Helix is number one, at least for the opening week.

The Highlanders received 14 first-place votes and 262 points from the panel of 30 in the first Union-Tribune football poll coordinated by veteran prep honcho John Maffei.

The Scots also were number one in the final 2017 vote:

Rank	Team	2017	Points	Previous
1.	Helix (14)	13-2	262	1
2.	Torrey Pines (3)	7-5	236	4
3.	Cathedral (8)	5-7	221	NR
4.	Mission Hills (3)	12-1	198	2
5.	Madison (1)	8-3	189	8
6.	La Costa Canyon	7-4*	130	NR
7.	San Marcos	9-3	106	3
8.	Ramona	12-1	96	7
9	Eastlake	10-2	51	10
10.	Steele Canyon	12-4	34	6

*Includes forfeit loss.

Others:  Lincoln (9-2, 1 first-place vote, 26 points), Carlsbad (6-6, 23), Oceanside (6-7, 21), Valley Center (9-2, 16), El Camino (8-6, 13), St. Augustine (7-4, 12), Granite Hills (10-3, 3) Otay Ranch (8-4, 3), Rancho Bernardo (6-6, 2), El Centro Southwest (13-0, 2), University City (10-2, 2), The Bishop’s (9-1, 1), Monte Vista (8-6, 1).

Voters  (30 sportswriters, sportscasters, various County football honchos):

• John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune
• Jim Lindgren, Rick Hoff, Terry Monahan, Don Norcross, Tom Saxe, Union-Tribune correspondents
• Paul Rudy, Brandon Stone, KUSI Chl. 51
• Adam Paul, ECpreps.com
• Ramon Scott, EastCountySports.com
• Bodie DeSilva, sandiegopreps.com
• Ted Mendenhall, Tyler Quellman, The Mighty 1090
• Steve Brand, San Diego Hall of Champions
• Troy Hirsch, Fox 5, San Diego
• Rick Smith, PartletonSports.com
• Jerry Schniepp, John Labeta, Ron Marquez, Carlton Hoggard, CIF San Diego Section
• Joe Heinz, Coordinator, Athletics, Sweetwater School District
• Raymond Brown, sdfootball.net
• Montell Allen, MBA Sports/San Diego Friday Night Lights Magazine
• Bob Petinak, Fox 1360 Radio
• John Kentera, Brandon Suprenant, 97.3 FM The Fan
• Steve (Biff) Dolan, Mountain Country 107.9 FM
• Jim Arnaiz, Mike Dolan, John Carroll, San Diego Section Tournament Directors.

CHALLENGING OPENER

Helix, 13-2 in 2017 and a state Division 1-A finalist, begins the season on the road against San Bernardino Cajon, an explosive D-III club from the Southern Section that was 14-2 in 2017, scored 748 points, and boast returning quarterback Jayden Daniels, who has passed for 110 career touchdowns.

The Cowboys, from the Citrus Belt League, also allowed 321 points.

The Highlanders are a preseason-ranked 26^th in the state, highest among San Diego Section squads, according to Max Preps.  Cajon, which defeated Moreno Valley Rancho Verde, 70-23, for the Southern Section championship but lost the state D-IIIA title to San Mateo Serra, 38-14, in 2017, is 12^th in Max Preps’ view.

Cal Preps.com gives Helix a 41.9 rating and Cajon 58.8.  The good San Diego Section teams usually receive low, early ratings from Cal Preps but gain cred as the season moves on.

CAL-HI SPEAKS

Cal-Hi Sports’ top 50 has Madison as the top-rated San Diego team  at 18, followed by Helix, 23, Cathedral, 33, Torrey Pines, 35,  Mission Hills, 42, and La Costa Canyon, 46.  San Marcos is in the “just missed” category and Helix’ opponent, San Bernardino Cajon, is 15th.

Madison, which opens at home against Rancho Bernardo, reportedly has a junior quarterback who transferred in from 12-3 Rancho Verde after passing for 40 touchdowns and 3,350 yards in 2017.

Other interesting opening week matchups will send No. 10 Steele Canyon (12-4 in 2017 and defending state DIII-AA champion) to Carlsbad (6-6), No. 2  Torrey Pines (7-5) to 9 Eastlake (9-3), and 3 Cathedral (5-7) to 6 La Costa Canyon (7-4).

MERRY GO-ROUND

There have been a whopping 16 head coaching changes since the end of last season, but at least five of the “new” coaches are “old” coaches.

–John McFadden returned to Eastlake, where McFadden built an outstanding program from 2000-13, during which his teams posted a 120-42-4 record.  McFadden’s win-loss percentage of .735 is second only among active coaches to the 128-39-1 (.764) of Madison’s Rick Jackson.

–Leigh Cole ran the Del Norte program from 2011-14 and was 20-25, including 6-6 in ’13 plus a couple seasons of 5-6. None of the two other Nighthawks head coaches, since the school teed it up in 2010, won more than two games in a season.

–Chris Thompson of Mira Mesa returns to his figurative alma-mater. He was a longtime assistant for the Marauders as far back as the Brad Griffith era in the 1980s.  Thompson was 26-25 from 2013-16 at Bonita Vista, including a 12-3 and state DV-AA championship game appearance in which the Barons came up short against Hanford, 33-21, in ’15.

–Troy Starr was 83-18-1 from 2008-16 at Helix, meting out punishment every year to Grossmont Hills opponents, and then suddenly stepped down, although Starr remains in the Helix physical education department.  He moves over a neighborhood to Spring Valley and Mount Miguel.

—Gene Rheam was 39-21-1 from 2010-15 at Calvary Christian San Diego, which isn’t in San Diego but Chula Vista.  Rheam was on hiatus in 2016 and the Royal Knights did not field a team in 2017.

