ROBERT GARDNER -- The Verdict

Today, Frisbee throwing seems to be the principal sport of the

so-called beach athlete. It was not always so.

During the 1920s, the beach sport of men was Buck the Bear -- a rather

vigorous sport easily distinguished from Frisbee tossing.

In Balboa, it was practiced by a group of young men, some of whom

happened to be USC football players of some repute.

There was Donn Williams, USC’s first all-purpose quarterback who ran

with the ball, passed, punted, drop-kicked and, on defense, tackled.

Then there was Jeff Cravath, USC’s all-time center who went on to

become the coach (he was a better center than he was a coach). There was

Bill Cole, who went from being a USC football player -- a tackle, as I

remember -- to being Santa Ana’s longtime high school football coach.

When Ted Roper and Harold Knight joined the group you had quite a

gathering of local heroes. Ted and Harold were best known for diving off

the top of the Pavilion, which was not only dangerous from the standpoint

of the height of the dive, but carried with it the possibility of coming

up under a motorboat and getting disemboweled as did a young man named

Wright a few years before.

Buck the Bear had a simple purpose -- finding out just how much pain

the human body could endure.

There were two teams of approximately 10 or 12 men each. The defense

crouched down with shoulder up against the rear end of the fellow ahead

of you. Then the other team ran toward that crouching line of men and one

at a time leaped into the air and landed on the crouching men.

The idea was to cause the defending team to collapse, which it usually

did. Ten 200-pound men equals 2,000 pounds -- which, when hitting like a

projectile from a 12-inch cannon, can do a lot of damage.

Also there was the friction factor. Because all those bodies were

sandy, it was like 200 pounds of sand paper to the guys getting hit.

Well, there were a lot of flying arms and legs, a lot of painful

contact, and a lot of concussions.

I’ll have to admit that Buck the Bear wasn’t much of a challenge to

the intellect. Nor was there much finesse involved.

Actually, looking back, it was a pretty stupid excuse for an athletic

event.

However, you’ll have to admit that the participants were tough men.

I’m not so sure about Frisbee tossers.

ROBERT GARDNER is a Corona del Mar resident and a former judge. His

column runs Tuesdays.