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 thought they were home free, 69-68.

What followed was a preposterous non-finish, abetted by the partisan gathering in the dangerously overcrowded building, intimidating the two game officials, who exited, posthaste.

“I just threw it up,” said Lincoln’s Keith Logan of his 40-foot shot that fell through the hoop for a 70-69 Hornets win.

The 5-foot-8 Logan had dribbled at least 50 feet, around a couple defenders, and past the half-court line in two seconds.

“Actually, there was one second left on the clock (after the basket),” said a still-incredulous Bob Cluck more than 40 years later.

Cluck, a San Diego High graduate, was sitting next to Lyle Olsen, the San Diego State baseball coach and father of Nels.

HERO SWARMED

The Lincoln students, cheering loudly throughout the nip-and-tuck battle, converged on the floor, knocking Logan off his feet, and surrounded the officials. The men in striped shirts virtually dashed out of the gymnasium.

San Diego alumnus Nick Canepa, today a nationally recognized columnist for The San Diego Union but then a young prep writer for the Evening Tribune, has his own vivid memory of what took place that January afternoon:

“I was sitting with (USC football assistant coach) Skip Husbands, who was recruiting Michael Hayes, the great tailback who was the starting point guard for San Diego.

“Nels made those two free throws with kids yelling they were going to kill his family.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Canepa.  “Two seconds left. The ball was basically handed to (Logan), who was cut off by Hayes and Willie Brigham.  He pivoted around them and dribbled down court before he launched his shot. All in about one second (on the scoreboard clock).  Absolutely robbed.

“A kid with a Lincoln letterman’s jacket was on the clock.  Officials feared for their lives.  The Lincoln principal allowed too many people into the gym.  They were lined up at both ends of the court, crowding the baselines.  It exacerbated the situation.”

Canepa remembered that “the buzzer (ending the game) never sounded” and that “someone from San Diego walked over the scorer’s table and grabbed the kid by his lettermen’s jacket and lifted him out of his chair.”

The mild-mannered Cavers coach, Gary Todd, a former all-Southern California distance running standout at Crawford; football game official, and timer at San Diego Chargers games, stonily shook his head, silenced by the stunning finish.

CAVERS NOW 22-1

Lincoln coach Bill Peterson had a different take: “Arcadia hit a last-second shot to beat us earlier (57-56 in December, on the road), so things have a way of evening out.

“But San Diego is a great team,” said Peterson, magnanimously.  “They have four starters (Willie Brigham, Percy Gilbert, Tony Saulisberry, and Nels Olsen) who should be all-league and the fifth (Michael Hayes) is the best athlete in the County.”

The defeat was San Diego’s first after 22 consecutive victories.

ANOTHER TOUGH LOSS

Staggered by the defeat, San Diego dropped its next game, 74-70, to Madison in a tense contest that saw both benches empty several times. San Diego’s Michael Hayes and Madison’s Jerry Williams were ejected.  The Warhawks’ Art Leahy scored 37 points and connected on 15 of 23 field-goal attempts.

Flat after victory, Lincoln lost its next outing to Crawford, 83-68, committing nine, first-quarter turnovers and falling behind, 27-17.  Brothers Kenny and Eddy Newell led the Colts with 21 and 15 points, respectively.

Lincoln won only once in its final five games to finish 18-10 and San Diego dropped another, concluding the regular season at 25-3 with a 70-62 defeat to Kearny led by Alan Trammell and Phil Thompson.

Trammell, headed to a Hall of Fame baseball career, scored 26 points. Kearny, which earlier lost at San Diego, 59-41, saw a 14-point lead dwindle to three but held on.

The loss forced San Diego to share the Western League championship with Kearny and Madison and the Cavers lost their place as the No. 1 team in the final Evening Tribune poll to Mount Miguel, but the Cavers were the top seed in the one-week, four-round playoffs that included 24 teams, up from 16 in previous years.

