1946 Track: Balboa Stadium Site of Southern Section Championships
San Diego High, led by quartermiler Norman Stocks, sprinter-broad jumper Jimmy Barrera, hurdler Harry West, shot putter Joe Acevedo, and half-miler Harry Taylor, among others on a deep and talented squad, was in full force, posting an 8-0 record in dual meets, winner of 16 in a row, and 20-2 since Bill Patten became coach in 1944, their only losses, 54-50 to Grossmont, and 55-48 to Hoover, in Patten’s first season.
The CIF Southern Section meet, held in Balboa Stadium for the first time, could have been a reference point for when the San Diego Section won the right to host the 1967 and 1975 state meets.
The Stadium configuration, which did not provide a straight distance for races of 220 yards, eventually proved to be an Olympic-style model. Starting in 1967, all 220-yard events were on a curve, according to track historian Russ Reabold.
The season of 1946 also was the last in which the 220-yard hurdle race was contested. The CIF reduced the distance to 180 yards in 1947. The CIF would reduce the 120-yard high hurdles clearance from 42 inches to 39 inches the following year.
3/1/46
San Diego won a 65-38 decision against La Jolla, with Norm Stocks setting the pace by winning the 440 in :51.6 and taking the baton to the finish line of a 1:32 victory in the 880-yard relay. Bobby Smith pole vaulted 11 feet, 6 inches, for the Hilltoppers and George Pinnell had a 48-9 shot put for La Jolla.
3/8/46
A Hoover team of John Mhoon, Chuck Whitmarsh, Rudd Hanna, and Kempton Blair ran the relay in 1:35.5 and its winning five points allowed the Cardinals to deadlock Grossmont, 52-52, in a controversial Victory League dual at Hoover.
Chuck Evins of Grossmont won the 220-yard low hurdles but was disqualified when Evins drifted into another lane on what an Evening Tribune reporter described as poorly marked boundaries.
Grossmont’s Duane (Bud) Close staggered and fell across the finish line in the 440-yard run. Officials ruled that Close had breasted the tape first in :53.6, although had he not fallen Hoover’s Kempton Blair would have won.
—Norman Stocks won the 100 in :10 and 440 in :50.3, and broad jumped 21 feet, 10 inches, as San Diego whipped Point Loma, 74-30. Stocks teamed with Harry West, Cosimo Cutri, and Jimmy Barrera in a 1:31.9 Hilltoppers relay victory.
Bobby Smith of San Diego pole vaulted 12 feet and Harry Taylor of the Hilltoppers logged a 2:04.3 880. Point Loma’s Bob Smith ran a 4:44 mile.
3/15/46
Writer Norrie West of the Evening Tribune noted that Point Loma’s 53-51 dual meet victory over Hoover was result of the Pointers’ 1:36.2 triumph in the 880-yard relay final event, traversed on the peninsula team’s 330-yard oval.
But West credited the Point Loma victory to John Chasey, who scissored 5 feet, 9 inches, on his third and final try in the late-finishing high jump. The second-place and three points by Chasey narrowed a Hoover lead to 51-48 heading into the relay.
–San Diego’s Harry West covered the 220-yard hurdles in :25.5 and teammate Fred Deewall ran the 220 in :22.8, and the Hilltoppers won all 12 events in the 89 ½-14 ½ rout at Sweetwater.
–Bud Held’s 12-2 ½ pole vault was instrumental in Grossmont’s 89 ½-14 ½ win over Kearny.
3/19/46
A “gooey track and half-hour downpour” didn’t make the Balboa Stadium layout unusable, while other Victory League duals were postponed in what had become a wet spring.
San Diego loafed to a 93 ½-10 ½ win over Coronado. Jimmy Barrera broad jumped 21-8 into a messy pit. Norman Stocks jogged to a :54.8 win in the 440, and anchored a 1:41.6 victory in the relay. Stocks and his three associates ran the race without removing their sweat suits.
3/20/46
Grossmont won all 12 events and the meet, 85-19, at Sweetwater despite losing its top sprinter, Dick Johnston, who pulled a muscle in the 100-yard dash.
3/22/46
More than 100 athletes from Victory League schools Grossmont, Coronado, Point Loma, San Diego, Hoover, and Coronado converged on Huntington Beach High with 34 other schools for the 25th Southern Counties’ Invitational.
Grossmont took large school honors with 21 1/5 points to San Diego’s 20 1/5. Redondo Beach Redondo Union was third with 16 and Hoover fourth with 14.
Ish Herrera of Grossmont won the high jump at 6-1 and Chuck Evins was clocked in :25.4 by coach Jack Mashin for third place in the 220 hurdles. Bud Held tied with four others for first in the pole vault at 12 feet. Harry West of San Diego was second to Bob Bacon of Redondo in the lows.
