Irwin hails ’48 Sailors

DON CANTRELL

Al Irwin’s 87th birthday arrives Feb. 11 and could serve as a

wonderful occasion to celebrate a recent blessing from a cornea

operation in his right eye. His vision is clear again.

The former athletic director at UC Irvine has expressed one

marvelous happening, stating, “I can drive a car and ride my bike

again.”

Irwin, a one-time football coach at Newport Harbor High and Orange

Coast College, has been riding his bike down the Newport oceanfront

every morning for many years and has missed the valued exercise

aspect.

The one-time grid chief who led OCC to a championship in ’56 and

the great Harbor High’s ’49 team to an 8-1 record, scoring 323 points

in one season, has mixed with celebrated names down through the

years.

He coached pro grid Hall of Famer Gino Marchetti in his prep days

at Antioch High in central California. He once scouted a college game

alongside the famed Glenn Scobey “Pop” Warner. Once finished ahead of

international swim star buster Crabbe in the ’34 Balboa Rough Water

Swim contest and played for the famed Amos Alonzo Stagg at College of

the Pacific in the mid-30s.

Irwin returned to coach football at his alma mater, Newport

Harbor, from 1948 through ’55.

He once said the team he favored most from Newport coaching days

was the team of ’48. It was his first year and he felt the first team

always leaves a lasting impression.

The ’48 team featured three outstanding stars: Future All-CIF star

Bob Thompson, all-league fullback Bob Berry and the rugged 250-pound

guard Al Muniz.

Muniz was always admired by Irwin for his humility, strength and

sportsmanship and remembered that he was the one to welcome the ’36

Olympic champion sprinter, Jesse Owens, to the Harbor High gym in ’46

along with the entertaining Harlem Clowns basketball team.

Before he passed away Jan. 29, Muniz reflected back and said,

“Jesse Owens was a fine gentleman and it was an honor to have met

him.”

Irwin also recalled that the ’48 team only had three lettermen and

was one of the youngest teams in early Newport history. There were no

18 year olds. Many were only 15-16 years old.

Hence, the Southern California sports world was expecting the

future CIF co-champions, St. Anthony of Long Beach, to wallop Newport

with its veterans and future All-America fullback Johnny Olsewski.

The young Sailors were inspired and ready on their home field,

marching immediately to a touchdown. The rivals surged back for six

points, only to find the Sailors returning for another score to lead,

12-7, going into the final four minutes.

Unfortunately, the Saints partially blocked a Bob Watts’ punt and

recovered the ball at the Newport 10. Within four plays, the Saints

scored, kicked the PAT and won, 14-12.

Looking back, Irwin said he should have called for Watts to run

into the Tars’ end zone and take a safety.

With a 12-9 lead and little time left, Irwin was convinced that

this strategy would have bottled the Saints up offensively and set

them back 40-50 yards off a normal punt from Watts.

He was respectful toward the Saints, because they later voted

Thompson and Berry to their first all-opponents team. He felt that

was a lofty tribute to a small school like Newport.

His champion OCC grid team not only won the Eastern Conference but

advanced to the Potato Bowl in Bakersfield to play Stockton College.

OCC lost, 20-12, but Irwin’s players gave a remarkable showing.

Sadly, an illness prompted Irwin to retire from football coaching

after that season, but then-president Basil Peterson encouraged him

to take charge of OCC water sports.

He did and won numerous titles, repeating the same feats later as

the water sports coach at UCI.

Al and Lois Irwin married on June 28, 1942, after their years as

students at COP in Stockton.

With amusement in the recent past, Irwin told a friend, relative

to birthdays, “No more gifts. I can’t think of anything else I need

anymore.”