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To the Greatest and to the Rudys;
This is my tribute to Poly sports. Thank you for all the chills and spills. Where do I start? I guess at the beginning. My mom ('48) and dad wrapped me up and took me to see my (unofficial) cousin, Glen Tanamachi and CIF Champs from '59 play. I don't remember the actual games that much but it sure was a blast running full speed down the ramps at Vet Stadium. I remember "playing" Milk Bowl at home with a couple of decks of cards or whatever I could find to represent the teams and the bands and the pom-pom girls. My first organized sport was the park sponsored football leagues. Silverado was our local park, but I didn't really play for Silverado. On the 3500 blockof Baltic there were a ton of kids, the Bemis', the O'Blenis', the Gray's,the Ramos'. Then there was the Garcia family, three of the Garcia's were heavily into sports, Bob, George, Frankie and Hopie. Bob ('67) organized us into a team and we practiced on his front yard. Officially we were known as Silverado II. We won a few games and we could never beat our arch-rival Silverado I. To me Bob Gracia was like a "Jim Thorpe" type character. It seemed there was no sport he could not excel. One time we were practicing at Silverado and I broke away on a long run. I thought I was going to score a touchdown, instead next thing I knew I was sliding along the grass riding Bob Gracia's back, with him looking up at me with this big grin. He wanted to stop me without crushing me so he just turned on the speed and turned himself into a magic carpet! At Stephens JHS I got to don the Green & White. It wasn't quite the Green & Gold but it was close enough. And our Kangaroo was kind of an over-sized rabbit. I made the 8th grade football team, got really lucking during basketball tryouts and tried to find a niche on the track team. Much of the real action was going on at the parks and playgrounds. Silverado, Admiral Kidd, Savannah, John Muir, or any open field after a big rain. 9th grade we got bigger and the games became more intense. 1969 Stephens vs. Washington at Poly. I don't think I will ever experience a more awesome pass rush. Bill Kidder ('73) and I trying to slow down Eldridge Jones ('73) and Howard Barbee ('73) to give Tony Hill some time to pass. Somehow we came out with a W. 1969 Stephens vs. Lindburgh, Enrique Bautista makes the greatest play I haveever seen in flag football. Lindburgh runs a play where two wide outs both do 5 yard down and in's. One catches the pass and hands off to the other.Enrique comes flying in and simultaneously pulls one flag from each player. I have all kinds of Super 8 film from those games with Hughes, Stanford, Jefferson, Lindburgh and Rogers, including footage of Enrique's play. A Tony Hill scramble vs. Lindburgh. Finally on to Poly. My older brother Mark ('70) had just graduated so the better part of the summer he would drive us down to lift weights. That was my intro to Poly, the locker room, field and weight room. Found out later there were classrooms. My brother had some stories that I can't help but include. 1969 Poly vs St. Paul, lost the game then on the bus ride leaving the stadium a St. Paul partisan low-rider kept driving real slow in front of the bus, turning every time the bus would turn. At a stoplight Head Coach Phil Santia and Asst. Coach Mike Gears jumped out of the bus and proceeded to throw punches through the open windows of car. Picture the low-rider slowly making a right turn with Coach Gears hanging from side door firing punches into the occupants. Witnesses aren't sure what Coach Santia was doing, perhaps trying to kick through the car window because he was dangling by one leg out the window. Do Santia and Gears qualify for a post in "Favorite Teachers"? When you're a pencil-neck sophomore the seniors look very intimidating. Ueva Tuliua ('71), Gene Kemmerer ('71), Brian Doukalil ('71), Joe Scott ('71), man these guys looked like giants. We got to go on the same field with them????