Helix and St. Augustine are 1-2 in the first Union-Tribune football poll and that’s how they finished in 2015.

The Highlanders  and most of the rest of the San Diego Section open the season this week,  marking one the earliest starts in County history, probably preceded only by the Hawaii preseason trips that were popular a couple decades ago.

Helix, 13-1 at season ago, will waste no time getting into the thick of the intersectional spirit, taking on visiting Provo Timpview,  a Utah power that was 11-2 in 2015, and 12-2 Concord Clayton Valley at Mission Viejo in Week 2.

St. Augustine, 10-3 last year, eases in with a home game at Mesa College against Ramona (4-7).

Other Top 10 teams also have early opportunity against out-of-area opponents.

No. 3 Cathedral takes on visiting Reno Damonte (4-7).  No. 4 Oceanside visits San Clemente (11-3).  No. 6 Madison is at Vista Murrieta (12-2), and No. 7 La Costa Canyon plays host to Whittier La Serna (11-3). Los Angeles Crenshaw (9-5) goes to No. 9 Mission Hills.

MORE COACH MOVEMENT

Ar least five other San Diego Section schools have new coaches, bringing the total to 24 that have changed field bosses since the end of the 2015 season.

Mike Swearingen is back for a third stint in the Imperial Valley, taking over at Calipatria. Swearingen was 55-50-1 at Imperial from 1994-01 and El Centro Southwest from 2004-05.

Others stepping in  are Chris Bonta, Escondido Charter; Anthony Johnson, Horizon; Kyle Duggin, Maranatha, and Mark Dederian, San Pasqual Academy.

Stay tuned for possibly others.

First-place votes in parenthesis.
Points awarded on basis of 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1.

Rank	Team	2015	Points	2015 Final
1.	Helix (23)	13-2	265	1
2.	St. Augustine (2)	10-3	203	2
3.	Cathedral (2)	7-5	197	8
4.	Oceanside	9-5	171	5
5.	Rancho Bernardo	13-2	164	4
6.	Madison	8-3	144	6
7.	La Costa Canyon	7-4	88	NR
8.	Master Dei	14-1	78	9
9.	Mission Hills	11-1	62	3
10.	Bonita Vista	12-3	43	7

Others receiving votes: Carlsbad (7-4, 10 points), Point Loma, 8-4, 10 points), El Camino (7-6), Grossmont (7-4), nine each; Eastlake (5-6, eight), Torrey Pines (4-8, seven), Poway (6-6, five), San Marcos (8-4, 3), Steele Canyon (8-5, two), El Capitan (2-9, one).

Twenty-seven sportswriters, sportscasters, and other representatives comprise the voting panel:

John Maffei, Union-Tribune.

Terry Monahan, Don Norcross, Tom Saxe, Rick Hoff, Jim Lindgren,  Union-Tribune contributors.

Michael Bower, Pomerado News.

Lisa Lane, Fox 5 News.

Montell Allen, MBA Sports-SDFNL Magazine.

Brandon Stone, Rick Willis, KUSI, Channel 51.

Adam Clark, Ted Mendenhall, Taylor Quellman, The Mighty 1090.

Steve (Biff) Dolan, Mountain Radio 107.9 FM.

Bob Petinak, 1360 Radio.

Bill Dickens, Adam Paul, Chris Davis, eastcountysports.com.

Bodie DeSilva, sandiegopreps.com.

Drew Smith, sdcoastalsports.com.

Raymond Brown, sdfootball.net.

Rick Smith, partletonsports.com.

Steve Brand, San Diego Hall of Champions.

Jerry Schniepp, John Labeta, CIF San Diego Section.

John Kentera, Prep Talent Evaluator.

“City” Stadium, a horseshoe-shaped edifice with a declared  23,312 concrete seats, opened the previous spring in the back yard of San Diego High.

Coincidentally, football fortunes improved on the Hilltop.

Coach Clarence (Nibs) Price, 2-3-1 in his inaugural 1914 season, guided the school to its best record in the 23 years since the game was introduced here.

Price, from Iowa and the University of California, was more familiar with rugby when he was appointed coach but was learning fast.

The Hilltoppers finished with a 6-1-1 record, the best since 1891, and boasted a roster of underclassmen who would make 1916 one of the greatest in school history.

The stadium, built at the same time as many of the historic buildings in Balboa Park, was part of the Panama-Pacific Exposition in 1914, and gave San Diego High the advantage of playing at home.