Moving treadmill:

Coach	School	Former
Marcus Bruce	Blythe Palo Verde Valley	George Dagnino
Sam Kirkland	Bonita Vista	Aaron Jones
Gene Rheam	Calvary Christian San Diego	Dr. David Riley
Leigh Cole	Del Norte	Patrick Coleman
John McFadden	Eastlake	Dean Tropp
Nick Osborn	El Cajon Valley	Nick Williams
Jim Rooney	Horizon Prep	Rick Nicolosi
Tim Baxter	Mabel O’Farrell	NA
Chris Thompson	Mira Mesa	Gary Blevins
Dane Roman	Mission Bay	Kenny Nears
Freddie Dunkle	Montgomery	Sanjevi Subbiah
Troy Starr	Mount Miguel	Shaun McDade
Gustavo Sandoval	Salton City West Shores	David Guillen
Justin McKenzie	San Diego Jewish	Skip Carpowicz
Mike Kastan	Valhalla	Charles Bussey
Earl Benson	Victory Christian	Ron Allen

HAPPY TRAILS

To Blythe Palo Verde Valley’s George Dagnino, who stepped down after 17 seasons of long and longer bus rides for half of every season as the Yellowjackets competed in the Imperial Valley League and western Arizona from the most distant outpost in the San Diego Section.

Dagnino had the second longest run of consecutive seasons in the San Diego Section, behind Cathedral’s Sean Doyle, who is beginning his 23^rd season.  Matt Oliver of Christian has coached the Crusaders since 1999 but gave way in 2003 to ex-NFL quarterback Jay Schraeder, who was boss for one season.

MOVING UP

Grossmont’s Tom Karlo could become the 44^th coach to win 100 games.  Karlo is 91-53-2, posting 44-31 from 2005-11 at Mount Miguel and 47-22 since at Grossmont.  With 12 wins, The Bishop’s Joel Allen, 88-29-1 since 2008, also could receive Century Club status.

POSSIBLE

Monte Vista’s Ron Hamamoto would tie John Shacklett for fourth all-time at 229 victories with an 11-win season.  Hamamoto, with 218, is being shadowed by Valley Center’s Rob Gilster, who has 216.

A 12-win season by Cathedral would give Sean Doyle a 10^th-place tie with Dick Haines at 194. Matt Oliver needs 9 wins and Chris Hauser 11 to tie Mike Dolan’s 165 for 14^th.  Mike Hastings could tie John Morrison’s 146 victories if Point Loma wins 7.  Madison’s Rick Jackson needs 8 wins to advance from 29^th to 23^rd and tie Gene Edwards at 136.

(For additional information, click Football on our Home page, and choose “Coach 100 Win Club”. Choose “Scores / By Year / 2018“;  or “Teams / School” for a complete listing of coaches and schedules of the 97 schools playing this season).

HELLO

Mabel O’Farrell charter school, located halfway between Lincoln and Morse on Skyline Drive in Encanto, and with a published number of almost 1,350 students, is fielding its first football team and will begin as an independent with a game at Castle Park this week.  O’Farrell opened as a junior high in 1957 and later became known as a school of performing arts.

Mabel E. O’Farrell was an early 20^th century member of the County board of supervisors and was known to have served on a committee charged with creating a detention home for wayward youth.

I’m an O’Farrell fan already.  One of its alumni was the late Rosie Hamlin, lead singer of “Rosie and the Originals”, who recorded a ‘sixties favorite, “Angel Baby.”  Rosie attended Sweetwater and also had a cup of coffee at Mission Bay.

 

 

 

 

It was a remarkable spring.

San Diego High won its first outright, state  championship since 1929 and the Hilltoppers and Hoover Cardinals finished 1-2 in the team race in the CIF Southern Section finals.

It stood to reason that since San Diego also was team champion in the five-star Southern Counties’ meet at Huntington Beach in March and had come up strong in the Coast League Relays that coach Glenn Broderick’s squad would win the dual meet championship.

But San Diego, Hoover, and Long Beach Wilson tied, each with a 5-1 record. San Diego topped Wilson, 66-56, after Wilson had edged the Cardinals, 62 ½-59 ½, in the first night meet in city history.  Wilson and Hoover baseballers had occupied the Cardinals’ stadium in the afternoon.

UPSET FOLLOWED BY SURPRISE

Hoover stunned the Hillers by winning their dual-meet showdown, 63 ½-58 ½, in a sensational battle replete with outstanding performances, including the Cardinals‘ meet-clinching, school-record 1:30.7 victory in the 880-yard relay, final event of the day.

Two days after Bob Beckus, Clyde Yakel, and Alvin Cordray had led Hoover to its first win over the Hillers, San Diego principal John Aseltine announced that track coach-head football coach Glenn Broderick had resigned.

Broderick would remain with his squad through the upcoming Coast League championships, CIF divisional and finals competition, and the state meet in Hollister.

No reason was given for Broderick’s departure, much less the timing.  There were rumors of health issues.

I first met Broderick in the early ‘sixties when the retired coach, who had worked in the defense industry at Consolidated Vultee Aircraft during and after World War II, was a regular at any meet of importance in San Diego, serving as a finish judge or timer for years.

Broderick left a strong coaching legacy on the hilltop.   The Hillers were 56-18-1 in dual meets from 1927-38, including a run of 40-6 from 1929-35.  Broderick was 15-8-2 in three seasons, 1935-37, in football and his Class B gridders won the 1929 Southern California championship.

IT’S HOOVER’S TIME

Hoover had not beaten the Hilltoppers in five dual meets since 1933, losing by scores of 76-37, 73-29, 88-15, 82-31, and 70-43.

With Beckus, an outstanding half-miler and hop-step-and-jumper; Yakel, the Southern Section record holder in the Class B 220 in 1937, and the versatile Cordray, one of the state’s best in the broad jump and high jump, coaches Ralph Young and Lawrence Carr liked their chances.

