Hoover’s 25-2 record and second consecutive San Diego Section Class AA championship did not reflect a season-long struggle to stay ahead of the Eastern League posse.
Back-to-back league losses for the first time since 1957-58 and top-to-bottom league challenges, including one from rising Crawford, tested the Cardinals’ mettle.
Coach Charlie Hampton’s team showed its grit, rebounding in tough games down the stretch, led by a fiery guard and floor leader, Rick Potter.
A 50-49, overtime victory over San Diego before 1,800 persons at Cal Western University’s new, Golden Gym, including one girl on the San Diego side who fainted during the frenzied final moments, would mark the last championship in Hampton’s career.
Hampton would coach the Cardinals one more season before becoming head coach at San Diego City College, leaving behind six league championships and three ties for second in his 11 years.
Hoover started the season with 14 consecutive wins, including 51-41 over Grossmont, thought by many to be the Cardinals’ most imposing threat.
The Redbirds defeated San Diego, 62-49, in the Kiwanis Tournament Unlimited Division final but were upset in Eastern League play by Crawford, 43-34 (the Colts’ first win in against their neighborhood rivals since the school opened in 1957), and then lost at San Diego, 57-54.
San Diego’s win exhausted a San Diego standing room crowd of 1,600, which nervously watched a back-and-forth game that was tied 16 times.
Elburt Miller scored 10 of his 20 points in the third quarter and Graig Nettles eight of his 15 in the final quarter as the Cavers, trailing, 48-43, moved ahead, 55-52, and held on.
San Diego, at 3-0, held a 1½-game edge on the Cardinals, 2-2. Hampton considered the prospect of running the table in the final 4 league games. “It’s possible, but not probable,” he said.
The Cardinals won their last 11, including a last-second, overtime, 56-55 battle at Crawford (15-7), a return match with San Diego, and a 38-36 close shave with Chula Vista (17-7) in the playoffs.
CAVERS CAVE
The Cavers were 19-8, with five of their defeats by no more than two points. A late, regular-season, 37-33 loss at Hoover was the most galling, especially to guard Graig Nettles.
An all-Southern California second-team selection and future 21-year player in the major leagues, many with championship New York Yankees clubs and the San Diego Padres’ 1984 World Series participants, Nettles had the worst night of his career.
The 6-foot guard, who launched jump shots from beyond the future three-point arc, was zero for 19 from the field.
After the final buzzer and in frustration, Nettles drew aim one more time. He fired a shot that appeared to be going through the hoop, but rolled around and out.
“Zip, zero, nada?” smirked a colleague of mine in the Evening Tribune sports department.
“Nettles was colder than last week’s potatoes,” noted Chuck Sawyer in The San Diego Union,
ZEBRAS HEAR IT
San Diego coach Bill Standly held his tongue after the Cavers dropped a 72-70 decision to St. Augustine (“We played lousy defense in the first half, but there were some things going on out there I’d rather not talk about”) but Standly went Code Red after a 70-69 loss at Crawford.
“I may get a bad name with the officials over this, but they choked; they blew that ball game for us,” said Standly, referring to referees Jerry Tooze and Bert Nichols. “Officials don’t (usually) beat you in this game, but they beat us tonight.”
The Cavers led, 69-66, when Crawford’s Paul Janicki drained a long looper from the side with 39 seconds left. Ron Kroepel followed with a steal, was fouled, and converted two free throws for a 70-69 Colts advantage.
San Diego’s Elburt Miller drove down the middle of the court and crashed into Crawford’s Dick Woodson. Miller was called for “progress”, charging in more conventional nomenclature.
Crawford took possession and stalled the last 16 seconds. Standly paced and raged inside the Cavers’ dressing room that Woodson should have been cited for a blocking foul.
CANDID COACHES
Point Loma coach John Early led the Pointers to a tie for the Western League title, sweeping favored Clairemont, 35-32, and 49-44. The Pointers actually made it three in a row, including a 39-33 victory over the Chieftains in the Kiwanis Tournament consolation finals.
“Eiler can’t beat me,” the outspoken Early announced before the regular-season finale.
Early was more comfortable in a rumpled suit than the button-downed, upwardly mobile Clairemont mentor Dick Eiler, who brought attention to himself by periodically chugging from a quart of milk positioned next to Eiler’s seat at home games.
“There never was a doubt in my mind,” Early said amid the Pointers’ five-point-victory celebration on the Chieftains’ floor. “I’ll beat him every time. He fools around with his defense too much.”
Early said Eiler employed a man-to-man defense, 2-1-2 zone, and a 1-3-1 zone “and we still scored 24 points on layups and stuff under the basket.”
Early, who played football at St. Augustine in the ‘forties and at San Diego State in the early ‘fifties, had a final zinger.
“Also, you may put this in print: I told that referee (Arch Dugan) that if he was going to let Eiler call the game for him, why didn’t he wear Eiler’s shirt?
