/58

Eight City Prep League meets were postponed during a rainy March and school bosses considered making them up with triangular meets or canceling as the calendar moved into the second half of the season.

4/12/58

Three El cajon Valley runners  scored 13 1/2 points to finish seventh as a team in the 32nd Chaffey Invitational in Ontario. Jack Hudson was first and no-relation Bill Hudson third in one of the mile races, with Hudson’s 4:27.1 best of the evening.

Wendell Maize was second in 1:59.2 to the 1:58.2 of a Norwalk Excelsior runner in one of the 880-yard races.

4/15/58

Kearny’s George Williams broad jumped 24 feet and won the 440 in :51.8, and teammate Ed Buchanan won the 100-yard dash in :09.9 and 220 in :21.8, and then made up about 15 yards on the anchor leg to deliver a 1:30.3 victory in the 880-yard relay.

Outstanding performances, but the Komets didn’t come close at San Diego.  The Cavemen won, 61-43, their eighth City Prep League win against no losses.

Coach Birt Slater’s team, with no real stars but deep and resourceful, won 7 of 12 events, including double hurdles victories by Thurman Pringle (:15.3, :19.9) and a County-leading 6-foot, 4-inch high jump by Andrew Willis.

—George Clause won the 100 in :10 and 220 in :22.6 for St. Augustine but Mission Bay was a 73-31 winner.

—Helix’ Bill Ernest doubled in :09.9 and :22.6 but Chula Vista, behind school-record performances by Oakley Ostrander (22-6 ½ broad jump) and Art Johnson (:15.5 120-yard high hurdles), was a 67 1/3-36 1/3 winner.

4/18/58

Arnold Tripp was a triple winner but Crawford dropped a 54 1/3-47 1/3 decision to Mission Bay.  Tripp won the 100 (:10.2) and 220 (22.2) and the broad jump (21 feet, ½ inch).

—Jay Dunn of Chula Vista set a school record of :50.4 in the 440 and El Cajon Valley’s Jack Hudson ran the 880 in 1:58, fastest of the season.

–Walter Williamson broad jumped 22-11 ¾ as San Diego defeated Hoover, 68-36, and closed the dual-meet season with a 9-0 record.

4/25/58

Lincoln clinched second place in the CPL, 53 5/6-50 1/6, at Kearny, despite Ed Buchanan’s :09.6 100, :21.3 in the 220, and come-from-behind anchor leg in the relay, when Buchanan ran down the Hornets’ Charlie Meekins and the Komets hit the tape in 1:29.5.

4/28/58

CITY PREP LEAGUE TRIALS, @BALBOA STADIUM

San Diego outflanked Lincoln and Kearny with 14 qualifiers to the Hornets’ nine, and the Komets’ seven.

Lincoln’s Albert Groff (:15.3, :20.1), Bill Hultz (:15.2, :20.4), and Ronnie Grey (:15.3, :19.9) won all six hurdles heats.

METROPOLITAN @GROSSMONT

El Cajon Valley’s Wendell Maize ran the 880 in 2:00.0 and teammates Jack Hudson and no-relation Bill Hudson won mile heats in 4:32.3 and 4:44.6.

AVOCADO @ESCONDIDO

Dennis (Swede) Grimaud of Coronado was pleased with a :22.2 heat victory in the 220 and disappointed after his winning, :10.5 time in a heat of the 100.

Meet officials then discovered that the race had been inaccurately measured and was 105 yards.

5/2/58

CITY PREP LEAGUE FINALS, @BALBOA STADIUM

Lincoln had lost the dual meet to San Diego, 52 ½-51 ½, but the Hornets won a tight race for the team title, outscoring the Cavemen, 40-37 3/5.  Kearny had 26 ½.

Ed Buchanan of Kearny set a meet record of :09.7 in the 100 and won the 220 in :21.6.

Bill Hultz of Lincoln set a meet record of :14.3 in the 120-yard high hurdles.

Hultz’ teammate Ronnie Grey was second in the highs in :14.5 (Albert [Grasshopper] Groff made it a Hornets sweep, third in :14.7) and won the 180-yard low hurdles in :19.3.

Grey was on a team with Charlie Meekins, Hultz, and Russ Boehmke which ran the 880-yard relay in 1:28.6, fastest of the season in Southern California.