< br> August 1971, "Hell Week", (a.k.a "2-a-Days" or "Duck Week"[in honor of Donald Wright ('71), our conditioning coach], whatever you wanted to call it) most of the players would find a shady place on the north part of the Quad waiting for the afternoon practice. A solitary girl in hot pants, Gloria Prendez ('73) , enters the Quad and makes her way to the Admin. Building. I was the last to notice as she walked into the Admin building. I glanced back and there were still forty pairs of eyes following those hot pants. I finally got to play in the Milk Bowl! I was on everything but kick-off team so I was on the field for every play but one. Very exciting, problem was without my glasses everything was a blur. 1971 Poly vs. Redlands, at University of Redlands, I got my one and only sack. It helped preserve a 14-14 tie. Whenever I watch football and see a tackle or middle guard get a sack I am really impressed. You always have to get past two linemen to get to the quarterback. Well, it turns out I just got lucky, nobody blocked me and the quarterback was totally surprised to see me as he was dropping back. He was about 20 lbs and 2 full inches bigger than me so he gave me a straight arm that stopped me in my tracks. So I just reached out and grabbed as much of his jersey as I could and prayed for our other tackle Dan Bush ('72) come and help me. Which he did because Dan was very tough to pass block. Dan's twin brother Dennis later commented on how well I was holding on to the quarterback such that his passing arm was locked within my grasp so he couldn't pass or throw the ball away. So I had to explain that it wasn't planned, I was holding on for dear life! 1971 Poly vs. Santa Barbara, picture Warren Earnshaw ('73) and Bruce Carey ('73) in the back seat of the bus. I never would have imagined that two people could play grab ass all the way to Santa Barbara. Line Coach Mike Scarpace would start throwing things when he got mad and he was mad at halftime. Threw his clipboard right through a TV set! 1971 Poly vs. Lakewood at Vets, 7-14 loss. I'm in this pile of bodies and I hear someone screaming bloody murder. I look toward the screaming and Larry Love has got both hands under the mask of a Lakewood player and is gouging his eyes. I'm thinking, "What the...? Mild mannered Larry Love, student body president??" No flag though. Later in the game I hear screaming again, not as bloody curdling as before, but someone was in pain. I look in that direction and there is Leo Giles standing over the pile, he had a hold of a Lakewood player's foot that was sticking out and he was twisting the heck out of it. Again no flag. The defense did the "orchestra" style huddle. Since I was the middle guard, I was right in front, center. Larry would rest his hands on my helmet and call the formation/play. On those cool Long Beach evenings I have this enduring mental image of Larry Love, with steam blowing out of every hole in his helmet. He looked like he was on fire, or looked like Black Beard the Pirate, who would decorate his beard with smoking embers. Linebackers had to run their ass off every play, and Larry played both ways. Marty Patterson ('72) is getting un-taped back at the school. Marty declares, "YOU KNOW WHO HAS GUTS ON THIS TEAM, MARK TSUNAWAKI ('72), MAN, THAT GUY HAS GUTS." Mark runs by and throws up in the sink. Hey Mark, did you ever learn how to call for a fair catch? Then there was the morning after watching game films. That was better than Saturday morning cartoons. The first quarter or so of the viewing the coaches point out technical points, re-playing certain plays over and over. After that, things loosen up a bit and we are all joking and laughing at certain plays. Alvin Hayes ('72) is fullback and we are running a power play. Hayes is supposed to kick-out on the defensive end, instead he appears to barely make contact, spins around with arms flailing and falls flat on his back. Coach Scarpace notes, as he plays the segment over and over, "this is Alvin's rendition of the death scene from Rigaletto". The '7 1 and '7 2 teams owe much of their success to the new coaching staff, head coach Troy Winslow, Theo Viltz (defensive backs), Dee Andrews (running backs), Mike Scarpace (line) and Brick Durley (line). I could tell these coaches were for real at the first meeting. Every one of them had zippers (stitches scars) on their knees. No one could deny the 'SC connection. We huddled like 'SC, we watched 'SC film, we were given old 'SC jerseys and ran 'SC plays. We even got physical therapy at 'SC. Late in the season Dan Bush said to me, "Look at this." He pressed his finger into his shin and when he pulled his finger out the depression almost to his first joint remained. Same on his bicep. So after practice the coaches would drive him and other players with injuries to USC for therapy. I was thinking, "Gee, I wish I would get injured so I could go get therapy!" Coach Winslow was the brain trust of the staff. He was truly a football strategy genius. Unfortunately, he was a public relations nightmare. Who can forget 1972 Poly vs. Jordan at Wilson, when he grabbed the microphone from the cheerleaders and screamed, "SHUT UP! EVERYONE JUST SHUT UP!" Coach Scarpace was just the opposite, intense, physical, scary, and