Lower seeds in the playoffs faced the possibility of games four nights in a row.  A survivor would get a day off before the Saturday finals at the Sports Arena.

OPERATION BOUNCE BACK

San Diego’s losses to Lincoln, Madison (19-11) and Kearny (21-9) became distant memories.  Todd, who resigned at the end of the season because, in part, he was unhappy with the direction of athletics in the City Schools system, steadied his team as it regained form with a 4-0 run through the rounds.

The Cavers ushered out Castle Park (14-14), 75-47; Patrick Henry (21-9), a semifinalist in three of the last four seasons, 71-59, behind Tony Saulisberry’s 29 points, and third seed Chula Vista (27-5), 80-58, in the semifinals.

“If they play like they did against us in the Bonita Tournament (a 66-53 San Diego victory) they’ll beat us by twenty,” Chula Vista coach Mike Collins presciently declared before the game.

Mount Miguel (28-5) stayed with the Cavers through a 22-21 first quarter in the championship game before 5,707 persons in the Sports Arena, but the Cavers began to pull away.  It was 47-36 at the half and 76-50 after three quarters enroute to 102-72 triumph and a final record of 29-3.

San Diego converted 40×78 shots from the field for 51.3 per cent as 6-foot, 4-inch junior Percy Gilbert, son of an early ‘fifties Cavers star of the same name, scored 31 points, connecting on 13×22 attempts, and leading a starting lineup that in which all five scored in double figures.  Nels Olsen had 19, Tony Saulisberry 16, Willie Brigham 15, and Michael Hayes 10.

Todd wanted to talk defense.  “The biggest thing was our boards,” the coach said to Michael Grant of The San Diego Union. “They’d take a shot and we’d sweep the boards and we were gone.”

San Diego held a 42-24 edge in rebounds.

Gilbert, who with Brigham would be the anchors of the 1975-76 team, had 17 rebounds and blocked several shots.  “He might have gotten the all-tournament (MVP) award because of what people thought of his offense,” said Todd, “but to me it was because of his defense.”

Mount Miguel coach Bob Holm had said earlier in the season that “the press is our offense.”

The press that pushed the Matadors to a 71.5 scoring average didn’t work.

“Their quickness getting down court and falling back on defense offset the press,” Holm told Steve Brand of The San Diego Union.  “We wanted to run and managed to stay with them for a quarter.

“Let’s face it, we played a great team,” said Holm.

GROWING PAINS

Torrey Pines’ first year was one to remember but not repeated.

It was hard enough that classes were at San Dieguito High in Encinitas as the Falcons’ campus was being completed in Del Mar, but the Falcons and Mustangs were so tied together that they shared a bus to their Kiwanis Tournament Classified Division game.  San Dieguito (14-12) won, 89-55, despite 23 points from Torrey’s John Kentera, later known on local radio and in County sports circles as “Coach”.

There were other tribulations for Torrey Pines, which was 1-11 in the Coast League and 3-17 overall, including a 20-0 blank in the first quarter of a 64-42 loss to Coronado.

The zero marked the first time in four seasons that an area team had whiffed in the opening eight minutes.  Kentera, with support from Mark (Pate) Halda, led the Falcons with 23 points and was one of the most prolific scorers in the County with a 19.3 average and 366 points in 19 games.

SAY IT

San Diego’s Gary Todd was direct:

After a 73-59 victory over La Puente Bishop Amat, which unsuccessfully attempted a full-court press in the third quarter:  “I think it was a mistake”.

After a 45-43 victory over Poway to improve to 12-0:  “I thought it would be a close game, but they (his team) didn’t.”

After a 64-60 win over Crawford: “I was scared to death.  I told the team to sit on the ball with a minute to go (with the Cavers ahead, 61-60). “Instead we took a shot.” Tony Saulisberry clinched the victory with two free throws.

After crushing Chula Vista, 80-58, in the playoff semifinals:  “They were simply demoralized” by San Diego’s best offensive and defensive performance of the season.

