1974-75: Cavers Rebound After Stunning Loss at Lincoln
Nels Olsen stood at the free throw line, shooting one and one, the crowd screaming, challenging the San Diego High forward to falter in the charged atmosphere and din of the Lincoln gymnasium. San Diego trailed, 68-67. Two seconds remained in the game. Olsen drained the bottom of the net with each free throw attempt. The Cavers […]
Read More1938-39: Coaches On Unlikely Hiatus
Metropolitan League coaches doubled as classroom or physical education teachers, began their school years with football practice in early September, jumped into winter basketball, and followed with baseball or track in the spring. That’s the way it was done at the area’s smaller schools. Year after year. So it was a little surprising when a […]
Read More1937-38: Where’s The Shadow When We Need Him?
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 […]
Read More1936-37: Cardinal B’s Stunned After 48 Wins in Row
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 […]
Read More1964-65: Leave it to Some Grossmont Gym Rats
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 […]
Read More1939-40: Outdoor Inconvenience Becomes Indoor Comfort
There would be raised eyebrows and at least one exclamation of “Really?” and another of “No Way!” should a copy of Charles Byrne’s Jan. 4, 1940, article in The San Diego Union have been placed in a time capsule and opened 20 years later. Basketball was evolving and moving indoors, although the game still was […]
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