Hal Sheflin

Don Cantrell

Harbor area football fans from the ‘40s will long remember the late

Harold “Hal” Sheflin as a legendary fullback who put Newport Beach on the

gridiron map.

He was the All-CIF fullback to lead Harbor High to its first-ever

varsity championship and its first entrance into a CIF playoff. Actually,

it was the ’42 small schools CIF title contest.

And he would also lead the Tars up against a future Heisman Trophy

winner and All-American from West Point Military Academy -- Glenn Davis

of Bonita High School.

Sheflin ran wild against Bonita and had Newport leading, 6-0, at

halftime. He kept the incredible Davis constantly controlled until a curb

injury to his heel forced him out of the game.

Only then did Davis find the freedom to run freely up and down the

field. And did he ever. Bonita wound up with a 39-6 conquest of the

Sailors and the championship.

Time Magazine approached Davis after he had enrolled at Army and asked

him to name the greatest player he ever faced in football. Davis quickly

replied, “Harold Sheflin of Newport Harbor High School.”

Sheflin was a four-year letterman at Newport and earned All-Sunset

League honors all four years. He carried the ball 362 times for 2,231

yards and averaged 6.2 yards per carry. It often required four and five

rivals to pull him down once he was on the run.

His other remarkable talent was punting. He often punted more than 70

yards.

He was also a member of the Sunset Legue championship basketball team

in 1941.

He could have advanced to great marks in college, but a World War II

lung injury limited his action. He did play at Santa Ana Junior College

and drew lofty praise from the coaches and players, but the wounds

suffered in the Great War proved too much to overcome.

He was talented in other sports, but football was the game which

served bull elephants, and Sheflin was the perfect fit.

His older brothers, the late Bob, Frank and Bill, also starred in

football during their time at Harbor High.

“I remember the first time I ever saw him in the backfield,” said Bill

Neth, a superior lineman on the ’42 champ team. “He looked so polished,

even then. It looked like he was born to carry the ball.

“He ran like Larry Csonka,” said his brother, Bill. “He was one of the

best I’ve ever seen,” said Roger Neth, a member of the ’42 team and a

former Costa Mesa police chief.

Neth also praised the late Sheflin for his years in police work and

recalls his excellent work with juveniles.

He was widely praised by his classmates of ’43 by the time they

reached their 50th reunion, and today he takes his place in the Daily

Pilot’s Sports Hall of Fame, celebrating the oncoming millennium.