Prep football: Oozing with spirit

Barry Faulkner

It is not familial obligation nor an obsession with the game that

brings them together once a week for a few months each fall.

But, since the early 1990s -- no one remembers the official point of

origin -- they’ve been congregating under Friday night lights, savoring

the untainted virtue of prep football, forging lasting friendships with

one another and, basically, yelling themselves hoarse.

At home or on the road, amid December drizzle or balmy late-summer

sunsets, they arrive early, stand in unison for every kickoff and lavish

unyielding support upon teenagers they seldom, if ever, meet.

You’ll find close to a dozen of them at tonight’s CIF Southern Section

Division VI championship game at Orange Coast College, under their

homemade “Tar Pit” banner, supporting the Newport Harbor Sailors as if

their sons’ season depended on it.

“I played football at Costa Mesa High [Class of ‘62], but my four kids

went to Newport Harbor and all my grandchildren [nine to date] will all

go to Newport Harbor,” said Rick Roberts, a 58-year-old retiree and

president of the Tar Pit.

Roberts coined the term to unify those who sit (and stand) along the

east corner of the Davidson Field press box, or wherever they can on the

road. “I’m not an alumnus, but I consider myself one.”

Mark Harris, a parks commissioner for the city of Costa Mesa and Tar

Pit vice president, is a Harbor alum (Class of ‘78), as is Tar Pit

devotee Fred Bockmiller (Class of ‘80), an engineer who regularly wears

his old letterman’s jacket to games.

But Tar Pit Secretary Jessica Harris, Mark’s wife and an office

manager, was a cheerleader at -- gasp -- Corona del Mar. Tar Pit members

Mark Farrar, a trial attorney who played collegiately at Arizona State;

small-business owner Jeff Kingsley; and Jackie Roberts, Rick’s wife, have

also adopted the school and its football team.

“They’re a fired up group,” Newport Coach Jeff Brinkley said. “We have

good community support across the board and [the Tar Pit] is certainly a

part of that.”

Ed Johnson, another member of the group Bockmiller compares loosely

with the Cleveland Browns’ “Dog Pound,” stayed on after his son (former

All-CIF Sailor punter Eddie Johnson, who played the last two years at

Orange Coast College) moved on.

“None of us have kids in the program,” said Mark Harris, who brushed

some blue paint on white canvas to create the banner, a visual beacon to

members at road games. “But I’ve probably missed about 10 games since

1978.”

This year, Jessica Harris had hats made for members, who faithfully

wear the blue baseball caps with “Tar Pit” embroidered in white letters

on the front and “Get up or go home!” on the back.

The latter refers to the specific insistence, led by Bockmiller, that

every Harbor fan rise for the kickoff. But, Jessica Harris believes, the

quotation also captures the spirit of the group.

“If you don’t want to cheer, you shouldn’t come to the game,” she

said.

This ardent attitude, as well as some occasionally salty language,

have made the Tar Pit an acquired taste for some less-zealous rooters.

“But I think the parents are getting used to us, and I try to make

sure the guys keep their comments tempered,” Jessica Harris said.

“The people who think we’re too loud, usually scatter pretty quickly,”

said Roberts, a former lower level Harbor assistant coach (1983-90) whose

gruff exterior conceals a benevolent heart.

“The reason I come out, is, I believe adults should support kids in

positive activities,” said Roberts, whose son Rick Jr. played varsity

football for the Tars in the mid-1980s. “I love to win, don’t get me

wrong. But I’d be here win, lose or draw to support the kids. I admire

the effort they give, and the program they go through is pretty rigorous.

They give up a lot, and I think it’s a shame when they’re not supported.”

Several members said the Sailors’ recent run of success (five CIF

title-game appearances since 1992), is merely coincidental and not the

catalyst behind their allegiance. The Tar Pit, they avow, is no

bandwagon.

“The good years are a lot of fun, but it’s showing up every game in

the lean years that makes this group what is is,” Mark Harris said.

They all have their favorite Harbor memory, most of which have little

do with the CIF championships won in 1994 and ’99. And some have a

favorite player, more likely a lineman with whom they struck up a

conversation at a local restaurant, than a decorated star.

Bockmiller, just finishing his second one-year stint as president of

the Mesa Consolidated Water District, was a heavyweight wrestler at

Harbor and has always been a staunch supporter of Sailor athletics.

“When I was in high school, I was involved with a group called STOMP:

Superior Tars Advocating More Pride,” he said. “I fell in love with

football way back then, even though I was honest enough with myself to

know I wasn’t meant to be a player.”

Bockmiller said he pays little attention to college or professional

football.

“I don’t watch the Super Bowl, and I don’t care about the Super Bowl,”

he said. “I watch, maybe the Army-Navy game and the USC-UCLA game, but

I’m a high school fan. The purity of high school football keeps me coming

out, year after year.”

Farrar said he regularly receives bewildered looks from colleagues,

puzzled that he’d attend so many games without knowing any of the

players.

“I just love football, especially at this level,” Farrar said. “It’s a

great environment.”

Members of Rick Roberts’ church often shake their heads when, having

thrashed his voice at a Friday game, he still can’t talk Sunday morning.

“The quality of the game usually dictates the quality of my voice for

the weekend,” Roberts said.

Jessica Harris, whose knowledge of the game is still improving, said

she has a good time, even when her attention strays from the field.

“It’s a great Friday night of wonderful family entertainment,” she

said. “I like the band and the cheerleaders, and I like to see our

friends every week. We’re always disappointed when football season is

over, and we always look forward to it coming around again.”