After the championship runaway against Mount Miguel:  “The last three weeks of the (regular) season, I think we were still feeling sorry for ourselves after losing to Lincoln.”

100 OR BUST

Francis Parker (24-2), school enrollment 130 and coached by former Point Loma High and University of San Diego baseballer Ron (Dyno) Bennett, brought new meaning to the fast break, leading the way to 100-point outbursts with a 122-49 victory over Huntington Beach Harbor Christian in a tournament at Costa Mesa.

San Miguel School took stock after an opening-game, 71-point loss to Francis Parker.  The Knights announced they were shutting down for the season.

OUTLIERS

Laboring in near anonymity in far flung locales around the County, with a two-ply division alignment of Mountain and Coastal divisions, the Southern League led the way in offense, with its teams posting the four highest scores in a season of nine, reported 100-point achievements.

Christian claimed the Mountain Division title with a 96-71 victory over Julian.  Parker won the Coastal Division championship but was upset by Julian, 60-57, in the 1-A semifinals. Parker’s only other loss was to Christian, 66-61 in January.

Julian (20-5), which led the County with an 80.4 scoring average,  beat Christian (17-10), 88-84, in the championship game at La Jolla High after John Linton stole the ball with 15 seconds left and scored to break an 84-84 tie.

CENTURY CLUB

TEAM	SCORE	TEAM	SCORE
Francis Parker	122	Huntington Beach Harbor Christian	49
Parker	115	San Miguel School	34
Christian	115	Borrego Springs	26
Julian	112	Borrego Springs	41
Bonita Vista	110	Torrey Pines	31
Mount Miguel	105	Granite Hills	59
San Diego	102	Mount Miguel	72
Mount Miguel	101	Valhalla	44
Chula Vista	101	Morse	59

MADE TO BE BROKEN

Jim Jollett of Grossmont (20-7), hitting on 21×25 field goal attempts, set a Foothillers record with 46 points, bettering the 41 by Howard Smith in 1966-67 and Ralph Drollinger in 1970-71.

On the same day Jollett was lighting it up, Hoover (20-10), which would go on to clinch its first Eastern League title since 1961-62, established a school record for points in a 97-69 win over Bonita Vista (22-7).

San Diego’s 102 points in the CIF finals bettered 1958-59 club’s 96-37 outburst against Crawford.  The Cavers also set a school record by averaging 70.5 points.

TOURNAMENTS

The 28^th annual San Diego Kiwanis event opened with 44 San Diego Section Section teams playing in 11 area gymnasiums.

Mount Miguel defeated Madison, 72-59, for the Unlimited Division championship.  Crawford (22-8) won the third-place game, 67-48 over Kearny.

A 20-2 blitz in the third quarter led San Diego to a 61-51 victory in the Limited finals over Mar Vista (18-10). Bonita Vista (22-7) beat Hoover, 72-69, in overtime for third place.

Bonita Vista, coached  by ex-Chula Vista star Bill Foley, beat Chula Vista (27-5) in three overtimes, 47-45.  The first two overtime periods were scoreless. Madison (19-11), trailing, 19-6, after one quarter advanced in overtime over Crawford, 72-68.

Lincoln claimed the Classified title, 62-47 over San Pasqual (17-10). University was third, 65-62 over San Dieguito.

BARON-OPTIMIST

San Diego topped Chula Vista, 66-53, for the championship and Crawford beat Madison, 60-55, for third place.

UNIVERSITY

Patrick Henry nipped Grossmont, 56-55.  Clairemont (12-17) claimed third, 63-51 over host University (9-18). Bonita Vista won a rematch with Chula Vista, 48-46.

TRACY

Mount Miguel defeated Stockton Edison, 91-74, for third place after the Matadors bowed to Oakland Bishop O’Dowd, 74-53.

BOSSES RELENT

City Schools honchos, who eliminated night athletics because of rowdyism in 1974, relented in January and allowed the return of Friday night basketball.