emotional. We had a meeting and the coaches decided that the kick-off return team needed to concentrate more on cut blocking. Scarpace starts in, "I WANT EVERYONE ON KICK-OFF RETURN TO CUT THEIR MAN DOWN, EVERY ONE OF YOU SHOULD LEAVE YOUR FEET. I WANT TO SEE ELEVEN MEN LEAVE THEIR FEET ON EVERY RETURN". Coach Winslow interrupts, "Ten men, Coach, we want to see ten men leave their feet." Once we were practicing and Coach Scarpace was simulating a game situation and trying different combinations of players on the field. He yelled out, "QUINEAU, GET IN THERE FOR MONTANA!" So I begin to jog toward the sidelines and Paul Quineau ('72) is coming in real slow. Scarpace is not too happy with the speed at which Quineau is getting on the field so he yells out, "QUINEAU, GET OFF THE FIELD!" So Quineau reverses himself and again slowly goes off the field. All I see is a clipboard fly and a huge red flash (Scarpace always had on a red windbreaker) charging Quineau. Scarpace smashes into Quineau, and I'm sure he did not see Scarpace coming because he was totally relaxed when he got hit. Quineau went down, he suffered a serious shoulder injury and never returned to the team. Mind you Scarpace played for 'SC and in the NFL. [To Paul Quineau, I hope that you were able move on from that experience. You are a hell of a football player. You took my defensive position and the team was better for it. You really worked me over in practice.] 1970-71 Varsity Basketball, could there ever be a smoother player than Al Hall. 1971-72 Varsity Wrestling, Poly vs. Wilson at Poly. Mark Tsunawaki vs. Mark Yamauchi. It was the battle of the "Marks". Very tough battle until about the middle of the match, both flip over and over and Mark Tsunawaki lands on his head and is knocked out. Some how he is revived with some help from his girlfriend, Diane Okumura ('73) who rushed to his aid from the stands. Tsunawaki pulls himself together and pins Yamauchi. 1972 Varsity Football, Moore League Co-Champs. We start out the season losing 10-0 to Lakewood in the Milk Bowl. Everyone had to think this was another sad-sack Poly team. A couple of 5th grade boys taunted us as we left the field, "POLY SUCKS!!!!" I would have liked to strangle the both of them, but it was true, we stunk-up the place. It may have given us a psychological edge for the regular season game. To quote a line from the movie, "Porky's", 'we messed up their fists with our face.' I'm sure the Lakewood players did their math and concluded that they would win the regular season game 40-0. When we did play, late in the second quarter their linebacker was trying to rally his team yelling out, "THE GAME'S NOT OVER YET!" Many people remember this team in terms of one person, Tony Hill ('73). We could never have gotten as far as we did without Tony. There were however many other talented players on the team. Fullback Randy Woodard ('73) was the league's leading rusher. Tim Hamade ('73) made All-City on offense and All-League both ways. Howard Barbee ('73) made All-League starting in the last three games. Howard was born to play middle guard and stop the triple option which we were fortunate to have him because Millikan was racking up 400 to 500 yards a game running it. Brian Hill ('73) made All-League at linebacker even though he was only 5'8" tall and 155 lbs. Danny Costales ('73) was the Moore League Defensive Player of the Year. How about that defensive backfield, Theo Brown, David Cole, LeRoy Giles, Elvie Howard ('73) and Costales? Trivia question: Name the other kid I met at Poly (not Tony Hill because we met at John Muir) that would make it in the NFL? (Hint: he played for UCLA and the Seattle Seahawks and has a Super Bowl ring with the 49ers.) I found out what the "P" in Poly stands for, penalties. Only Poly could consistently get over 100 yards in penalties every game. We were watching the film of the 1972 Poly vs. Wilson and their run play was broken so the quarterback decided to just heave the ball down field. The flanker was coming in to block Danny Costales and wasn't aware that the ball was in the air. Danny jumped up to catch the ball at it's highest point [great technique Danny] right as the flanker applied his block. Danny gets flagged for pass interference. Danny Costales did make the most electrifying play of our school days (eclipsing a Lester Hogan to Bob Montana winning touchdown pass in the final seconds of an 8th grade flag football game vs. Rogers JHS) in that game . The next morning the Press-Telegram Sports Section’s big, bold, headline declared “Costales’ 101-yard Run Propels Poly, 33-15”. Saturday morning after the game, we're at