Bud Milke was on the bench as a head coach for 500-plus basketball games in his career, more than half at Mar Vista High and Castle Park, and rolled with the deathless prose of Grantland Rice:

“For when the One Great Scorer comes To write against your name, He marks—not that you won or lost—but how you played the game.”

Milke, who passed recently at near 90, was a standout in football and basketball at San Diego State and embarked on a five-decade run as coach at two South Bay high schools and as a coach and administrator at Southwestern College.

Milke retired in 1992 after holding numerous positions at Southwestern, including nine seasons as basketball coach, beginning in 1964-65.

His first coaching position was in 1953-54 at Mar Vista, where Milke’s teams, seldom with a player taller than his 6 feet, 4 inches,  were 148-118 in 10 seasons, including five in which the  Mariners finished second or higher in the Metropolitan League.

Milke moved to Castle Park High in 1963-64, stunning Metro League observers when the first-year Trojans posted a 23-7 record and won the league championship.

Milke’s son, George, Jr., a longtime figure in South Bay education circles, was a baseball star at Mater Dei, pitched at USC, and was named the outstanding player of the 1974 College World Series.

Chula Vista High was in the midst of a legendary era in the school’s history, thanks to two gentlemen loosely described by their imaginary headwear, which bespoke of the respect they commanded and clout they carried.

Joe Rindone, the sports-minded school principal and president of the CIF Southern Section executive committee, was known as the “Big Blue Hat”. Chet DeVore, whom Rindone appointed as the Spartans’ football coach in 1951, was the “Little Blue Hat”.

Blue and white were the colors of the school, which opened in 1946 at a temporary location in the Brown Field Air Station, near the U.S.-Mexico border. The campus, on its present site in west Chula Vista, welcomed students a year later.

Rindone and DeVore would leave lasting academic and sports legacies in San Diego and in the Sweetwater Union School District, and it started at Chula Vista, the second high school to be built south of the San Diego city limits. Sweetwater was the first, going all the way back to 1907, when it opened as National City School.

MANY  FOLLOW 

Chula Vista High came upon the scene at a time when the sprawling and still largely undeveloped South Bay region of San Diego began to experience the decades of growth and opportunity that followed World War II.

Ten more public high schools have since emerged: Mar Vista (1950), Hilltop (1959), Castle Park (1963), Bonita Vista (1967), Montgomery (1970), Southwest (1976), Eastlake (1992), Otay Ranch (2003), San Ysidro (2004), and Olympian (2006).

All 12 operate in three leagues under the umbrella of the Metropolitan Conference. Each has its own, mini-geographical rivalries but none match the tradition and, on occasion, fury of Chula Vista-Sweetwater, which have played each other every year since 1947.

DeVore, a San Diego State grad and decorated battlefield veteran of World War II, did not inherit a champion when he was selected to replace Morrie Shepherd as the Spartans’ third coach in the school’s first five years.

Chula Vista was 13-23-3 in its first four seasons, including a 1-3 record against Sweetwater.

FROM 1-3-1 TO 9-0

The coach’s original team started on an equally unimpressive note, shut out in four of the first five games and with a 1-3-1 record, but the Spartans closed at 4-4-1.

DeVore’s program took off in 1952, rolling to nine straight victories before a first-round, Southern Section lower division, playoff loss to Laguna Beach.

Metropolitan League title talk this season started and ended with the Spartans, but Sweetwater coach Barney Newlee also liked his chances. So did Oceanside’s John Simcox.

Sweetwater’s offense revolved around quarterback Don Magee, a Pala Indian whose brother, Dennis, was the team’s center. Don Magee passed for 18 touchdowns and directed the spread offense Newlee had adopted in mid-season 1952.

The Red Devils averaged 29 points with the new look and won four of their last five games, including a 14-13 loss to Chula Vista.

BEWARE THE ROBOT

But the most explosive and dangerous opponent lurked in the Northern reaches of the league, almost 50 miles away at Oceanside, home of C.R. Roberts, one of the top prep running backs in the country.

