A stunning, 20-12 victory over archrival San Diego High brought back a flood of memories to Hoover coach Roy Engle.

—That hazy afternoon in Balboa Stadium in 1935 when Engle drove the Cardinals to a fourth-quarter, 7-6 victory over San Diego.

—Engle, the senior ball carrier, gaining the final 25 yards in three carries in the 80-yard drive to the game-tying touchdown.

—The first victory and first points ever scored by Hoover against the big, downtown school.

Engle and his teammates shared a glorious moment in the young school’s history, but Hoover victories in the city rivalry became few and far between.

ONE-SIDED RIVALRY

San Diego held an 18-5 advantage in the series, had not lost to Hoover since 1949, and was a decided favorite in this renewal, played on the Hoover gridiron for the first time.

But the Cardinals were confident and determined.

The squad met at the home of fullback Denny Berg the night before the game and vowed to reverse years of disappointment.

TARDY COACH

Engle was late getting to the Cardinals gym. He had gotten caught in El Cajon Blvd., traffic after leaving his college area residence.

The coach couldn’t help but look twice when he entered the football locker room.

“Every player was dressed and taped,” Engle recalled to Jerry Magee of The San Diego Union.

No stragglers. And kickoff still was more than an hour away.

“It’s dangerous to see a team so high, so early,” Engle said.  “I tried to think of a joke.”

The game began with the joke on the Cardinals.

ANOTHER BLOWOUT?

San Diego scored twice in the first 9:03 of the game on plays that began with Hoover in possession.

Bobby Staten picked up an errant Hoover pitchout and raced 20 yards for a touchdown two minutes after kickoff.

Ollie Osborne recovered a blocked punt in the end zone.  San Diego suddenly was ahead, 12-0, and seemingly off to the races.

But the Cavemen’s No. 1 threat, halfback Cleveland Jones, sustained a hamstring pull in the first period, returned briefly, but left for good with 19 yards in 4 carries.

Hoover, running its Split-T offense and quarterback options to perfection, began to peck away.

The Cardinals pulled in front, 13-12, near the end of the half on quarterback Gary Bailey’s 17-yard pass to Bob Williams.

Without Jones, the Cavers had only 59 yards total offense.  Berg’s 3-yard run in the fourth quarter clinched the victory, the first by a local team over the Cavers since 1952.

“We had about 2,800, including players and fans, who were all pulling together,” said Engle. “I’ve never seen a group of players put out like our guys did.”

Engle was moved to say the game offered a reason as to why “men go into coaching.”

DIFFERENT 3-0’s

The 2,800 represented the size of the Hoover student body, one of the largest in Southern California.

Virtually all, along with a crowd that reached more than 7,000 persons, jammed the Hoover Stadium, spectators filling both sides of the field and temporary bleachers in each end zone.

Hoover and San Diego each entered the game with a 3-0 record, but San Diego had beaten Long Beach Wilson, 21-7, Point Loma, 40-0, and Arizona power Phoenix Union, 33-6.

The Cardinals had one impressive win, 14-6, at Redlands and victories of 9-6 over Grossmont and 27-12 over Mission Bay.

“Hoover played much better than it had before,” said San Diego coach Duane Maley.   “When a team can have 12 points scored against them as quickly as we scored and can come back, they deserve a lot of credit.”

 THEY SAID IT

“We figure to be real green, but we’ll come along.  We’ve got speed.”—San Diego coach Duane Maley.

(The Cavers, after having 28 players graduate and starters Luther Hayes and David Grayson transferring to Lincoln, leaving only one offensive starter, center Ron Collins, finished 7-2).

“If George gets hurt, we unpack our tent, put it on the camel and head for the hills”–La Jolla coach Shan Deniston on the prospect of losing halfback George Graham.

(Graham was the second leading scorer in the city with 12 touchdowns, including 6 in the final game).

 “Things have looked bleaker.  We just don’t remember when.  I hope we can beat someone”–St. Augustine coach Tom Carter.

(The Saints won some, lost some, and tied some, for a 2-4-2 record).

“This could be the closest race we’ve ever had.  Anyone of five teams could finish from first to fifth”—Point Loma coach Bennie Edens.

(Point Loma was a well-beaten, tied-for-fourth with Mission Bay with a 1-3 league record and

2-6 overall).

“We’re the youngest, most inexperienced, and the losingest, but we think we’ll have a chance in every game we play.  We’re in the league and we’re not afraid of anybody.”—Mission Bay coach Harry Anderson.

(The Buccaneers beat Point Loma to finish fourth in the City League and were 2-6 overall).

“The whole league will be better balanced, because most teams will be improved, and I don’t think San Diego High will be so strong”—Hoover coach Roy Engle.

(The haves, Hoover and San Diego, still held sway over the have nots).

MAN THE PUMPS

Seven Mission Bay area gasoline stations formed an alliance with the school booster club.

Two cents of every gallon of gas poured on a weekend during football season went to the school fund, benefitting the Reserve Officers Training Corps, school choir, and athletic department.

