By the grace of a 17-14 advantage in first downs, San Diego High survived a 20-20 standoff with Anaheim in the CIF playoff semifinals before 10,271 persons at Long Beach Veterans’ Memorial Stadium.

A heart-thumping conclusion represented the final shot in a frenetic battle of undefeated teams that brought an end to a week of intrigue and one-upmanship.

Anaheim had defeated Glendale 27-13 at the Pasadena Rose Bowl, and San Diego ushered out Bellflower in Balboa Stadium, 26-6, in the quarterfinals round, setting up what many figured would be a “semifinal for the championship”.

MONDAY, DEC. 5

San Diego assistant coach Birt Slater met with Anaheim athletic director Dick Glover and CIF commissioner Ken Fagans in Los Angeles.

Anaheim won a coin flip to determine the home team, according to the Anaheim Bulletin, but the Colonists did not have a home field, although they played in the low-capacity La Palma Avenue Park.

A grandstand to be built at the La Palma facility wouldn’t be ready until the 1956 season, but there were several stadium possibilities in the region.

Glover wanted the new, 7,500-seat Orange Coast College facility in Costa Mesa.

Slater, speaking for head coach Duane Maley and the San Diego administration, argued for the 13,000-seat Long Beach Veterans’ Stadium.

Slater said Orange Coast would not be large enough for an expected huge crowd that would follow the Hillers from San Diego.

Glover, citing observers’ reports, asserted that San Diego attendance was only about 2,000 out of the 3,500 that watched the Bellflower game.

Glover also claimed that Colonists followers outnumbered San Diego’s in Balboa Stadium in 1953, when Anaheim won, 21-7.

TUESDAY, DEC. 6

Anaheim, perhaps with some prodding from Fagans and with a promise of a huge visiting crowd from San Diego, agreed to move the game to the larger, financially more rewarding Veterans’ Stadium.

“A football field is still 100 yards long no matter where it’s located,” Anaheim coach Clare Van Hoorebeke cryptically replied to a question concerning his opinion about the contest’s being moved from the “originally-planned” Orange Coast venue.

San Diego seemed to be making mountains out of mole hills.

The Cavers also wanted to wear their powder blue jerseys, which were introduced this year and were a popular departure from San Diego’s traditional Columbia blue.

Anaheim had the choice of color and opted for its home blue tops.  “San Diego will play in their ‘Sunday School’ whites,” according to the Bulletin.

“The ‘Border Bandits”, declared the newspaper, “acted like true scoundrels when they tried to force the game to be moved to San Diego and then insisted on their choice of jersey color.”

San Diego had another reason for wanting the game moved from the Costa Mesa campus.  Anaheim was familiar with the layout and had won two games there this season.

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 7

Dick Glover responded to Orange County fans who felt the Colonists let them down by agreeing to play at Long Beach Vets.

If not Orange Coast, why not the equally familiar Santa Ana Bowl, capacity 9,000?

Glover had several reasons:

• “Long Beach charges 10 per cent of the gross, Santa Ana 10 per cent of the first thousand (dollars) and 15 per cent after that.
• “Veterans Stadium is in the back yard of Cypress and Los Alamitos (communities from which Anaheim would draw support) and we have an (financial) obligation to our own school.”
• Glover also pointed out that the clay soil of Orange Coast’s parking would cause problems in the event of rain.
• Orange Coast College was 18.1 miles from Anaheim High. Santa Ana Bowl was 8.2 miles and Long Beach Veterans Stadium 14.8 miles.

THURSDAY, DEC. 8

How good was Mickey Flynn, the 160-pound junior who, with “pony “backfield mates Joe Avitia (155), Don Penfield (145), and George Dena (145), had led the Colonists on a 27-game winning streak in the Sunset League?

• Anaheim scored a touchdown on its first or second play in nine of 11 games.
• Flynn was averaging 68 yards on his 19 touchdowns and had scored on his first carry in eight games.
• Gary Land, who sustained a broken ankle in a practice two weeks before, had been ably replaced at right guard in the Cavers’ line by junior Gary Becker. Ron Collins, who had sustained an elbow injury earlier, was ready to go at center.

FRIDAY, DEC. 9

John De La Vega of the Los Angeles Times described the game as a “hair-raiser.”

Jim Trinkle of The San Diego Union also captured the moment in his game account:

 

 

Since winning it all in 1922, San Diego High had made unsuccessful playoff attempts in 1925, ’33, ’45, ’46, ’47, ’48, ’50, ’53, and ’54, and they were positioned again to make another run at a Southern Section championship.