SCORING LEADERS (some media published totals differ; unofficial)

NAME	TEAM	GAMES	POINTS	AVERAGE
Leahy	Madison	30	618	20.6
Parker	Mount Miguel	32	577	18.0
Jollett	Grossmont	24	569	23.7(1)
Getman	Christian	27	542	20.1
Camara	Bonita Vista	26	538	20.7
Ray	Mount Miguel	32	532	16.8
Gilbert	San Diego	32	523	16.4
Javey	Hoover	30	518	17.3
Brown	Crawford	30	501	16.7
Brigham	San Diego	32	500	15.6
Davis	Hoover	30	494	16.5
E. Newell	Crawford	30	479	16.0
Bales	Julian	25	474	19.0
Linton	Julian	25	452	18.1
Thompson	Kearny	29	442	15.2

HANNON UNLOADS

Veteran Madison coach John Hannon couldn’t take it any longer.

“I’ve never seen it so bad,” said Hannon.  “It seems the officials don’t know court mechanics and many don’t even know the rules.  Probably worst of all, they’re not in control of the game.”

Hannon wasn’t talking about a situation involving his team but coincidentally was referring to a La Jolla-Coronado game.

Hannon was a standout in the early ‘fifties at Coronado, which dropped a 74-57 decision to the Vikings.

A total of 64 personal fouls were called in the contest, which lasted almost two hours, at least 30 minutes more than most games.

Five players fouled out and there were two technical fouls. Tempers flared in the fourth quarter as officials, trying to keep  control, whistled several infractions.

La Jolla had the advantage at the foul line by converting 19×31 free throws.  Coronado was 9×13.

JUMP SHOTS

Valhalla lost its first-ever game, 63-44, to Marian…the Norsemen, 1-15 in the Grossmont League and 2-21 overall, surprised Christian, 69-66, for their first win in the Kiwanis Tournament…Grossmont improved to 5-0 with a 69-66 win over Monte Vista (15-13) that took three overtimes…Christian’s Kurt Edwards went coast to coast in the last three seconds and laid in a basket at the buzzer to nip St. Augustine, 53-52… Jerry Finkbeiner of Poway (20-8) connected on a desperation 30-footer at the buzzer to topple Orange Glen (14-8), 51-49…San Diego played 13 consecutive road games after their first two at home…Hoover mentor Hal Mitrovich, whose first head coaching position was at St. Augustine, said the Saints were “the best last-place team I’ve ever seen”…the North Park five was 1-9 in the Eastern loop and 5-21 overall, but they topped playoff-bound Patrick Henry, 67-66…6-foot, 9-inch Randy Adams converted two free throws in final 15 seconds as Crawford nipped Patrick Henry, 49-48, after Henry had taken its first lead of the game, 48-47, with a minute to play…Crawford took a 17-4 lead in its playoff with Chula Vista but lost, 74-62….

 

 

 

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 line in a story by Charles Byrne of The San Diego Union mentioned that Metro coaches had agreed to halt all basketball activity–no games or practice–following the opening round of league contests Dec. 16 until Jan. 6.

The Christmas holiday and school break meant relaxation but not abstinence. No games, but no practice, too? In the middle of the season? Usually there was some repeat and review a few days before the turn of the calendar and the onset of the most important games.

Perhaps the coaches needed a break from the merry go ’round of Class A and B, and, at some schools, C and D.

There would possibly be an opportunity to make extra money selling Christmas trees or delivering packages for the Post Office.  Money was not in abundance. The Great Depression was in its ninth year. War clouds hung over  Europe.  Many viewed an uncertain future

Basketball could wait, at least for awhile.

CORONADO YES, SAN DIEGO NO

Coronado, which won one Metropolitan League game the previous season, went all the way to the Southern Section playoff Final 4, while San Diego bailed, its chances for a second championship in the last four seasons diminished by midterm graduations.