Roberts scored 31 touchdowns in the first eight games in 1952, running through and around every team on the schedule until he faced the Spartans, who swarmed the 200-pound “Robot” in a 28-7 victory that clinched the Metropolitan League championship.

Chula Vista’s win was tribute to a defense that hounded Roberts virtually  from the moment he walked out of the Pirates’ locker room. Roberts scored Oceanside’s only touchdown but had 11 blue and white escorts wherever he went.

The  encore was 30 touchdowns in the first eight games of 1953, Oceanside and Roberts bearing down again on another championship-deciding game with Chula Vista.

“Robot” was a play on what many thought was  Roberts’ middle initial. “Oceanside Express” also was popular, as was “Chain Reaction”. He seldom was called Cornelius, his first name.  There was no middle name.  The initial actually was for his last name.

MR. TOUCHDOWN!

While rolling out 10 touchdown dashes at distances of 60 to 86 yards and a reported record season of 1,903 rushing yards in nine games, Roberts:

— Singlehandedly outscored Mar Vista 38-0 with 274 yards rushing and five touchdowns and passed 66 yards for another score;

–Scored 33 points and rushed for 331 of Oceanside’s 369 yards on the ground in a 40-19 victory over Escondido;

–Rushed for 317 yards in 28 carries and scored five touchdowns in a 41-6 rout of San Dieguito;

–Scored from 60, 46, 61, 59, and 62 yards in a 52-13 rout of Vista;

–Passed for seven touchdowns  including strikes of 81, 66, 55, and 54 yards.

Roberts also was the president of his Sunday School group in junior high, graduated near the top of his senior class at the then-named Oceanside-Carlsbad, was president of his USC fraternity, and helped integrate the university’s Fraternity Row.

As the first African-American to play in an athletic event against the University of Texas in Austin in 1956, Roberts left the Longhorns pawing dust. He was in the game for only 12 minutes but rushed for 251 yards and 3 touchdowns in a 44-20 USC victory and was cheered by the home crowd as he left the field.

A sprinter and jumper in the spring , Roberts leaped 24 feet, 3 ½ inches, to beat favored Rafer Johnson in the annual UCLA-USC dual track meet. He played four seasons in the NFL with the San Francisco 49ers and also played in the Canadian League.

Between football seasons Roberts graduated from USC with a degree in business administration.

Many Spartans who faced Roberts in 1952 would face him again, including 16 lettermen entering the  season.

Veteran tackle Don Dickerson anchored the defense and running backs Bob Neeley and Benny Martin were all-league holdovers. Bob Franklin moved from defense and became a solid quarterback.

WHERE’S  FIRE MARSHAL?

Both teams were 7-0.The Chula Vista community was agog. Tickets to the game were tougher to come by than a seat for a  3-D movie at the Vogue Theater.

Rindone had bleachers installed around the Spartans’ field for an additional 1,200 persons. An overflow crowd that included rows of standees was said to be 10,000 persons.

Roberts was held to 35 yards.  Chula Vista won again 14-0 and clinched a second consecutive Metropolitan League championship.

There was one statistic, however, that reflected Roberts’ grit. He never stopped coming at the Spartans, carrying the ball  29 times, on each  pressured and hammered by  DeVore’s fast, hard-hitting defenders, who dominated the Oceanside forwards.

The victory not only clinched another Metropolitan League crown but meant that Chula Vista had defeated its principal rivals on successive weeks. Seven days before it took care of Sweetwater 28-13.

The Spartans earned a first-round, CIF lower division playoff bye with their 9-0 record. Rindone won a telephonic coin flip conducted in the CIF office in Los Angeles and Chula Vista was host to a quarterfinals matchup against 6-2 Corona.

The Spartans had beaten Bonita 54-7 in the season opener and Bonita later defeated Corona 18-13. It looked like an easy first test for the Metropolitan League champs.

CLOSE, BUT NO CIGAR 

Comparative scores meant nothing.

Corona scored first in the second quarter before another overflow crowd of 5,000. The Panthers kept the Spartans at a distance.

The Panthers led, 7-6, deep into the second half, before the Spartans braced and took possession with 4:39 remaining in the game, the ball on their 12-yard line.