Coach Duane Maley whistled the start of September  drills with all hands on deck, except one.

Starting quarterback Pete Gumina was absent, away on his father’s bait fishing vessel, approximately 150 miles Southwest of where the Cavemen were exercising on the upper practice field.

Gumina’s summer job was to help his dad bring home and sell enough bait fish to support the family and put food on the dining room table.

When Gumina turned out for practice a few days later the senior signals caller was surprised and puzzled that he was running behind No. 2 quarterback Edward Heard.

Apparently Maley thought Gumina had been ducking those hot, late-summer excercises.

Pete waited a few years, about 30 actually, before finally asking Maley why he had been temporarily demoted.

“Duane laughed,” remembered the quarterback.  “He told me that he thought I was out sports fishing and enjoying myself.”

A first-generation American who grew up near the Italian enclave on India Street, Gumina was Maley’s steady hand at the wheel, leading this talented, multi-cultural group to the mountain top.

Pete had lots of help, from all-America end-linebacker-punter Deron Johnson; from Willie West, a brilliant runner who played several years in the American Football League; from David Grayson, a member of the 10-year, all-time AFL squad;

From Alden Kimbrough, Ron Collins, Cleveland (Smiley) Jones, Eldridge Cooks, Steve Allen, Jerry Ybarra, Ollie Osborne, Mike Rustich, Gary Becker, Luther Hayes, Don Bransford, George Stebbins, and others.

9/23/55

CITY PREP LEAGUE CARNIVAL, @BALBOA STADIUM

Willie West pulled it out for the West.

The squads from San Diego, Point Loma, and La Jolla defeated Hoover, Lincoln, and Kearny, 13-12, before 16,000 Balboa Stadium fans who waited in anticipation of a slow-starting San Diego team in the game’s fourth and final, 15-minute exhibition (Point Loma played two quarters).

West fumbled on San Diego’s 34-yard line, but Hoover gave up the ball on the Cavers’ 15. Three plays later a Gumina interception allowed Hoover another chance.  The Cardinals surrendered the ball again on the Hillers’ 25.

Steve Allen ran 5 yards to the 30.

Lightning struck on the next play.

West, according to Jim Trinkle in The San Diego Union, “bolted over right guard, found himself unopposed by the time he was at the 50, and easily outdistanced the defenders.”

West’s 65-yard touchdown was followed by Gumina’s PAT and the West’s winning points.

WEEK 1, SAN DIEGO 18, @LYNWOOD 6

COMPTON—The host Knights had a 13-4 advantage in first downs at Ramsaur Stadium on the Compton High campus but didn’t get past San Diego’s 20 after taking a 6-0, first-quarter lead.

Pete Gumina passed 25 yards to Deron Johnson, who covered the final 15 for a 40-yard touchdown play that made for a 6-6 halftime score.

Johnson intercepted a pass by Stanford-bound Dick Norman and ran 25 yards for another touchdown.

With time running out, a Lynwood drive expired on the Cavers’ 28 and Steve Allen closed out the scoring with a 72-yard run on the next play.

WEEK 2, SAN DIEGO 19, LINCOLN 0

Lincoln, in its second varsity season, featuring backfield speed equal to San Diego’s and boasting a sharp passer in Bob Mendoza, was expected to contend.

The Hornets kept it close for three quarters, but finished the night with minus 10 yards rushing and 54 passing.

San Diego rushed for 242 yards and had a 15-3 advantage in first downs as West and David Grayson scored on short plunges and Deron Johnson returned an intercepted pass 48 yards for another score.

Although contested in Balboa Stadium, Lincoln was the “home” team.

WEEK 3, SAN DIEGO 42, POINT LOMA 0

The Hillers, as they also were known, began to separate from the pack.

Pete Gumina completed 13 of 17 passes for 189 yards and 4 touchdowns, kicked 6 points after, and led a 423-yard attack that reduced Point Loma to rubble.

Deron Johnson was on the receiving end of two of Gumina’s scoring passes, Steve Allen and Luther Hayes, one each.

The Pointers had 61 yards in total offense and never advanced beyond San Diego’s 46-yard line.

WEEK 4, SAN DIEGO 42, KEARNY 0, @HOOVER

The Cavers seemingly let Kearny do as it pleased, between the 20-yard lines.

The Komets, playing hosts, had an edge in first downs, 13-12, but the game wasn’t close, highlighted by a 51-yard touchdown pass play from Pete Gumina to Alden Kimbrough to Deron Johnson.

