Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Fame: Rod Gould

Don Cantrell

Rod Gould, one of the toughest gridders ever to emerge from Orange

Coast College in the late 1940s, has been crowned as a Pilot Sports Hall

of Famer.

The late Newport Harbor High football player under the late Les Miller

was highly valued at both Newport and Coast.

After his passing in a tragic lumber truck-auto collision a sterling

trophy was named after him by Coast head coach Ray Rosso. The trophy

honored the athlete who played the most minutes in a season.

Sadly, his passing came two years after his close football teammate,

Gene Lee, a rugged Newport lineman, died when a car struck his during a

dark night on the Corona del Mar highway near the Back bay turnoff.

The Daily Pilot’s planned tribute to Gould provided Coach Rosso, 85,

“with an unhappy memory of Rod Gould’s ill-fated recruiting trip 52 years

ago.”

Gould and two Downey teammates had plans to visit St. Mary’s

University in Northern California. All three died in the crash.

“In the fall of 1948, as we prepared for OCC’s first football season,

we faced a few problems,” Rosso said. “(There was) no field, hand-me-down

uniforms, very limited recruiting and coaches and many players meeting

for the first time. Add to that a head coach who had a winning record and

a college president who expected or hoped for a winning season.”

Prior to OCC, Rosso had coached two fabulous seasons at Chaffey

College and led the school to a triumphant Junior Rose Bowl contest over

an Oklahoma team.

“The ‘ingredients’ were OK,” Rosso said of the early OCC days. “But,

reality set in on opening practices where I realized we were not going to

have high expectations and that we would desperately need leadership from

team leaders. So, someone had to step up and be a leader. And this is

where the Rod Gould story begins.

“First, Rod was blessed with drive and determination plus a great

personality that included everyone in his enthusiasm,” Rosso continued.

“So, this showed up and it was this leadership that gave us our first two

wins. Hence, even with some subsequent losses, we knew we could win, and

even with the losses, Rod always led by example -- getting ready for the

next game.”

Gould’s influence resulted in quality relationships with those who

came in contact with him.

“Throughout the season, Rod not only had great rapport with his

teammates and coaches, but with the student body of 550 as well,” Rosso

said. “Rod was the type of young man who transferred his leadership

qualities to others as well. Rod was the kind of athlete that should be

idealized. He loved to compete, he liked people and made them part of his

pursuits.”

The OCC mentor had a long talk with Gould before he left on the

ill-fated trip. Gould informed Rosso that he was interested in a coaching

career.

“I related to (Gould’s interest),” Rosso said. “I told him that a lot

of us had satisfactory results and I encouraged him to pursue his

education and credentials. Believe me, he would have been an outstanding

coach.”

Sadness arrives when Rosso remembers the night Gould died.

“Now the hard part,” Rosso said. “I received a phone call one night

telling me about Rod’s accident. It took some further agonizing hours to

learn he had lost his life. I felt I had lost one of my sons. Our

athletic department was in complete disbelief, the faculty and student

body completed a pattern of deep sorrow that would be felt for months.”

“We had the (memorial) service for Rod in the old Santa Ana Army Air

Base chapel,” Rosso added. “That also was the final realization that Rod

was really gone. The memorial and tribute are history, but to me, Rod is

still, and always will be, be an embodiment of ideals for all of athletic

competition, at any level.”