DAY-NIGHT DOUBLEHEADER

After La Jolla played Mar Vista at Scripps Field in the afternoon, Mission Bay took on El Centro Central later in the evening at the same site.

El Centro defeated the Buccaneers, 20-13, and made another trip to La Jolla later in the season, topping the Vikings, 25-14.

OH, SUSANNAH!

Susannah Lee, a 16-year-old Ramona High senior, was the only female high school correspondent for The San Diego Union.

Susannah explained  the secret of understanding football to writer Jerry Magee: Study the plays, watch the ball, and take a boy friend along who can explain the game.

“Get a boyfriend who knows football and can sit with you and tell you what they’re doing,” she said.  “I’ve used that system a few games.”

Susannah also is the Ramona High school newspaper social reporter: “In society you have to go and see what people are doing, who is going with whom, etc.  The students don’t turn in the news.”

Covering football, Susannah contended, is “easy.”

Miss Lee, who lived on a chicken ranch near Ramona, did not aspire to a career in sports writing and planned to attend Woodbury College in Los Angeles and take a secretarial course.

ELEVATOR, WE GOT THE SHAFT

Gary Dunn, passing, and Ron Palermo, catching, teamed on a 46-yard scoring play for the only touchdown in Helix’ 6-0 victory over Chula Vista.

Problem.

Three plays earlier the Spartans were shocked when the head linesman, in charge of downs and markers, signaled a change of possession, ball to Helix.

The switch occurred after Chula Vista’s Jerry Glad was thrown for a 12-yard loss on third down.

Chula Vista was robbed of a fourth down play, although it needed 14 yards for a first down.

Further frustration for Bob Geyer’s South Bay squad: it recovered five Helix fumbles and blocked a punt and still didn’t mount an offense.

THE SEQUEL

Helix didn’t fool around in the Metropolitan League rematch (some teams played each other twice in a round-robin schedule that featured Helix and El Cajon playing seven league games and Grossmont, El Cajon, and Sweetwater playing six). The Highlanders won, 52-6, with their third 50-point outburst of the regular season.

The Scots  also defeated Blythe Palo Verde, 54-0, and rushed for  407 yards in another 52-6 victory over Grossmont, with scoring plays of 24,8, 85 (Palermo), 32 , 28 (Dunn), 48 (Danny Spinazzola), and 78 (Bill Ernest).

CITY RULES

Helix had 21 touchdown plays of at least 20 yards, 11 of at least 40, averaged 34 points a game in an 8-0 regular season, and was a rare County favorite over Hoover in a first-round playoff that drew about 11,000 to Aztec Bowl.

But as San Diego and Lincoln learned, you can’t score if you don’t have the ball.

With Gary Bailey marshaling the Cardinals’ grinding, split-T attack and showing more flair as an option quarterback, the

Cardinals ran 60 plays to the Highlanders’ 31 and built a fourth-quarter lead of 21-7.

Hoover’s 21-13 victory sent the Cardinals to La Palma Stadium in Anaheim and the Redbirds’ ball control worked again, for awhile.

The Cardinals scored first, ran more plays, and led Anaheim at the half, 7-6, but the Colonists with Mickey Flynn leading the way, ran away to a 34-7, quarterfinals playoff victory.

Hoover did not compare offensively to Anaheim.

The Cardinals’ Bobby Ball had rushed for 437 yards in 93 carries for a 4.6-yard average and Denny Berg averaged 4.1 and gained 393 on 84 carries.

Anaheim’s Joe Avitia had 874 yards and a 5.7 average and Mickey Flynn, used sparingly, had scored 17 touchdowns and was averaging 10 yards a carry.

Hoover had scored 170 points in nine games, Anaheim 347 in 10.

WHAT’S THE TIME?

With 5:50 to play in the first quarter of a 21-0 win over Sweetwater, Helix’ Ron Palermo ran 6 yards to a touchdown.

With 5:50 remaining in the second quarter, Helix quarterback Bob Schultz passed 45 yards to Bill Earnest for a touchdown.

SAINTS COME MARCHING IN

St. Augustine’s long battle to find a home in one of San Diego County’s prep leagues was coming to an end.

They would have a league in the 1957-58 school year but not before clearing a few more hurdles.

Southern Section bosses in September approved the Saints for membership in the Metropolitan League beginning in ’57-58.

The Saints and La Jolla had applied for Metro membership in 1955, after La Jolla and Kearny announced they would bail in football for two years from the City League.

METRO STILL OBSTINATE

Metro big shots rejected the Saints and Vikings and had opted for this year’s unbalanced, 5-team loop in which some squads would play league rivals twice, with the champion being decided on won-loss percentage.

City Prep League principals, who annually blocked St. Augustine’s bid for membership, made a U-Turn and extended an invitation for 1957-58.

Principals of the 21 County schools attended a meeting in November at the Civic Center, where the Saints’ invitation was the only decision resolved during a four-hour session on re-leaguing.