Just not for the first game.

 

MONEY FORCES VENUE CHANGE

A San Diego-Coronado contest was scheduled, but the teams were forced to play on the island community’s polo grounds, later to become Coronado Country Club.

A dispute had arisen between the high school and the Park board, which demanded a $25 deposit and one-third of the gate receipts.

Meetings between the park entity and the school board resulted in compromise.

An agreement was made before the Hilltoppers’ next game against a Park Exposition Marine Corps team.

As reported in The San Diego Union:

“In the future the high school students will have the use of the grounds for their games by giving the park board due notice of their schedule of games. They will not be charged for use of the stadium, as (an agreement of) $60 per month will cover rental for contests where an admission fee would be charged.”

The $60 would be paid to a grounds-supervising “caretaker”, or stadium manager.

KARL’S DEED(S)

Karl Deeds, who went on to an outstanding career for the high school and played with several of his 1916 teammates at the University of California, scored the Hilltoppers’ first stadium touchdown.

The Park Exposition Marines led, 10-0, at halftime on a touchdown by an unidentified ball carrier and on a drop-kicked field goal from the 33-yard line by (no first name) Herman.

Trailing, 10-7, after Deeds’ short run for a score, San Diego pulled out the victory when George Howard policed a Marines fumble and raced 50 yards for a touchdown in the final three minutes.

BOWL GAME ATMOSPHERE

Student manager Renwick Thompson arranged for a large platform to be built in the stadium on Thanksgiving Day morning, before the game with Santa Ana.

The platform was decorated in the Hillers’ blue and white.  A program followed featuring Hawaiian music, Ragtime, syncopation, yells, cheers, and speakers that included principal Arthur Gould, coach Price, student body prez Ralph Noisat, and Thompson.

The morning festivities were only part of the Thanksgiving celebration.  As historian Don King wrote in Caver Conquest,  an “ear-splitting serpentine was formed at Sixth and B, wound its way through the downtown area, and finished up at the high school for a huge bonfire.”

More than 100 automobiles, or “machines,” as they also were called,  were part of the serpentine walk by students.

Oh, yes, the game.

“Togo” Shaw’s 35-yard field goal with about three minutes remaining gave the Hillers a 3-0 victory.

EARLY IMPRESSION NOT IMPRESSIVE

San Diego was 4-0 as it began preparation for Long Beach Poly, which had won 5 of the first 6 meetings since 1910 and had become the Hilltoppers’ main rival, along with Santa Ana.

An unnamed newspaper observer compared Price’s unbeaten squad to the group he saw before they played a game:

“Those who came out to see the first week of practice smothered an impulse to laugh and turned away with a sad shake of the head.  No chance, they said, the high school is out of the running with that bunch of hicks to defend their honor.”

Many players never had played the game before lining up for first time on a hot August afternoon.

JUPITER PLUVIUS*

*God of rain…and “rain-giver”.

The mythical figure ordered precipitation, lots of it, for two other, important games.

The Hillers boarded a 12:45 train north on Friday afternoon and received a wet and soggy greeting when they arrived in Long Beach. The field at Long Beach Poly the next day was laden with “four inches of mud,” according to one newspaper report.

Poly and San Diego fought to a 0-0 standoff.

San Diego had a choice for its first-round playoff versus Whittier: Play the game at distant L.A. High or at closer Santa Ana.

The Orange County venue was selected and the Hilltoppers and Cardinals went at it ankle deep in mud.  San Diego slipped and slid the most. Whittier won, 7-0.

(The Cardinals reward was a championship game against Pasadena, which prevailed, 50-0).

RULES AND REGULATIONS

The CIF Southern Section was created on March 29, 1913.

San Diego was a member  but, outside of local county entries Coronado, National City, Escondido, and Army-Navy, the Hilltoppers were about 90 miles from the closest possible opponent, in Orange or Riverside County.

“Machine” and train travel to Los Angeles was at least 4 hours.

Principal Gould and football manger Thompson attended a late afternoon meeting at Los Angeles High, at which officials for interscholastic games were selected and to settle dates and sites for proposed, upcoming games.

Gould and Thompson returned after learning that San Diego would not be invited to join the Southern California Football Conference.

Travel, as always, was an issue.