Spartans faithful shifted nervously in the packed bleachers.

The scoreboard clock ticking away, Chula Vista slowly moved down the field into scoring position.

Bob Franklin’s four-yard touchdown pass to Carroll Clowers on the ninth play of the drive came with only 15 seconds remaining and pulled out a 13-7 win.

Chula Vista held on for a 19-18 triumph the next week at Fullerton Junior College in the semifinals against favored Brea-Olinda, which was 10-0 and averaging 31 points a game.

Deadlocked, 6-6,  at halftime, Chula Vista struck with the third-quarter kickoff.  Bob Neeley accepted the kick of his 17-yard line, advanced to the 30, and then lateraled to Benny Martin, who covered the remaining 70 yards.

A recovered fumble on the Wildcats’ 30 led to Ron Mesker’s 11-yard touchdown run and Bob Wilson’s conversion put the visitors in front, 19-6.

Chula Vista held off the Wildcats before 3,500 chilled observers and reached the championship game by the margin of one successful point after and three Brea misses.

Two Wildcat conversions were blocked, by Fred McLean and Wayne Eisenman, the latter after a made Brea attempt was negated by a penalty.

The Spartans then were awarded home field again against another team of Wildcats, Brawley, the 1951 and ’52 CIF champion.

Chula Vista’s 12-6 victory over the Imperial Valley Wildcats before a crowd guessed at 7,500 completed a 12-0 season that was the best by a County squad since San Diego High’s Wonder Team of 1916 went 12-0.

Could the Spartans have beaten San Diego or Kearny, the two powers of the mighty City Prep League? It was a question that wouldn’t be answered, but South Bay partisans pondered the issue long into the winter.

COACHES’ SONS MEET C.R.

Fast forward almost 60 years. DeVore and Roberts were among the inductees in the CIF San Diego Section’s inaugural Hall of Fame class. Two younger men approached Roberts as he entered the event at San Diego’s Joseph Jacobs Center on May 22, 2011.

“Mr. Roberts,” said one, “I’m John DeVore and this is my brother James.” The sons of Chet DeVore had heard their late father speak of C.R. Roberts so often while they were growing up that the introduction was more like a  meeting with an old friend.

“HATS” MOVE ON

Joe Rindone also supervised the creation of Southwestern College in Chula Vista in 1960. Chet DeVore, after retiring as coach following the 1955 season, followed Rindone as Chula Vista’s principal and later was President of Southwestern College.

DeVore was never far from football. He founded the Pacific Southwest Conference of junior colleges and worked for years as a football game official in San Diego County.

DeVore’s son John, was a longtime high school principal in the Sweetwater district and head football coach at Montgomery.

Chet DeVore’s won loss record in five seasons was 44-7-1, a percentage of .856, based on the formula of half game won and half game lost for ties. Duane Maley was 97-19-3 (.828) at San Diego High.

CANDIDATES?

Duane Maley and Don Giddings  had been so successful on the high school level  that they were among the first names mentioned when a head coaching vacancy opened at San Diego Junior College this year. Knights coach John Brose stepped down to become the school’s registrar.

Giddings and Maley, however, remained at their respective posts and San Diego JC chose ex-Hoover assistant and former Hilltopper George Schutte.

OMEN? WHAT OMEN? 

For the first time in three years the San Diego Cavemen made the right call… there was no call to make

The Cavemen earned the right to host a quarterfinals playoff game with Anaheim, after losing coin flips for City Prep League playoff invitations in 1951 and 1952.

The Cavers shut out Kearny, 27-0, for the CPL championship on the final regular-season Friday but bombed in the playoffs.

After a first-round bye the Cavers were knocked out by Anaheim, 21-7.

The Anaheim Bulletin reported that the small but quick Colonists defeated the favored but “bewildered San Diego team”.

The Cavers’ defensive line outweighed Anaheim’s offensive line by 24 pounds.

Anaheim tied Santa Monica 21-21 in the semifinal round the next week but was eliminated by the quirky CIF rule favoring the team with the most first downs. Santa Monica had 15 to the Colonists’ 14 and moved on to defend its championship with a 34-19 win over Whittier.