Anticipation was such that Mitch Angus of The San Diego Union began writing about the meet an unusual five days before the first sound of the starter’s pistol.

It was a home meet for the Hilltoppers, but officials from both schools toyed with the idea of moving the competition to Friday night, under the lights at Hoover.  A decision was made to hold the meet in City Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

A midweek story was headlined “Hoover Track Hopes Pinned on Strategy of Coaches”. Rumors floated that Cardinals coaches were considering a move of Beckus into the 220-yard low hurdles in hopes of picking up additional points.

Beckus normally competed in the 880, in which he several times bettered the school record, was the outstanding hop-step-and-jump athlete in the state, a reliable broad jumper, and one four members of the relay team.

Beckus would have a better chance of scoring vital points or upsetting the Hillers’ Johnny Biewener in the long hurdle race than he would in the broad jump, which featured two of the state’s best, Hoover’s Alvin Cordray and San Diego’s Bob Logan.

Broderick worried because his best HSJ competitor, Zeno Berger, was nursing a charley horse.

HOW HE SEES IT

Kearney Johnson, a composing room employee for The San Diego Union, was known as “Dopey,” because Johnson loved to dope track meets, especially those involving his beloved alma-mater, San Diego High.

(Twenty-thee years later when I began doping/handicapping the San Diego Section championships for the Evening Tribune, Johnson and I would compare notes).

“Dopey’s” dope sheet favored San Diego by a score of 66-56 and also noted that seven meet records were in jeopardy. Eight meet records actually would be broken and another tied.

Beckus rewarded his coaches’ strategy by getting up for second in the low hurdles; won the hop, step, and  jump, set a school record of 1:59.1 in the 880, and ran a leg on the relay.

Beckus and Cordray, who won the broad jump at 22 feet, 1 ½ inches and upset Bob Logan in the high jump at 6-2 1/2, were outstanding, but it was a trio of Hoover pole vaulters, identified only by their last names, Hart, Cole, and Smith, who cleared a minimal 11 feet.

The 9-0 points sweep in the vault midway in the afternoon allowed the Cardinals to stay close to the Hillers and gave them a chance to win the meet as the favored relay squad.

The teams were tied, 58 1/2 points each, when they lined up for the half-mile race, in which San Diego was in the lead at the final baton exchange.

Yakel caught San Diego anchorman Leonard Black and brought the Cardinals home two seconds faster than they had run all season.  San Diego, two yards back, ran 1:31.

THE BIGGER MEETS

San Diego and Hoover would be favored in the upcoming all-Coast finals, the Divisional meet at Glendale, and in the Southern Section finals at the Los Angeles Coliseum.

Form played out and San Diego got some late-season help from Logan, who had slumped following his school-record, 6-5 1/4 high jump in March against Alhambra.

ALL-COAST

San Diego was first with 67 points, followed by Hoover, 56, Wilson, 53 ½, Long Beach Poly, 17 ½, and Alhambra, 16.

San Diego’s George Franklin won his 440 race in :51 flat and Ed Becker scored a double victory in the weights, reaching 52-3 ¼ in the shot put and 128-11 ½ in the discus.

GLENDALE QUALIFIER

Action moved on to the divisional meet at Glendale, where the Cavers scored 36 ½ points and Hoover 28 ½ to outdistance a field that included athletes from the Bay, Prep, San Gabriel, and Foothill leagues.

Beverly Hills’ Gil LaCava, son of a Hollywood movie producer, bettered the national high jump record with a leap of 6-6 ½.  Logan rallied to clear 6-4 for second and was second in the broad jump.

The first-place finishers in the four Divisional meets plus the next 4 best performers would qualify for the finals.

SOUTHERN SECTION

Coaches awaited the call early in the week from Southern Section commissioner Seth Van Patten, who would announce which competitors moved on to the finals.

San Diego went into the meet with seven individuals entered in 10 of the 13 events.  Hoover had six, plus its relay team.

Twenty-five athletes from San Diego plus 11 from the Imperial Valley were among those from the 123 schools represented.   San Diego scored 24 points and Hoover 20 1/3.  Santa Ana was third with 13.

Johnny Biewener, unbeaten in the high hurdles all year, was second.  Biewener also was second in the lows, won by La Jolla’s Jerry Soule in :24.2.

The Hilltoppers’ only winner was Ed Becker, who pushed the shot 54 feet, ½ inch.  Logan tied for second in the high jump and was second in the broad jump at 22-8 ½.

Beckus set a Southern Section record by soaring 46-1 ¾ in the hop, step, and jump and helped the Cardinals finish second to Compton’s 1:29.3-winning relay squad.

Yakel was second and Point Loma’s George Abel third in the 220. San Diego‘s Rickey Roth was fifth in the 880.

STATE

Broderick and a four-man squad of qualifiers Logan, Becker, Roth, and Biewener headed to Hollister 425 miles North along U.S. 101, and some 90 miles south of San Francisco.

The contingent left on Thursday and overnighted in Santa Barbara, also able to get in a workout before the 250-mile push to the host site the next day.

San Diego’s 18 ½ points outdistanced the 11 ½ each by Sacramento and Santa Ana.

Biewener, beaten the previous week for the first time, rebounded to win the high hurdles in :15.3 and was fourth in the lows.  Logan was second in the broad jump with a school-record 23-6 3/4 and tied for second in the high jump.

Roth, slotted into the 880 when a Ontario Chaffey runner withdrew, was fifth and Becker set a school record with a second-place effort of 54-2 ½ in the shot put.

Beckus was shut out, stumbling when hit by another runner and finishing unplaced in the 880 and unable to compete in the hop, step, and jump, because it was not contested in the state meet.