• City Prep League coaches disagreed with their re-leaguing bosses and voted against the Saints, pointing out that La Jolla and Kearny, whose games did not count this year, would be joining the circuit with Crawford in ’57, making for nine members, an unwieldy number.
• The Southern Section re-leaguing committee, virtually rubber stamped the vote by the San Diego principals, voting unanimously to place St. Augustine in the City Prep League and removing the Saints from Metro League consideration.
• The Saints still would need the approval of the Southern Section’s executive council, but commissioner Ken Fagans said the re-leaguing group’s vote was “tantamount to approval.”
• Fagans noted that Crawford would not be playing a varsity schedule in football in 1957 and that “re-leaguing is on a year-to-year basis. If further changes are needed later on, we’ll make them.”
• The Saints officially were placed in the City League by the Southern Section executive committee at its final meeting in December.

DIVIDED LOYALTY?

San Diego vice principal Bill Bailey, who coached the Cavemen to a 34-7 record from 1943-47, had a dilemma.

Bailey’s son, Gary, was Hoover’s quarterback.

Bailey and his wife deferred questions about who they were supporting, but it’s suspected they wanted Gary to have a terrific game and that maybe the teams would tie.

Mrs. Bailey would not commit to which side from which she would watch and Bill said only that he wished for a spot on the 50-yard line, “right in the middle of the field.”

SIGNS OF THE TIME

Mount Miguel in Spring Valley was scheduled to open in 1957, as was Crawford in East San Diego.  El Capitan would open in Lakeside and Hilltop in Chula Vista in 1959.

The City Schools also announced plans for a second new high school when a 44-acre plot was purchased for $92,000 in Clairemont.

By 1958, Clairemont would greet students at its campus one block west of Clairemont Blvd., on Ute Street.  The school mascot appropriately would be named Chieftains.

SHAN’S WORLD

Shan Deniston, who took over as La Jolla coach after seven seasons as an assistant coach at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, had been a catcher for the Portland Beavers in the Pacific Coast League.

An arm injury ended the St. Louis Browns farmhand’s career, but Deniston managed Browns farm teams at Mayfield, Kentucky; Belleville, Illinois; Pittsburg, Kansas, and Olean, New York.

ALL-SAN DIEGO BOWS

The annual Breitbard Athletic Foundation College Prep All-Star game changed format.

From 1949-55, the game matched the Los Angeles City Section all-stars against an all-Southern California team.

The opponents this year were Los Angeles and a San Diego County squad.

The Los Angeles team scored a 19-0 victory before a crowd of about 10,000 at Aztec Bowl.

COACH SPEAK

Escondido dressed 41 players compared to 21 for Vista when the undefeated teams met in an important Avocado League game.

“We respect them in spite of their numbers,” said Cougars coach Chuck Embrey.

Embrey wasn’t blowing smoke.

Escondido finally put the Panthers away, 16-13, on Chuck Wood’s field goal from the 20-yard line with 2:22 remaining.

FIELD GOAL MANIA

Wood’s placement was the second of the season by an area kicker.  Hoover’s Walt Baranski toed a field goal from the nine-yard line to beat Grossmont, 9-6, earlier in the year.

Baranski’s field goal was the first in the County since 1952.

Field goals were so infrequent that newspaper correspondents often confused the distance, reporting the attempt from the line of scrimmage and not from point of the kick.

LET GEORGE DO IT

La Jolla’s George Graham scored six touchdowns, ran for an extra point, and passed for another point after in his final game, a 37-0 victory over Fallbrook.

Graham’s 37 points were the most since San Dieguito’s Ralph Swaim scored 6 touchdowns and 36 points in a 1944 game.

QUICK KICKS

Helix tackle Roy Bottini was a first team, all-Southern California selection and San Diego center Ron Collins made the second team…tackle Jack Anderson of Escondido and back Chuck Wood of the Cougars  earned second-team honors in the lower division…Anaheim and Downey played to a 13-13 tie in the Southern Section finals before a record crowd of 41,383…San Diego had 3 touchdowns called back in a 21-7 victory over L.B. Wilson, which scored with 10 seconds left in the game, when the Cavers had only 10 men on the field…La Jolla, 16 players strong, defeated Mar Vista, 13-7, to end a 15-game losing streak… the Vikings’ last victory was 7-0 over Rosemead in the 1954 season opener…Coronado coach Roger Rigdon declared that of the 200 boys enrolled in school, 100 reported for football…a City Schools carnival crowd of 16,000 saw the West team of Lincoln, San Diego, and Kearny defeat an East contingent of Hoover, Point Loma, Mission Bay, and La Jolla, 32-6…Lincoln beat Mission Bay, 14-6, and tied Hoover, 0-0, in two quarters of play…San Diego slapped Point Loma, 12-0…the Metro Carnival was an 8-6 win for Helix, El Cajon, and Sweetwater over Chula Vista, Mar Vista, and Grossmont….