PRINCIPAL NOT AMUSED
Early was referring to a goal tending call on his 6-foot, 5-inch center Joe Soares at the end of the third period.
“They had a little too much size for us, with Soares and (Glen) Willardson,” said Eiler. ”I hope Point Loma does well in the playoffs.”
Both teams, tied in the league with La Jolla, each with a 5-3 record, were voted into the postseason.
Early, meanwhile, was called on the carpet by principal Don Giddings, who took a dim view of the coach’s remarks.
HIGHLANDERS’ COACH RIPS
Helix’ Bob Speidel, after his team made 6 of 51 shots from the field for 12 per cent in a 58-20 loss to Grossmont, also was not at a loss for words.
“If we had really fought and got beat by 30 points we could hold our heads high, but we were scared,” Speidel said to Roger Conlee of the Evening Tribune. “We choked. We talked ourselves out of our shots.”
FOOTHILLERS THE BEST?
“When we play up to our capabilities we’re the best team in the area,” Grossmont coach Locke Olson told Conlee at the season’s midpoint.
“We could be head and shoulders above all of ‘em,” said Olson. “We just clutched up against Hoover and San Diego,” referring to two December losses.
Olson said Grossmont’s problem was at the guard position. “If we had a backcourt man like Rick Potter at Hoover, we’d be extremely tough.”
The Foothillers rolled with Dick Baker, a 6-foot, 7-inch center with a nice touch around the rim.
“Richard just wipes off the boards,” Olson said. “When he’s working we really go. When he loafs, the team can’t do a thing.”
Grossmont averaged 71 points a game in a 12-0 Grossmont League campaign.
ARE WE BACK?
Convinced they were relevant again after seasons of 10-12, 9-10, and 4-17 following the departure of Tom Shaules and Sammy Owens after the 1957-58 season, St. Augustine, off to a 4-1 start, held its first basketball rally in several years.
“We just hope the student body and team can keep their heads,” first-year head coach Hal Mitrovich said on the eve of the Saints’ Eastern League opener at Hoover.
The Cardinals defeated the Saints, 48-47, in overtime to move to 11-0. “I’d rather be good, but I’m glad to be lucky,” said Coach Charlie Hampton.
THAT KIND OF GAME
“Hoover Edges Lincoln But Was It Basketball?” That was the headline the day after in the Evening Tribune.
A sloppy, physical, 48-43 win at Lincoln (10-12) saw a Hoover player, Jim Surber, sustain the team’s first technical foul since 1956, although Lincoln was whistled for 25 fouls to the Cardinals’ 12.
Ever diplomatic, Charlie Hampton observed that “they upset us and I guess that’s what made us play their game.”
Lincoln coach Warren Barritt, a football coach by trade, predicted that 48 points would win the game and used 11 players.
“We outplayed them; we outscrapped them,” said Barritt. “We platooned, because we thought it would run ‘em out, and I think we succeeded there. They aren’t invincible.”
A small group of Hoover supporters jeered so loudly at one point in the game that Lincoln’s Mickey McFarlin walked off the free throw line three times before shooting.
DECEMBER SOUTH VS. NORTH
San Diego lost at Inglewood Morningside, 46-45, but won at Inglewood, 58-46. Point Loma won at Inglewood, 50-49, and at Morningside, 51-37.
Hoover defeated visiting Burbank Burroughs, 46-34, and Glendale Hoover, 55-53, in overtime. Glendale Hoover topped San Diego, 69-59, and San Diego beat Burroughs, 62-48.
Grossmont beat Redlands, 59-51.
EARLY-SEASON TELL?
Hoover beat Hilltop, 64-57, and Grossmont, 51-41. After Grossmont slapped Hilltop, 70-47, Lancers coach Paul Pruett said of Locke Olson’s Foothillers: “Grossmont’s as good as Hoover. They have better material.”
Hoover and Grossmont were in different brackets at playoff time, with most experts seeing them in the finals, but San Diego, which edged Grossmont, 50-44, in the Kiwanis Tournament, repeated against the La Mesa squad, 65-62, in the semifinals as Graig Nettles scored a career-high 29 points, offsetting 30 by Grossmont’s Dick Baker.
Grossmont’s 22-3 season was the best since Ralph Chaplin’s 1946-47 team was 15-2.
POINTS
Unofficial leading scorers, based on total points (games played may not be accurate and leading scorers from small school leagues were not always covered):
| Name | Team | Games | Pts. | Average |
| Dick Baker | Grossmont | 25 | 490 | 19.6 |
| Joe Soares | Point Loma | 25 | 428 | 17.1 |
| Rick Potter | Hoover | 27 | 368 | 13.6 |
| Lew Riley | Grossmont | 25 | 366 | 14.6 |
| Graig Nettles | San Diego | 26 | 360 | 13.8 |
| Paul Janicki | Crawford | 21 | 347 | 16.5 |
| Bob Anderson | Monte Vista | 21 | 341 | 16.9 |
| Dennis Biletnikoff | Hilltop | 25 | 341 | 13.6 |
| Hugh (Hudge) McConnell | St. Augustine | 19 | 328 | 17.3 |
| Fred Boyer | Vista | 20 | 307 | 15.4 |
| Chet Guthrie | La Jolla | 22 | 302 | 13.7 |
ONE-GAME BESTS
Point Loma’s Joe Soares scored a school-record 41 points, within one of the record St. Augustine’s Jacob Crawford set in the 1959 Kiwanis Tournament, as the Pointers defeated El Cajon Valley, 86-36.
