Tales from the ‘Can Man’

Don Cantrell

One of the bright spots for the Class of ‘49’s 50th reunion last

October was an appearance by classmate Steve Hope, a big center for

Harbor High in basketball in 1948-49. He was so big, rivals had to

dribble around him.

Hope, whose older brother Fred also played Tar basketball in earlier

years, has been drawing raves out of Hollywood for years since he and

Fred shifted north to perform in film and music.

Steve’s name has appeared often in the past relative to his musical work

for the movies. He has also spent recent years directing a Dixieland band

in Los Angeles. He and Fred are the the sons of the late artist Thelma

Paddock Hope.

And there was the great rib-tickler that once came out of Tar gridder

Virgil Packham in his young days.

A friend helped Packham, Class of ‘51, get hired on as a harbor dock

operator. The boss hopped into his motorboat and exclaimed, “Get aboard,

Virgil.” Packham hurriedly spun around the pier looking for a board. All

that marine jargon was “French” to Packham.

It was interesting to note that one-time All-CIF Harbor High basketball

star Bud Attridge reveals that he was the one, out of his tennis days, to

introduce tennis to classmate Bob Ogle, Sr.

The enlightening connect there is that years later Bob Ogle, Jr. came

along, scored super things in tennis, won a four-year scholarship to the

University of Houston, then turned around and earned a superb job as a

pro at the Balboa Bay Club.

The sight of a drop-kicker in football is an event that has not been

witnessed for decades. In fact, it is difficult for most to recall the

last time one had been recorded.

We do remember that Coach Al Irwin, who once directed Harbor High and OCC

football, favored the idea of a drop-kick when he was in high school at

Harbor High. In fact, he recalls missing one once around 1935 when he

dropped the ball and it disappeared. Odds are fair to say the ball must

have hit a rock and bounced off.

Drop-kicks were not to uncommon in the early ‘40s and ‘30s, even among

high schoolers.

The late Tar coach Les Miller remembers officiating a game in 1943 wen a

Brea-Olinda prepster stopped and drop-kicked a football straight through

the uprights at Capistrano.

Miller threw his arms up to indicate a score (field goal) before a

flustered Capistrano player ran up to him and asked, “What does that

mean, coach?” He had never seen a field goal before.

One of the major greats in his college days was the fabulous Jim

Thorpe at Carlisle Indian School, graduating in 1912 and later turning

pro.

Coincidentally, Mel Smalley, Class of ’51 at Harbor High and a Tar

gridder during the day, once came face to face with the great Thorpe near

Long Beach.

Smalley’s uncle knew Thorpe lived there and thought Smalley, even though

a young lad at the time, would be enthralled to see the super Indian

athlete.

They only came to shake hands because Smalley really didn’t know who he

was since he wasn’t that old. He laughed in recalling his uncle’s strange

look after they drove off.

The biggest sports events in the harbor area during the early ‘30s was

when fans for miles could plan a motor trip down the Balboa to witness

the swimming action of the world champion Buster Crabbe, who had starred

often as an outstanding athlete at USC. He once held an estimated 17

international and national swim records.

Al Irwin remembers one race against Crabbe out of a rough-water race from

the Balboa Pier and around to the Balboa Ferry in the harbor.

Irwin could not remember how the one event turned out, but his football

teammate Dave Phoenix did recall clearly that their quarterback Wayne Dye

finished first and Irwin took second. The outcome was a shocker for

visitors.

This corner met Crabbe when he was then 70 and he was a stout gentleman

and still respected by all out of his Olympic and Hollywood days. He

starred in a number of romantic pictures and as a hero in flicks about

Tarzan and Flash Gordon.

In 1975, he was living in Scottsdale, Ariz. before he passed away. He

swam every day and kept a firm figure.

Harbor High finally got its swimming pool in 1950 and Pilot Hall of Famer

Jack Bell said it was a shame it hadn’t been done in prior years “since

we had great natural swimmers and no place to work out.”

Some blamed the board of trustees for “politics” since the final plans

made the pool shallow and discouraged water polo since it endangered

divers. Some blamed the late Vice Principal Joe Hamblet, but that wasn’t

fair since that was a fabrication.