Kimbrough accepted Gumina’s six-yard aerial, then slipped the ball into the trailing Johnson’s stomach and took off, Komets defenders in pursuit of Kimbrough.  Johnson raced the remaining 45 yards untouched.

WEEK 5, SAN DIEGO 27, HOOVER 6

A Deron Johnson punt traveled 76 yards and the big end caught two of Pete Gumina’s three touchdown passes.

Hoover was the first City Prep League team to score on San Diego and a Cardinals assailant actually bit Johnson amid a pile of bodies near the line of scrimmage.

WEEK 6, SAN DIEGO 53, MISSION BAY 0

Don King wrote in Caver Conquest that an assistant Mission Bay coach signaled from the sideline when the Buccaneers should put the ball in play on offense.

The coach was equipped with a stopwatch to avoid delay-of-game penalties.

The tactic by Mission Bay coach Harry Anderson was supposed to help the Bucs keep the score down.

WEEK 7, SAN DIEGO 27, @SANTA BARBARA 13

PEABODY STADIUM—The Cavers hadn’t been to this venue, about 220 miles Northeast, since a 27-0 victory over the Dons in the semifinals of the 1933 playoffs.

Santa Barbara High was one of the few schools in California older than San Diego High, having opened in 1875 to its younger rival’s 1882.

The Hillers led, 21-0, after three quarters and gave up a touchdowns on a 30-yard fumble return and 35-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter.

The Dons could boast that their 13 points were more than the 12 managed by San Diego’s first six opponents.

The Cavers got on the board in second quarter, when Pete Gumina passed 30 yards to Alden Kimbrough and Don Bransford ran 18 yards for a 14-0 halftime lead.

WEEK 8, SAN DIEGO 57, LA JOLLA 0.

San Diego closed the regular season having outscored CPL opponents, 250-6 enroute to a 6-0 league record.

Willie West and Cleveland Jones scored two touchdowns each. Deron Johnson and Gumina hooked up on a 47-yard touchdown pass play, and four other Cavers scored.

WEEK 9, SOUTHERN SECTION PLAYOFFS

SAN DIEGO 26, CHULA VISTA 0

San Diego marched 80 and 98 yards to touchdowns on its first two possessions, led, 19-0, at the half and finished the scoring with a touchdown on the first series of the third quarter.

Chula Vista lost for the first time in 20 games in coach Chet DeVore’s final game.  Cleveland Jones helped expedite DeVore’s departure with a brilliant, 65-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.

The first-round playoff victory at Aztec Bowl moved the Cavers into the quarterfinals.

WEEK 10, SAN DIEGO 26, BELLFLOWER 6.

There was no coin flip to determine the playing site. Bellflower was not unhappy with a rare nonleague travel date to Balboa Stadium.

The San Gabriel League, of which the Buccaneers were members, had a quirky rule against intersectional travel during the regular season.

Bellflower, an 8-1 team with a single-wing offense, took a first-quarter, 6-0 lead and San Diego did not score until 2:40 remained in the second quarter.

Willie West rushed for 106 yards, received for 57 yards, returned two intercepted passes 44 yards, and scored two touchdowns.

Gumina passed for three touchdowns and Kimbrough and Johnson collaborated again.

On fourth down from the 10-yard line, Gumina lobbed a short pass to Johnson over the middle.  Johnson lateraled to his teammate at the 5 and Kimbrough crossed the goal.

Fourteen seconds remained after Gumina’s PAT.

The Cavers were in the semifinals for the first time since 1947.

WEEK 11, SAN DIEGO 20, ANAHEIM 20, @LONG BEACH VETERANS’ STADIUM

(Search 1955: Cavers in Epic Struggle).

WEEK 12, SAN DIEGO 26, ALHAMBRA 14, @AZTEC BOWL

The game came down to one play.

San Diego, leading, 19-7, in the fourth quarter, gave up an Alhambra touchdown and then found itself in a fourth-and-23 situation on its 34- yard line with less than 5 minutes remaining.

Momentum had swung to the visitors in Aztec Bowl, where 8,500 largely San Diego patrons stirred nervously in their seats.

Back to punt, Deron Johnson fielded a high snap and was forced to retreat to his 20.  As he scrambled toward the Moors’ side of the field, Johnson shouted, “Kimbrough!”

Johnson could be heard high above the field in the press box and Alden Kimbrough, running downfield to cover the punt, turned and caught Johnson’s 33-yard pass at the Moors’ 45.

Kimbrough was brought down on the Alhambra 39 for an official gain of 27 yards and game-saving first down.  The play actually covered 39 yards.