L.A. High had played the Hilltoppers at Bay View Park  in South San Diego on Christmas Day in each of the 1898 and 1899 seasons, but pulled out of a contest this season.

Romans officials stated that a game with the Hilltoppers was unattractive since it would not be a league encounter and that the gate wouldn’t cover expenses for an overnight trip from the Northern city.

SLOW START

The Southern Section struggled to gain traction.

Seth Van Patten, a former Escondido football and baseball coach, was the unofficial commissioner.  Van Patten worked with a budget of exactly $212.38 in the school year that ended in June.

Gaining the support of principals in the membership of 30-plus schools in five leagues was a challenge.

Van Patten and Los Angeles High principal E.W. Oliver spent much of their time trying to convince schools of the educational value of athletics and the CIF Southern Section.

Eligibility rules seemed simple, but….

In order to compete an athlete had to be 21 years or younger and passing in nine units of class work.  Post-graduates could not play and athletes had to have been at their school at least one semester.

A school caught using an ineligible player forfeited a game.

Age and transfer disputes were common…and still are, more than 100 years later.

SMACK TALK

Dean Mitchell of Coronado and George Blount of National City engaged in some unusual pregame coaching banter.

“They will be easy,” Mitchell said of the Red Devils.

“I’ll make the boys keep the score down to fifty,” said Blount.

Coronado won, 30-0.

SIGNS OF THE TIME

Holloween tomfoolery had local constables busy, according to The San Diego Union.

–An 8-year-old lad escaped after throwing a lemon through a plate-glass window of a residence at 27^th and A streets.

–Vandals leveled a row of fence posts at 16^th and M streets.

–Teenagers commandeered a large wagon and let the  vehicle loose at 16^th and C.  It drifted downhill for two blocks before the wagon tongue crashed into a house.

–A group of “colored girls” were arrested and then released after dressing up as men.

GROWING

San Diego High enrollment was almost 2,000 students in four grades.  Population within the city limits had grown from 18,000 at the turn of the century to approximately 50,000 in a decade in which there would be an 88 per cent increase.

HONORS

San Diego end Bryan (Pesky) Sprott made the all-Southern first team. Guard Lawrence Hall and back Karl Deeds made the second team.  Future major league baseball manager Fred Haney of Los Angeles Poly also was on the first squad.

TRUE GRID

Probably seeking a warm-weather trip, bosses at Butte High in Montana suggested a postseason game…the Bulldogs wanted expenses and a percentage of the gate, but the Hilltoppers declined…Pasadena was the power school…the Bullpups’ 50-0 win over Whittier in the first Southern Section championship resulted in their being named the state’s No. 1 squad…Pasadena also won the state swimming title….

Uneasy rested the crown.

San Diego High, anointed the best high school team in the country by a New York publication after the 12-0 campaign of 1916, experienced a season of highs and lows, emphasis on the latter.

Coach Clarence (Nibs) Price, who started practice in September with news that his best player was “dangerously ill with fever”, missed a playoff game that was coached by one of his players, and the Hilltoppers ended the season with a 0-55 thud.

Karl Deeds, an integral part of the championship squad who was forced to drop out of school to work and then was reinstated, mentored a 28-0 victory over El Centro Central from the City Stadium sideline as Price was away in Los Angeles, attempting to join the aviation corps.

The Great War in Europe had a far-reaching effect.

MULLER BACK

The “dangerously ill” Brick Muller recovered from fever and was back in uniform about three weeks into practice, but his was an uneven season.

Muller sustained a broken collarbone against the Occidental University frosh, missed rivalry games versus Long Beach Poly and Santa Ana, and was in and out of action for the remainder of the year.

Muller was a star end on the 1916 squad, making all-Southern California, and was the centerpiece of what Price hoped would be another championship entry.

The player was held in such high regard on campus that Muller was elected to the school’s athletic “executive committee” for the second year in a row, while he was home sick in bed.

FAREWELL

Price was back at his post and on the field for the season and tenure-ending, 55-0 playoff semifinals loss to Los Angeles Manual Arts, which the Hilltoppers defeated for the 1916 championship.

Baseball would provide a valedictory for Price, who left the school at the end of the spring semester, as the Hilltoppers overcame a 5-5 start, won seven of their last eight games and claimed Southern California and state titles.

The diminutive (5 feet, 6 inches) mentor entered the military and then returned to alma mater University of California, where he was appointed assistant football coach in 1919 and began a legendary career in Berkeley.