the school to review the game films. Warren Earnshaw takes the opportunity to needle Danny. Warren: “Yeah, I saw Danny’s mom on Willow hawking Press-Telegrams, she was crying out ‘PILL-LAAA-PILA!’” I used to bring my helmet and pads home on the weekends. I would suit up the kids on the block and put the gold helmet on them. Then we would let them run the ball against all the other kids as a goal line defense. The kids on Baltic Avenue really got a thrill out of that. 1972 Poly vs. Compton at Vets, a 34-43 loss. We scored the first two times we had the ball. Problem was both teams just kept scoring. Compton would run this quick pitch with a pulling tackle, while we were pursuing I see a Green and Gold flash go by and CRACK! Danny Costales would come up so hard I feared for the safety of that running back! Coach Winslow was livid at halftime, "THEY ARE RUNNING "75 THROW-BACK!", he screamed. "75 Throw-back" was our play; Compton liked it so much from Winslow's first year they decided to include it in their playbook. The Monday after the Compton loss, we're in a team meeting and Winslow gives perhaps the worst motivational talk in Poly history. Winslow: "Alright, we lost Friday night. We have four more games left. If we win those four games, we will be champions. Then when you leave here, and you are out on the street, you can at least say, 'I was a champion.'" I'm thinking he's a dead man. I'm going to come to school tomorrow morning and find out they found his unconscious body in the parking lot. 1972 Homecoming Poly vs. Lakewood at Vets, 20-12 win. There's no better feeling than hearing your position, number, name and then run out of that tunnel and through the Song and Flag in front of a Homecoming crowd and then win the game. The northwest end of the practice field is where the linemen did their warm-up and agility drills. Coach Scarpace dubbed this area "Scar's Bar". The talk at Scar's Bar after the Lakewood game was what a great job our linebackers did. Lakewood runners were dropped thirteen times for a loss. We started referring to it as the "The Game of the Linebackers". Linebackers Brian Hill and Warren Earnshaw seemed to be in on every tackle. I recall from the films one play Lakewood ran an off-tackle power play and our end Jeffer Clayton ('73) some how read it as a pass play, so he went into coverage mode on the fullback that was trying to kick him out. Brian Hill came up so quickly he was able to tackle the running back for a loss. Our linebacker's rule was "scrap and shuffle", that is the linebacker to the side of the flow of the offense charged up the first opening in the line moving toward the flow. The running back would be on the other side of the line looking to run through the first opening he saw. The net result is that they would find the same opening resulting in a collision and many times a tackle behind the line of scrimmage. This happened repeatedly in this game. The scrap and shuffle rule freed the linebackers from pursuing the running back. Instead they charged to a place, a place the running back was most likely to be. I think Brian Hill best exemplified the "anti- jock" of early 70's. Most of the student body would not have recognized him as an athlete, much less a star football player. In spite of the fact that he was selected All - City (71All- City)and All-League in football, he did not purchase a letterman's jacket. In other eras, just getting a JV letter was reason enough to get a letterman's jacket. I didn't buy a letterman jacket either, but I can't say I wouldn't have if I would have received All-League honors. Each player has his way of dealing with pre-game jitters. Brian Hill would get deathly ill. He would be running a temperature. I was convinced every game that he wouldn't be playing that night. Warren Earnshaw was just the opposite, always loose and kidding around. Tim Hamade perfected his "Three S's" pre-game ritual, "Shit, Shower, and Sleep". I don't think anyone enjoyed himself more out on the field than Warren. When Warren intercepted a pass and ran it back for a touchdown (unfortunately it was called back for a clip) against Wilson he ran right through the endzone and disappeared into the crowd that lined the track. Game time was party time for Warren. About the third game the coaches were not happy with the splits the offensive linemen were taking. We would bunch up too close together. Coach Winslow had us go up to the line of scrimmage, stand there with both arms extended out, hand to hand, then Warren would hollar "DOWN" and we would get into our stance. We all thought this made us look like we were in grammar school, but we had