The Hillers’ Eldridge Cooks punched in a clinching touchdown from the 2. San Diego, led by Willie West’s 148 yards in 27 carries, dominated with 424 yards to Alhambra’s 229.

Cleveland Jones abetted West with 42 yards in eight carries.  Eldridge Cooks added 34 in 4, Steve Allen 30 in eight, Don Bransford 29 in 3, and David Grayson 18 in 3.

The Cavers’ defense held the Moors to three first downs and 15 yards rushing, but Alhambra scored on 76- and 6-yard pass plays from Jerry Cooper to Duane Allen.

WHERE AND WHEN?

The week started with contretemps similar to a cat-and-mouse game between San Diego and Anaheim the previous week.

CIF commissioner Ken Fagans on Tuesday morning honored a San Diego request to play the game Friday night at San Diego State’s Aztec Bowl.

A Saturday afternoon game in Balboa Stadium was not possible, because the fourth-annual Poinsettia Bowl military game had been booked earlier at that site.

Alhambra principal Gilbert Strother did not like playing Friday evening.

“We are not trying to pull a fast one, but all championship games except one in my memory have been played on Saturday afternoons,” said Strother.

“We would have sent four, five-thousand down for a Saturday game.  I predict we won’t have more than 600 there on Friday night.”

101 BAD ROAD

Strother contended that many parents would not let their children make the trip “because that highway is too dangerous.”

The principal argued the risk of high school students driving on the Coast Highway at “one or two o’clock” in the morning with possible fog.

U.S. 101 had long stretches of precarious, three-lane pavement between Oceanside and San Clemente.

The 8,500 attendance was low and the CIF announced before the game that the San Diego venue would serve as  “a test”.  In most cases future championship games would be in the L.A. Memorial Coliseum.

The title game  returned to Aztec Bowl two years later, when San Diego met Downey.

The Alhambra-San Diego contest also competed against the County-wide Kiwanis basketball tournament.

Coach Brad Leaf’s Foothills Christian squad picked up where it left off, first in the first San Diego Union-Tribune basketball poll,  which the Knights dominated in 2015-16.

The El Cajon club is 6-1, with only a 90-73 loss to defending national champion Chino Hills after leading the Huskies, 42-38, at halftime.

What’s up with Cathedral?  Picked as high as fifth in the state in some preseason polls and with 7-foot Brandon McCoy leading the Dons, Cathedral has slumped to 3-5.

Coronado got one vote among teams outside the top 10, but raise one for the Islanders, who are 15-2 and played 17 games since Nov. 28.

Records through Wednesday, Dec. 21:

Rank	Team	Record	Points	Last Poll
1	Foothills Christian (10)	6-1	100	1
2	St. Augustine	5-1	82	2
3	Torrey Pines	7-1	76	5
4	La Jolla Country Day	8-2	71	4
5	Vista	8-2	48	8
6	Helix	7-2	43	7
7	Cathedral	3-5	42	3
8	Poway	8-2	28	10
9	La Jolla	8-1	17	NR
10	La Costa Canyon	8-2	14	NR

Others receiving votes, including record: Santa Fe Christian (6-3, 5 points), Mission Hills (4-4, 5) Patrick Henry (9-0, 5), Serra (8-0, 4), Mira Mesa (5-3, 4), Kearny (3-3, 2), Coronado (5-2, 1).

Eleven media representatives vote, including John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune; Steve Brand (San Diego Hall of Champions), Terry Monahan, Jim Lindgren, Union-Tribune correspondents; Bill Dickens, Adam Paul, EastCountySports.com; Rick Willis, KUSI-TV; Rick Smith, partletonsports.com; Bodie DeSilva, sandiegopreps.com; Lisa Lane, San Diego Preps Insider; Aaron Burgin, fulltimehoops.com.

Rick Jackson, who guided the Madison Warhawks to a 12-2 record, two classic postseason victories, plus a third almost as riveting, has the leading won-loss record among San Diego County coaches with at least 100 career victories.

Jackson is 120-36-4 in 12 seasons at Madison for a .768 percentage, including state championships in 2012 and 2016.

Madison earned a Division II-AA title this year with a remarkable postseason.

–The Warhawks overcame a 31-7 halftime deficit and defeated St. Augustine, 35-31, for the San Diego Section D-I championship.

–They fought back after lagging by 19 points in the fourth quarter and knocked off Calabasas, 60-53, in overtime in the Southern California regional.

–Then the team from northeast Clairemont won a taut, 21-17 struggle against San Jose Valley Christian for state honors.