Ron Dargo, 69, who pitched Crawford High to the 1962 San Diego Section baseball championship, passed away recently at his home in Spring Valley.

Dargo, a lefthander, and  John Allison, who pitched from the right side, led a late-season Colts playoff push after they finished second to San Diego in the Eastern League race.

The Colts, who finished with a 19-6 record, defeated lefty Dave Varvel and El Capitan, 9-0, as Dargo completed a seven-inning shutout in the championship game at Westgate Park, home of the Pacific Coast League San Diego Padres.

Dargo hurled one of Crawford’s two other postseason victories.  He  surrendered three runs in the first inning in the first playoff against Helix but pitched shutout, two-hit ball the rest of the way and beat the Highlanders and their ace, George Sherrod, 4-3.

Dargo went on to pitch for coach Ed Sanclemente at San Diego City College and Mesa College and for Lyle Olsen at San Diego State. He led the Aztecs with 95 innings pitched, 12 starts, and 8 victories in 1967.

“Ron had a good fastball and curve, was a very good hitter, and  a great teammate, remembered Tom Whelan, who was Dargo’s  catcher at Crawford and at San Diego State.

Following college, Dargo embarked on a long military career.  He retired as a U.S. Navy Commander and became active in the local sports fishing industry.

 

Lincoln and Mission Bay took their first, tentative steps. St. Augustine continued to push for league affiliation. Such was the landscape, which promised to  change.  

Joe Rindone, principal of Chula Vista High and president of the CIF Southern Section executive committee, chaired a meeting with bosses from other schools around Southern California at the Helms Athletic Foundation office in Los Angeles on Dec. 4, 1953.

Rindone presented to the membership wholesale changes that would affect the 21 San Diego schools affiliated with the Southern Section.

Loud and clear complaints of San Diego County’s league alignments had been ongoing since 1950 when the City Prep League was formed, creating falling dominos in the Metropolitan and Southern Prep circuits.

WELCOME, AVOCADO LEAGUE!

Oceanside, Vista, San Dieguito, Coronado, Fallbrook, and Vallecitos officially became charter members of a new North County  circuit that honored the region’s favorite fruit, giving San Diego four distinct leagues, although Vallecitos never was to exist.

Formation of the new league was only part of the scenario.

1) The City League would welcome Lincoln as a varsity participant in football  in the 1954-55 school year.

2) Mission Bay would join the CPL in ’54-55 in most varsity sports but would wait until 1955-56 for varsity football.

3) Helix and Grossmont would leave the City League for the Metropolitan League.

4) The Metro League would retain Mar Vista, Chula Vista, and Sweetwater.

Metropolitan League plans were on the table for El Capitan, a school in Lakeside, but El Cap would not open until 1959, and El Cajon Valley (1955) and Mount Miguel (1957) would get to the starting line before the school that would be nicknamed Vaqueros.

5) The Southern Prep League lost Fallbrook but retained Army and Navy Academy, Ramona, Mountain Empire, Julian, and Brown Military.

6) St. Augustine, which had languished with independent status since leaving the Southland Catholic League of mostly Los Angeles-area schools after the 1950 season, was bypassed.

7) Army-Navy and Brown Military, which had evinced interest in being a part of any new North County grouping, received a response of thanks but no thanks. 

unsuited compared to the two military schools.

The biggest winners were the travel weary  schools that left the Metro.

Oceanside and Escondido had competed in a vertical league that stretched at least 50 miles North to South.  Coronado now would be the only opponent requiring extended travel.

SAINTS ON OUTSIDE

The biggest loser was St. Augustine. 

Having only occasional, partial  affiliation from 1924-45 (they were members in name only in the Southern Prep in 1941-42 and the so called North County League in 1943), the Saints finally joined a circuit in 1945 but were stressed by travel and costs competing in the Southland Catholic League, whose member schools were at least three hours away.

Rev. John R. Aherne, principal of St. Augustine, presented a request that the Saints be admitted to some league affiliation within San Diego County.

Aherne knew he was in trouble when the motion to accept Rindone’s suggested realignment was made by La Jolla principal Marvin Clark, the City League representative at the meeting, and seconded by Ray Redding, Julian principal and Southern Prep representative.

Clark said the City League was willing to provide competition for St. Augustine, but that it was “impossible, for administrative reasons, to extend an invitation…at this time.”

Rindone, also representing the Metropolitan League, read the  San Diego leagues’ recommendation to the executive council.

There was no language in the San Diego document about a disposition of the St. Augustine application. 

Public schools wanted no part of a St. Augustine that could offer scholarships and recruit players from the publics’ attendance districts. Religious beliefs, while not openly stated, also came into play and there was suspicion of how eligibility would be enforced at the private school.

Aherne was undaunted. “We are not through,” he said. “We will fight this through the community in San Diego until the community itself decides the issue.”

Aherne had a few ideas of how to win this battle but the Saints still were years away from reaching their goal.

VALLECITOS?

