Tracking the origin of Davidson Field

The early days of football at Newport Harbor High began 71 years

ago and found the early players from 1931-34 having to endure some

intense challenges on a dirt practice field behind the main gym.

The late Judd “The Bear” Sutherland said he remembered the

practice field. “It was like concrete,” he said. “It was covered with

broken glass, rocks, nails and debris from construction work via the

late 1920s and ‘30s.”

Sutherland, the ’34 captain, said “it was a day of iron-man

football with our small squads.” The 1931-32 teams only had 16

players on each squad. Added Sutherland: “Players not only had to go

both ways, we also had to know how to play more than one position (on

each side of the football).”

Since the Great Depression had surfaced just before Newport Harbor

opened its doors in 1930, Sutherland noted that there was not enough

money to develop the field.

However, he recalled that the school’s first principal, Sid

Davidson, organized a math project for students. He became the

surveyor, while the students carried chains and helped mark the

field. “And that’s how it became known as Davidson Field,” Sutherland

said.

In reflecting back, he recalled one game where one of the 16-man

squads suffered too many injuries and was left with only 10 on the

field. Coach Ralph Reed chose to approach the coach of Tustin and

make an agreement to cut the game in the last quarter.

He also recalled that many of the players did not wear the old

helmets consistently.

Added Sutherland: “Those old leather helmets didn’t do you a

helluva lot of good. We only had 12 of them. We’d start out wearing

them, but some of us would finally toss them off to the sidelines.”

Prior to 1935, it was not compulsory to wear the helmets, he

explained.

Reed, the first athletic director, coached varsity football from

1931 through ’37. The 1931 and ’32 teams only played six games each,

losing all except two in ’31.

The biggest highlight for Newport Harbor in football arrived in

1933, when it tied Escondido, 13-13, a powerful San Diego County

team. The Sailors also finished the season with a 3-3-2 record,

indicating improvement was on the rise.

“By 1933, we were in the Orange League and we won a third of our

games,” Sutherland said. “There was not a lot of experience, but as

we progressed the other league schools found the going tougher with

Newport Harbor. We pulled some upsets.”

The ’34 season brightened up with a 5-5 mark, but he recalled one

note of hilarity out of his final season. It featured quarterback

Charles Langmade. He claimed he was writing the plays on his football

togs.

The yearbook referred to Langmade as “the brains of the team.”

However, Sutherland said he had a hard time remembering his plays

“and Coach Reed didn’t seem to mind.”

Sutherland said the only time it ever bothered the team was during

a “monsoon bowl” game, when all uniforms turned muddy instantly.

He said the refs “argued all afternoon as to where the ball should

be placed following a tackle. The ball carriers would get hit, then

slide 15-20 yards across the mud.”

And that’s when they realized one setback with Langmade’s

play-calling system. “His pants were all covered with mud and we’d

try to help him as much as we could in the huddle by brushing the mud

away so he could read the plays.”

That story came to Langmade many years later and he was compelled

to correct the one-time captain. Langmade once said, “I wasn’t dumb.

It was not the plays on the pants, it was numbers of plays.” He

advanced to become an outstanding gynecologist in Pasadena for years,

but retired to Newport Beach some years ago.

Fullback Al Irwin recalled that Newport “had bigger teams

size-wise than we had in the 1940s and ‘50s. Because I can remember

Sutherland, Dale Straight, Phil Cassel, Al Ogden and myself, with

others, all went 190 pounds or above, for about three or four years.”

Sutherland remembered numerous players from 1931-32: Bob and Jerry

Frary, Ed King, Roy Graves, Joe Wilson, Malcolm Reed, Ken Thompson,

Bill Brown, Don Stafford, Walt Hart, Sonny Sabin, Dave Phoenix and a

chap named Silva.

He also saluted his mates, including the Irwin brothers, Al and

Ralph; the sterling Bill Greschner, a super broken-field runner;

Freddie Merrick, a fine end; Walt Arnold, a rugged guard; Phoenix, a

top-ranked tackle; and ace end Walt Kelly.