For the second straight season published reports indicated the Hilltoppers played a short schedule, posting a 7-4 record after 5-3 in 1937-38.

All-Coast League first-team players Glen Walden and Mel Skelley were going to graduate and Skelley would have been sidelined after sustaining a broken nose, compliments of an Alhambra player’s elbow in the regular-season-ending, 28-24 victory.

ASTERISK NEEDED?

San Diego’s Glen Walden was the leading scorer in the Coast League with a 15.1 average for 6 games.  Hilltoppers coach Ed Ruffa said Walden had played in 18 games and scored 220 points for a 12.2 average.  Seven games, according to Ruffa’s declaration, apparently were played and unreported.

The 7-4 record included Coast League games and the Huntington Beach tournament, plus a 38-18 loss to a team from Consolidated Vultee Aircraft and 32-21 defeat to the San Diego State freshmen.

TOTTERING

The Coast League was on unsteady footing.  Alhambra was leaving in June, 1939. Only San Diego, Hoover, and Long Beach Poly were to remain.  To keep the league viable, The CIF would the next school year create a schedule partially of opponents from other leagues with wins and losses counting in Coast League standings.

For now, Coast League basketball was limited to two rounds and six games beginning Dec. 2.

The double round-robin schedule would be completed by Jan. 20, at a time when the other San Diego leagues, Metropolitan and Southern, were in the middle of loop action.

KATIE BAR THE DOOR!

“Before a crowd so large that the doors finally had to be closed when no room remained for spectators,” said a local writer, coach Ed Ruffa’s San Diego Hilltoppers opened the season with a double win over Lawrence Carr’s Hoover Cardinals.

The San Diego gymnasium, featuring wide, polished wooden bleachers that seated about 900 persons on the South side, was capable of handling several hundred more, with bleachers in space provided by a second full-length court on the North side of the building.

The Hilltoppers, not expected to contend against favored Long Beach Poly and the Cardinals not expected to contend against anyone, scrapped to a couple close victories, 27-24 in varsity and 26-24 in B.

Poly came south and rolled to a 37-20 lead but the Hillers finished strongly, outscoring the Jackrabbits, 12-4, in the final minutes of a 41-32 loss.  That closing finish was a harbinger.

San Diego would not lose to a high school team for the rest of the year.  Behind scoring star Glen Walden, Coach Ed Ruffa’s club tied for the league championship with a 34-28 victory on the road at Poly after falling behind, 15-3.

A playoff with the Jackrabbits to determine the Coast League representative in the playoffs was in the works, but with the prospect of playing without Glen Walden and Mel Skelley, San Diego made the decision to withdraw.

Poly went on to claim the Southern Section championship, 29-17 over a Whittier team San Diego had beaten handily six weeks before.

REPEAT NOT PRETTY

Hoover, which was a winless, 0-6 in the Coast, went down hard in the second game with the Hilltoppers.

“Ice hockey tactics stole the show,” said a Union correspondent.  Twenty-three fouls were called and the visiting Hillers won the “rough and tumble game”, 39-17, behind Glen Walden’s 20 points.  Hoover upset the San Diego B squad, 41-18, and tied for the league title.

CORONADO IN BIG SHOW

Coach Hal Niedermeyer’s Islanders raced to a 6-0 Metropolitan League record and defeated visiting El Centro Central, 32-18, in the first round of the playoffs and gained the semifinals with a 31-18 victory over the Southern League’s Ramona Bulldogs at the Tent City Pavilion.

Host Whittier defeated the Islanders, 39-25, breaking from a 21-21, third-quarter deadlock in the playoff semifinals and Ventura topped the Islanders, 38-30, in the third place game.

BULLDOGS BITTEN

After launching a football program in the fall (2-5 record), coach Charlie Snell turned to his more established Ramona basketball program.  The Bulldogs almost ran the table in four divisions.  They were undefeated in A, C, and D competition in the Southern League.