La Jolla’s Jerry Soule was second in the 220 low hurdles and Yakel was fourth in the 220.

Logan and Hoover’s Alvin Cordray  tied for second in the high jump at 6-1, behind the national record 6-7 1/8 cleared by Beverly Hills’  Gil La Cava.

RISING METRO

Oceanside clinched the Metropolitan League dual meet title with a 57 ½-46 ½ win over Point Loma, but it was the Pointers and La Jolla who had the marquee performers.

George Abel, a husky Point Loma sprinter who  competed in the 100, 220, and shot put, set school records with a :09.8 century and :21.5 furlong.

Abel was fourth in the Southern Section 100 at the Los Angeles Coliseum.

Jerry Soule won three events in the Chaffey Invitational: high and low hurdles and high jump.  Coronado’s Ralph Mitchell was a 23-foot long jumper.

Abel won the 100 and 220, finished second in the shot put, and anchored a Point Loma relay victory and 54 ½-49 ½ win over La Jolla in a dual that was washed out early in the competition and resumed the following Wednesday, five days later.

Soule countered Abel with wins in his usual three events, 70-yard high hurdles (:08.9), high jump (6-4) and broad jump (21-4).

Although they were unbeaten in league dual meets, concluding with the  win over Point Loma, Oceanside was not among the 16 schools and 280 athletes who convened at San Diego State for the Divisional.  The Pirates  bailed and sent a contingent to the West Coast Relays in Fresno.

SPIKE DUST

The :24.2 in the 220-yard low hurdles by La Jolla’s Jerry Soule at the Southern Section finals was the nation’s leading mark in that event and earned Soule a place on the interscholastic honor roll as cited by the National Federation of High Schools…San Diego’s Bob Logan was third nationally in the high jump with his 6-5 1/2, which stood as the school record until Doyle Steele cleared 6-6 in 1966…Logan’s 23-6 3/4 broad jump was not bettered until John Parker went 23-9 1/2 in 1951…it wasn’t until the 1950s that times and performances other than those for first place finishers became common knowledge…many good marks over the years either were unknown or unreported because of concentration only on first place; lack of stopwatches, or timers…Hoover did not enter the Southern Counties meet at Huntington Beach, instead opening Coast League competition with three school records in an 83-39 win over Alhambra…top mark was Alvin Cordray’s 22-6 ¾ broad jump…Cordray set a school record with a 6-3 1/2 high jump in a 71-51 win over Long Beach Poly…San Diego surpassed the century mark for the first time in its dual meet history with a 101-21 win over Alhambra…Hoover’s Clyde Yakel won dual-meet sprints over Long Beach Wilson’s Bill Van Leuvan, whose :09.7 100  against Long Beach Poly was the fastest ever run by an athlete from the beach city…Yakel tied Van Leuvan in the Coast League 100, but Van Leuvan was the Southern Section champion at :09.8…San Diego was host for the Coast League championship meet for the first time since 1924…San  Diego’s Bob Logan bombed in the broad jump in the Coast meet but was “byed” into the divisional…Hoover attempted to enter baseball ace Felix Aguirrre in the Coast broad jump but was denied…Aguirre could have entered had his ball season been completed … part of the San Diego contingent motored to Glendale on Friday for the 10 a.m. opening of the Divisional…rest of the squad and a Hoover group drove up early Saturday….

 

Ray DeBolt of Granite Hills, a new school at the east end of Madison Avenue in El Cajon, won the San Diego Section mile championship on May 27, 1961.

The victory gave DeBolt, who passed away in the recent months in Reno, Nevada, at age 75, the distinction of being the first section champion in his event.

DeBolt, who outran the field in 4:28.2 on a gusty afternoon at Kearny High, was one of 12–only event winners advanced–who went on to the state championships at East Los Angeles College the following week.

DeBolt did not place among the top five in the state meet but his 4:26.8 time was a personal best and was the fifth fastest ever by a San Diego-area runner.

Thanks to Buzz Thom for letting us know.

Mystery surrounds Hoover’s basketball season.

Someone, call the Shadow.

The mythical sleuth, introduced to American radio audiences early in the decade, had gained so much popularity that a movie “The Shadow Strikes”  was released in 1937.

The Shadow‘s alter ego Lamont Cranston, or more important, an enterprising newspaper reporter, would have determined why, after Hoover celebrated  the Coast League championship with a 7-1 record, essentially disappeared.

CARR: MORE GAMES

Cardinals coach Lawrence Carr told Mitch Angus of The San Diego Union after the final, regular-season game that the Cardinals looked forward to the upcoming CIF Southern Section playoffs and likely would play additional nonleague contests and in possible tournaments at San Diego State and Redondo Beach.

Angus’ story appeared Jan. 20.  The playoffs were to begin Feb. 25. Plenty of time to get in some extra work and win a few more games.

Strangely, nothing was heard of the Cardinals for almost seven weeks, save for announcements of varsity letters awarded; the all-Coast League teams, and an intrasquad game against underclassmen who would represent the 1938-39 club.

Nothing about the playoffs and postseason.

One clue that Hoover’s campaign may have been complete and contrary to Carr’s statement was in an oblique sentence in the middle of Angus’ game account of the Cardinals’ regular-season-ending, 20-19 loss to San Diego:

“It was the last start for the Hooverites and deprived them of a clean sweep (of the season series),” wrote Angus.

If that were the case….read on.

It gets more mysterious.

SAINTS ENTER PICTURE

A list of results of the 20-team playoff bracket for the ’37-38 season  provided years later by Southern Section historian John Dahlem, revealed a St. Augustine victory by forfeit over Hoover in the second round.

The Cardinals really were finished. Abruptly and quietly.

A Saints-Hoover playoff, had it been played, would have been geographically and financially desirable to the Southern Section and would have made for a tremendous local matchup, considering Hoover’s run through the Coast and a sensational record by Coach Cletis (Biff) Gardner’s North Park team.

