Sidelines: Memorial Day meaningful for Newport Harbor alumni

Don Cantrell

Veteran television anchor and writer Tom Brokaw has predicted that

the 60th anniversary this year of World War II will be an overwhelming

event -- “the last anniversary a lot of veterans will live to see.”

And it is fair to say that untold Newport Harbor High athletes were a

bright and integral part of the military forces that bravely struggled

against the evil powers, German, Japan and Italy.

Hence, this year’s Memorial Day stands as a meaningful occasion. Thus,

a wide salute across America is in order, particularly as thousands of

veterans are fading with each passing year.

Newcomers from recent years would not be familiar with the yesteryear

veterans across the harbor area, but the old-timers still remember them

with fondness and respect.

Vernon Fitzpatrick, class of ‘43, one of the most prominent names, has

one of the most shocking stories among local veterans.

Fitzpatrick, who played quarterback for the ’42 championship football

team, lost his life during the Leyte Offensive in the Philippines Dec. 8,

1944 when parachuting to the big island. Sadly, Japanese fighter pilots

used machine guns when coming across Fitzpatrick in mid-air.

Although the champion Newport team always thundered to league

victories with All-CIF fullback Harold Sheflin, coach Wendell Pickens

once said Harbor was always two touchdowns better when Fitzpatrick played

in the game.

Locals mourned another loss in George Shafer, a blocking back on the

‘34 grid team and one deeply admired by his teammate, Al Irwin, who later

returned to coach the Harbor High football team, 1948-55. Irwin later

coached Orange Coast College to a title in 1956.

Shafer had been an infantryman in the Philippines. Irwin initially

coached many swim teams for the Navy at the Great Lakes Training Center.

But, in time, he shifted to the South Pacific where he became a flight

deck officer aboard an aircraft carrier.

Irwin’s cousin, Walt Kelly, Class of ‘37, captured headlines after a

high achievement as a co-pilot at Rabaul Bay in the South Pacific.

Kelly, a versatile athlete at Newport, and his crew had to pass on the

first attempted bombing flight across Rabaul Bay.

Hence, the crew landed on a nearby island with plans to fly out early

morning and skim the giant Japanese carrier it wanted to demolish. The

plan was precise and Kelly still recalls his crew dropping three bombs

right down the carrier’s chute.

The crew had been overloaded with missions and Kelly was pulled aside

for medical reasons. His crew was ordered onward.

A noise later prompted Kelly to rise from bed and go outside. He was

stunned by what he observed. His crew had crashed at the end of the

runway.

Sparks McClellan, another Newport pilot who earned numerous medals and

ribbons, is among the Class of 1940. McClellan, younger brother of Rollo,

Class of ‘38, became a Navy fighter pilot, flying the devastating

Hellcats. His task was to sweep across the beaches and firebomb the

Japanese infantry along the beach lines, which was a successful

operation.

One of Newport’s finest-ever quarterbacks out of the ‘30s was Glenn O.

Thompson, Class of ‘38, who subsequently became a rear admiral in the

Coast Guard. His coach, Ralph Reed, had the highest praise for Thompson

in the season of ’37 when he teamed up with Rollo McClellan for a winning

season.

Hal Sheflin’s running guard from the ’41 grid team earned the Purple

Heart in one severe engagement when he was struck by flak from Japanese

kamikaze planes. Stephens, Class of ‘42, was a gunnery officer aboard a

destroyer.

He was off Okinawa when his ship was struck. During the same intense

battle, his teammate, tackle Manuel Muniz, was wounded on the beach at

Okinawa with an Army unit. Muniz was a second-team All-CIF tackle on the

championship team of ’42.

One of the Newport gridders who was badly hurt in battles against the

Germans in Europe was one-time quarterback George Micklewait, Class of

‘40.

Relatives were well aware of the pain and injuries suffered by

Micklewait, who, in time, returned to work at Harbor High. He was a

second-team All-Southern California back, who had starred under Coach

Dick Spaulding.

One of the oldest, if not the oldest Newport Harbor High product

involved in WWII would be the late Billy V. Brown, who was one of Reed’s

first athletes in the 1930-31 era.

Brown, in the Navy, was a bomber pilot in WWII, as well as the Korean

war, and had a great record. The Navy paid a him a big tribute a few

years ago when he was buried in Kentucky.

Fullback Sheflin and his older brother, Bob, experienced serious

problems aboard their ships in the Pacific. Bob was thrown overboard and

spent 72 hours treading water in the ocean. Harold suffered gas in one

lung and later tumbled overboard.

Newport paid a heavy price for the country’s defense.