Price became head basketball coach in 1924 and held that position for 30 years. He also served in the rare, dual role  as football and basketball head coach from 1926-30.

Price’s basketball teams won more than 453 games and his 1944-45 club reached the national collegiate Final Four, posting a 30-6 record. The 17-0 squad of 1926-27 was named national champion by one publication.

MULLER ALSO LEAVES

Price occupies a significant position in Hilltoppers lore, but Muller became an athlete for the ages.

Muller beat Price to the door, transferring to Oakland Technical in the Bay Area in the spring and eventually  joined the coach in Berkeley, along with six of Muller’s 1916 teammates.

While playing rugby, the sport of choice at Oakland High in 1918, Muller sustained a broken jaw.  He still hooked up with the former San Diego High footballers by occasionally practicing with the University of California squad.

Muller won the state prep high jump championship in 1918 (5-11 ½) and 1919 (5-6) and was a silver medalist in the 1920 Olympics at Antwerp, Belgium, with a leap of 6-2 ¾.

The first Western player to earn all-America football honors, in 1921 and 1922, Muller  threw the longest pass in Rose Bowl history (reportedly 57 yards in the air, with the vintage, oblong ball), and was a point producer in track, finishing second in the broad jump, third in the high jump, and fourth in the discus at the IC4A championships.

The venerable Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletics of America, founded in 1879, was a predecessor to today’s National Collegiate Athletic Association.

Muller became an orthopedic surgeon and was team physician for years at California.   A little known fact, he likely was the first NFL player from San Diego.

Muller joined the one-season Los Angeles entry in 1926 and became the team’s coach later in a season in which the Buccaneers played all of their league games on the road, with headquarters in Chicago and players from California colleges.

IN OR OUT?

San Diego competed as an independent.  It was invited to join the Los Angeles County League.  Or was it?

Price and principal Arthur Gould attended a Los Angeles meeting and returned home saying the Hilltoppers would join, replacing Whittier, which dropped out, saying its team was “too light.”

Pasadena, Long Beach Poly, and Santa Ana were other members.

A few weeks later bosses at Whittier announced they wanted back in. Pasadena, saying San Diego never was a member, voted for Whittier.

The issue seemed nebulous, just another in what would be almost annual issues involving the distant Hilltoppers and what to do with them.

PLAYOFFS ANOTHER ISSUE

San Diego’s 14-game winning streak was snapped by Hollywood, 27-10, and the Hilltoppers were dropped from the postseason after a second loss, 27-3 to Long Beach.

Price and Gould traipsed to Los Angeles again, complaining to CIF manager Harry J. Moore that they had not been notified of the playoff meeting at which they were eighty-sixed.

Gould also reminded Moore that San Diego was the defending champion and that the Border City squad was in possession of the CIF championship cup.

Gould’s oblique reference to the bauble and its location seemed to have a desired affect.

CIF signals quickly were changed.  San Diego was slotted against Coronado, the County League titlist, for the right to meet El Centro Central in the playoff quarterfinals.

Coronado scored for the first time in three games against San Diego and led the Hilltoppers, 13-7, before bowing, 14-13.

The San Diego-Coronado contest, played before about 500 persons, would be very unique in later years.  The game consisted of four, 13 1/2-minute quarters.

SHORTER SEASON?

“I do not expect to play twelve games this year, six or possibility seven,”  Price told a local writer before the first practice.

“Last year the strain was entirely too hard on the players and I would not  care to take a team through such a late season as that of last year, which lasted until late December,” said Price.

With Del Beekley, an energetic student manager, daily contacting schools throughout Southern California in an attempt to book games, the Hilltoppers played 11 and posted a 5-4-2 record.

Media accounts never made clear how much say Price had regarding the number of games played or opponents and whether the decisions were made by student managers, who were involved in all aspects of the program except coaching.

Published accounts on scheduling usually referred to the efforts of the student manager, although the head coach and the school principal attended CIF and league meetings, which were held in the Los Angeles area.

PRICE NIXED ’16 STATE GAME

It was Price who made the decision to pass on Bakersfield’s challenge to a state championship contest in 1916.

There was some fallout with the claim from the Kern County school that the Hilltoppers forfeited the title to Bakersfield, but that was specious.

San Diego was not compelled to play another game after its Southern California  championship.