to do it. Warren was doing his own conditioned response studies during the games. He would holler out any word and we would all get down in our stance. Sometimes he would holler "SPINACH", sometimes he would holler "BROCCOLI". Warren might be the only player who actually enjoyed practice. One time most of the team were standing as a group watching a particular drill when the coaches ordered everyone to "get on the line". That meant we were going to finish up practice with wind sprints. When the team ran to the line all that was left were two players wrestling in the open grass. Of course one of them had to be Warren, the other was Joe Rawlins ('72). They were too engaged to hear the order to get on the line. Dan Bush ('72) reminded me of our attempts to sneak a drink during hot August practices. While there's a group of players giving you cover, you quickly get down and start sucking on a sprinkler. There's still water in the pipes and you could get a good drink. I did remind Dan that they spray those things with some kind of defoliant, but assured him most of it is washed away when the sprinkler goes on. This was way before the 'sports water-bottle' was invented. I remember we had only one water break during practice in three years. I credit that one water break to Sergeant Carney. I suspect he got the idea from reading military manuals and was slightly ahead of his time. There was a saying, if you see a bright flash while you are on the field, look for your picture in the Saturday Press-Telegram. 1971 against Compton at Wilson I saw the flash and there I was in the photo the next morning. Problem was my helmet did not fit me properly and I looked like a cross between a Jawa from the Star Wars trilogy and Marvin the Martian, weird beady, glowing eyes in the this deep, dark face. I could only blame one man, Stilicho Young, the locker room manager who also served as the equipment manager for the team. I think everyone at one time or another had a run-in with Mr. Young over equipment. When I was senior I had an office assistant position with Mr. Young. That's when I found out why Mr. Young was the way he was. You would have pretty thick skin too if you spend all day in a locker room with a bunch of teenage boys. I found out that Mr. Young was really a huge Poly fan, perhaps the biggest fan of all. He was a ball of nerves before every game. Now that I was working for him I had no more problems with equipment. He really cared about all the athletes; he just couldn't always show it. Right before we graduated he took me aside and said, "Bob, you're a champ on and off the field, on and off the field." That really meant a lot to me. 1972, Poly vs. Millikan at Vet's Stadium. Ken Pivernetz noted that "puddles of water extended the length of the field between the hash marks". I guess he didn't go out on the field because the entire field was one big puddle. We were doing our warm-ups in the corner of the endzone which include sit-ups in what felt like puddles of ice water. All I was thinking was, "Let's get this game going, I'm freezing!" We had to change our entire defensive scheme to deal with the triple option. After studying it all week I had a great admiration for it and would have loved to play on a team that ran it. The beauty of it is that you get double team blocks on all the defenders that don't get optioned. Then when you run a normal (non-option) play it is very tough on the defense to adjust. In addition to that you feel like you are always out-numbered because the quarterback is running the ball, not just handing it off and watching the play. The only solution is to rely heavily on your defensive backfields ability to stop both the run and the pass. The first option is the fullback dive against our defensive tackle. Our tackles were instructed to hit the fullback whether he had the ball or not. The second option is the quarterback keeper, our defensive ends were instructed to hit the quarterback whether he had the ball or not. The third option is the pitch to trailing back (with lead blocking back) , our cornerback and safety had to make the play. Tim Hamade, one of our tackles, was showing me his blood stained helmet after the game. He followed his rule and repeatedly tackled their fullback (with or without the ball) always striking the fullback in the hands with his helmet, where he would have the ball. I would not want to be the player that was assigned to be hit every play by Tim Hamade. Tim was not your average Buddha-head. A converted flute player, standing 6'0", 210 lbs, he made the natural transition from Judo to wrestling when he came to Poly. He was among a group of