Oceanside’s John Carroll, who retired after the 2014 campaign, is second to Jackson with a  26-season career record of 248-75-6 for a .763 percentage.

Chula Vista’s Chet DeVore  and San Diego’s Duane Maley have the highest all-time records for coaches with a minimum 50 games.  DeVore was 44-7-1 (.856)  from 1951-55, Maley  97-19-3 (.828) from 1948-59.

Monte Vista’s Ron Hamamoto and Valley Center’s Rob Gilster are the leading active coaches in victories,  Hamamoto with 210, Gilster with  207.

Herb Meyer of Oceanside and El Camino is the all-time leader with 339 games won from 1959-2003. Carroll is second with  248 from 1989 -2014.

Poway’s Damian Gonzalez (107) this season became the 42^nd coach in County history to reach 100 wins.

Other active coaches with at least 100 victories are Mission Bay’s Willie Matson (184), Cathedral’s Sean Doyle (177), Christian’s Matt Oliver (148), Mission Hills’ Chris Hauser (142), Mira Mesa’s Gary Blevins (140), Point Loma’s Mike Hastings (133), and El Camino’s Jerry Ralph (126).

The see the entire list, go to Coach 100 Club in the drop down menu of the “Football” link.

A twist in the CIF Southern Section playoffs this year resulted in the Coronado principal twisting in the wind.

Escondido and Coronado had tied for second place in the Avocado League. making either school eligible for the league’s runner-up berth in the Southern Division (small schools) postseason.

So far, so good.

But Escondido coach Walt West was confused.

The Cougars were on the CIF’s playoff schedule as opposing Tustin, winner of the Orange League.

West thought the Cougars’ season was over and had asked for team uniforms to be turned in immediately following a final, regular-season game loss to league champ Oceanside.

“I had assumed that inasmuch as Coronado had beaten us (19-7) they would be in the playoff,” said West.

After speaking with Escondido principal Bill Radne, who also believed Coronado would represent the league, writer  Dave Gallup of The San Diego Union contacted Coronado principal Wilfrid Seaman for comment.

CORONADO WANTS OUT

Seaman told Gallup that he had “talked the matter over” with his coaches and they had agreed that further play was undesirable for Coronado.

“After all we’re in need of getting our basketball under way and we’re just not big enough to support both sports at once,” said Seaman.

Seaman apparently had notified the CIF but didn’t tell Escondido.

Seaman’s position changed, quickly, when the Islanders’ boss learned that he had been hung in effigy by a segment of the student body, backed by peevish citizens, according to Gallup.

The Islanders’ honcho asked for a league meeting, with Coronado now being considered a playoff participant.

All league members, except champion Oceanside, attended a session at Fallbrook, where a coin flip determined the Avocado’s second playoff representative.

Conveniently, Escondido won the toss, played, and lost to visiting Tustin, 26-20.

THE REAL REASON

Why were Seaman and his coaches so eager to dump on football and get on with basketball?

Three important players on coach John Kovac’s Islanders squad that had gone to the Southern Section small schools finals in 1954-55 were footballers Willie Dickey, Charlie Love, and Herman Wright.

The Coronado brass felt it was essential to get the trio off the gridiron (Coronado was 4-3 under first-year coach Roger Rigdon) and onto the court as soon as possible.

The Islanders would mount a run to the small school’s title this season, posting a 27-1 record, and scoring a 60-54 win over superstar Billy Kilmer and Azusa Citrus, the team that that beaten them in the finals the previous year.

WE WANT IN

The postseason was growing in popularity and so were the complaints.

For many years, the Southern Section selected 8-10 league champions to its Major Division postseason. The Section passed a bylaw in 1952 that led to increased participation.

An extra team was added in 1953 and 16 teams, guaranteeing a full, four-week tournament with no byes, were invited in 1954.

The larger grouping, which would become the model for decades, included inclusion of some second-place teams, from selected leagues.

In addition to 12 league champions in the Central Group (large schools), the CIF this year said bids would go to runners-up from the Citrus Belt, Coast, and Pacific Leagues, and independent Santa Monica.

CIF TO BORDER TEAMS:  DROP DEAD!

The two major San Diego leagues were eighty-sixed.

Their only chance of getting in was if a runner-up from one of the anointed leagues lost its final regular-season game, but there were no guarantees.

That the announcement was made before most circuits, including the San Diego City and Metropolitan, had completed their seasons was received with a surly lack of enthusiasm.

“I think my kids were fired up, looking forward to a possible playoff game.  Now the edge is off,” said Hoover coach Roy Engle.