Price gained vindication of a sort when San Diego defeated the visiting Bakersfield Drillers, 18-7, on Thanksgiving Day.

MARKETEER BEEKLEY

The diminutive Beekley, who decades later was crew coach at San Diego State and was a founder of the San Diego Crew Classic in the 1970s, created one marketing promotion after another.

Students selling the most tickets to the Bakersfield game, which represented the first half of a doubleheader also featuring local service teams, would be given a number of free passes.

Four additional prizes would be awarded to students who created the most artistic, game-related poster illustration.

The prizes included a silver loving cup, two, 4-pound boxes of candies, one, 1-pound box of candies, and a box of stationary from Eastman-Kodak.

BANTAM-SIZED GIANT

Beekley, who stood 5 feet tall, passed in 2001 at age 102 after spending 77 years in or around a rowing shell, first as coxswain for San  Diego Rowing club.

Beekley sought a New Year’s Day extravaganza for the Hilltoppers. He said he had Price’s support (despite’s Price’s earlier stated desire to shorten the season) for a game with Arizona champion Phoenix Union.

“…I intend to take the matter before the student body executive committee to see if they will not grant permission for such a game,” Beekley said.

The manager made his remarks to a reporter from The San Diego Union.  A decision was made, by the student executive committee, principal Charles Gould, or Price, not to extend the season.

HUGE MILITARY EFFORT

Thousands of soldiers were in training at nearby Camp Kearny, where the government announced that 14 miles of roads, would be constructed in three weeks to meet the needs of the U.S. Army.

Camp Kearny had quickly risen on almost 13,000 acres of land that is known today as the site of the Marine Corps Naval Air Station.

The camp, named after a 19^th century officer and the mesa on which the land was located, was extant from 1917-46, operated first by the army, which turned the base over to the navy in 1932.

Gen. Stephen Watts Kearny served as California’s military governor before statehood in 1847 and has been called the father of the cavalry.

SIGNS OF THE TIME

The new military facility officially was Camp Kearny, after some disagreement on its spelling.

Contractor William E. Hampton had asked San Diego postmaster L.R. Barrow for clarification.  Barrow said, “Kearney,” but was overruled.

Adjutant general P.C. Harris officially ordered the name “Kearny” on July 18, 1917.

There was no mention of Stephen Kearny in the adjutant general’s  document.

(for more on Kearny, search:  “1944: The Temporary Suburbs”).

HIT THE ROAD

Standard Oil of California heralded one of its San Diego-based vehicles as being equipped with “the largest tire ever seen on  the Pacific Coast.”  The mass of rubber weighed 500 pounds, was 14 inches wide, and 42 inches high.

ANTI-BOOZE

Evangelist Billy Sunday spoke of the evil of Demon Rum when he addressed the City Stadium gathering before the Hilltoppers played Pomona.

Prohibition did not go into effect until 1920.

Manager Beekley had tags printed that allowed all who came to hear Sunday to stay for the game.

Sunday’s appearance apparently boosted the attendance.  The Hilltoppers announced a gate profit of $110.

ILLUMINATION

With no  lights in the stadium and the sun fading fast in December, Hilltoppers coach Nibs Price introduced a silver football for practice, which started later and lasted longer, according to the Union.

“ELEVATOR, ELEVATOR…

…we got the shaft!”

That was the feeling of the National City (Sweetwater) varsity when play was suspended after what passed for trash talk of the era escalated into a fist-swinging free-for-all with the  San Diego Seconds team.

Sweetwater, which lost an earlier game to the Hilltoppers Seconds, 18-0, and was trailing, 12-0, when fighting broke out, accused San Diego of using “illegal tactics”.

The two officials were connected to the big city school downtown.

Brick Muller was the umpire when San Diego had the ball.  Bill (Bull) Salyers, 1915 team captain, was umpire when Sweetwater was in possession.