A Saints squad photo in the Union on Jan. 27, 1938, declared that the private school had won 22 games in a row, including six at the conclusion of the 1936-37 season.

But, like Hoover, the Saints also appeared to go underground.  Possibly because playoffs were beginning long after Coast League squads had completed their seasons, while others still were playing league games.

Late-season nonleague contests probably were not easy to schedule, especially for the independent Saints.

There was not even an account in the newspapers of St. Augustine’s forfeit victory over the Cardinals in a second-round game apparently scheduled for March 4.  Both teams had first-round byes.

FINALLY, ACTION

A local story on March 9 began:  “Having gained the third round without as much as doffing their sweat clothes, St. Augustine’s varsity basketballers are slated to get some opposition in the annual Southern California CIF Class A playoffs this week.”

The Saints were scheduled to visit undefeated El Centro Central, which had beaten Brawley for the Imperial Valley League title and had eliminated Ramona, 53-18, in the first round.

The Spartans also played on a court short of regulation length.  Their crackerbox home court figured to give the Saints problems, according to a pregame story.

St. Augustine won easily, 32-15, for a reported 23^rd straight win, but the great season, sparked by the play of four-year veterans Bob Menke, Ed Vitalich, and John (Red) Keogh, ended in the semifinals.

The Saints bowed to legendary power Whittier, 49-28, before “2,000 fans and several hundred others turned away.”  The Cardinals topped Chino, 43-27, for the championship the following night.

Whittier was home team for each game, although the CIF was said to have a rule preventing such an advantage.

St. Augustine defeated Fillmore in the consolation, third-place game, 28-17.

TIGHT MONEY

Don King wrote in Caver Conquest that because of the Great Depression San Diego High played only eight games, all Coast League contests, finishing with a 5-3 record and second place behind Hoover.

Hilltoppers coach Ed Ruffa apparently did not have budget to expand the schedule, but Ruffa managed to get in one more  game.

Kenny Hale, a star on the 1936-37 San Diego High team, haunted his alma mater as Hale led the downtown San Diego Club with 10 points in a 37-26 win.

PLAYERS VOTE

The Coast’s all-league players were the players’ choices as they were charged with picking all-opponent clubs in a poll conducted by the Long Beach Press-Telegram.

Hoover’s Dick Mitchell and Felix Aquirre were on the first team. Teammates Hal Prusa and Ed Tazelaar were on the second team, as were Al Martinez and Bud Mundell of San Diego.

Mitchell led Hoover with 56 points in 8 league games.

Hoover defeated Muir, 47-28, behind Mitchell’s 17 points and then routed Santa Ana, 48-19, and Ontario Chaffey, 45-32, to win the December Huntington Beach tournament.

TWO-HAND SET SHOTS

Point Loma (Class A) and Grossmont (Class B) repeated as champions in the Metropolitan League, Point Loma winning for the third consecutive year…as usual, the Pointers chose not to  participate in the playoffs…after 15 years the December San Diego Interscholastic Tournament was finished…San Diego High sponsored  area-wide Class C and D tournaments in February…Coronado won the Cee competition, 17-15, over San Diego and San Diego was Dee champ, 17-12 over National City Junior High…strange finish to St. Augustine-Army-Navy B game at San Diego State…the contest was tied at 17 after two overtimes when the teams decided to call it a day…perhaps Saints coach Biff Gardner and Coronado mentor Hal Niedermeyer had dinner plans…Mel Skelley’s basket with 4 seconds left gave San Diego a 37-35 win over Long Beach Wilson and clinched second place in the Coast for the Hilltoppers…Duncan Wexler made his dad, Escondido coach Harry, relax after an overtime basket beat Sweetwater, 26-25…Duncan scored 20 in a season-finale, 41-38 triumph over La Jolla…Ramona’s dominance of the Southern Prep League was never more apparent than in a quadruple rout of Fallbrook, 50-15 in A, 31-27 in B, 50-13 in C, and 33-10 in D…the Ramona Town Team then sent everyone home happy with a 56-32 victory over the Aztec Brewers…Point Loma was “all at sea”, wrote a writer of the Pointers’ 34-12 loss to Ontario Chaffey in the Huntington Beach Invitational…the Tigers soaked coach Joe Beerkle’s  peninsula club with a zone defense…Hoover no longer was the dominant Class B team, but the Cardinals dealt unbeaten Long Beach Poly a 25-14 defeat in the second round of league play…San Diego led Alhambra with four minutes remaining and didn’t score again as the visiting Moors pulled out a 32-30 victory…Hal Prusa’s 17 points propelled Hoover to the league-title-clinching, 41-34  win over Long Beach Wilson…future Sweetwater football coach Barney Newlee of Alhambra made the all-Coast team….

Class B teams were not junior varsities and not necessarily inferior to Class A (varsity) clubs.

The B designation was based on exponents, which combined height, weight, and age.  It was not unusual for seniors to play on B squads.

Under Coach Bruce Maxwell, Hoover ruled the B world, many times playing the feature, late game of a doubleheader with the Class A Cardinals team on the undercard.

The Hoover Bees had won CIF Southern Section titles in 1931-32, 1933-34, and 1934-35.

The Cardinals were at least even money to also win in 1935-36, but no championship game was contested because their South Pasadena opponent refused to play (search 1935-36, “Hilltoppers Win, Cardinals’ Feathers Ruffled”).

CIF honcho Seth Van Patten and his executive board did not call a forfeit on South Pas but declared that there would be no 1935-36 champion, and eliminated Class B playoffs going forward.

BRUCE ALMIGHTY STEPS DOWN

Maxwell now was teaching math at Hoover and was succeeded by Lawrence Carr.