“What was the hurry announcing the brackets?” Engle wondered. “The logical time would have been Sunday or Monday, after the season.”

CARDINALS STINK IT UP

Hoover mailed in a flat performance as Point Loma defeated the Cardinals, 26-0, and claimed second place in the CPL.

San Diego, which had lost coin flips for the CPL’s lone playoff berth in 1951 and ’52, was a shoo-in this year, but Chula Vista, favored to be the Metropolitan League entry, had not clinched its league title and was facing a showdown with Helix.

Chula Vista coach Chet DeVore was thinking what if.

“Should we get beat, losing the playoff berth, and the SCIF decides to pick a second team from the city (as it did with Hoover in 1954), then I’d be hot,” said the generally mild-mannered DeVore.

SAINTS NOT MARCHING IN

The 6-foot, 5-inch, 250-pound principal at St. Augustine weighed in.

“Early this season we got a letter from the SCIF commissioner’s office,” said Fr. John Aherne.  “It said St. Augustine would be eligible for the playoffs if we lost no more than two games.”

Aherne pointed out that the Saints lost to Metro powers Helix and Chula Vista and were tied by Lincoln.  “What I have to think of the selections is not very nice,” said the vicar, still trying to get his school membership in a league.

ANOTHER POSSIBLE ISSUE

Could a glee club instructor or a wood shop teacher decide when Chula Vista was to meet San Diego in the first round?

Left halfback Dave Morrison, the Spartans’ best runner’; right half Ross Provence, guard  Bill Stephens, and tackle Jeff Langston were listed as doubtful by coach Chet DeVore.

DeVore hoped the players could get as much recovery time as possible. He wanted to play on Friday.

But there would be a faculty vote, the coach cautioned.

“The Thanksgiving holiday starts Thursday and everyone may prefer to hold the game as soon as possible,” DeVore told Phil Collier of The Union.  “If they want us to play Thursday that’s what we’ll do.”

With a presumed friendly nudge from principal Joe Rindone, the faculty voted to play San Diego on Friday.

TRUE GRID

Oceanside teachers and administrators were able to get an early start on the Thanksgiving holiday…the Pirates dropped a 6-0 playoff decision to visiting Brea-Olinda on Wednesday…undefeated Ramona, exited after a 14-7 loss to Banning of Riverside County and San Diego eliminated Chula Vista, 26-0…end Art Lawrence of Oceanside and guard Bob Anderson of Escondido were on the all-Southern California lower division first team…back Otis Foster of Oceanside was on the second team, and back Charlie Love of Coronado and center Tom Pointdexter of Mar Vista earned third-team honors….

 

Chet DeVore was taken aback, if not incredulous.

“I’m a basketball coach,” he told his boss. “I don’t have enough experience to coach football.”

That was DeVore’s reaction in 1951 when Chula Vista High principal Joe Rindone, asked DeVore to head the Spartans’ football program.

Few administrators have been so prescient.

Forty-four wins, seven losses, and one tie later, DeVore, like many before and after him who trained to be educators, forsook the sideline and went into the halls of administration.

Few coaches have left such a legacy.

DeVore was 42-3 in his last four-plus seasons.

That the Spartan leader’s coaching career ended with a 26-0 loss to eventual Southern California and national champion San Diego did not dim the luster.

THIN MAN

DeVore played all of the sports at Chaffey High in Ontario but, as a skinny 120-pounder at graduation, he decided that football may not be his calling and concentrated on basketball in college.

DeVore was a member of the San Diego State team that won the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics championship in Kansas City in 1941.

A desire to move on and coach basketball was put on hold after graduation in 1942, when DeVore enlisted in the Marine Corps and fought in the Pacific theater in World War II.

BATTLEFIELD HONOR

DeVore was awarded the bronze star at Okinawa and Purple Heart at Bougainville.

According to the Bronze Star citation, in part, “Capt. DeVore, as intelligence officer for the (Sixth Infantry) battalion, displayed exceptional ability and courageous conduct during the entire Okinawa campaign.

“On 27 April 1945 he personally trailed a large number of enemy troops in the dense, weeded country north of Tiara so efficiently that on 28 April 1945 he was able to lead the battalion to their (enemy’s) position.

“(DeVore’s) initiative and brave actions in this instance were responsible for the successful attack on the enemy in which approximately one-hundred and fifty of them were killed and the battalion suffered only minor casualties.

“On Oroku Peninsula and again on the Southern end of Okinawa (DeVore) efficiently established forward observation posts from which much valuable information was obtained, although (DeVore and his men) often were under heavy enemy fire.”