QUICK KICKS

Reginald Sidney Gurling of La Mesa was the first San Diego soldier killed in the war…Ralph Noisat, student manager in 1916, quit his job at a local bank to take a position in the playground department, beginning at Golden Hill playground with Lee Waymire, who later was head coach at Coronado…Sammy Sampson, Walter (Dutch) Eels, and Clyde Randall, recent graduates and players on the 1916 squad, assisted Price during early practices, which accentuated “falling on the ball (fumble recoveries) and “learning how to pass”…Paul (Rat) Hyde, the Hilltoppers’ quarterback in 1910, also was a sideline observer…so determined to avenge the championship loss of a year earlier, Manual Arts students  lined school corridors with signs that said, “San  Diego or Bust”…principal  Arthur Gould suggested that all Hilltop athletes wear corduroy trousers to school…about 35 complied…winning the County League championship had currency in Coronado…the Islanders were honored at a school dance and would be guests of honor at 4 upcoming dinners…local media referred to the visiting Santa Ana Saints as the “celery growers.”…the Saints’ 12-0 victory was “for the championship of Orange and San Diego counties”…four quarters of 15 minutes was not the norm…many games were played to a convenience of time…San Diego’s 27-0 victory over Los Angeles Poly was achieved with 12-minute, 30-seconds quarters…playoff opponent El Centro Central came into the game with a 4-1 record, their five games against the only other schools in the Imperial Valley that played football, Calexico (1-1)  and Holtville (3-0)….

At least 19 schools in the San Diego Section changed football coaches this season and probably that many reasons could be offered for this arguably massive turnover.

In no particular order, a few possible explanations::

— Pressure to win
— Long hours and low stipend pay
— Player eligibility
— Transfer headaches
— Meddling administrators
— Meddling parents
— Medical liability

There are other factors, not the least of which is the continued growth of soccer, which is contested at the same time on the school calendar and has grown in popularity while football has been battling an image problem.

Many parents think the game is too dangerous.

But 98 schools submitted schedules and practice got  underway this week in anticipation of the first weekend of games Aug. 26-27.

My preseason Top 10, based on no  knowledge, other than I’ve heard Cathedral “is loaded”, Helix is Helix (speed, depth), that Rancho Bernardo deserves cred after winning a state championship (III-A) in 2015, and so on.

Keep an eye also on Mater Dei, which won the state V-AA division last season, and returns C.J. Verdell, who scored 204 points  and recently announced he’s going to join former Imperial great Royce Freeman at Oregon.

Rank	School	2015	Key Nonleague	2015
1.	Cathedral	7-5	Modesto Central Catholic @Mission Viejo	16-0
2.	Helix	11-2	Concord Clayton Valley @Mission Viejo	13-2
3.	Rancho Bernardo	13-2	El Camino	7-6
4.	St. Augustine	10-3	@L.A. Loyola	9-3
5.	Mission Hills	11-1	Rancho Bernardo	13-2
6.	Madison	8-3	@Murrieta Vista Murrieta	12-2
7.	Bonita Vista	12-3	@Helix	13-2
8.	Mater Dei	14-1	@L.A. Hawkins	8-1-1
9.	Eastlake	5-6	Lake Forest El Toro	5-6
10.	La Costa Canyon	7-4	Whittier La Serna	11-3

Of the 19 coaching switches, 3 resulted only in change of address.  Jerry Ralph moved from Hoover to El Camino, Tim White from Julian to Borrego Springs, and Kyle Williams from Fallbrook to Westview.

School	New	Previous	2015
Borrego Springs	Tim White	Andy Macuga	4-5
Calexico	John Tyree	Sean Johnson	0-10
C.C. San Diego	Dr. David Riley	Gene Rheam	9-2
Eastlake	Dean Tropp	Lee Price	5-6
El Camino	Jerry Ralph	John Roberts	7-6
Escondido	Jud Bordman	Steve Bridges	1-10
Fallbrook	Bob Burt	Kyle Williams	7-5
Foothills Christian	Joe Mackey	Ron Lyyjoki	5-4
Francis Parker	Darius Pickett	D.J. Walcott	2-8
Helix	Robbie Owens	Troy Starr	11-2
Hilltop	Clay Westling	Cody Roelof	5-6
Hoover	Jimmy Morgans	Jerry Ralph	2-8
Julian	Scott Munson	Tim White	2-8
La Jolla	Matt Morrison	Jason Carter	3-8
Montgomery	Sanjevi Sabbiah	Ted Jarumayan	2-8
Rancho Buena Vista	Joe Meyer	Paul Gomes	1-9
Serra	Dru Smith	Sergio Diaz	1-9
Vista	Dave Bottom	Dan Williams	4-7
Westview	Kyle Williams	Mike Woodward	8-4

We’ve been idle since the state high school track meet and probably won’t be posting much for the next month, as our two grandsons, 13 and 12, from Connecticut have made their annual invasion.