wrestlers that realized that the Band, Song & Flag, the Polyettes, Cheerleaders and the crowds would not be coming to the wrestling matches. There would be no rallies on the Ledge or in the auditorium. No write-ups and photos in the Press-Telegram. No Milk Bowl of Wrestling. So they decided to come out for football in their junior year. Tim was smart and quickly picked up the fine points of playing in the line. Tim was a nice enough guy, but could you ever feel completely comfortable with a guy that could render you unconscious in a dozen ways you wouldn't have imagined? Once we doing the "Bull-in-the-Ring" drill in practice, a circle was formed of the players, we each were assigned a number. Then one player was put in the middle of the circle, when the coach yelled out a number, that player was to charge the player in the middle. Well, Tim was in the middle and my number was called. Tim was facing me so I thought, "What am I going to do, I can't just charge in there with him ready for me?" So I hestitate for a moment and he turns thinking someone is charging from his back side, I take the opportunity to charge in and he turns around toward me just as I'm about to make contact and put him on his butt. I'm thinking,"Whew! Dodged that bullet!" There was a twist to the normal Friday night schedule and this game was played on a Thursday night. The following night we attended the Lakewood/Wilson game on the same field to cheer on Wilson. The outcome would decide if we were the lone champions of the Moore League or would have to share the title with Lakewood. There is no better feeling than to sit in Vet's Stadium and watch two teams that you have beaten and have half of the Moore League title wrapped up. In the final minutes of the game, Wilson had the ball on the Lakewood goal line and needed a touchdown to win. Lakewood recovered a fumble and held on for the win. 1972, Poly vs. Santa Fe HS at Pioneer HS, first round of CIF playoffs. This game featured an undefeated, pass-happy Santa Feteam against our strength, our pass defence. I remember having a talk with myself at the beginning of the season. That this was my senior year and I really wanted to participate in any extracurricular activity on the field, to really talk it up with the other team. Well, from my positions of middle guard and offensive guard there weren't too many opportunities to talk much. Plus it really wasn't my character anyway. Finally an opportunity came in our first offensive series. A 30-trap was called and I pulled, got a nice head of steam and totally pancaked their tackle. While he was flat on his back and I was on top of him mask to mask, I laid in to him; "I put you on your ass! ON YOUR ASS! YEAH! ONNN YOURRRRASSSSS!!!!" It was a little bit of an uncomfortable situation. Except for me mouthing off it was completely silent. My own teammates were looking at me like, "What the hell got into Bob?" The ref was giving me a dirty look. The next play I was to pull and do a drag block but ended up practically knocking down that same ref. He didn't say anything to me but his look said, "You keep this up buddy and you're out of here." I decided it was better to go back to my quiet style of play. On the winning drive a peculiar play was brought in from the sidelines. Coach Winslow called for a draw play. We didn't have a draw play and had never practiced it. All our plays had a formation name, play number and descriptive name. A typical play was PORT-24-POWER, PORT (like the side of a ship) was a formation with the strong side of the line (tight-end,strong tackle,strong guard) on the left side of the center. Split-end was split wide right and the flanker was in the slot on the right side. "24" meant the #2 back (tailback) running through the "4" hole, which was the strong tackle. So when Tony Hill called for a draw, there was a little confusion and a very quick board meeting in that huddle. First of all we needed a formation. Hill and the backs worked out the details of the hand-off. We had all watched several hundreds of hours of football on the tube so without much being said we all knew what to do. I was un-covered, which meant there wasn't a defender opposite me on the line of scrimmage, there was such a huge hole that I went after the linebacker but he really wasn't in position so I went after a defensive back, by then Woodard whizzed past me. Randy Woodard wasn't keen on waiting for his blockers, too bad, maybe we could have gotten a few more yards or even broke loose for a touchdown. That's why he got the nickname "Freight Train", he was more inclined to challenge a tackler and he would just drag them for extra