The Bulldogs and Vista, each 9-0 in A & B, squared off on the final, regular-season date. Ramona won the A encounter, 42-31, and Vista upset the Bulldogs, 23-22, in B.  Ramona and Escondido then clashed for the “mythical lightweight championship of the County” and Escondido topped their visiting neighbor, 35-32.

Ramona’s playoff loss to Coronado was attributed partly to the Bulldogs’ having trouble adapting to the less-than-regulation-size Tent City Pavilion layout.

BOB’S WAY

Coronado’s Bob Carrothers, a national junior champion, led the Islanders to a 23-4 tennis team victory over Point Loma and then traveled to Los Angeles for a tournament, after which Carrothers flew back to San Diego and started the playoff win against Ramona.

Carrothers returned to the tournament the next morning by flying back to Los Angeles.

Maybe it was Carrothers’ presence had encouraged the Metropolitan League to add tennis to the spring sports calendar this year.

TWO-HANDED SET SHOTS

Hoover center Clarence Huddleston was known as “Spindleshanks”, apparently in reference to Huddleston’s skinny legs…Oceanside had the reported highest score for one game in a 53-7 win over Sweetwater…the Pirates’ B team also defeated Grossmont, 52-9…Ramona had a 53-9 win over the San Dieguito Bees…Hoover passed on the Huntington Beach tournament to be part in the first Chino 20-30 Club event…the Cardinals left in the morning for their first game at 3 p.m. and defeated the advertised “vaunted”  Chino host, 32-5…they lost to Huntington Beach, 35-33, in overtime the next day…the correct spelling of the Coronado coach’s last name was “Niedermeyer.”…no matter, San Diego Sportswriters continued to spell the name “Neidermeyer… San Diego was runner-up to Ontario Chaffey, losing, 26-22, in its fourth game in three days in finals of the Huntington Beach tournament…the Hillers days before had won a 37-28 league game against Alhambra and then traveled to defeat Whittier, 39-21, and Santa Ana, 38-21….

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….

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 a primitive sport in most corners of San  Diego’s tiny hoop universe.

“Metropolitan League basketball, which used to be played almost entirely on outdoor courts of asphalt, decomposed granite, or plain dirt surfacing, with only a few students on the sidelines, is growing up,” wrote Byrne.

Most of the league’s seven teams were getting out of the sun and rain, said Byrne.

Grossmont, Coronado, and Escondido had opened new facilities and Oceanside would play games at the Oceanside Community Center basketball pavilion, according to the writer.

Point Loma and Sweetwater still had only outdoor courts but would be able to schedule some home games at San Diego High and San Diego State, Byrne said.

It would be about 10 years before La Jolla and Point Loma had their own gymnasiums, but Sweetwater would play some home games on its outdoor layout into the 1950s.

CARDINALS IN FOREFRONT

The city’s Hoover High also had a new home, a 1,200-seat, balcony-included edifice, capacity of which promised to be taxed whenever the Cardinals played San Diego High.

Hoover’s game with Alhambra “won’t be the first game in the new gymnasium but it will be the first since installation of especially constructed folding bleachers capable of seating more than 1,200 along the sidelines (and upper level),” gushed Byrne.

“The new bleachers combined with a big court and spacious ceiling—for ventilation purposes—gives Hoover as good a layout as any….”

Hoover, with a 2-6 record, upset Alhambra, 27-24.

Byrne also praised the new Grossmont facility, with “modern, ‘telescoping’ bleachers that seat 500, with room for more on collapsible chairs.”

Telescoping?  Meaning seats that are pushed or rolled back when not in use? Yes.

RAINED OUT

Basketball under the sun, not.

Persistent precipitation interrupted play at Point Loma, prompting delay of the Pointers’ Class B game against La Jolla.

The solution was simple:  Move the action to Municipal Gym.

The B teams finished their game at the Balboa Park facility and then the varsities took the floor.  Point Loma defeated La Jolla, 53-29.

