Class of ’50 reunites

Don Cantrell

Harbor High’s Class of ’50 is charting plans for a grand 50-year

reunion July 15, 2000 at the Balboa Pavilion.

This is the class which helped fill the ranks of varsity football with

the vital material that almost produced a championship in 1949. The team,

coached by Al Irwin, which won eight, lost one and scored 323 points.

Two of the outstanding stars for the grid team were Sunset League

selections Bob Berry, fullback, and Bob Watts, halfback. Together, the

pair scored more than 100 points.

Only two varsity grid teams scored in exceptional fashion from the early

days and that included the championship 1942 outfit, which featured

legendary fullback Harold Sheflin and tackle Manuel Muniz. Both were

named to the All-CIF squad.

The ’49 team also produced four players who advanced to help Orange Coast

College win the Eastern Conference championship in the fall of 1951. They

were Edward Mayer, who also won thecoveted Rod Gould Trophy for most time

played; Harlow Richardson, Keith Burch and Jack Updike.

Richardson later became a valued field goal kicker for the Long Beach

State College Forty-niners. Mayer went on to be a teammate of Bill Walsh

at San Jose State. Walsh, in time, became head coach of the champion San

Francisco Forty-niners.

Tackle Ted Trompeter and center Burch wound up at Cal Poly, San Luis

Obispo. Trompeter hurt his left shoulder and had to drop football, but he

switched over to the boxing ring and eventually became the Pacific Coast

light heavyweight champion.

Trompeter also advanced to the rodeo world and won numerous awards riding

the broncs.

Another honor that came to the Tars in 1950 was the Sunset League track

championship. Seniors featured in the track scenarios were Charles

Compton, Joe Casillas, Jack Bell, Jerry Lingo and Jim Hitchman.

The varsity swim team placed third in the league, but its star diver,

Jack Bell, won All-CIF honors along with his brother, Rex, on the Bee

team. The Bees and Cees both won championships.

Another varsity member, Jim Seely, advanced to UCLA and then joined the

Navy and became a rear admiral. He served 34 1/2 years and won numerous

ribbons and medals as a jet fighter pilot.

Jack Clark, Bill Jackson, Bill Kittle and Richardson played varsity

basketball and baseball.

Missing class members can be reported to Katie Stuard Wild, 4164 Pico

Road, Vista, CA 92084, or FAX at (760) 726-3025.

Missing members include: Yvonne Millard Callaway, Sonya Johns, Nancy

Snyder Jacobson, Carol Lange Berg, Leonard Timberlake, Steve Pridham,

Bill Kittle, Bill Warne, Bill Clancy, Maureen Cameron Clark, Velma

Pridham, Beverly Thompson Sanke, Bill Dosta, Norman Wyers, Dave Joys,

Phylis Watkins Wohlberg, David Allen, Beverly Bechtold Curcillo, Per

Peterson, Barbara Long Kincaid, Jack Updike, Bill Jackson, Mary Barrett

Blake, Leonard Hall, Bob J. Monroe, Jr., Carrolle Clark Rudnick, David

Stone, Joan Bryan Hadley, Lyle Hilmerson, Doris Gates Howard and Emil

Dopyera.

Deceased members, Class of ‘50: Mona Bird, Bob Blaisdell, Jerry Blue, Eva

Caldwell, Ray Cook, Catherine Craig, Dick Herms and Jean Hollingsworth.

Also, Jewell Mawson, Jim McVey, Roger Welsh, Diane Westlake, Bill

Wittman, John Kingston, Robin Cross, Robert Haynes, Joel Noel, Ranny

McBride, Barden Greenleaf, Gerald Forrest, Jack Ehlen and Fred Guard.