ZAMPESE FAMILIAR NAME

The Southern California player of the year was Santa Barbara tailback Ernie Zampese, who retired to San Diego after a long coaching career with San Diego State, the San Diego Chargers, Los Angeles and St. Louis  Rams, New England Patriots, and Dallas Cowboys.

Zampese scored two touchdowns as Santa Barbara defeated Point Loma 26-0 in the final regular-season game.

DON’T INVITE ‘EM

There was no love lost between San Diego and Point Loma, especially after Pointers football and track standout Herman Thompson transferred to San Diego.

Nor did Pointers coach Don Giddings, a San Diego High graduate, want to compare San Diego and Kearny as those two prepared for their CPL title-deciding contest.

Giddings did allow that San Diego was “not the toughest team we’ve played this season”. The Komets had whipped Point Loma 27-7.

The Thompson transfer was provoking enough but Giddings also had to live with another, bitter loss to San Diego. Point Loma outgained  Duane Maley’s team, 192-170.

San Diego was held to 102 yards rushing but still won 14-6, the Cavers’ defense stiffening in the fourth quarter, when Point Loma ran 27 offensive plays to San Diego’s five.

Point Loma tried a successful on-side kickoff and installed a four-man defensive line and called it the “Horseshoe Defense” against San Diego.  Tackles and ends were on the line, guards and linebackers three yards off the line.

Essentially the Pointers went to a 4-4-3 alignment, the object being to contain San Diego’s dangerous, open field ball carriers once they cleared the first line of defense.

SCHEDULES ITSELF

Grossmont’s game at Colton was canceled because a Yellowjackets player came down with polio.

Grossmont coach Phil Morrell then scheduled an intrasquad scrimmage, proceeds going to purchase of new band uniforms. “This is one game I know we’ll win,” said Morrell.

Wrong! The Foothillers’ Blue tied the Foothillers’ gold, three touchdowns each.

REGIONAL VENUES?

City Schools officials discussed an idea of constructing two regional, lighted, concrete stadiums, one in the West for Point Loma, La Jolla, and Mission Bay, and another in the East for Hoover and Kearny.  Lincoln and San Diego would share Balboa Stadium.

The idea was dismissed because of financing and fans’ desire to have their teams play on their own campus fields.

Improvement was made at Balboa Stadium, which introduced a new, electronic scoreboard that was 12 feet high, 25 feet wide, and 40 feet above ground.

BUILDING BLOCKS

San Diego’s junior varsity was undefeated and would provide the nucleus for the 1955 CIF Southern Section championship squad. Deron Johnson picked up a fumble and rambled 60 yards for the only score against the Lincoln “varsity” and was promoted to the Cavers’ varsity after that game.

Quarterback Pete Gumina passed 40 yards to Willie West for the winning touchdown in another game. Johnson, Gumina, and West made the all-SCIF first team two seasons later.

HONORS

San Diego guard Bill Patten earned a first-team selection on the all-Southern California squad.  End Lauro Saraspe of La Jolla, tackle David Lopez of San Diego and halfback Lee Buchanan were on the third team.

Small-schools all-Southern California selections were player-of-the-year C.R. Roberts, joined on the first team by guard Fred McLean and halfback Bob Neeley of Chula Vista. Center Stan Nichols of Escondido made the second team.