COUNTY RECORDS?

Bob Ingle of Coronado scored 35 points in a 57-16 win over La Jolla, giving the Islanders’ the highest scoring output for the season and a reported County, single-game record for Ingle.

Ingle converted 15 of 29 shots from the floor, many on easy, “cherry-picked” baskets when Ingle and teammate Art Blaisdell retreated to the Coronado end of the court when La Jolla had the ball.

Teammates easily found Ingle and Blaisdell with uncontested passes even while patrolling the visiting Vikings with a three-man defense.

Bud Farmer, a 5-foot, 7-inch junior forward for Julian, led all scorers with 294 points in 20 games for a 14.5 average and had a 13.8 average for 12 Southern League games.

Farmer’s total for the season was believed to be an all-time County record.

WHO’S GOT IT?

No one.

During a scramble under the basket a loose ball bounced on the floor so forcefully that it took flight, soaring above the hoop, and then descended through the net.

Two points for Hoover.

Game officials did not know who last touched the ball and was responsible for the score. After some discussion the refs awarded the basket to Rupert Crosthwaite, captain and floor general of the Hoover squad.

The two points helped but were not enough.  The Cardinals were on the short end of a 33-26 score to San Diego.

SPORTSMANSHIP?

Some in the Oceanside cheering section took boos and jeering to dangerous extremes.

Writer Charles Byrne said referees at a recent Pirates home game stopped play and cleared the floor of paper wads that were launched by rubber bands from the stands.

The wads were meant to pester opposing players.

Game officials had enough and warned Pirates coach Dick Rutherford that a technical foul would be assessed for every wad found on the court during remainder of the game.

According to Byrne, not naming his source, “The paper wads stopped, but the visiting players began to be stung by BB shot and after the game one player’s back and legs were covered with welts.”

The latter is hard to believe, but Oceanside’s free-wheeling program was a constant headache during this era for CIF honcho Seth Van Patten, with eligibility issues and other complaints often landing on his desk, according to historian John Dahlem.

CORONADO “BACKS IN” TO CHAMPIONSHIP

Coronado, with a 20-3 record and enjoying one of its finest seasons under Coach Hal Niedermeyer, was primed to play  for the Southern Section’s Southern Group (small schools) championship after eliminating Ramona, 34-12, in a first-round game.

The Islanders were scheduled to play Imperial Valley League champion Calexico, but the schools couldn’t agree on where or when to meet.

As often out of necessity, commissioner Seth Van Patten allowed the schools to make arrangements.

Calexico wanted Coronado to come to the valley on March 8, but the Islanders said that was impossible because of the opening of Metro League track competition.

Almost all Coronado athletes and those at virtually all others played three sports, including track or baseball in the spring.

Coronado invited the Bulldogs to visit on March 9, but Calexico declined.

The Islanders felt they were the premier squad among the Southern Section’s less-enrollment members.

Coronado had defeated the Southern League champion, Ramona, in a playoff and held a victory over El Centro Central, which tied Calexico for the Imperial Valley League  championship.

Most significant was a ballyhooed win over Hemet, the Riverside League titlist, which defeated Needles for the small school’s Eastern group championship.

All’s well that ends well. Van Patten must have agreed with the Islanders, for they were  declared Southern Group champions, their victory over Ramona considered the deciding game.

BIG ONE ON PENINSULA

The Coronado gym was almost filled to its 500-person capacity when ex-San Diego High and San Diego State star Kendall (Bobo) Arnett brought the Hemet Bulldogs south for a late-season contest that was billed incorrectly as a playoff but had a postseason atmosphere.

How things happen:  Niedermeyer was called to the telephone for a long distance call at halftime of a Coronado B game.  The coach and Arnett, on the other end of the line,  agreed to terms in a brief conversation and the game was on.

