2013: Bob Speidel, Championship Helix coach
The play on words certainly was not original.
Roger Conlee and I referred to Bob Speidel as “The Watchman”, in reference to his last name and to the company that made millions of timepiece wrist bands.
But Speidel was in the forefront of basketball coaches in the early years of the San Diego Section. He guided Helix to championships in 1964 and 1966 in the pre-Bill Walton era. A basketball lifer, Speidel had several other stops along the way and never left the game.
According to Bill Dickens of U-T-San Diego, Speidel most recently was a San Diego State season ticket holder with friend and former Monte Vista and Grossmont College coach Felix Rogers.
Speidel passed away on Jan. 6, 2013, at age 80 from complications of lung cancer. “What is really strange is that he never smoked a day in his life,” Rogers told Bill Dickens.
I was a prep writer for the Evening Tribune in 1964 when Helix took on La Jolla for the San Diego Section title. It was the first finals matchup between city and county squads. Hoover won in 1961 and ’62 against city opponents and Crawford defeated a city opponent in 1963.
La Jolla had been extended in a 78-70 semifinals win over Lincoln the night before and Helix had struggled but eliminated Chula Vista, 49-43.
La Jolla was 29-0 and featured a pressing defense and up-tempo offense that had run off 30 straight victories dating to the 1962-63 season. Helix was taller and, at 25-3, a formidable opponent but slight underdog.
With 6-6 Al Skalecky, 6-3 Jim Sunderman, and 6-1 Ron Slocum in the front line (Slocum was injured early in the game and replaced by Larry Bailey), the Highlanders were taller but not as quick as the Vikings’ 6-3 Rick Eveleth, 6-1 Bill Canning, and 5-10 Charlie Buchanan.
Helix turned the game into a 76-56 rout with a 15-2 run in the second quarter before about 3,300 persons at Cal Western University’s Golden Gym.
“Our strategy was to run on their press and get the ball downcourt,” said Speidel. “We got off a lot of shots without setting up.
“I knew we had a size advantage,” Speidel added, not expecting the Highlanders’ 46-22 advantage in rebounds.
“I’ve seen Helix three or four times and they never played that well,” said the stunned La Jolla coach, Bill Reeves.
Two seasons later, led by John Skalecky, John Ugrin, and Rick Barnes, Speidel’s Helix squad defeated Chula Vista 51-41.
“Bob and I co-owned a mountain cabin near Julian in the ‘seventies and ‘eighties,” said my Evening Tribune colleague and Helix graduate Roger Conlee.
“We spent some good times there around a blazing fire talking–what else?–basketball,” said Conlee. “He loved the game and was a great student of the game.”
CATHEDRAL UNANIMOUS NO. 1
U-T Sportswriters-Sportscasters poll
First-place votes in parenthesis
|
Place |
Team |
Record |
Points |
Last Week |
|
1 |
Cathedral Catholic (13) |
16-2 |
130 |
1 |
|
2 |
Hoover |
17-3 |
102 |
3 |
|
3 |
St. Augustine |
11-3 |
99 |
3 |
|
4 |
Army-Navy Academy |
14-3 |
90 |
4 |
|
5 |
La Costa Canyon |
13-3 |
80 |
5 |
|
6 |
El Camino |
15-2 |
71 |
6 |
|
7 |
Mission Hills |
14-3 |
46 |
7 |
|
8 |
San Ysidro |
13-5 |
30 |
T10 |
|
9 |
San Marcos |
16-3 |
23 |
NR |
|
10 |
Westview |
13-4 |
15 |
9 |
|
10 |
Torrey Pines |
9-4 |
20 |
10 |