From the sidelines

Don Cantrell

One big reason to celebrate the millennium came through a phone

call from Los Angeles to Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Famer Al Irwin

recently, which brought on a burst of good cheer.

After 63 years, it was a fond reunion call from Henry Maunder, his

Newport Harbor High gridiron teammate from the mid-1930s, and a splendid

sprinter on the track.

Maunder, the first black student-athlete to ever play for Harbor High,

was quite popular with classmates and teachers.

It wasn’t clear in later years if he followed plans to attend UCLA,

but he did pursue plans to establish a furniture firm in Los Angeles.

“I was really surprised,’ Irwin said. “But it was great to hear from

him after all these years.”

There are many former grid mates who admired and respected Maunder and

who still live in the harbor area. Among them, Louis Glesenkamp, Ralph

Irwin, Craig Phoenix, Walt Kelly, Charles Langmade and Bill Dickey.

His coach, the late Ralph Reed, passed away in April of 1985, the

victim of a car crash. Three of Reed’s top sprinters in the mid-30s were

Maunder, Rollo McClellan, Glesenkamp and Kelly.

After the word gets around, it’s possible some of the old mates might

reach out and try to draw Maunder down for a happy reunion.

Memory of another noted black student-athlete once came from David

Phoenix, Craig’s brother, who went on to play tackle for Santa Ana Junior

Copllege.

Phoenix, a big, four-year letterman tackle for the Tar varsity in

1931-34, started for Santa Ana in the celebrated trip to play powerful

Pasadena.

Unfortunately for Phoenix, Pasadena had little trouble, starting famed

tailback and future All-American Jackie Robilnson. With good humor years

later, Phoenix said Robinson flew past him over left tackle and had no

trouble leaving him flat on the ground.

He had never confronted anyone like Robinson before on a football

field.

One version of an old Ralph Reed-Al Irwin story was that Reed would

use the big 212-pound fullback in the middle of the field to play guard

and help move rivals down the field. When Newport nears the goal, Reed

would have Irwin enter at fullback and punch the ball over for six

points.

Some years later we would ask how Irwin did it. Frank Sheflin, brother

to legendary fullback Harold Sheflin, said, ‘That as easy to say -- he

ran like my brother and hit with tremendous impact.” Harold made All-CIF

in 1942.

There no such award programs when Irwin played, save for Orange League

honors.

Kelly, cousin to the Irwin brothers, was a 6-foot-4 athlete who made

all-league at end in football, all-league at center in basketball and

earned a flood of track and field medals, as well.

He later advanced to College of the Pacific, where he continued on

with basketball.

But his name became bigger than that in World War II when he shined as

a co-pilot on a B-24 bomber in the South Pacific. One of his biggest hits

was a Japanese cruiser near New Guinea. The action drew front page

headlines across the United States.

He flew numerous missions, but his team’s last mission found doctors

forcing him to stay on base to heal. Sadly, his crew never made it off

the field after it tried to leave. It blew up at the end of the runway.

Glesenkamp recalled one memorable event for himself during WWII out of

the South Pacific.

He was standing lightly at the top of his Army tank on the beach among

other tanks and he heard his name called out from across the years. It

was an old friend and it gave them an opportunity to talk away the

afternoon.

Glensekmap later returned to Harbor High and became a life-long

employee on the staff. He also drove the athletic buses for many years.

Reed also valued Glesenkamp because he spent many of his own free

years giving Tar athletes help with training in hurdles and pole

vaulting.

He and the Irwins also recalled a stout blocking back on the 1934 team

who won every mate’s admiration, and that was George Shafer.

In time, Shafer joined the Army infantry and was shipped to the

Philippines, where he was killed by Japanese troops. Some claim Shafer

was among the first American casualties.