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CLOVIS–Dani Johnson of Cathedral set two San Diego Section records and was part of another as area athletes qualified in 20 boys and girls events last night in trials of the 100th anniversary state track meet at Buchanan High. Including double advancers Jordan Miller, Charles Lemford, and Suzie Acolatse, the section totaled 22 qualifiers for tonight’s finals. Johnson, ...

Lance Morton, Rich Gehring, and Sam Edwards are among former San Diego prep athletes who  recently passed away. Morton, 81,  a founder of the Brigantine Restaurant chain, was a second team all-City Prep League  end on the 1951 Point Loma squad that finished with a 6-2 record, losing only to San Diego, 15-6, and La Jolla, 21-14, ...

The stars shone in the afternoon yesterday as two meet records fell and seasonal bests were set or tied in 19 boys and girls events in the 55th San Diego Section track and field championships. Perfect weather at the pristine Mt. Carmel facility made it a great day for the athletes and the aficionado. It’s on to the state meet Friday ...

Their story could have been inspiration for “The Grapes of Wrath,” because Bill Nettles and younger twin Wayne lived the life of John Steinbeck’s poor and displaced. Teenagers, age 16,  caught in the poverty of Oklahoma’s depression-era Dust Bowl, sought a way out. With the spirit and optimism of youth, the youngsters decided to make their way West. The twins ...

If the state track meet were  tomorrow, instead of in two weeks, San Diego Section girls would have a chance to win possibly three events.  The boys, none. In one of the most disappointing seasons in several years, San Diego girls are represented in seven of the 16 events in the state’s top 10 and the boys ...

John Carroll’s retirement from Oceanside earlier this year has been followed by the departure of two other, successful, veteran San Diego Section coaches. John Morrison, who took his 18 Francis Parker teams to 18 playoff berths, and Bill Dobson, whose 2011 team tied a Mountain Empire record for most wins in a season, also are leaving. Other ...

Retired after an honored career in the Marine Corps, Robert E. (Bull) Trometter took a high school job. Trometter could employ a figurative steel fist while upholding the meaning of semper fidelis (always faithful, always loyal) as head coach at the San Diego Marine Corps Recruit Depot in 1947-48, at Camp Pendleton in 1949, and at ...

John J. Montgomery High’s football history does not require an encyclopedic tome. A few pages would be more than enough. Most of those pages would be devoted to the 1982 season.  Coach John DeVore’s Aztecs posted a 9-2 record, the best in their history and one of the few winning seasons since the  Otay Mesa school opened ...

Coach Hobbs Adams was in his office a couple years before, finishing some paper work during the quiet of the Christmas vacation break. A strapping youngster walked into the school’s recently constructed gymnasium and found Adams at his desk. The visitor told Adams he was from Texas and wanted to play football at San Diego High. Adams was curious. The coach ...

Wait till next year seems appropriate in San Diego Section basketball, according to the Cal-Hi Sports newsletter. The Stockton-based publication is suggesting that St. Augustine could be a Top 20 team in the 2015-16 season. That would be an accomplishment, since no San Diego squad finished in Cal-Hi Sports’ Top 20 this season. St. Augustine was 23rd, Torrey ...

Oakland Raiders managing general partner Al Davis spoke in 2006 about Art Powell, whom Davis signed out of the Canadian Football League years before. “I wish I could take you back to 1963,” said Davis, “because I had one of the greatest receivers who have ever played this game.  His first year for me, he carried ...

The Star Spangled Banner became our national anthem, Al Capone was convicted of tax evasion, the Empire State Building rose in Manhattan, the small community of Las Vegas voted to legalize gambling. And 8 million Americans, at least 16 per cent of the work force, were on the street, out of work, and soon to be ...

San Diego Section teams came home with one championship in the state basketball tournament, old reliable La Jolla Country Day’s girls winning in Division V, 40-36 over Palo Alto Eastside Prep. The title was coach Terry Bamford’s fourth.  The Torreys finished with an 18-11 record, not their best, but Bamford sees the big picture, schedules tough, and points ...

GIRLS /easytable]

BOYS GIRLS

San Diego High avoided a tragic event when star sophomore fullback Bert Ritchey almost drowned before the Hilltoppers’ “bowl game” at Phoenix Union. After  a 12-hour ride on a special San Diego & Arizona railroad car and arriving Friday morning, the Cavemen worked out at Phoenix’s Riverside Park late Friday afternoon.  That evening many in the squad ...

Can coach John Olive’s tough-minded, resourceful Torrey Pines Falcons pull off another victory in Tuesday’s Southern California playoff Division I semifinals? The No. 6-seed Falcons, trailing, 43-40, after three quarters, walked down host No. 3 Long Beach Poly, 54-49, in the quarterfinals Saturday night.  The Falcons now visit 2 seed Chino Hills, averaging a turbo-charged  85.4 points and holding a 78-54 victory over ...

Winning a league and section title no longer matters, according to the convoluted “power” ratings and Open divisions established by the state CIF and endorsed by the San Diego Section. The Horizon girls’ basketball team was essentially told to drop dead by the CIF after the Panthers had won their league title and the San Diego Section ...

Ugly blowouts apparently in the rear view mirror, the San Diego Section basketball playoffs reach the semifinals round this week in the Open and Divisions I-V. The so-called CIF power ratings, with  their comprehensive reviews of statistics, scores, strength of schedule, etc., raised questions when Vista was accorded an Open Division berth, resulting in Francis Parker and Morse being ...

San Diego coach Duane Maley said it best:  “He can run sideways faster than most backs can forward.” Maley spoke of a favored player,  5-foot, 4-inch, 145-pound halfback Cleveland (Smiley) Jones, who literally carried the 1956 Cavemen. Jones was the City Prep League player of the year despite missing almost all of two games and parts of ...