For Susie and me, this represents  4-5 weeks of never-ending activity, a veritable jailbreak every day.  It seems like we are training with the SEALs.

We wouldn’t have it any other way.

The boys met us in Las Vegas on June 21.  From there came a tour of Hoover Dam, a visit to the magnificent meteor crater near Winslow, Az., and a day at the Grand Canyon.

It’s not all swimming pools and movies.  Some culture is added.

Oh, I’d better not forget.  Happy 48th anniversary today to my beautiful bride.

San Diego High continued to transition to mediocrity from the championship squad of three seasons before and tiny Coronado mixed with the big boys.

Bryan (Pesky) Sprott and five members of the Hilltoppers’ nationally-acclaimed 1916 team now were leading the University of California’s powerful squad and coach Clarence (Nibs) Price was on the Bears’ football coaching staff.

San Diego High was on its third coach in three seasons.  Price moved to Berkeley after the 1917 campaign and Clint Evans, who coached during the flu-interrupted 1918 season, had announced his retirement and relocated to Idaho.

Vladimir Victor Ligda embarked on what would be a one-season stint as the Hilltoppers’ coach.

Ligda was of Russian descent but born in France.  He attended high school in Oakland, and had achieved some success in  track and field for California-Berkeley.

Ligda was introduced in an expansive article in The San Diego Union, which noted that he was a 1904 Cal graduate and had run :51.0 to win the 440-yard race in the annual big meet against Stanford.

That Ligda was incorrectly identified as “Vernon” Ligda seemed to presage a problematic tenure.

ACROSS THE BAY

Coach Wyman Feeler’s Coronado Islanders made quick work of County League competition and looked forward to a second season in the playoffs, in the same calendar year.

Coronado had lost to Fullerton, 18-0, in a 1918 Southern California finals game that was played in March, 1919.  The CIF had managed to get two teams together three months after the normal end of the season.

The year of 1918 was notable for the Asian flu pandemic that killed an estimated 50-70 million people (at least 3 per cent of the global population) and for the end of fighting in World War I.

Some teams were able to complete seasons in January and February, others had theirs suspended, and still others were idle all season.

POLY NOT HARVARD MILITARY

Coronado, which won games by scores of 74-0 and 66-0, and  was not scored on in three County League encounters, had lost only to college or service teams.

The Islanders were supposed to open the season against San Diego, but Feeler changed his mind, saying he wanted to take on San Diego at the end of the schedule.

A Hilltoppers-Islanders game did not materialize and Coronado was assigned to a CIF first-round playoff at Hollywood Harvard Military.

Harvard apparently backed out of the game, this during a time when the CIF had difficulty filling playoff brackets.  The postseason did not have the cachet it would develop in later years.

Wyman Feeler telegraphed the Union sports department that Long Beach Poly was replacing the Hollywood school.  Poly, with an enrollment of 1,100 and many adults on its squad, would take on Coronado, high school enrollment 100, including 47 boys.

Feeler probably didn’t want the game, but it promised a revenue bump for the school and Feeler agreed when the CIF scheduled the contest in San Diego’s City Stadium, a ferry ride and long walk from the island.

Islanders supporters in “machines” circled the streets of Coronado the night before the playoff, honking  horns, stopping pedestrians in the quiet community, and inviting all to come to a pep rally at the school, highlighted by a bonfire, speeches, and a performance by jazz musicians.

The trans-bay eleven was no match for the champions of the Los Angeles County League the next afternoon.  Poly was a 59-0 winner and then defeated Santa Monica, 21-0, in the semifinals and claimed the championship with a 47-0 victory over Fullerton.

FOOTBALL OR TRACK, COACH?

Victor Ligda’s resume indicated in the years following graduation that he had been an assistant professor of physical education and athletic director at the University of Arizona, and assistant professor of p.e. at Berkeley.

Ligda also had been track coach at Los Angeles Manual Arts and most recently instructor of boxing and wrestling at Camp Fremont in Menlo Park.

Football?

Ligda’s sport was track and field and he made announcements during the football season that were about the spring sport, which didn’t begin until February.

Ligda created a football pentathlon, which consisted of  punting, drop kicking, placekicking, “loose” field running, a dash from one end of the field to the other, tackling, and running through hurdles placed as obstacles.

He also publicized a Stadium Day track and field carnival that was to take place in December and served as  coach of the cross-country team.

WHAT’S GOING ON?