Norman Stocks of San Diego and Bud Close of Hoover each won one of the two 440-yard dashes, Stocks finishing in :51.4 and Close in :53.1. Stocks anchored the Hilltoppers’ 1:32 win in the relay.
Hoover’s Earl Caldwell was second in :15.5 to the :15.2 in the 120-yard high hurdles by Redondo’s Bob Bacon. Rolland Nelson won the mile in 4:42, followed by teammate Paul Juette.
Wally Hawke of Coronado pole vaulted 11-4 for first in the small schools competition.
3/26/46
Graydon Calder of San Diego high jumped almost a foot over his head when he cleared 6 feet, 3 inches, in the Class B meet with visiting La Jolla.
The 5-foot, 5-inch Calder bettered the CIF Southern Section B meet record of 6-1 ¾ by a Santa Ana jumper in 1938.
San Diego won the varsity portion of the Balboa Stadium event, 83-21. La Jolla’s Art Barnard edged Norman Stocks in a :10.3 100, but Stocks came back to run the 220 in :22.4 and Harry Taylor posted the season’s best 880 time, 2:02.4.
—Hoover won its first dual meet, 64-40, although visiting Sweetwater’s Bob Tomlinson cleared 11-5 in the pole vault and 5-8 ½ in the high jump, and Cy Young beat favored Bobby Rodriguez in the 880 in 2:05.8.
3/30/46
Grossmont’s Bud Held cleared 12 feet, 4 7/8 inches in the pole vault and teammate Ish Herrera cleared 6-1 3/4 in the high jump at the San Diego State Aztec Relays.
4/5/46
San Diego won the battle of Victory League heavyweights, defeating Grossmont, 61-43, as Norman Stocks and Jimmy Barrera scored two victories each.
Stocks ran :10.4 in the 100-yard dash and :50.2 in the 440. Barrera broad jumped 21-4 ½ and ran :23.3 in the 220.
Grossmont’s Franklin (Bud) Held pole vaulted 12-1 3/8 and Chuck Evins set a school record of :15.9 in the 120-yard high hurdles.
–George Pinnell hurled the shot 49 feet, 6 inches, but Hoover beat La Jolla, 68-36.
4/10/46
John Janney posted a win-aided :10.0 in the 100 and Maurice Lawford logged a 2:06.5 880, but Grossmont swept the late-finishing high jump and eked out a 52 ½-51 ½ victory over host Point Loma.
4/11/46
Joe Vargas and Brown Military held sway in the CIF Group 12 League finals at San Dieguito. Vargas was reported to have run :10 in the 100 and :22.5 in the 220, and was third in the shot put for a total of 21 ½ points. Brown scored 76 ½, followed by San Dieguito, 65 ½, Vista, 53, Escondido, 45 ½, Oceanside, 28, and Fallbrook, 7 ½.
4/12/46
Norman Stocks’ :10.2 100 and :50.8 440 and Jimmy Barrera’s :22.7 220 and 21-7 ½ broad jump were augmented by Joe Acevedo’s 49-6 ½ shot put and 2:06.5 880 by Harry Taylor in San Diego’s 73-31 win over Hoover.
Half-miler Taylor also joined Stocks, Barrera and John Holloway in a 1:31.3 880 relay victory
Hoover’s only victories came from Earl Caldwell’s :16.2 in the 120 high hurdles and Paul Juette’s 4:46.2 in the mile.
4/17/46
A ferry trip across the bay to Coronado was just part of a leisurely afternoon for coach Raleigh Holt’s Hoover Cardinals. They beat Coronado, 76-28, winning 10 of 12 events (11, but disqualified in the relay) and Earl Caldwell was a double winner in short hurdles races, :09.5 in the 70-yard highs and :14.3 in the 120-yard lows.
Hoover also swept to victory in classes B and C but the Islanders’ Jike Wong made things interesting for the home team, winning the Cee 50 in :5.9 and broad jump at 20 feet, 3 inches.
4/27/46
Jimmy Barrera broad jumped 22-2 1/2 to set a Victory League record and Norman Stocks tied a 220 record by running :22.3 on the Balboa Stadium curve. Harry Taylor logged a 2:03.5 880.
San Diego wrapped a 5-0 dual-meet league season with the 81-23 win over Kearny.
–Bob Tomlinson ran :25.7 in the 220-yard low hurdles and pole vaulted 12 feet, but Point Loma defeated Sweetwater, 71-33.
–George Pinnell put the shot 50 feet, 2 inches for La Jolla and Chuck Evins broad jumped 21-4 in Grossmont’s 76-28 win.
4/30/46
Buster Bennett, the No. 3 runner on La Jolla’s 880-yard relay team, stumbled and fell during his 220-yard leg, opening the door for a Point Loma win in 1:34 and a 53-51 Pointers’ Victory League dual meet finale victory.