Mission Bay’s Pat Shea put the shot 55 feet, 9 ¼ inches, second longest toss by an athlete from within the San Diego city limits.  Charlie Powell of San Diego went 57-9 ¼ in 1951.

METROPOLITAN, @GROSSMONT

Grossmont scored 56 points, edging El Cajon Valley, which had 54 ½, followed by Helix, 25. The Foothillers won six events, including the 880-yard relay in 1:31.1.

Bill Ernest was a double winner in the 100 (:10.2) and 220 (:22.5) for Helix.

–Host  Escondido won the Avocado League with 38 points to Oceanside’s 32 ½. Army-Navy had 63 points and Mountain Empire 50 5/6 in the Southern Prep.

5/9/58

Qualifiers from the City Prep, Metropolitan, Avocado, Southern Prep, Imperial Valley, Orange, and Sunset leagues, latter two from  Orange County, prepared for the Southern Section Divisional meet at San Diego State.

5/10/58

Lincoln positioned itself as a contender for the team championship when the Hornets qualified seven plus a relay team for the semifinals in the Divisional at blustery San Diego State.

Bill Hultz (:14.6, :19.3) won his hurdle heats and Ronnie Grey was second in the high hurdles and won a race in :19.2 in the lows.  Charlie Meekins ran a season-best :50.7 in the 440 and the Hornets clocked 1:29.3 to win one of the 880 relay heats, with San Diego (1:30.2) taking the other.

Ed Buchanan of Kearny doubled in a :09.8 100 and :21.7 220 and Crawford’s Arnold Tripp won his heats in :10.1 and :21.9. Tripp also led broad jumpers with a career best 23-9 ¼.

5/17/58

Action moved to the Divisional semifinal at Huntington Beach and Lincoln continued to stake a bid for the team championship.  Other San Diego athletes also came up strong.

Bill Hultz topped teammate Ronnie Grey in the 120-yard high hurdles in :14.3 and Grey led Hultz to the finish line in :19.1 in the 180 lows.  Unheralded Orlee West of Kearny, also qualified, second in his heat in :19.5.

Helix’ Bill Ernest and Crawford’s Arnold Tripp ran 1-2 in a 100 heat in :09.8 and Ed Buchanan won the other 100 in :09.8.  Tripp qualified in the broad jump, third at 23-3 ½.

Lincoln coach Dick Coxe withdrew Charlie Meekins from the  440 after Meekins tied for second, so Meekins could concentrate as leadoff man in the relay the following week.  Lincoln’s 1:29.5 was fastest of the day. San Diego won the second race in 1:30.

5/24/58

Lincoln’s bid for a team championship did not get off to a good start and would not get better at Arroyo High in El Monte.

Ronnie Grey was spiked on his hand during the 120-yard high hurdles, first running event of the day.  Grey finished a non-scoring sixth.

Grey, looked strong and was closing fast, almost even with Pasadena Muir’s George (Jo Jo) Williams and leader Bennie Sankey of Compton Centennial in the 180-yard lows, when Grey stumbled and fell at the next-to-last hurdle.

“I looked over at that old boy ahead of me (Sankey) and said to myself, ‘I’ve got you now’, then wham, I hit the hurdle,” Grey said to Paul Cour of the Evening Tribune.

“I was overstriding when I fell,” Grey said.  “I never had this trouble in the lows before, but this was tough race.  It just wasn’t my day.”

The Hornets, one of the favorites in the 880-yard relay, fell far behind after legs by Meekins and Grey.

Hultz ran a terrific third leg but anchor Russ Boehme was mired in traffic and the Hornets finished fifth in a photo finish with Compton and Pasadena Muir, according to results in the Los Angeles Times.

The Special Dispatch from El Monte to The San Diego Union was garbled but listed San Diego fifth.  The Evening Tribune  declared the Cavers fifth.

The Times reported there would be a film review for third,  fourth and fifth places between Muir, Compton, and Lincoln.

San Diego’s team of Richard (Prime) McClendon, Willie Jordan, Charles (Sugar Jet) Davis, and Chuck Johnson ran their best race, 1:28.5, after twice losing to the Hornets during the season.

A loss to San Diego would be the final insult for Lincoln before a crowd of 4,000 on this warm afternoon.