Undefeated since ’33-34, the Bees had won 48 games in a row before stumbling on their home court at San Diego High, 25-21, to the Santa Ana Saints, who came into the game with a 0-3 league record.

Imagine a sway-backed plow horse outrunning Secretariat.

Hoover tied for first with Long Beach Poly in the Coast League  and was declared champion because it had beaten the Jackrabbits, but the Cardinals’ days of Class B domination were coming to an end.

MIDSEASON GRADS ROIL COAST

Class A league play in the 6-team Coast League lasted all of 14 days, Jan 12-Jan. 26.  Bosses wanted the schedule completed before mid-term graduation, theoretically giving teams time to regroup before the playoffs.

San Diego would lose Freeman Dill, the league’s leading scorer; Roy Falconer, and Homer Peabody, plus two reserves.

Alhambra lost three starters, Long Beach Poly, one.  The three teams finished in a tie for first, each with a 4-1 record.

Alhambra beat San Diego, 32-15, but lost to Poly, which San Diego defeated, 25-18.

What followed was an interminable postseason.

PLAYOFF BEFORE PLAYOFFS

A playoff to determine the Coast League entry in the Southern Section playoffs was to begin almost two weeks later.  The winner between San Diego and Alhambra would face Long Beach Poly.

The Hilltoppers, under first year coach Ed Ruffa, pulled off a rare double, beating Alhambra, 39-21, on Feb. 6 as erstwhile substitute Al Martinez scored 17 points, and in overtime at Poly, 22-21, Feb 13.

Most other Southern Section Leagues still were involved in their regular seasons.

Two weeks later, on Feb. 24, a scheduled Hilltoppers playoff with Metropolitan League champion Point Loma failed to materialize as the Pointers forfeited.

Point Loma coach Joe Beerkle said that he had lost two starting players, Gil Gonsalves and Gerald Lutes, to midterm graduation and, anyway, the rest of the team was concentrating on the beginning track-and-field season.

WAIT CONTINUES

On Feb. 27, Ruffa was getting desperate  for a game, any game.

The San Diego coach lined up one with the Eta Omega Delta fraternity from San Diego State.

No score was reported but the Cavers apparently won handily, behind newcomer Claude Roberts, who scored 16 points.

At about the same time Brawley was defeating Calexico for the desert title and then routed Southern League champion Ramona, 53-18.

ON TO THE SEMIFINALS

A 34-20 win over Brawley on March 5 moved the Hilltoppers into the round of 4 on March 13 at Whittier College against Tustin, which had a 24-4 record.

San Diego battled back from a 19-12 halftime deficit to a tie at 23, but the Tillers behind the Francis brothers, “Pivoting” Paul and “Slinging” Sam, pulled away to a 34-30 victory.

Tustin the next evening defeated Whittier, 34-24, for the championship.

San Diego closed with a 15-5 record that included a 46-day stretch from the end of league play to the semifinal round of the postseason.

SAINTS SOAR

The 14^th annual San Diego Interscholastic tournament, with 32 teams competing in 66 games in four days in Class A, B, C, and D divisions, played out as expected, with one exception.

San Diego High won A, C, and D and Hoover B, but St. Augustine got the headlines.

“Nearly one-thousand fans were startled when Biff Gardner’s smooth-passing, straight-shooting Saints created one of the biggest upsets of recent years by defeating Hoover, 22-16,” declared a writer for The San Diego Union.

The quintet of Ed Vitalich, Charlie Strada, Bob Menke, John (Red) Keough, and Evers would go on to post a 13-2 record, best in the area, and lost only to San Diego, 27-20, in the tournament finale and 40-15 later in the season.

The poor, all-boys school in North Park seldom got respect from the media and always was questioned by rivals of operating with much easier rules of athletic eligibility

The Saints rejoiced with this infrequent taste of glory.

TOURING CLASS

Coronado was 4-1 on a six-day visit after Christmas to the University of Redlands Frosh (20-17), San Jacinto (28-9), Long Beach Jordan (20-19), and San Juan Capistrano (27-20), sandwiched around a 25-20 loss at Redlands High.

San Diego coach Ed Ruffa prepared to whistle stop several venues in the Southwest, but received no replies after soliciting El Centro Central, Brawley, Holtville, and Mesa, Arizona.  The Hilltoppers still posted wins at Yuma, 32-11, and Phoenix Union, 31-22.

FUTURE BOSSES

San Diego’s Kenny Hale, played on San Diego State’s 1941 National Association of Intercollegiate Basketball championship squad and was a nine-season head coach at Hoover from 1947-48 through 1951-52, posting a 76-43 record, and at the start-up Mission Bay program, where Hale was 53-44 from 1954-55 through 1957-58.

Alhambra guard Shannon Deniston was better known as Shan when he coached football at La Jolla, Lincoln, and San Diego from 1955-81, posting a 94-81-4 record.

SIGN OF THE TIME

No longer will San Diego State athletes be mistaken for lettermen from Sweetwater, Santa Ana, J.C., or Stanford, wrote Charles Byrne in The San Diego Union.

“An interlocking SD debuted when lettermen from football got their sweaters at a college dance,” said Byrne.

The schools Byrne mentioned also matched Aztec colors of red and black.

“The Aztecs could still be mistaken for the University of South Dakota, but the Coyotes colors are yellow and blue,” said Byrne.

After World War II, San Diego High lettermen apparel featured a singular “S”, but gave way to the interlocking SD in the mid-‘fifties.