Escondido High would make a permanent move to its North Broadway locale in 1954, but getting there and what might have happened is a chapter of history that began in the aftermath of the tsunami-like earthquake of 1933 which destroyed hundreds of structures in  Long Beach and surrounding Southern California communities.

Among the most damaged buildings were those at Long Beach Poly, with leveled classrooms and a collapsed belfry.  In reaction, the California legislature  passed the “Field Act,” mandating that all high school buildings be earthquake-safe and condemned many that were built before 1933.

The three-story Escondido High building, which went up in 1930 in the middle of the downtown business area, was declared unsafe in a 1934 inspection report, but that document was set aside and never acted upon.

By the early ‘fifties the downtown campus had become overcrowded and school board officials wanted a new high school, Vallecitos, on North Broadway.

Two bond issues were required.

The state finally awakened and confronted Escondido with the old inspection report and demanded that students  vacate the building before attempting the second bond measure.

Escondido High juniors and seniors were moved to the partially completed “Vallecitos” High and freshmen and sophomores to temporary tents and buildings at the old campus that were determined safe.

The North Broadway campus would be completed as Escondido High and the name Vallecitos, was dropped.

EMBREY TO NEW SCHOOL, ALMOST

Bob (Chick) Embrey was going to be the head coach at Vallecitos and remembers that  green and gray uniforms had been purchased and that other preparations had been made.

An assistant coach at Escondido, Embrey had lived in the community since his family moved there from Oklahoma in 1936. He was a star halfback on the 7-1 1944 Cougars team and played on the 11-0 San Diego State squad in 1951.

With Vallecitos no longer in play, Embrey had to wait.

When opportunity knocked again, Embrey started a dynasty at Escondido, where he posted a 144-66-4 (.682) record from 1956-77, winning 10 league championships and appearing in four San Diego Section title games, winning two and tying in another.

OF HORNETS AND BUCCANEERS

San Diego High drew students from as far East as Lemon Grove, as far North as Clairemont-Bay Park, and as far South as the National City border.

With an eye to the future, the San Diego City Schools built Abraham Lincoln Junior High in Southeast San Diego.  Lincoln opened in 1949 with 514 students in seventh and eighth grades. They came from the East and Southeast.  

From the beginning plans were for Lincoln to grow into a high school. 

With students in grades 7, 8, and 9, a sophomore class was added in the 1952-53 school year.  A junior class progressed in 1953-54, with those juniors comprising the first graduating senior class in 1954-55.

Lincoln was varsity-active in all sports but football in 1953-54. The 1954-55 school year included double sessions with seniors out of school at noon.  

Lincoln dropped junior high grades upon completion of  nearby Samuel F. Gompers Junior High in 1955.

Known originally as the Presidents and with school colors of blue and grey, Lincoln made a pragmatic decision to adopt school colors of green and white.

MILITARY CONNECTION

A coach and physical education teacher named George Pierson was acquainted with the coach of the PhibPac navy team in Coronado.  PhibPac suspended football about the time Lincoln was teeing up. 

Pierson’s connection resulted in PhibPac’s green and white uniforms being passed on to the fledgling high school.

A more accepted version was that student leaders voted first for the suggestion of coach Carmack Berryman, whose alma mater was Fullerton Junior College, also named the Hornets.

th graders in 1953-54, followed by a school year of ninth through 12^th grades in ’54-55. 

Mission Bay played a JV football schedule until 1955-56 but had varsity status in all other sports by its second year.

San Diego baseball historian Bill Swank, who authored an early history of his alma mater, said that being a beach-area school, within a long walk to the Pacific Ocean, Mission Bay embraced a seaworthy image, becoming the Buccaneers with black and gold colors.

The sluggish UT-San Diego poll showed no change in the first six positions from last week with  minor juggling after that, most notable being St. Augustine’s rising from 10th to seventh.

Meanwhile, there continues to be an absence of San Diego Section teams in the Cal-Hi Sports state top 20.

Torrey Pines, Foothills Christian, La Costa Canyon, and San Marcos have “On the Bubble” status.

UT-San Diego poll #8:

#	Team (1st place votes)	W-L	Points*	Previous
1	Torrey Pines (8)	23-2	107	1
2	Foothills Christian (3)	17-7**	100	2
3	La Costa Canyon	17-6	85	3
4	San Marcos	22-1	79	4
5	Army-Navy	20-4	60	5
6	El Camino	19-4	55	6
7	St. Augustine	19-6	30	10
8	Mission Bay	17-2	28	7
9	Morse	19-5	25	9
10	Francis Parker	14-6	36	8

*Awarded on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.  **Includes two forfeits.

Others receiving votes: Cathedral (13-7), 11; Escondido (15-7), 5; Kearny (18-7), 2.