Discharged from the Marine Corps in 1946, DeVore began teaching at Southwest Junior High in Nestor and a year later was appointed varsity basketball coach by Rindone at the new Chula Vista High.

The hoops mentor was 67-58 in six seasons, including two Metropolitan League championships, one tie for first, and a Southern California small schools title in 1950-51, the program’s third season.

SLOW START

Chula Vista was a combined 13-23-1 in its first four football seasons under Gordon Cox and Morris Shepard.  When Shepard left to pursue advanced education at San Diego State, Rindone turned to DeVore.

DeVore told Jim Trinkle of The San Diego Union that he wasn’t underestimating his qualifications for the job when Rindone called.

“We won four, lost four, and tied one that first year and that was the best showing a Chula Vista team had made since the school opened in 1947.

“I can see now though that we might have won the championship that year if I had known some of the things I learned later.”

DeVore pointed out that “Anybody can tell you it’s suicide to change formations after the start of the season, but we did it in ‘fifty-one.

“We started out with the double wing, lost our first two games and then switched to the T.  We finally got going late in the season and won our last three straight (Editor’s note: sandwiched around a 6-0 loss to 8-2 Coronado).”

PLAYOFFS THEN CHAMPIONSHIPS

The Spartans program was rolling.

Chula Vista won its first Metropolitan League title in 1952, dropped a first-round playoff to Laguna Beach, and then won consecutive Southern California Southern Division (of two CIF small schools groups) championships.

Graduations claimed most of DeVore’s 1954 squad but Chula Vista had gotten into the habit of reloading instead of rebuilding.

The Spartans also were moving up in class.

They outscored eight straight opponents, 247-34, and were aligned in the 16-team Central Group (large schools) playoffs.

San Diego High was too much for the Spartans, but DeVore’s .856 winning percentage set a record for San Diego County coaches (minimum of 50 games).

The record still was intact well into the 21^st century.

NOT A FAN OF SAN DIEGO HIGH

Floyd Johnson, principal at Hoover since it opened in 1930, was retiring at the end of the school year.

Johnson, whose animus toward San Diego High was increasingly evident over the years, many of which included lopsided football losses, apparently tried to torpedo the Hillers’ chances in the playoffs.

Midway through the season defensive halfback David Grayson and end Luther Hayes moved with their families from the San Diego enrollment area to Lincoln’s.

Johnson, long  a regarded figure among Southern Section administrators, complained that Grayson and Hayes should be immediately ineligible at San Diego, now that they lived near Lincoln. City Schools officials did not penalize the Cavers.  The players stayed eligible.

Hayes played football and basketball for Lincoln in the 1954-55 school year, transferred to San Diego for track in ’55, and was back on the basketball floor at Lincoln for the ’55-56 campaign.

The story of the Hoover principal’s dislike for the Hillers was related to me by the late Walt Harvey, who played football at Hoover.  Harvey also was Lincoln’s first coach.

RAMONA, THE BULLDOGS, NOT OPERA

Residents of the mountain community east of San Diego didn’t expect much when Glenn Forsythe arrived in 1954.

The Bulldogs, mired with a sluggish history that included an all-time, 42-60-7 record since 1938, were about to experience stunning success.

Before he left for a journalism teaching position at Reedley Junior College in Central California in 1959, Forsythe was able to get local boys to ditch, or at least postpone, their farming chores and turn Ramona into a “football school.”

Fifty-four of the 96 boys enrolled turned out for football.

The Bulldogs won their first 15 games under Forsythe, 7-0 in 1954, and 8-0 this season.  Their unbeaten run ended in a 14-7 loss to Banning in the Southern Section Southern Division playoffs.

Fullback Ernie Trumper was the Bulldogs’ main contributor with 15 touchdowns and 6 PAT.

Trumper was a small schools rarity, invited to play in the Breitbard College Prep All-Star game in 1956.

Forsythe’s Bulldogs became a juggernaut, posting an overall, 42-4 record through 1959.

The coach had previously served as an assistant coach for four seasons at Fallbrook and before that had a 44-10 record as  head coach at six schools in Iowa.

HORNETS FRUSTRATED

Lincoln, behind quarterback Bob Mendoza, backs Joe (Grinder) Vinson and Leonard Elston and budding stars Bob Moss, Brad Griffith, Marvin Hudkins, and Leonard Burnett, was touted as a challenger for the City Prep League championship in preseason accounts.

Reality was another factor.  The 49th Street team, in its second varsity season, finished 3-4-1.