Grumbling was heard on the Hilltop and in the local press after a lackluster tie in the Orange League opener with Orange and a loss at Whittier.

According to Don King in “Caver Conquest,” Ligda had the team show up at Whittier 10 minutes before kickoff as punishment for some players’ “horseplay” on the overnight trip to Orange.

The Union reported that the team did not have lunch during the Whittier train trip and had to immediately change from street clothes to its moleskin uniforms.

On Nov. 1, an anonymous columnist for The Sports Mint in the Union expanded on the Hilltop football program:

“Going behind the scenes we  learn that the material this year is average, that coach Victor Ligda is a hard worker but not a top-notch football coach, for his specialty is track.

It was  pointed out that fifth-year player Elmer Langdon became involved in  coaching the team but that Ligda disapproved and requested Langdon to cease.  “Does Ligda fear Langdon is stealing his thunder?” wondered the writer.

Ligda did not endear himself to the squad after a late-game loss to Pomona, 16-14.

“It was just a piece of hard luck,” said Ligda.  “The boys ought to have had that game but they slacked up a little toward the end.”

LANGDON ISSUED CLEARED

On Nov. 5 a paragraph at the end of a midweek story absolved Ligda of alleged pettiness in regard to Langdon’s coaching the team but made Ligda seem derelict in his head coaching responsibility:

“For a couple of days last week Ligda was refereeing afternoon games and was unable to be with the team, so he asked Langdon to help him out by leading the practice for those two afternoons.  Ligda is taking full charge now himself.”

The school band played “Hail! Hail! The Gang’s All Here” as the Hilltoppers headed to the train station on Friday for its Saturday afternoon game  at Fullerton.

“Coach A.E. Shaver accompanied the team,” it was reported.   Ligda was to follow in a private vehicle that evening after supervising track practice.

The 35-0 loss to Fullerton was followed by a 7-0 win over Santa Ana and a 35-0 rout of San Pedro on Thanksgiving Day, giving the Hilltoppers a final record of 6-3-1, their best since the 12-0 of 1916.

The three losses were against Orange League foes and left the Hilltoppers in fifth and last place.  Issues with Ligda continued.

“The team has been handicapped in that they haven’t had a strong hand to lead them,” wrote a Union reporter.  “Coach Ligda, it is claimed, has let the players have too much their own way in running plays….”

ALOHA!

Victor Ligda resigned at the end of the school year and took a teaching position in Hawaii, where he resided for many years.

Ligda’s experience with championship Manual Arts track teams and devotion to preparing the Hilltoppers, even during football and basketball seasons,  did not translate.

San Diego was winless in three track dual meets, losing to Los Angeles, 77-37, Manual Arts, 67-45, and L.A. Lincoln, 62-50.

EASY ED

There is no record of how many touchdowns Ed Suggett scored in his long and legendary career at Coronado.

Suggett scored seven touchdowns in one game for Coronado in 1916 in  what may have been  his freshman season and probably scored at least 150 points (25 touchdowns) each in 1916 and 1917.

Individual touchdown records were of seemingly passing interest.  Reporters at games or taking results  on the telephones were more interested in starting lineups and substitutions.

Suggett scored so often in Coronado blowouts that no official notice was given.

Touchdowns sometimes were ignored by the media, although more complete records were available for San Diego High.

For prep historians, mystery seems to always surround  Suggett.

Here was Suggett again in 1919, in at least his fourth season with the Islanders after reportedly serving in the military during World War I.

Suggett was listed as having played for the “Balboa Park Sailors,” during the war, but when?  He also was reported in the starting lineup when the Islanders met Fullerton in the 1918 championship, which was played in March, 1919.

Ed Suggett went to score more touchdowns at Whittier College, played minor pro football, and became the first coach at Compton College in 1927.

QUICK KICKS

Ralph Nobel, an  Army officer in Europe, was killed in action…Nobel was head coach at San Diego in 1913…many players who saw service in the military during the war returned to high school and continued eligibility…Bob Sieben, a hurdler and sprinter for the 1917 Hilltoppers’ track team, served with the Coast Artillery at Fort Rosecrans on the Point Loma peninsula, as did Fred Kunzel…Long Beach placed seven players on the all-Southern California first and second teams…San Diego and Coronado had none…Five of the eight schools in the County played football…Ramona, Fallbrook, and Julian were decades away from fielding squads….