QUICK KICKS

San Diego quarterback Floyd Robinson was better known as a nine-season major league outfielder mostly with the Chicago White Sox…Robinson  had  a .283 lifetime batting average and drove in 109 runs and batted .312 in 1962… San Diego had six players score at least  5 touchdowns, with total points in parenthesis: Horace Tucker (40), Ermon Johnson (38), Floyd Robinson (36), Dallas Evans (36), Herman Thompson (36), and Tony Asaro (30)…Kearny’s 7-1 record was the best in school history…beginning in 1944, the Komets were 21-43-5 through 1952… Hoover’s season, which started with great promise, ended with a 39-0 loss to San Diego and 7-7 tie with La Jolla… the Cardinals played San Diego in the annual city schools’carnival on Friday night and were forced to travel the next day to Santa Monica, where the Cardinals played the defending champions tough, losing 28-20, with the Vikings’ final touchdown coming on the last play of the game… Hoover scored 24 points in the fourth quarter of a 44-0 victory over San Bernardino the next week and smashed Grossmont 60-6 in Week 3…East teams Helix, Kearny, and San Diego defeated the West of Hoover, Point Loma, and La Jolla 7-2 before a football carnival gathering of 18,000 in Balboa Stadium… with its new, campus stadium still under construction, Sweetwater’s home games were at Aztec Bowl on the San Diego State campus and preseason drills at Mar Vista, 10 miles South…  the new Lincoln High, with 10^th and 11 graders (and junior high of grades 7, 8, and 9), did not participate in the football carnival but took part in the pregame pageantry… Lincoln was 6-1-1 against predominantly junior varsity competition… another new school, Mission Bay, with 10^th and 11^th graders was 3-3 against a similar schedule…Chula Vista’s bus trip  to Fullerton for its game with Brea-Olinda began at 2:30 p.m…the Spartans stopped in San Juan Capistrano, a favorite  resting locale of local teams headed north, for their pregame meal…although favored, Brea-Olinda’s student body numbered only 225, compared to  Chula Vista’s, which was near 1,000…

…Art Luppino of La Jolla rushed for 95 yards scored two touchdowns and was named the “Star of Stars” in the annual Breitbard College Prep game before about 16,000 in Balboa Stadium…the game, marking the beginning of the 1953 season, featured a team of  graduated high school all-stars from the Los Angeles City Section and another from the CIF Southern Section…the L.A. City team scored a 24-13 victory…San Diego and Anaheim each lost to Redlands, which defeated the Colonists, 7-0, and San Diego, 14-7…The Cavers and Colonists also had lost coin flips for playoff berths in 1952 after tying for league championships….

Matthew DeRoos of Tri-City Christian long jumped 24 feet, 4 1/4 inches in the Coastal League finals at Orange Glen and took the state lead in that event.

Scripps Ranch’s Alex Barr was displaced as the state leader in the 1600-meter run.  Barr ran 4:14.51 in an early outdoor meet  and now is ninth inn that event.

Sophomore Karson Lippert logged :21.57 in the 200 at the Dick Wilkins Frosh-Sophomore meet last week at Granite Hills and also is the leader at :47.83 in the 400.

Events in which San Diego Section athletes are among the first 10 in the state are listed accompanied by state leaders:

BOYS

EVENT	NAME	MARK	STATE	MARK
200	Lippert, La Costa Canyon,	:21.57 (8T)	Cunningham, Moreno Valley Rancho Verde	:20.98
400	Lippert	:47.83 (2)	Bowens, L.B. Poly	:47.34
800	Chinn, Poway	1:53.21 (4)	Scales, San Jose Bellarmine	1:50.64
	Barr, Scripps Ranch	1:53.88 (8)
1600	Barr	4:14.51 (9)	Bolger, San Luis Obispo	4:07.09
	Chinn	4:15.27 (10)
Shot Put	Hardan, San Pasqual	58-1¾ (8)	Wilson, Clovis Buchanan	66-1
Long Jump	DeRoos, Tri-City Christian	24-4¼ (1)	Enochs, Yucca Valley	23-11 1/2
	Olave, Mission Hills	23-6 (10)
Triple Jump	Jackson, Eastlake	46-8 (3)	Stevenson, Temecula Great Oak	48-6
	Mitchell, Point Loma	46-6 ¼ (9)

GIRLS

EVENT	NAME	MARK	STATE	MARK
400	Firsching, Cathedral	:55.78 (10)	Anderson, Norco	:51.99
800	McCarthy, Carlsbad	2:10.25 (3)	Brewer, San Ramon California	2:07.90
	Robertson, La Jolla	2:11.28 (5)
100 Hurdles	Smith, Mission Hills	:14.26 (10)	Davis, Agoura	:13.01
300 Hurdles	Scott, Vista	:43.79 (9)	Davis, Agoura	:40.41
High Jump	Phillips, Santa Fe Christian	5-6 ½ (7)	Herman, Bakersfield Stockdale	5-10
	Hickey, Coronado	5-6 (T8)
Long Jump	Scott, Gompers	19-1 (T7)	Davis, Agoura	21-8 3/4

Norman Powell has earned a spot in the Toronto Raptors’ rotation and is making his bones on  basketball’s biggest stage.

