It was a question never answered, because it seldom was asked.
Which was the better team? The 25-1 San Dieguito Mustangs, who won the Class A championship, or the tradition-rich, 24-3 Hoover Cardinals, who won the AA title in the 1960-61, first season of the CIF San Diego Section .
Some 50 years later a reader of this website suggested I write a story about that San Dieguito team.
My initial reaction was, why didn’t I press the issue in 1961 and get Hoover coach Charlie Hampton to address the subject after the San Dieguito coach declared his Mustangs team the best?
Or confront CIF commissioner Don Clarkson and have him explain why the Mustangs wouldn’t be allowed to participate in the AA (large schools) playoffs, despite their almost-unbeaten record against bigger schools.
I was a cub reporter on the Evening Tribune, out of Lincoln High, and I thought all things started and ended with the Eastern League, of which Hoover was a member.
My colleague, Roger Conlee, covered County schools and leaned heavily to the Grossmont and Metropolitan leagues. The Avocado League was held in slightly more regard than the tiny Southern League.
This was a terrific San Dieguito team, led by 6-foot, 7-inch senior John Fairchild, who would be a standout at Brigham Young University and play for the Los Angeles Lakers and other professional teams over a six-year period.
Conlee and I believed otherwise, I guess. There were weeks when the Mustangs were not even in the Tribune’s Top 10, compiled by the two of us. Late in the season San Dieguito’s 16-1 record wasn’t good enough. Sweetwater (5-8) and Point Loma (7-8) were considered more worthy.
North County squads, other than Escondido, didn’t get much currency in those days. Bias definitely favored the city. The population swing and subsequent North County power emergence still was years away.
Roger Conlee finally took a trip late in the season up U.S. 101 to Bing Crosby Hall, a cavernous barn on the Del Mar Fairgrounds which served as the Mustangs’ home court.
Conlee saw San Dieguito dispatch Vista, 49-40, before about 2,000 partisans. The victory was the 17th in a row in a streak that began after a 54-47 loss to Helix in the season’s opening game.
Mustangs coach Dick McCracken, who posted a 40-6 record in his two seasons, spoke out after the game.
“I’m sure proud of this team,” McCracken told Conlee. “I only hope we can get into the large school playoffs (Avocado League squads were consigned to the small schools alignment, reserved for schools with less than 1,500 enrollment).
Then McCracken elaborated:
“The only point I’d like to make is that we beat the two teams (Hilltop and Kearny) that beat Hoover. I think we can beat Hoover, too. We have better shooters. The only thing which might beat us would be the coaching. I’m no Charlie Hampton.”
(Hampton was the legendary Hoover coach who compiled a .774 won-loss percentage in 11 seasons and posted a 223-65 record).
Coronado coach Don Valliere weighed in on the subject after a 67-49 loss to Fairchild and company.
“San Dieguito without question has the best basketball team in the County,” said Valliere. “They may not play defense as well as Hoover, but all in all they’re better.”
The final Tribune Top 10, published before the playoffs:
1—Hoover, 21-3.
2—Hilltop, 19-5.
3—Lincoln, 16-7.
4—Point Loma, 13-9.
5—San Dieguito, 22-1.
6—Crawford, 14-8.
7—Clairemont, 12-10.
8—Grossmont, 12-8.
9—Chula Vista, 10-10.
10—Escondido, 13-10.
10—Ramona, 21-1.
San Dieguito rolled through the Class A playoffs, beating El Cajon Valley, 73-57, Kearny, 66-53, and Sweetwater, 54-46. Hoover won the AA title, defeating Chula Vista, 63-36, Hilltop, 56-49, and Point Loma, 66-53.
There would be no matchup of city and county powerhouses. Section commissioner Clarkson hadn’t considered allowing the Mustangs into the AA playoffs.
So the season ended.
With apologies to Aretha Franklin, the Mustangs also deserved a little R-e-s-p-e-c-t!
Rick:
Thank you for keeping up, with San Dieguito. It would have probably been a great game, for all. Those were great years to relive, from time to time. This team was probably considered a tall team in those days, (1961). Randy Simpson, Jimmy Gonzales, Larry scholl, Ted Repa, 6’3″, Jon Stanley (missing in the above picture), 6’5″and myself 6’7″, on the front line.
Stay in touch, sir. John Fairchild
Always good to hear from you John, who I remember as a big man who could get up and down. You led the County with 428 points that season, averaging about 16.5. High school basketball, with more games and more competition, picked up as the decade went along, and with more and more scoring. Your team probably could have scored in the 70s and 80s but that wasn’t the style of play at the time. I think the preps began to refine the jump shot as the years went by. Thnks for writing.
Rick:
In the picture above, of the 1961 San Dieguito basketball team, stands Randy Simpson. In a recent get together at the San Dieguito Academy of Danny Lyman, Randy Simpson Jimmy Gonzales and myself , part of that ’61 basketball team, I found out that San Dieguito won CIF that year in Baseball, Football and Basketball and Randy Simpson was the MVP in Football and baseball. Correct me, if I’m wrong. A lot of years have gone by. Thank you for all the continued updates. John Fairchild
John, the Mustangs were 6-2-1 in 1960 and tied Vista for first place, but the Panthers had a victory over San Dieguito and went to the playoffs, beaten Nount Niguel, 40-13, in the small-school finals. I don’t have much on the baseball front, but the Mustangs won the small schools title in 1964. Thanks for writing, as always.
Number 50 in the San Dieguito Photo was Larry Scholl, who was an outstanding 20 foot shooter and starter for the Mustangs. Not pictured is 6ft 5in Jon Stanley, who the great sixth man and later played two great years at Palomar College and then went on with Fairchild to BYU and played on their championship team. He is also in the Volleyball Hall of Fame for playing in the 1964 and 1968 Olympics. I played on the 1960 San Dieguito Basketball team the year before and we also won the League Championship.
Thanks for writing, Boyd. I added Scholl in the photo caption. I remember Stanley for what he did later. Fairchild was a tall, rangy guy who could run the floor. When you look back, our coverage was a disservice to San Dieguito. The Mustangs and Hoover would have made for a great season-ending matchup.