yardage. The Freight Train stopped after picking up a couple of boxcars, thirteen yards and stopping the clock. Funny how you could be a couple of feet from someone and have a totally different experience. After the field goal, barring a miracle, Poly football was about to have it’s first CIF playoff victory in eight years. As we are celebrating the field goal, Bruce Carey finds himself in the arms of his jubilant, older brother Rod(’70). Rod was supposed to be away at college in Arizona. Bruce’s immediate reaction, ”WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?” For some reason that was the stock response whenever someone was on the field that wasn’t supposed to be there. Like when Cornbread ended up in the huddle after a touchdown against Lakewood. Someone uttered the same line, “Cornbread, what are you doing here?” Answer: participating fully, like the Sooner Schooner or the ’82 Stanford Band, of course. Since Bruce and I had older brothers in the Class of ’70 that played football, I’m sure that many of the same names and antidotes were circulating at both our dinner tables for six years running. My encounter with my older brother on the playing field was not quite so joyous. In the ninth grade, Jay Siegel and I worked our way out to the playing field after a game. We found my brother and I bounced up to him and said, “What happened man, you lost?” My brother’s reply, “I’M GOING TO KICK YOUR ASS WHEN I GET HOME.” That kind of ruined my evening. I was lying in bed, listening for a car pulling up into the driveway, for a long time before I drifted off into an uneasy sleep. It is somewhat ironic that we won this game with a last second field goal. '71-'72 were very lean years for kickers. Coach Winslow announced mid-season that our kicker's leg [Dan Watters ('74)] had "died". It got so bad that we gave up trying to kick an extra point and would just go for two every time. We got into our field goal formation and both sides of the line dug in awaiting the snap. Danny Costales, the holder, tells how the snap was perfect, he put the ball down, but there was no kick. Apparently Dave Adams ('75), the kicker, was feeling the pressure and hesitated kicking the ball. Danny said his hand started shaking waiting for Dave to kick it. Dave finally kicks it through the uprights. I don't think Santa Fe HS had been in that position before; they were 9-0 and had never trailed at half time until this game. They did not have a proper field goal defensive scheme, because in the films we could see that they did not rush any players from the outside. Had they done that there would not have been a kick. The most pure form of football is the kick-off. Growing up on the schoolyard this was the first aspect of football you would learn. All recess long it was kick-off, kick-off, and more kick-offs. A bunch of guys line-up on one end of the field and a bunch of guys line-up at the other end of the field, you kick the ball, someone with enough guts picks up the ball and runs with it. After the field goal there was time for one more play, a kick-off. The last chance for Santa Fe High came down to that old school yard play. Coach Scarpace called a quick huddle of the entire team on the sidelines. He wasn't going to put in the regular kick-off team, he began hand picking the eleven craziest, break-neck, thugs on the team. Well everybody wanted to be on THAT kick-off team so there was a lot of pushing and shoving and begging going on. Scarpace is carefully looking us over, "MONTANA!", he barks. "ALRIGHT! I'M IN!", I'm thinking and jumping for joy on to the field. We line up and kick a grounder to the up men way on the other side of the field from me, but I ran over there and just took a flying leap onto the pile up. The victory party had begun! The Santa Fe HS mascot is the Chief. It was their players' tradition to don warpaint. It was a sad sight to see their players with tears and war paint running down their cheeks. On the bus ride home Coach Scarpace led us in singing "My Ding-a-Ling". Whenever I drive south-bound on the 605 past Pioneer HS I always glance over to see if I can catch sight of the scoreboard. Rev. Lee B. Hirt, pastor of Silverado Methodist Church, was in attendance at the game with his young son, Stephen. Apparently he had marching orders to get Stephen home by a certain hour so before the outcome of the game was known he had to leave. They got on the 605 and as they passed the stadium Rev. Hirt instructed Stephen to look across the freeway and try to read the scoreboard. Stephen caught sight of the scoreboard and cried out,"DAD, WE'RE WINNING!" After the playoff game against Sante