TWO-HAND SET SHOTS

When not coaching football, Hoover’s John Perry took his  additional football and basketball game officiating assignments  a step further…Perry often was third man in the ring on downtown Coliseum boxing cards…rain forced the Grossmont-Sweetwater game indoors to San Diego State…Hoover was forced to move a practice to San Diego High because of muddy courts…Cardinals would take floor after the Hilltoppers finished their practice, for Hoover often at 5 p.m….the 32-15 loss to Alhambra,  was San Diego’s most decisive in 38 games, since a 37-17 loss to Long Beach Poly in 1934-35…at least three separate scuffles reportedly broke out in the stands or between players during the teams’ Class B game won by Alhambra, 25-21… Point Loma presented a “basket ball” following its game at San Diego with Coronado…the Pointers also invited the Islanders team to what later would be known as a “sock hop”…games in the San Diego Interscholastic event were played at San Diego High, San Diego State, the downtown YMCA and the Army-Navy Y…Ramona gained the right to play Brawley in the playoffs by defeating Mountain Empire, 31-29, in overtime at San Diego State…Point Loma’s 31-22 win against Sweetwater gave the Pointers an undefeated Metropolitan record, 8-0…coach Harry Wexler’s Escondido Cougars had the reported highest scoring total for the season in  a 56-21 win over Coronado…Wexler’s sons, Warren (20 points) and Duncan (7) led the way…San Diego’s Roy Falconer joined Pasadena Muir’s Jackie Robinson and others on the all-Southern California first team…The Hillers’ Freeman Dill was on the second team….

The best teams could be very disappointing, which is why a group of pickup-playing hoopsters almost stole the show.

Eight Grossmont High students, with blistered feet, sore arms and legs, and with a burning desire to  get home and sleep, claimed a record for the longest game, ever.

Basketball historians would argue the point, but not in San Diego County, where there is no recorded proof of anything matching the 15-hour effort of a pair of four-man teams.

The group started playing at 6 a.m. and staggered to a 9 p.m. conclusion with only a two-minute break each hour and 15 minutes for lunch.

A team led by Larry Schweer, the only player with varsity experience, defeated the squad led by game organizer Rich Marian, 1,962 to 1,652.

Schweer, joined by Rich Smith, Larry Strong, and John Sherman, led all scorers with 615 points.  Marian’s team included Steve Lee, Jeff Shaw, and Bob Fleming.

Barry Carr of the Grossmont faculty and several Grossmont coeds kept score.

CAVERS PREVAIL

San Diego High emerged as the AA division champion and the fourth Eastern League team in the San Diego Section’s five years, and favored Crawford vanished in the first round.

The Cavemen, as they still were often called, claimed their first section title since the 1935-36 team marched through the Southern California playoffs.

San Diego’s 24 victories were sullied by eight defeats, some not close.

There was a 60-43 loss to Burbank Burroughs, which featured future UCLA and L.A. Lakers star Lynn Schackelford during the Cavers’ and Hoover’s annual December jousts with schools from the Los Angeles-area Foothill League.

Hoover ousted the Cavers, 55-41, in the San Diego Kiwanis Tournament.

San Diego won a couple games in the San Bernardino Kiwanis event but they were sandwiched between emphatic knockouts of 77-55 to Compton Centennial and 65-48 to Victorville Victor Valley.

They lost twice to Eastern League champion Crawford, 66-54, and 64-62.

And there was a late-season, 47-44 stinker to Morse, which would finish 1-9 in the East and 4-16 overall.

THEY CATCH FIRE

San Diego tied Hoover (14-9) with a 7-3, second-place record and was forced into a league playoff which they survived, beating the Cardinals, 47-40.

The Cavers hit their stride in the postseason behind 6-foot, 6-inch super sophomore Oscar Foster, 6-7 Richard Mills, 6-2 Jerry Eucce, 6-2 Brent Strom, and 5-11 Clarence Calvin.

San Diego dumped Monte Vista (20-8), 59-44, Castle Park (23-7), 56-37, and Chula Vista (21-5), 62-40.

Spartans coach Larry Armbrust was taken aback by the Cavers’ length and size.

“I didn’t realize how big they were until our boys got out there beside them,” said Armbrust, who became the first to play and coach in a section championship game, having starred for the ‘51-‘52 Chula Vista team that won a Southern Section small schools title.

“Every time I looked up to shoot there was a hand in my face,” said Charlie Porter, probably that of Foster or Mills, who led San Diego with 24 points and 10 rebounds.

Mills scored 65 points in the three playoffs, three points less than the record set by Grossmont’s Dick Baker in 1962.

San Diego coach Bill Standly surprised the Spartans when the Cavers came out in a zone defense.  “We just went over it this morning and again before the game,” said Standly.  “We’d never used it.”

IT’S BASKETBALL NOW

Strom, who would form with Foster the nucleus of the 1965-66 squad, was  a future San Diego Section baseball player of the year, all-America at USC, and longtime major league pitcher and pitching coach.

But the stylish lefthander declared, “I won’t be able to think about baseball.  I can’t keep my mind of basketball.  This was the biggest thrill of my life.”

COLTS: WHA’ HAPPENED?

Crawford rolled to a 9-1 Eastern League championship (only loss, 54-52, to Hoover) by two games and took a 22-3 record into the playoffs as the preferred team.

The Colts were sent packing in the first round, 70-56, by 14-9 La Jolla, apparently so shocked by its victory that the Vikings forgot where they were, blown out, 74-59, in the semifinals by Chula Vista and 65-49 by Castle Park in the third place game.

The Colts’ only other local setback (they also lost to North Torrance, 59-54, in quarterfinals of the Covina Tournament) was an early-season, 63-56 decision to El Capitan that wasn’t was stunning as first appeared.  Long dormant El Cap finished 19-9, made the playoffs, and featured junior Gary Schneider, who averaged 20.2 points a game.

Crawford’s record for the last three seasons was 71-15.  Coach Jim Sams and his school had taken the mantel from Hoover as the city’s most successful team but it had been eliminated in the playoffs the last two years.