5/5/46
Norman Stocks set a meet record of :50.0 in the 440 and won the 100-yard dash in :10 as San Diego took the Victory League meet championship with 46 ½ points. Grossmont followed with 27, Hoover, 23, La Jolla, 15 ½, Coronado, 5, and Sweetwater, 4. Kearny was blanked.
Seven meet records were broken.
Harry West of San Diego ran :25.3 in the 220-yard low hurdles. George Pinnell of La Jolla hurled the shot 51 feet, 9 inches. Maurice Lawhead of Point Loma covered 880 yards in 2:02.7. Ish Herrera of Point Loma high jumped 6 feet ½ inch, and a San Diego quartet of Jimmy Barrera, Harry West, John Holloway, and Norman Stocks set a record of 1:30.8 in the 880 relay.
Larry Boerner of Grossmont ran the mile in 4:39.2, beating the favored Rolland Nelson of Hoover, second in 4:40.7, ahead of teammate Paul Juette.
5/11/46
Norman Stocks continued his pursuit of Irvine (Cotton) Warburton’s 440-yard dash school record (:49.6) with a :49.9 clocking before about 200 competitors from 23 schools in the Victory, CIF Group 12, and Imperial Valley who attempted to extend their seasons in a Southern Section Divisional meet at San Diego State College.
Stocks, battling blustery weather on the one-turn race, was caught in :49.7 on one official’s stopwatch and :49.8 and :50 on others.
San Diego led all scorers with 43 ½ points and had additional first places in the 100 (Stocks, :10.2), 880 (Harry Taylor, 2:03.5), broad jump (Jimmy Herrera, 21-7 ¾), and 880 relay (1:31.4).
Grossmont’s Bud Held, a future world record holder in the javelin throw (268 feet, 2 inches in 1955), and a 1952 Olympian, was first in the pole vault at 12 feet, ½ inch. La Jolla’s Art Barnard was timed in :25.0 in the 220 hurdles.
Winners automatically advanced to the CIF championships the next week but second and third place finishers had to await an announcement from CIF boss Seth Van Patten after marks were compared to those in two other divisional meets.
5/14/46
San Diego High hurdler Harry West and shot putter Joe Acevedo did not meet the qualifying standard as CIF boss Seth Van Patten announced a total of 29 Victory League entries in classes A, B, and C along with those from divisional meets at Oxnard and Inglewood for Saturday’s Southern Section championship in Balboa Stadium.
5/16/46
Meet director John Brose promised a well-run, informative event for those attending the 28th CIF championships, held for the first time in San Diego’s Balboa Stadium.
Sixty-two schools had 220 athletes who qualified.
Athletes not in direct competition will be staged in the Southwest corner of the stadium, assuring fans of a clear view of the 440-yard oval, said Brose. American flags will indicate national records in field events and red flags will indicate CIF records. A stadium public address will follow runners in longer races and large signs will mark the height pole vaulters and high jumpers will attempt.
5/18/46
San Diego scored 11 points, with Norman Stocks winning the 440 in a County record :49.3; anchoring the Hilltoppers to a second place in the 880-yard relay, and Jimmy Barrera finishing fourth in the broad jump in the Southern Section championships.
Stocks did not place in the 100-yard dash but made up eight yards on Redondo Beach Redondo Union’s anchorman to finish second to the Sea Hawks’ 1:29.1.
–Maurice Lawhead of Point Loma was fifth in the 880, won by Clarence Witt of Redlands in 1:58.7.
–Paul Juette of Hoover was fifth in the mile won by Chuck Kohl of Compton in 4:30.7. Victory champion Larry Boerner apparently did not enter after an article in The San Diego Union had cast doubt on his participation because of the flu.
–Earl Caldwell of Hoover was fifth in the 120-yard high hurdles. Grossmont’s Bud Held tied for fourth in the pole vault. La Jolla’s George Pinnell was fourth in the shot put.
Redondo won the team championship with 24 ½ points. Los Angeles Cathedral was second with 12 1/5.
L.A. Mt. Carmel’s John Helwig set a meet record of 59 feet in the shot put.
5/25/46
Norman Stocks was a double winner with another :49.3 in the 440 and by anchoring San Diego to a 1:29.2 victory in the 880 relay in the final event of the afternoon-evening, 30th state track meet at Compton College.
The Hilltoppers were fourth in team scoring with 10 points. Redondo Beach Redondo Union won with 21, followed by Alameda, 12, and L.A. Cathedral, 11.
George Pinnell of La Jolla was third in the shot put to John Helwig’s national record 59-5 7/8. Hoover’s Paul Juette was fourth in a record-setting mile of 4:24 by Bob McMillan of L.A. Cathedral. Bud Held of Grossmont tied for fourth in the pole vault, won at 12-6.