1915-2013: Boys’ State Meet Champions

0 thoughts on “1915-2013: Boys’ State Meet Champions”

1. Pruett was a great coach. As a junior, I was sixth man on the best team he ever coached at Hilltop. We narrowly lost to St. Augustine in the playoffs and would have gone on to play Crawford for the championship in 1963. Our star center Bob Gray lives in the Bay area and still plays pick-up basket ball with Larry Blum, the prolific scorer at Crawford who played at USF. I was a baseball player at Pacific and I remember great games between our basketball squad and USF in those days. My senior year of high school, I was the only returning letterman on a hard-nosed team that played everybody tough but didn’t win many games. I scored just over 11 points per game but my reputation was based on my defensive prowess. I held the leagues leading scorer, Rip Barrett, to one basket and two baskets respectively in the two games we played, but Castle Park narrowly defeated us. When I met him at our 50th high school reunion (Castle Park/Chula Vista/Hilltop), he walked up to me and said: “My nemesis”. Later that year, my wife and I visited him in Sacramento where he is a veterinarian and we had a wonderful time telling stories over dinner. I was surprised to learn that I was in graduate school at Davis when he was in veterinary school. Small world. I now live on Amelia Island in Florida but I often think about the good old days in San Diego. Thanks for writing your wonderful histories. I enjoy them immensely.

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2. I recall Ed Hanks (Hoover) going 7’0″ in high school. He was a good basketball player making me miserable when he guarded me in 1964. I played at Hilltop. I believe he went to Stanford on a track scholarship.

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   1. Terry, I remember going to the Hilltop gym when Paul Pruett put those tough Lancers teams on the floor. Eddy Hanks actually hit his high school peak of 6-9 3/4 in a dual meet against Lincoln on April 25, 1964. Eddy eventually became a doctor and cleared 7 feet in college. Thanks for writing again.

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3. you left out Dean Owens in the high jump El Cajon Valley HS and USC

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   1. Are you referring to Steve Brand’s all-time track performances? I’ll check with Steve. I have Dean doing 6-9 against Kearny on 2/27/70. That’s in my ’71 record book. He cleared 6-8 at the San Diego Relays in March and made 6-6 three times after that. I always wondered why he couldn’t improve or match the jump against Kearny, which was in the first meet of the season.

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   2. Tin, Dean Owens is listed in Steve Brand’s 2017 track list. He is among many who cleared 6 feet, 9 inches.

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   3. Tim, Owens is among many 6-9 high jumpers who are listed in Steve Brand’s 2017 track list.

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