Eleven San Diego County sportswriters and broadcasters, and a CIF San Diego Section representative vote each week. The panel includes John Maffei and Kirk Kenney (UT-San Diego), Terry Monahan (UT-San Diego correspondent), Bill Dickens (eastcountysports.com), Steve Brand (San Diego Hall of Champions), John Labeta (CIF San Diego Section), Bodie DeSilva (sandiegopreps.com), Aaron Burgin (fulltimeshoops.com), Rick Willis (KUSI Chl. 51), Rick Smith (partletonsports.com), Drew Willis (sdcoastalsports.com).

Billy Casper, who passed away recently at age 83, was not only a Hall of Fame golfer as a professional but  also made his mark as a student  at Chula Vista High.

Casper was runner-up as a sophomore, champion as a junior, and runner-up as a senior in the CIF Southern Section golf championships from 1948-50.

Casper won the individual title in 1949  by shooting a 73 and winning in a sudden death playoff at Montebello Country Club.

Casper was named as one of the CIF Southern Section’s 100 greatest athletes when the organization celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2013.

Several Eastern League schools found themselves unable to access a favored playing site, by the San Diego Conquistadors.

Yes, those Q’s, the American Basketball Association professional team located here.

The preps, in keeping with years of tradition, thought Aztec Bowl was reserved for them for games Oct. 13, 20, and 27.

Trouble was those were the same nights the Q’s were playing at Peterson Gym, a few hundred yards away.

Since Peterson Gym and Aztec Bowl shared the same parking lot, San Diego State officials declared they would not allow prep football and pro basketball games to be held simultaneously.

Possibly contributing to the policy was that nearby College-area homeowners long had complained about traffic, vandalism, and other problems involving events at the venues.

Hoover, Patrick Henry, Crawford, Morse, and St. Augustine were forced to look elsewhere.

The basketballers were a few steps ahead of the apparently sonambulant city schools and made arrangements earlier.  Grossmont College also snared some football dates.

“Everybody thought somebody was taking care of the contracts, but nobody did,” said a San Diego State spokesman.

San Diego Section commissioner Don Clarkson was blamed for the scheduling lapse.

Scheduling was Clarkson’s responsibility when he also held the post of Supervisor of Secondary athletics for the City Schools.

Clarkson said that he had retired from the supervising gig and that he had notified schools that they would have to make their own arrangements for game sites.

Eastern League athletic directors were contacted but claimed they never received such notification.

After some scrambling, swearing, and finger pointing the schools found alternate venues.

WHO WON FIGHT?

Sweetwater and Castle Park rolled in the dirt in a South Bay imbroglio that matched coaches who were close friends and college teammates.

That Dave Lay’s Red Devils defeated Gil Warren’s Trojans, 20-14, almost was forgotten in the frenzy of a mini riot by fans.

As Castle quarterback Don Bohnstein moved his team toward a game-leading touchdown in the fourth quarter, another of several skirmishes that had taken place in the stands spilled onto the track surrounding the Castle Park gridiron.

Will Watson of The San Diego Union estimated that as many as 200 persons were involved and that they had almost reached the end zone to which the Trojans were marching.

COPS ARE COMING!

Police were summoned and 13 squad cars and a helicopter responded, including three Highway Patrol vehicles and a police van.

Watson reported that the mob got closer to the end zone than the Trojans, who reached the eight-yard line before Bohnstein was sacked for a 13-yard loss.

The Red Devils’ Leroy Brown knocked out the Trojans with touchdown runs of 10, 38, and 70 yards and acquired a nickname.

“BAD, BAD LEROY BROWN”

 “…the baddest man in the whole damn town…badder than old King Kong, and meaner than a junkyard dog…”

Legendary singer-songwriter Jim Croce’s recorded that classic around the time Brown was the baddest.

Opponents learned not to “tug on Superman’s cape….”

The 205-pounder  teamed with Rudy Nanquil to give the National Citians a devastating running game, key to their 12-0  record and San Diego Section championship.

Sweetwater-Castle Park was the premier South Bay rivalry during the ’seventies. Warren and Lay, who played on Don Coryell’s first San Diego State teams from 1961-63, were 4-4-1 against each other from 1969-77.

DO YOUR THING, SON

Stalled at San Diego’s three-yard line, Crawford coach Bill Hall turned to offspring-kicker Dale Hall, who booted a 21-yard field goal with 25 seconds remaining to give the Colts a 23-21 victory over San Diego.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

Celebrities, no, but celebrity names, yes.

Bob Hope played tailback for Orange Glen. Cesar Romero was a wide receiver for Montgomery.  Hilltop offensive lineman Billy Casper, Jr., was son of the champion golfer.

MORE SUCCESS IN NFL

Hoover’s 2-7 record was no fault of tight end William Gay, who went on to play at USC and was a second round draft choice of the Denver Broncos in 1978.

Gay came into the league as a tight end and even was  a two-way player, tight end and defensive end, from 1979-88 with the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings.

Gay had 44.5 sacks in his NFL career.

ELEVEN THOUSAND?

Sweetwater won its first playoff game, 32-27, over Patrick Henry before an overflow, standing-in-the-aisles, watching-from-the-outside crowd of 11,000 persons, according to writer John Nettles of The San Diego Union.