No results were published or if an actual review took place, but Muir, thanks to Mel Clipper’s great anchor leg, officially became third and the Mustangs would be the final Southern Section representative in that event in the state meet.

The winner was Long Beach Poly (1:27.9) with Glendale Hoover second and Compton fourth.

–El Cajon Valley’s Jack Hudson, a slight but tough 110-pound junior, was second in the mile in 4:24.5, behind the 4:22.1 of Compton’s Woody Covington.

—Bill Ernest of Helix was runner-up  in the 100 in :09.8, ahead of Kearny’s Ed Buchanan, and behind the :09.7 of  Muir’s Mel Clipper.

—Buchanan was third in :21.2 in the 220, edged by Crawford’s Arnold Tripp, whose :21.1 followed Clipper’s :20.6 national record on the Arroyo High straightaway, with Bill Ernest fifth.

—Tripp was fourth in the broad jump at 22-11 ¾ in an event won by Steve Rogers of Brawley at 24-6 ½.

—Kearny’s Orlee West, running in the shadow of the Lincoln hurdlers all season, got up for fourth in the 180 lows, won by Compton Centennial’s Bennie Sankey in a wind-aided :18.8. West’s time was :19, a tick behind the third-place :18.9 by Lincoln’s Bill Hultz.

—Grossmont’s Roger Olander cleared a personal best 13-5 ¾ for second place  in the pole vault behind the 13-9 1/4 by Glendale Hoover’s John Rose.

BEES AND CEES STAND OUT

Chula Vista’s Jay Dunn was timed in 1:20.8 in the B 660-yard run, bettering the record set a week before by an Ontario Chaffey runner, who clocked 1:21.6.

—Point Loma’s Cecil Scott broad-jumped 22-3 ¼, breaking the Class C record of 22-1, set in 1950.

—Hoover’s Larry Fischer was a double winner, setting a school record of :09.9 in the 100, and his :21.4 in the 220 was a Southern Section Class B and school record.  The Cardinals’ Clyde Yakel ran :21.6 in a Divisional meet at Glendale in 1937.  Lincoln’s Louie Tucker was fifth in the 100.

—Kenny Tucker of Lincoln Tucker won the B broad jump at 23-3 ¼.  Claudell Howard of Kearny was second.

—San Diego High won the B 660-yard relay in 1:06.8.

—Benny Lewis of San Diego won the Class C 100 in :10.1 and was second to a :17.7 180 by Brady of Ontario Chaffey.

—Dunn of Point Loma bettered the Class C 660 record of 1:24.8 but his 1:24.6 was second to the 1:24.3 by McNeill of Compton Centennial.

—Schuerman of Chula Vista tied for first in the B high jump at 6 feet.

5/31/58

40^TH STATE TRACK MEET, @LONG BEACH VETERANS’ STADIUM

None of San Diego’s six entrants in the morning-afternoon 40^th state track meet at Long Beach Veterans’ Stadium captured a gold medal.

Jack Hudson of El Cajon Valley ran second in the mile to Compton’s Woody Covington, as he did in the previous week’s Southern Section meet at El Monte Arroyo.

Covington was timed in 4:23.7, Hudson in 4:26.7 for the San Diego area’s highest finish.

—Lincoln’s Bill Hultz was third in the 180-yard low hurdles in :19.1 to winner East Bakersfield’s Dave Douglas in :19.  Hultz’ qualifying time in the morning was :19.7.

—Hultz, the Southern Section winner at :14.3 in the 120-yard highs, was last after banging into the first, third and final hurdle. He had qualified in the morning in :14.4.

—Ed Buchanan of Kearny was fifth in :10 in the 100 after qualifying fourth in his trial in the same time. Helix’ Bill Ernest also qualified fourth in :10 but was sixth in the finals. First place was :09.6 by sophomore Hubie Watson of Los Angeles Jordan.

—Buchanan’s :21.2 was third fastest in the trials and Arnold Tripp of Crawford was fifth in :21.4.  Buchanan was fifth in the final in :21.4 and Tripp seventh.  First was :20.7 by Pasadena Muir’s Mel Clipper.

—Grossmont’s Roger Olander was out of the money in the pole vault. Fifth place was 13 feet, 1 inch.

TRIALS

FINALS

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