Fe HS, Winslow announced at a meeting that there would a small parade celebrating our sharing the Moore League title. The parade route was to be from Bob’s Big Boy to the Hutch. It was to be held on a weeknight. He said it had been planned before the Sante Fe game and was going to happen even if we lost that game. The entire team had the same reaction, disbelief. We asked Winslow if anybody was really going to show up. He insisted that people were going to be there and we had to show up. I showed up and walked with a couple of the guys, and it was a very mini-parade. The next day we had a team meeting and Winslow starts in, “ONE OF OUR PLAYERS WAS WALKING DOWN LONG BEACH BOULEVARD WITH A BEER IN HIS HAND. THAT’S UNDER-AGE DRINKING AND PUBLIC DRUNKENESS. THIS PLAYER COULD HAVE BEEN ARRESTED AND NOT ALLOWED TO PLAY THIS FRIDAY NIGHT.” Who was that player? None other than Bruce Carey. After that Winslow always referred to Bruce as “Bud” (as in the King of Beers). Specials thanks to Pauline Takada's ('73) dad at Ken's Market on Sante Fe. We could stop by after a victory for a free steak! Also special thanks to the Long Beach Police Department, for the siren escort into Vet's Stadium for the Westminster game. 1971, Pre-season 1971, Pre-Milk Bowl 1971, Poly vs. Loyola HS 1971, Poly vs. Millikan 1971, All-City page 1 1971, All-City page 2 1972 Returning Lettermen 1972 Caerulea football section Trivia answer: In the Spring of '72 some ninth graders who were interested in playing football came to practice with us after school and learn our system. There was a big, promising kid in the group. His name: Manu Tuiasasopo. Unfortunately the "flood/mudslide" season is followed by the "rioting" season. Manu's mom is worried that her little boy would get hurt at Poly, so she had him enrolled at St. Anthony's. 1973 Comus vs. Sphinx Club at Hughes JHS. Comus wins on a touchdown pass in the last minute of the game. This was the last REAL football game I played in. Football is a game of physical intimidation and I found out that most people stopped playing all-out, smash-mouth, football by around the ninth grade. You couldn't play like that with your friends; otherwise you wouldn't have any friends. If you played with strangers, you most likely wouldn't have any teeth left or a straight nose. I kinda got the idea why the Civil War was so intense. It was great to go head to head with Lakewood or Wilson, but there's nothing like Poly vs. Poly. There is something about a foe that you know well. The pre-game hype was that Comus had some great athletes and a great sandlot team with the likes of Dale Dillon ('73), Bruce Carey, Mike Moore, Earl Rosworm, Anthony Ortega ('74), Bob Sharon ('73) and Joe Jensen. Sphinx had more 'organized football' players, like Warren Earnshaw, Ron Ono, Bill Corson, Wesley Robinson ('74) , Jim Matsui ('74) , plus Mark Lovelace ('73) off the basketball team. We knew we were going to have problems with Dale Dillon at quarterback. I was assigned the task of rushing from the left side to prevent the right-handed throwing Dillon from running or rolling to his right. About the second play of the game Dillon did roll to his right and was knocked out of bounds into the Comus bench and crowd. I was a step and a half short of getting the privilege of knocking him out of bounds so I pulled up and got mobbed by a bunch of sophomore Comus punks screaming at me,"YOU CAN'T HIT DILLON LIKE THAT, HE'S GOT A FUTURE IN SPORTS!" I told them,"If he doesn't want to get hurt, maybe he should get off the field now." As it turned out Dillon took some monster hits that game, but I give him credit because he always came back. Once he had to be carried off the field. On another occasion one of our guys had his feet wrapped up, while he was hit by two other guys simultaneously in the back and in the face. His body bent back in an unnatural way and he let out a weird grunt as he went down. Dale Dillon could not be intimidated. It is amazing that a person can keep going under such conditions. Only an injury could have prevented him from going on. As for Sphinx, the guys with which I stood shoulder to shoulder, they played this sandlot game just like if they were in pads. Superior technique and training took it's toll on Comus. Sphinx had the great pass rush, but Comus couldn't get close to our quarterback, Mark Lovelace. Kevin Jeanson, a sophomore, surprised everyone by dominating the middle of the line. Tony Murphy played with a lot of heart and took some hits but hung in there at center. Think I'll go to the well tonight and
drink until I get my fill.
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