The 6-foot, 4-inch guard from Lincoln High scored a career-high 25 points in 34 minutes and shot 8 for 11 from the field to lead the Raptors to a 118-93 win over Milwaukee and put Toronto into a 3-2 playoff series lead over the Milwaukee Bucks last night.

After a superstar career at Lincoln, it took Powell until his senior season before he averaged 16.4 points a game, starred on defense, and blossomed into an all-conference player at UCLA.

Powell’s professional career so far has been similar to his development at UCLA.  Drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks with the 46^th pick in the second round of the 2015 NBA draft, Powell soon was traded to Toronto.

He got into 46 games as a rookie but appeared in 76 games in 2016-17, started 18, and averaged 8.4 points and 18 minutes.

 

The twists and turns of the season weren’t so much about the drama of last-minute shots and frenetic finishes but of quirky schedules, odd venues, and some World War II-like travel.

Home games often meant hitting the road.

Coronado and Chula Vista met in the Metropolitan League’s most important game…at Point Loma.

It was Chula Vista’s home game, but the Spartans did not have a gymnasium.

There were no high school gyms in the South Bay area.  The same almost could be said for the city.

Most venues had basketball courts, some outdoors and few with adequate seating indoors:  San Diego High, Point Loma, Grossmont, San Diego State, Coronado, Municipal Gym, and Hoover

(The few schools in the north or East County played off-campus or in tiny, dimly-lit edifices, some of barely regulation size playing surfaces).

WHERE AM I?

Chula Vista’s “home” court could have been Hoover.  That’s where the Spartans played Escondido, Oceanside, and Sweetwater in league clashes…but it met San Dieguito in the Southern Section playoffs at San Diego.

Chula Vista and Sweetwater played another league game…at San Diego State.

Point Loma lost a “road” game to Chula Vista, in the Pointers’ gym

“Home” was either 10 (Hoover), 8 (San Diego), or 14 (Point Loma) miles from the Spartans’ campus in west Chula Vista.

Playing at Hoover was, for the Northern schools, almost a throwback to a decade before when there was wartime gasoline rationing to keep automobiles off the road and to conserve rubber.

By traveling to the Cardinals’ East San Diego campus, Escondido shaved 22 miles off what would have been 74 miles round trip to Chula Vista.

Oceanside would have had to travel 92 miles roundtrip but instead just 72.

Sweetwater played Mar Vista and Mar Vista played Oceanside, both games in Balboa Park’s Municipal Gym.

Mar Vista’s game in Oceanside would have been 100 miles up and back.  The mileage would have been similar for Sweetwater.

It didn’t generate a “Hoosiers” atmosphere, but the cavernous, multi-court emporium in Balboa Park was convenient.

Within a couple years, there would be arenas at La Jolla and Sweetwater, easing but not solving the problem. More high schools were on the way.  Helix opened later this year and Lincoln, Mission Bay, and El Cajon Valley were coming soon.

The problem wouldn’t be solved until the mid-’sixties, when almost all schools had their own layouts.

For now, Sweetwater and several others were forced to conduct their practice maneuvers under sunny or cloudy skies or not practice at all because of  winter rains.

NEW SHERIFF

Ivan Robinson’s County-record, 38-point outburst against Kearny in the final game of the 1943-44 season had withstood  assaults in the ensuing years.

Hoover’s Dick Barnes scored 36 in one game in 1944-45.  San Diego’s Ben Cendali had 37 in 1947-48.

But Robinson’s mark finally fell this season when Fallbrook center Paul Lockridge knocked down 21 baskets and 5 free throws for 47 points in a 90-31 win over Brown Military.

The feat had the aura of “Ripley’s Believe it or Not”.

Lockridge’s twin, point guard Frank, backed up his brother with 20 points and dished several assists.