“It seemed like half of National City was there, plus a healthy number from San Carlos,” Nettles said of the mass of humans at Southwestern College.

No actual attendance figures were available (the Evening Tribune estimate was an overflowing 8,500), but all on hand witnessed postseason football at its best.

Sweetwater spotted Henry a 13-0, first-quarter lead but stormed back to go ahead, 24-13, at the half, then fought off the Patriots as Leroy Brown and Rudy Nanquil combined to rush for 314 yards.

Nanquil had 155 yards in 17 carries and scored on a 69-yard run, while Brown contributed 149 yards in 20 carries and scored on runs of 1, 1, 35, and 1 yard.

Leading, 32-27, Alan Gutzamer ended a last Henry threat, intercepting Scott Brisbin’s pass. Sweetwater ran out the last four minutes.

ANOTHER  BIG TURNOUT

Eleven-thousand persons were on hand the next week at Aztec Bowl as Sweetwater edged Escondido, 14-13, in a battle of old Metropolitan League antagonists.

The game may have turned on a decision by Escondido coach Chick Embrey, whose team, having just gone ahead, 12-8, with 1:30 left in the third quarter, opted for a one-point conversion.

“I couldn’t believe it,”admitted Sweetwater coach Dave Lay.  “I couldn’t figure it out.”

The Cougars became more vulnerable with only a five-point lead, which finally vanished when Brown scored from one yard with 6:47 left in the game.

“I blew it,” Embrey told Jack Williams of the Evening Tribune.  “I wasn’t thinking. I guess my mind is getting old and clogged up.”

RUDY AND LEROY, AGAIN

Nanquil rushed for 187 yards and Brown for 136 on a soggy field as Sweetwater won its first championship  by defeating Lincoln , 22-12, before 11,088 at San Diego Stadium.

Lincoln punted only once but lost three fumbles and had one pass intercepted.

“I was just happy as hell when I read in the papers  at the beginning of the season we weren’t supposed to be good, “ said Lay, “because I really thought we could have a helluva team.”

The coach said the emergence of sophomore quarterback Ron Schraeder was key.  “When he played super in a scrimmage against Oceanside I knew we could be good, but I never thought about 12-0.”

RED DEVILS READY

From the outset, Lay had positioned the Red Devils for their championship run.

“If we come through in certain areas, this could be our best team ever,” Lay told Will Watson on the eve of the season opener with Bonita Vista.

The Red Devils returned seven defensive starters, five offensive starters, and 19 players who started at least one game in 1971. They did it with speed and toughness, despite a defensive line that averaged only 168 pounds.

HORNETS BACK IN  BUSINESS

Lincoln, picked fourth in the preseason, won its first Eastern League championship since 1965.

Wally Henry, who transferred from San Diego as a sophomore, scored 21 touchdowns in leading coach Earl Faison’s team to the finals.

Henry had touchdown runs of 80, 71, 67, 58, 57, 50, 65, and 38 yards, during the Hornets’ 9-3 season.

WALLY’S WORLD

Wally Henry’s exploits were followed by an outstanding career and a game-changing touchdown for UCLA in the 1976 Rose Bowl against Ohio State.

Henry played six seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFL and earned a Pro Bowl invitation as a kick returner in 1979.

A throwback to the great running backs of decades past at San Diego High,  Henry was destined to be selected to the all-time, all-San Diego prep team in 2012.

Faison was the American Football League’s rookie of the year in 1961  and was all-AFL from 1961-66.  He was head coach at Lincoln from 1969-73 and then left coaching and had a long career in school administration.

SIX GOOD MEN

Francis Parker, La Jolla Country Day, and San Miguel moved  from eight-man to six-man football.

The San Diego schools competed in their own league and played several other 6-man schools from a similar league in the CIF Southern Section.

The locals played each other twice and at least two of the Los Angeles-area schools.

WHERE’S OFFENSE?

A capacity crowd of 15,000 at Aztec Bowl went home scratching its head after the 12^th annual Grossmont League carnival ended with a 3-0 score.

Santana’s Wes Hancock kicked a 24-yard field goal against Monte Vista with 30 seconds left in the first quarter.  Santana was joined by Granite Hills, Grossmont, and El Capitan on the winning East.

The West was comprised of Helix, Mount Miguel, El Cajon Valley, and Monte Vista.

El Cajon Valley almost stole the show, controlling the ball for more than 11 minutes and 17 plays before short-circuiting with an interception on El Capitan’s 11-yard line.

MENOTTI MIFFED

Jack Menotti’s Madison Warhawks were the No. 1-ranked team in the County with an 8-0-1 record on the field but 6-2-1 legislatively.

A transfer from Kearny had played in two games in the middle of the season but was found to be scholastically ineligible.

Menotti self-reported his program’s “dreaded administrative glitch,” but the Warhawks still hoped to make the playoffs in a title-deciding Western League showdown against Kearny.