Hemet had won 16 in a row, including victories over big brothers Riverside Poly, San Bernardino, and Corona, and took an 8-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Coronado suddenly found the range, going on a 23-0 explosion that covered the second and third quarters and propelled the Islanders to a stunning, 39-21 triumph.

TRAGEDY 

Bob Carrothers, who scored 13 points in the rout of Hemet, also was a national junior tennis champion in singles and doubles, Coronado’s student body president, and was headed to USC after graduation.

Months later in October, Carrothers was killed in an auto accident southbound on U.S. 101 in the Rose Canyon area of northern San Diego.

The car in which Carrothers was riding blew a tire, sending the vehicle across a center divider and down a steep embankment.  The car struck a railroad signal post and then turned over several times before coming to rest upright.

Carrothers, sharing the rumble seat with a USC classmate while two other Trojan students were in the front seat, was thrown from the car and died without regaining consciousness, according to the Coronado Eagle and Journal.

Hours after hearing of Carrothers’ death, his aunt and uncle immediately began driving to San Diego from Pocatello, Idaho.

The car driven by Harry Collins went off the highway about 25 miles south of Pocatello.  Mr. Collins was critically injured and his wife was killed.

Coronado High would name its basketball facility “Carrothers Gym”.

SCHUTTE EXITS

Bill Schutte replaced Ed Ruffa as coach at San Diego High and directed a 14-4 season, the Hilltoppers’ best since the 15-1, Southern California championship campaign of 1935-36.

The Hillers had won the 32-team, Southern Counties’ Invitational at Huntington Beach in December and came within a basket of taking the inaugural Chino Tournament after Christmas in a 26-24 loss to Long Beach Poly.

San Diego split two Coast League games with Poly but the Jackrabbits earned the postseason berth with a 27-12, elimination game win at Poly.

Location of the Poly-San Diego contest was determined by coin flip.

Schutte, an all-Southern California lineman for the Hillers in 1928, surprised many when Schutte announced he was leaving the Hilltoppers as soon as the basketball season ended.

Schutte accepted a position on the staff of Kansas State coach Hobbs Adams, who was the Hillers’ head coach from 1929-34 but did not coach Schutte, who had graduated from San Diego High.

The departing coach returned to San Diego after World War II and was head coach at San Diego State from 1948-55.

MID-YEAR GRADUATION

It never seemed to fail.  San Diego lost a leading player to graduation in February, at a crucial point in the season.

Bob Carson, who led the Hillers with 178 points in 16 games, scored 17 as a turnaway, home crowd of 1,200 persons witnessed the Hilltoppers’ 42-27 win over Poly.

Carson was gone when the team met again later and the result was a 15-point loss for San Diego after the 15-point win.

SET SHOTS

Coronado was a 35-25 loser in the finals to Tustin in the Huntington Beach event for schools with less than 1,000 enrollment…its only other losses were 21-17 to the Coronado Merchants and a late-season, 29-27 upset by Escondido that snapped a 17-game league winning streak…San Diego coach Bill Schutte abandoned his man-to-man defense for a zone to counter Long Beach Poly’s “Figure 8” offense in the Cavers’ Coast League victory…as soon as Bob Carson graduated, the ex-Caver enrolled at Fullerton Junior College and joined the Hornets’ basketball team…Ramona won a third straight Southern League title with a 34-28 win over San Dieguito…George Marshall, a starting guard for Hemet, was unavailable for the game with Coronado because he was one of the stars in a school play…the preliminary game to Coronado-Hemet saw the Coronado Merchants defeat a Marine Aviation team, 34-32…Ollie Mathis of Point Loma led Metro League scorers with 121 points in 12 games…Coronado’s Bob Carrothers was the only repeater on the all-league squad that was determined in a vote by five Metro League coaches, officials who refereed league games, and sports writers…Grossmont won 5 of 6 games during an Imperial Valley-Yuma, Arizona, tour before Christmas…Escondido barnstormed to three victories at the same time in Riverside County…