Von Jacobsen, a 6-4 junior and 6-3 senior Bob Boone kept Crawford in front most of the time and they waged a battle for the league scoring championship.

Jacobsen scored 198 points and Boone 197 in the 10-game league race.  Jacobsen was ninth in the County with 445 points and a 17.8 average in 25 games.  Boone scored 440 points in 26 games for a 16.9 average.

—Boone scored 33 points and Jacobsen 31 as Crawford outscored Mission Bay, 108-89, nullifying the 27 by the Bucs’ 6-foot, 10-inch Mike Kinkki and 24 by Larry Weddle.

—-Crawford and Mission Bay tied the record for most points by two teams. Monte Vista and Granite Hills combined for 197 points in the Monarchs’ 120-77 win over the Eagles in 1963-64.

KINKKI PULLS AWAY

Mission Bay’s Mike Kinkki averaged 24.3 points in his last 10 games and won the scoring title with 601 points and 21.5 average, narrowly edging Sweetwater’s Jim Finnerty, who averaged 21.3.

Kinkki began his run with a school-record 34 points in an 83-66 victory over Madison after averaging 19.9 points in the first 18 games.

A total of 34 players scored at least 300 points.  The  numbers in parenthesis in the table indicates the leaders in scoring average:

Kinkki	Mission Bay	28	601	21.5 (1)
Schneider	El Capitan	28	566	20.2 (4)
Finnerty	Sweetwater	26	554	21.3 (2)
Carson	Escondido	26	536	20.6 (3)
Roberson	Monte Vista	28	544	19.4 (5)
Jackson	Castle Park	28	500	17.9 (7)
Stress	University	25	461	18.4 (6)
Foster	San Diego	31	457	14.7
Jacobsen	Crawford	25	445	17.8 (8)
Boone	Crawford	26	440	16.9
Stone	Point Loma	28	436	15.6
Weddle	Mission Bay	27	432	16.0
Howe	Grossmont	25	428	17.1
Mills	San Diego	30	428	14.3
Gilmore	Mar Vista	26	422	16.2
Walters	La Jolla	26	412	15.8
Dobransky	St. Augustine	22	380	17.3 (10)
Christopher	Oceanside	25	370	14.8
Strom	San Diego	29	361	12.4
Bailey	Helix	25	354	14.2
Padgett	Monte Vista	25	350	14.0
Floyd	Coronado	21	338	16.1
Martin	Clairemont	20	330	16.5
Burton	Chula Vista	26	322	12.4
Pietila	Sweetwater	26	322	12.4
McCoy	La Jolla	25	318	12.7
Heckendorn	Vista	22	313	14.2
Duke	Carlsbad	20	312	15.6
Spencer	Madison	26	310	11.9
Thayer	Carlsbad	20	309	15.5
Wilson	Orange Glen	23	307	13.3
Klostermann	El Capitan	278	306	12.7
Fleming	San Dieguito	232	305	13.2
Conte	San Miguel	17	301	17.7 (9)

POINTS CONTINUE TO RISE

Sixty points in one game still was regarded as excellent offense as recently as 10 years before, but there were six teams this season that averaged that much.

Mission Bay was the leader at 64.8, followed by Crawford (63.9), Chula Vista (63.8), Ramona (63.2), Carlsbad (62.2), and St. Augustine (61.1).

Class AA champion San Diego was not in the top 10 in offense or defense, averaging 56.2 on offense and was 11^th in defense, averaging 48.7.

LEAGUE SCORING

The Eastern League scoring race between Crawford’s Von Jacobsen and Bob Boone was not unique.

Coronado’s Stan Stress outpointed Oceanside’s Bill Christopher, 171-170, in 10 Avocado League games.

The gag shot (below) of referee Mel Ellison “threatening” to put Grossmont coach Locke Olson in a seat belt was to illustrate a new rule.

The CIF legislated that coaches could receive a technical foul for leaving the bench to argue an official’s call.

Olson, one of the more voluble of his brethren, was a good candidate for The San Diego Union photo.

Olson had to sit back and watch as the Foothillers were trounced by Crawford, 64-37.

MILKE’S QUICK SUCCESS

George (Bud) Milke, who never had a starter taller than 6-4 in 10 mostly successful (148-118) seasons at Mar Vista, surprised Metropolitan League rivals by taking first-year Castle Park to the playoffs.

The Trojans tied Mar Vista (16-9) for second place, each with an 8-4 league record, and earned the postseason bid with a 39-37 victory over the Mariners.

Bud retired from the high school ranks but coached nine more years at Southwestern College in Chula Vista.

JUMP SHOTS

San Dieguito (19-9) claimed the Class A title, 61-53 over Carlsbad (17-4), which lost for the second season in a row…Helix’ 18-game winning streak extending back to 1963-64 was snapped by La Jolla, 65-52…Helix had ended La Jolla’s 30-game run in the 1963-64 finals…La Jolla had won 35 of 36 before bowing to San Diego, 43-42, on Jerry Eucce’s layup with :18 left…the Vikings suffered their first Western League loss in 13 games since February, 1963, when Mission Bay, behind Mike Kinkki’s 22 points and 23 rebounds won, 60-55…small schools game of the year?  Try Julian’s 66-60, overtime victory against San Miguel after a 56-56 deadlock in regulation…Carl Conte’s 33 points for the Knights (5-12) couldn’t overcome the 24 by Rich Linton and 22 by Kevin Teter for the Eagles (8-5)…The Southern League’s La Jolla Country Day (1-11) and San Diego Military (13-4) had a nonleague encounter…the Military Falcons won, 57-28, behind Rubin Valenzuela’s 29 points…19 area teams competed in six post-Christmas tournaments…Mission Bay emerged as the only champion, 58-51 over Playa del Rey St. Bernard in the San Dieguito Mustang Optimist event….