Kearny, trailing, 15-0, finally caught the Warhawks at 15-15, after Kearny coach Birt Slater opted for a one-point conversion instead of a two-point attempt and victory.

Tom Barnett was a first-year assistant coach at Kearny. He had replaced Menotti, who had gotten his coaching start at Kearny under Slater.

“Jack was livid after the game and told Birt that he couldn’t believe Birt kicked and didn’t go for two points,” said Barnett.  “But Don Wadsworth told Birt that a tie was  as good as a win for Kearny.”

ASSISTANT COVERED BASES FOR BIRT

Wadsworth was an assistant coach and valuable presence on the Kearny sideline, monitoring downs and distances, number of available time outs, clock management, and often calming the  emotional Slater.

“Birt wasn’t too happy about going for the tie either,” said Barnett.

But kicking for the tie was the safe decision, giving Kearny a final, 4-1-1 league record.

Had Kearny gone for two and failed, Madison would have finished 4-1-1 in the league and gotten into the postseason. The Warhawks instead were 3-2-1 and fourth.

“All we needed was a tie,” said Slater.  “If we had needed to win, who’s to say we wouldn’t have (tried for the more difficult two point conversion)?”

Kearny claimed its seventh successive Western League championship, but was knocked out of the playoffs for the sixth consecutive year, bowing at Vista, 13-12.

SLATER FIRES BACK

The Kearny coach was in a foul mood.

Slater thought game officials made two egregious calls against the Komets and that Vista coach Dick Haines was cracking wise after the Komets’ playoff loss.

Haines’s remarks were to the effect that North County coaches always shake hands after a game, but that San Diego coaches go around with their heads between their legs when they lose.

”I tried to find Haines after the game,” Slater told Jack Williams of the Evening Tribune.  “Hell, he won the game.  Why didn’t he look me up?  He’s a bleep if he thinks I had my head between my legs.”

CIF TO MADISON:  DROP DEAD

Madison still had hope before the playoffs, but the school in northeast Clairemont was doomed.

“All I can say a great injustice has been done,” said Menotti after the CIF board of managers rejected the No. 1-ranked Warhawks’ final appeal to be part of the eight-team eliminations.

Menotti lamented to Bill Finley of the Evening Tribune:  “What they’ve shown is it doesn’t pay to be honest. I’ve cost these kids a once-in-a-lifetime chance.  It’s my fault all this happened.”

“I think we need to take a look at our rules,” said Madison athletic director John Hannon.  “This is 1972.”

Madison’s plea was based on “an inadvertent” error (dreaded administrative glitch) by an admissions secretary.

When the ineligible player transferred to Madison and turned out for football his transcript was mixed up with that of another student with the same last name, according to Hannon.

HE’D KICK FOR  CRITTERS

La Jolla’s Rolf Benirschke was one of the Western  League’s top scorers with 36 points, including eight field goals, more than any other kicker, but Bernirschke became better known as a San Diego Chargers icon.

Benirschke was a 12th-round draft choice of the Oakland Raiders out of the University of California at Davis and was claimed on waivers by the San Diego Chargers.

After a battle with ulcerative colitis that saw the entire community rally behind him with a record-breaking blood drive, Benirschke went on to finish an outstanding  career with the Chargers.

Every field goal and point after kicked by Benirschke  included a matching donation by Rolf  to his charity, which he called “Kicks for Critters,” benefiting  research at the San Diego Zoo.

QUICK KICKS

Kearny’s streak of 33 Western League games without a loss and 29 league wins in a row came to end in a 13-12, league opener defeat to University… Leroy Brown’s 171 points was 23 points shy of the County record of 194 by Oceanside’s C.R. Roberts in 1953…after losing its first 18 games, Montgomery won its first three in the school’s third season…the Aztecs finished with a 4-5 record…Escondido quarterback Dan Embrey is son of head coach Bob (Chick) Embrey…Herb Meyer of Oceanside also had a quarterback son, Dave Meyer…two seasons after 0-9, Mount Miguel posted a 7-2 regular-season record and made its first playoff appearance since 1961…compliments of Greg (Stats) Durrant:  Castle Park, Granite Hills, and Oceanside each was 7-2 but failed to make the playoffs and each was led by a player destined for post-high school excellence…Castle’s John  Fox eventually became a respected NFL head coach…Joe Roth of Granite Hills was an all-America quarterback at California-Berkeley before being struck down by cancer…Oceanside’s Joe Paopao quarterbacked more than 15 years in the Canadian League…all three played at area junior colleges, Fox at Mesa, Roth at Grossmont, and Paopao at Palomar…trailing Vista with 1:53 remaining,  Lincoln marched 72 yards to score with 39 seconds left and edge the Panthers, 18-16, in a semifinals playoff before about 8,000 in Aztec Bowl,…Wally Henry made 13 yards by himself  on a 17-yard pass play, spinning and breaking tackles, to get the Hornets to the three-yard line…Henry scored the winning touchdown two plays later….