TRAVEL WEARY

Grossmont and Hoover competed their regular seasons with big wins on the final night of league play.

Coach Ralph Chaplin’s Foothillers clinched second place in the City Prep League with a 46-45 win over La Jolla and Hoover knocked off San Diego, 44-36, in a display befitting the Cardinals’ preseason favoritism.

(The Cardinals were 11-3 in December and averaging 44 points a game, but they were surprised by Grossmont, 48-34, in the CPL opener and flattened out to 6-5, finishing in a tie for third in the league, and 17-8 overall).

The teams pulled a three-hour trip the next day to play in the Beverly Hills Tournament.

Probably spent from the night before, Grossmont bowed to Los Angeles Loyola, 41-36, and Hoover, which led, 43-30, after three quarters, fell to Santa Monica, 48-47.

TRAVEL WEARY, CONT.

San Diego and Grossmont began play in the Southern Section playoffs almost two weeks later.

The CIF “optioned” a doubleheader to the San Diego City Schools Association, which sponsored the contests at Point Loma.

Newport Beach Newport Harbor and Anaheim tied for first place in the Sunset League, necessitating a coin flip to determine opponents.

Grossmont defeated Anaheim, 34-31, in the first game and San Diego eliminated Newport Harbor, 46-34, in the nightcap.

Instead of being competitively idle four days, until the following Tuesday, the Hillers and Foothillers were required to travel to Redondo Beach the next day for the quarterfinals round.

Compton sent Grossmont (17-6) to the sideline, 48-37, and South Pasadena topped San Diego (18-6), 46-39.

Chula Vista (15-8), the defending small schools champion, fought back after trailing, 27-18, at the end of the third quarter but was beaten in the semifinals on a late free throw, 34-33, by Bonita at Pomona.

POWELL IS BACK

A football injury sustained on Nov. 10 had dealt a crushing blow to San Diego’s Southern Section football playoff hopes and sidelined Charlie Powell for the first 11 games of the basketball season.

The Hillers were 7-4 in the absence of Powell and his 225-pound presence at center but were 11-2 after he returned for the opening of league play Jan. 11.

The big center scored 12 points in a playoff victory over  Newport Harbor and had 19 in his final game, a postseason, 55-42 win over Hoover in the Zane Fentress charity game that attracted a sellout crowd of 1,000 persons to the Hilltop Gym.

FRIGHTENING INJURY

Fentress, a 190-pound wrestler for Hoover, was competing in a Southern Section playoff wrestling match against San Diego’s Tom Loman, who weighed more than 250.

Fentress sustained a severe injury and was temporarily paralyzed from the waist down.

CIF wrestling rules eventually had a weight limit for the heavyweight division and  a super heavyweight class was added.

HELP AGAIN FOR ZANE

Another benefit for Fentress was held a week later, with a unique format.

Hoover and Grossmont met in a game that featured only players returning for the 1951-52 season.

Hoover returnees won, 47-29.  The Hoover Alumni defeated the San Diego Alumni, 62-40, in a companion skirmish.

Names to remember:  Hoover’s Bob Metzler, who scored 16 points, and Grossmont’s Noel Mickelson, who had 15.

KIWANIS TO SENTINELS

Inglewood won the 16-team, third annual San Diego Kiwanis tournament, 50-45 over Hoover.  San Diego was consolation champion, 45-38, over Grossmont.

Kearny’s David Miramontes scored 72 points in four games to break Bill McColl’s record of 69 in 1947 that was tied by Grossmont’s Phil Embleton in 1949.

San Diego High and the Downtown Kiwanis sponsored the event.  Individual teams were supported by their area Kiwanis clubs.

Visiting squads, including El Monte, Inglewood, Beverly Hills, and Santa Monica, were housed in barracks at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot.

HONORS

San Diego’s Percy Gilbert was an all-Southern California first-team selection and La Jolla’s Jim Ranglos made the second team.

Ranglos led CPL scorers with a 15.3 average in 10 league games and Gilbert and Grossmont’s Ray Preston tied for second at 12.2. Mark Davis or Coronado (138) topped Kenny Iles of Escondido (128) in the 10-game Metro scoring race.

