Sidelines: Nothing finer than Tars’ 39’ers

Don Cantrell

Ample talent, personality and humor helped make the 1939 Newport

Harbor High football team a unique outfit under the late coach Dick

Spaulding.

The team, finishing with a 5-3 record, wound up with an unusual

feature for a third-place contingent. The ’39 Tars featured three first

team All-Sunset League players, two of whom became All-Southern

California second team selections.

The two outstanding players were quarterback George Mickelwait and end

Frank Sheflin. They were joined on the all-league team by Frank’s kid

brother, Harold Sheflin, a freshman tackle.

Harold would become first team all-league for four years and No. 1 CIF

fullback in 1942, after leading the Tars to the championship finals of

the small schools playoffs. Newport lost to Bonita, 39-6.

Mickelwait and tailback Junior “Hack” Wilson created a record that

would stand for years at Newport. Wilson threw four touchdown passes to

Mickelwait in defeating Orange, 26-9.

Unfortunately, Newport was closely scouted by Excelsior High and it

was prompted to chart a stern defensive game against Newport’s passing

attack the following week. The plan worked and the Tars lost, 12-0.

Two close losses to Anaheim, 7-0, and Fullerton, 6-0, edged them out

of a title run.

Newport’s greatest year from the early days would find Harold Sheflin

leading the Tars to the league crown in ’42 as a fullback.

Center Sparks McClellan, whose older brother, Rollo, a star

quarterback on the championship Bee team of ‘36, recalls the ’39

personalities with amusement and fond memories.

McClellan, who became a much-decorated fighter pilot in the Navy

during World War II, said he remembered that Wilson, “had a way of

passing the football that had a lot of velocity, but was easy to catch.”

Once McClellan took Wilson for a ride on brother Rollo’s Indian Scout

motorcycle. They went airborne after hitting a bump in the road and

Wilson declared that would be his last ride ever on a motorcycle.

The laugh is that Rollo had the bike up for sale months later and

Wilson arrived to buy it.

McClellan recalls a time when the players got to witness one of Coach

Spaulding’s temper fits. He chose to take it out on a chin strap. It

would not tear apart, but Spaulding kept up the action until it was

obvious he would not succeed, then tossed it aside.

Frank Sheflin was a superb end on defense, but he would be the first

to admit he couldn’t catch a ball very well. He dropped a pass one day

and found Spaulding pulling him from the game. Spaulding then spat on

Frank’s hands, cupping them toward him, then exclaimed, “There. You

better catch the next one.”

Spaulding had little to say to Harold Sheflin. As a freshman, the

heavy player blocked nine punts that season and ran one interception back

55 yards for a touchdown.

The McClellan and Mickelwait combination dated back to grammar school

days in Costa Mesa and they always enjoyed each other’s company.

One unfortunate incident happened when they played Cee football as

young lads. McClellan, a center, snapped the ball to the wrong player,

but Mickelwait reached out, grabbed it, then started to speed away before

the defense quickly knocked him to the ground, breaking his collarbone.

“George would remind me of that day from time to time,” McClellan

said. “We had this one play that the quarterback could hit over the guard

or center at his option. George looked me in the eye and said, ‘I’m

coming right up the center and if you don’t move that guy out of my way,

I’m going to run right up your back.’ ”

McClellan knew Mickelwait meant what he said, so he cleared his man

aside before falling on his back over the goal only to find, “George

right on top of me with that sinister little giggle he had.”

He also recalled that Mickelwait and Ed Haley were the only World War

II casualties from his Class of 1940. It was brutal for Mickelwait, but

he recovered in time and one day returned to work at Harbor High.

Harold Sheflin, Class of ‘43, lost one lung in the Navy. He was blown

into the water after one Japanese attack. He later played for Santa Ana

Junior College, but his play was limited.

Another ’39 player named Wilford “Red” Durston served in the Army as

an enlisted man, but later earned a field commission.