San Diego reduced Lincoln’s rushing attack to minus 10 yards in a 19-0 victory and Hoover overcame the fog and a 20-14 halftime deficit to defeat the Hornets, 34-20.

Most galling defeat was at Point Loma.  Lincoln was struck with a 15-yard penalty that put the ball on its one-yard line in the final seconds.

Point Loma scored a tying touchdown on the next play as the game ended, and kicked the PAT for a 7-6 victory.

The Hornets earlier took a 6-0 lead  but were penalized when one of their linemen was flagged for moving before the PAT kick.

Lincoln’s vice principal, George Parry, hurdled a sideline fence when the game ended and charged referee Bill Raaka in the middle of the field.

No blows, but strong words were exchanged.

THE SEASONAL SHROUD

Fog made its annual late-November appearance and dominated Chula Vista’s 13-6, Metropolitan League title-clinching victory at Helix.

“We have learned that Chula Vista has scored but missed goal and now leads, 6-0,” was the announcement by Helix stadium public address Bob Divine, who doubled as the Highlanders’ basketball coach.

The Spartans had scored their touchdown several minutes before Divine’s pronouncement.

“I’ve never felt more helpless in my life,” said Chula Vista boss Chet DeVore.

”When the ball was on the Helix side of the field, I couldn’t tell you how many men we had out there, what down it was, or anything that was happening.”

DeVore was virtually clueless.

“In the first quarter, one of the kids I had taken out of the game told me we were down on the four-yard line.  That was the only way I had of knowing what was going on.”

SIGN OF THE TIMES

La Jolla and Kearny announced they would leave the City Prep League for at least two years in football, because of declining enrollment and (not said), one-sided losses.

The rise of Mission Bay robbed La Jolla of a strong talent base in Pacific Beach and Mission Beach that was instrumental in the Vikings’ reaching the Southern California finals in baseball in 1953 and the semifinals in football in 1952.

Kearny also felt a pinch from Mission Bay and Federal housing population in Linda Vista was in decline. The large, residential Serra Mesa community to the East was in its infancy.  Kearny had played for the City League football championship as recently as 1953.

SAINTS MAKE MOVE

With La Jolla and Kearny bailing, St. Augustine made a formal application for admittance into the City Prep League.

“We have seven hundred male students in the top three grades,” said Fr. John Aherne, school principal.  “I feel certain we can field a representative team.”

The Saints had tried to find league representation several times over the years and they were getting closer.  They would join the CPL in 1957.

St. Augustine’s last affiliation was with the Los Angeles-area Southland Catholic League from 1945-50.

THEY TRIED METRO

St. Augustine and La Jolla had made overtures to the Metropolitan League, but the Metro turned them down and announced that it would go to a round-robin league schedule in 1956 that promised to drastically curtail nonleague opposition.

Some teams would play six league games and others seven.  The winner would be determined by won-loss percentage.

The five-team Metro would grow to six with the addition of Mount Miguel in 1957.

SOUTHERN PREP SHAKEUP

Rancho del Campo and San Miguel School joined Julian, Ramona, Brown Military, and Mountain Empire.

Army-Navy left and would pursue independent status.

FARM HANDS

Of the 65  players who turned out for football there was not a single letterman on hand at El Cajon Valley, the third school to open in the East County, siphoning off more than 1,000 students from enrollment-bulging Grossmont.

There were a couple unique players, senior center Don McGoffin and his junior tackle brother Dick.

The Magoffins left school after practice each day and returned home 20 miles distant to milk cows, feed chickens, and perform other duties on the ranch they shared with their parents.

“They don’t mind,”said Braves coach Glenn Otterson. “I talked it over with their parents, who said it was okay for them to play football, as long they got their chores done.”

TRUE GRID

The all-Southern California squad defeated the Los Angeles City team, 23-0, before 6,500 in Balboa Stadium in the Breitbard College Prep game in August…Hoover’s John Adams was one of the winners’ most productive with 84 yards in 10 carries…Bellflower was coached by Walt Hackett, a San Diego Chargers assistant coach from 1962-66…Point Loma’s rookie head coach, Bennie Edens, had been on the coaching staff of Don Giddings’ since 1949 and was the  Pointers’ baseball coach from 1951-54…Tom Carter, new mentor at St. Augustine, played football at Los Angeles Cathedral, was a quarterback at Notre Dame, and coached at Cincinnati’s Bishop Elder and at Santa Ana Mater Dei…La Jolla coach Frank Smith said his squad had only six players who weighed at least 150 pounds…Evening Tribune writer Jerry Brucker noted that La Jolla had brothers Clyde and Doug Crockett, but probably also could use Davey…