Point Loma and Grossmont, which slammed El Capitan, 86-42, in a Grossmont League game, shared single-game team highs for the season.
BACK-HANDED COMPLIMENT
Point Loma defeated La Jolla, 47-35, although Joe Soares didn’t score until late in the first half, had four fouls at halftime, and fouled out at 7:11 of the fourth quarter with 11 points.
“For once, Joe didn’t take a shot every time he got the ball,” said Coach John Early. “He passed off more. He was more of a team man.”
HARDWOOD PAVING
El Cajon Valley and Helix, the last two Grossmont League schools without gymnasiums, each announced plans for on-campus, 1,500-seat buildings that would be available sometime in the 1962-63 season.
Longtime Helix coach Bob Divine often remarked, “If the playoffs were on asphalt we’d win every year.”
The last two asphalt strongholds, the schools practiced outdoors for years.
Evening Tribune reporter Roger Conlee also noted the gyms would have glass backboards, better than the outmoded fan-shaped backboards.
TOURNAMENTS
Suburban coaches were not happy and this was reflected in the Kiwanis field’s shrinking from 32 to 24 teams.
The court bosses complained that a majority of games were played on city floors (see Hoover and San Diego), giving the urbans an unfair advantage.
Since there was a CIF rule limiting teams to one tournament, nine schools stiffed the Kiwanis and went elsewhere.
COVINA
Helix opened with a 36-34 win over Covina Charter Oak but then was eliminated by Downey Warren, 56-48.
CHINO
Chula Vista was defeated in the finals by Pomona, 50-39. Hilltop measured Escondido, 47-40, for third place.
Chula Vista advanced with victories of 45-37 over Upland, 56-48 over Rialto Eisenhower, and 33-23 over Escondido.
Hilltop advanced by nudging Chino, 36-33, and Buena Park, 38-37, before bowing to Pomona, 61-49.
Mar Vista lost to Pomona, 56-31, and was shoved out of the consolation bracket by Santa Ana Valley, 72-25.
Before losing to Chula Vista, Escondido defeated Pomona Ganesha, 39-32, and Garden Grove Rancho Alamitos, 58-47.
SECOND ANNUAL MUSTANG-OPTIMIST
Laguna Beach topped El Capitan, 78-69, for the championship. The Artists opened with a 64-17 win over San Marcos and followed with a 60-53 triumph over Calexico.
El Capitan had beaten Capistrano, 37-29, and Vista, 55-53, after Vista beat El Centro Central, 53-39.
Vista outscored Calexico, 59-51 for third place. Host San Dieguito lost to Calexico, 53-41 and to El Centro Central, 37-34.
PLAYOFFS
Helix and Monte Vista tied for the second place in the Grossmont League and a 7-7 vote, by two administrators from each school, could not choose the league’s second participant, so Helix defeated the Monarchs, 44-38, in a hastily prepared “Play-in” game.
Coming back the next day at Hoover, the Highlanders had no chance, bowing, 65-33. San Diego won its first-round playoff, 45-36 over Point Loma; Chula Vista sent Clairemont packing, 59-37, and Grossmont ousted Hilltop, 58-32.
Vista (14-6) defeated Fallbrook (15-3), 81-67, for the Class A small school championship at Escondido.
The CIF approved a third-place game and Grossmont edged Chula Vista, 55-54.
SIGN OF THE TIME
The Spreckels Building, on Broadway between First and Second avenues, was sold for $1.65 million to a Beverly Hills couple. The six-story edifice, erected in 1912, for years was the tallest in San Diego.
JUMP SHOTS
San Dieguito’s 25-game winning streak, which started after a loss to Helix in the opening game of the 1960-61 season, came to an end when Helix struck again, topping the Mustangs, 40-29, in the opening game this season at Mount Miguel…Crawford’s Paul Janicki set a school record with 30 points as the Colts outscored Lincoln for the first time in school history, 65-60…the Colts were coming, with three juniors, Larry Blum, Ron Kroepel, and Dick Woodson, in the starting lineup…Robert Anderson set a record for first-year Monte Vista with 31 points in a 61-58 win over Oceanside in the Kiwanis Tournament…maybe it was the intimate surroundings of 700-seat Dougherty Gym, but San Diego coach Bill Standly contended that St. Augustine’s floor was not the standard, 94 feet by 50…”When you try to run, get a fast break going, you’re there before you get started,” claimed Standly….