SIGN OF THE TIME

The Muni facility did not just host prep games.

The San Diego Park and Recreation Department announced pairings for its 31-team preseason tournament, which promised to keep the building busy.

Former Hoover star Dick Barnes, who passed up the NBA after being drafted in the fifth round by the New York Knicks, was playing for Al Riley Concrete.

Among other entries were Buono Bail Bonds, Clementine McDuff, Crown Carpet, and Mutual Fire.

SET SHOTS

The City Prep League was 19-1 against the Metropolitan League from the opening game in late November until league play after the New Year…Metro League clubs were 9-27 against all opposition overall in the same span…San Diego set a Compton Invitational single-game point total in a 66-48 win over Norwalk Excelsior but bowed the next day to Los Angeles Cathedral, 41-30…El Centro Central was one point short of a Kiwanis point record in a 74-32 win over San Diego Vocational…Ron Maley, younger brother of San Diego football boss Duane Maley, was coach at Kearny…San Diego played host to Hoover in the CPL finale with a reversed format… the varsity game tipped at 6:30 p.m., followed by the Class B contest, won by San Diego, 39-27…the Caver B’s 9-1 league record equaled that of the varsity…Hoover bowed to Ventura, 67-55, in the Santa Monica B Tournament, while San Diego was eliminated by L.A. Mt. Carmel, 30-27, after defeating Long Beach Poly, 36-28….

 

With Arcadia behind them, San Diego Section track and field athletes settle into  three more weeks of dual meets, weekend invitationals, and league trials before Section trials May 20 and finals May 27 at Mt. Carmel, and the state meet in Clovis on June 2-3.

Scripps Ranch’s Alex Barr ran :4:14.51 in the 1600 meters last month in the Mt. Carmel Invitational and holds the state lead. Equally impressive was sophomore Karson Lippert of La Costa Canyon.

Lippert’s :47.83 clocking in the 400 at Arcadia ranks No. 17 all-time in San Diego County and is the best ever for his class. Rashid Shaheed of Mt. Carmel was the San Diego Section leader at :48.47 in 2016.

Leading among the girls is the 2:11.24 800 by La Costa Canyon’s Kiley M cCarthy,  fourth in the state.

San Diego performers in the state top 10, followed by the state leader in those events:

GIRLS

100	Fletcher, Scripps Ranch	:11.91 (10T)	Reed, Gardena Serra	:11.58
800	McCarthy, La Costa Canyon	2:11.24 (4)	Brewer, San Ramon California	2:07.90
	Roberson, La Jolla	2:11.54 (10)
1600	Brown, La Costa Canyon	4:58.77 (9)	Herberg, Capistrano Valley	4:52.06
300 Hurdles	Scott, Vista	:44.26 (10)	Anderson, Norco	:40.41
High Jump	Phillips,  Santa Fe Christian	5-6 ½ (6)	Trupe, Santa Ynez	5-10
	Hickey,  Coronado	5-6 (7T)	Hamm, Bakersfield Stockdale	5-10

BOYS

200	Ellis, Mt. Carmel	:21.6w (8T)	Hampton	Yucaipa, :21.20
400	Lippert, La Costa Canyon	:47.83 (2)	Bowens	L.B. Poly, :47.34
800	Barr, Scripps Ranch	1:53.8 (4)	Scales San Jose Bellarmine	1:50.64
1600	Barr	4:14.4 (1)
Shot Put	Hardan, San Pasqual	58-1 ¾ (6)	Wilson, Clovis Buchanan	66-1
Pole Vault	Sheldon, Mission Hills	15-7 (8)	Curran, Redondo Beach Redondo	17-1
Long Jump	Hull-Littleton, Olympian	23-9 ¾ (4)	Enochs,  Yucca Valley	23-11 1/2
	Olave, Mission Hills	23-6 (7)
	Taylor-Stewart, St. Augustine	23-4 ½ (10)
Triple Jump	Mitchell, Point Loma	46-5 ¼ (6)	Stevenson, Temecula Great Oak	48-6