From the Sidelines

The Class of ’49 at Newport Harbor High, durable headliners in

Southland sports in the late ‘40s, has called for a colorful 50th reunion

dinner celebration at 6 p.m., Friday, Oct. 1, 1999, according to

committee member Tuck Rabbitt.

The opening event will be an open house at the high school’s “Heritage

Hall” on campus from 3-5 p.m.

Rabbitt, the father of the award-winning trackster Buffy Rabbitt, and

a one-time distance runner himself, said the Newport Jazz Festival,

featuring noted musicians from Harbor High in the late ‘40s, will be

staged at the Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club, running from 1 p.m.-10 p.m.,

Oct. 2.

Four members of the ’49 Class were among the school’s finest-ever

baseball infield, which included Carleton Mears, Bill Skiles, George

Reeves and Don Ward.

The ’48 team still holds the only baseball championship the school

ever earned. The main leaders were ’48 grads Frank Hamilton, pitcher, and

Bill Weatherwax, catcher. The coach was the late Wendell Pickens.

Many of the class athletes were members of the ’49 track team, which

won the Sunset League championship. Some of its splendid performers were

Jerry Spangler, Bill Gustafson, Don Knipp, Alyn Nielson, Mears, Maynard

Lobell, David Pridham, Stan Young and Ken Galloway.

Another high point for the Class of ’49 was the ’48 football team,

which almost whipped the CIF championship team of St. Anthony, at

Davidson Field. The Tars were leading, 12-7, until the last four minutes.

A deflected punt was recovered at Newport’s 10-yard line and the Saints

finally won, 14-12.

The astounded Saints left with ample praise for the gritty Sailors,

and their coach later said, “We were lucky to win at Newport.” St.

Anthony featured the future All-American fullback Johnny Olzewski of Cal.

The Saints voted to place Harbor’s great end Bobby Thompson and

fullback Bob Berry on their all-opponent team.

Thompson, who later snagged 12 passes in a game against Huntington

Beach, was named to the All-CIF grid squad at the end of the season.

Thompson started on the varsity when he was a sophomore and became one of

Harbor’s best-ever blockers.

Other football graduates who stood out were Mears, Ivan Caley, Duane

Wells, Young, Al Muniz, a 250-pound guard, and Knipp, an honorable

mention all-leaguer.

Also, the late Cliff Tripp, Gustafson, Chuck Hanson, who advanced to

make All-Eastern Conference with Muniz at Orange Coast College, Pridham,

Don McDowell, Dick Ferguson, Ted Millett, Worley Alexander, Art Killion

and Ward. Berry and Watts were juniors.

The basketball team struggled through the season, but its star, Bob

Yardley, advanced some years later to help lead Colorado University to

the “Final Four.” He also broke one scoring record prior to that at

Orange Coast College.

His senior mates at Harbor included Skiles, Mears, Reeves, Steve Hope,

Ward and George Schutt.

Yardley was also an outstanding tennis player all four years at

Newport and was even more impressive his senior year in Orange County.

Joan (Dodd) Dan became a sterling female athlete for the Class of ’49

and had earned more than 40 medals in swimming at one point.

Baseball Skiles drew national headlines years later through an amusing

incident. He and a female companion were parked in a small sports car in

the Back Bay when they were suddenly overwhelmed with 437 gallons of

bilge water from a high-flying blimp.

The blimp was in trouble and had to release all the weight it could,

so the commander called for them to release all its bilge water.

Skiles, who went on to become a national comedy team with Pete

Henderson, which toured with the famed Carpenters, made a joke out of the

blimp scene, threatening to sue the navy for $1.50 wash for his car.

Ironically, the headline frightened Navy officers and they chose to

ground the blimp and hide the crew from the public and press.

However, after the Daily Pilot’s publisher, the late Walter Burroughs,

offered the Navy a forgive-and-forget dinner at Villa Marina, the Navy

chose to smile and meet with Skiles and the entire Pilot staff one

evening.

Committe members of the Class of ‘49’s 50th reunion planners for the Oct.

1 affair at thke Balboa Pavillion, have disclosed missing classmates they

are anxious to find.

Member Tuck Rabbitt said the list includes Kathy Asher, Renee Aughee,

Maureen Breedlove, Verlaine Collins, Nancy DeRoulhac, Richard Ferguson,

Elaine Freeman, Thomas Harper, June Hoffman, Peggy Johnson and Jere Meek.

Also, Joyce Loving, Darlene Taylor, Terry Tuttle, Bob Gardiner, Ronald

Woodruff, Nancy Andrews, Gerald Bartlett, Diana Burns, Beverly Cornell,

James East, David Fletcher, Roger Gordon, Barbara Harris and Jean Howard.

Also, Pat Jones, Robert Landfield, Victor McGee, Eugene Rueger,

Phillip Sanderson, Barbara Taylor, Robert Wood, Charlene Wall, Marilyn

Arnold, Mike Balch, David Coffin, Marilee Dearman, Melinda Earl, James

Frey and Thelma Harland.

Also, Rodney Hobson, Shirley Huffman, Paul Kemmer, Mary Laurie, Leroy

Patterson, Barbara King Redway, Earl Trapp, Lenny Winner, Ruth Varney and

Mona Windringer.

Information on the cost, and tickets, can be obtained by phoning

Rabbitt at (949) 631-5069 or Ted Millett (949) 673-9505. They are

welcoming information on missing classmates.