Sidelines: Irwin’s cool decision paid off

Don Cantrell

The recent heatstroke death of NFL offensive lineman Korey Stringer

of the Minnesota Vikings prompted the memory bank to reflect back to one

early September in 1948 when familiar heatwaves scorched Davidson Field

at Harbor High.

Most all players accepted the intense heat as part of the grind in

football training and said little or nothing.

But the new coach, Al Irwin, who had played on the same field in

1932-35, was well aware of the usual problems. He, too, lived with most

of it. But one day the ’48 team was astonished when they looked up to

find Irwin pointing off the field to the wooden bleachers.

The players understood his message. It was too hot and they headed for

the bleachers.

Although they were drenched with sweat, they soon felt cooled under

the shadows of eucalyptus trees behind the wooden stadium. They were also

relaxed with smiles.

Irwin said little about the heat since it was quite obvious for the

break. He simply chose to tell the players that he wished to take the

time to relate some old gridiron stories.

His audience loved it.

He would only take about an hour, but that was sufficient time for his

troops to cool off while the sun was melting on the horizon.

Not much was said, as this corner recalls, until many years later when

The Daily Pilot was interviewing former players over the picture of Irwin

they retained.

Al Muniz, who, in time, became an All-Eastern Conference guard for

Orange Coast, said one of the main things he remembered about Irwin was

the afternoon when he sent the squad to the bleachers to get out of the

heat.

“I always admired the man because of that,” Muniz said of Irwin. “You

always wanted to play your heart out for him.”

An indication of such arrived about three weeks later when the future

CIF co-champs, St. Anthony, invaded Davidson Field with two sterling CIF

players in future All-American fullback Johnny Olzewski and quarterback

Bill Mais.

The odds against Harbor winning was almost out of sight.

Irwin only had three veterans in senior end Bob Thompson, junior

fullback Bob Berry and senior guard Cliff Tripp.

Many fans and sportswriters feared the worst and many may have had

thoughts of leaving the game early.

However, it wasn’t long before the Tars, guided by quarterback

Carleton Mears, scored and took the lead. The Saints caught up later only

to find Harbor High scoring again with Berry.

And, at one point, the rival quarterback was steaming over the

insufficient blocking to stop Newport’s Muniz from stretching over the

line with his 250 pounds and grabbing Mais by the back of his trousers.

One man usually was not enough to stop Muniz.

In addition, the continued booming runs by Berry and the slick

pass-catching by Thompson kept the Saints off guard most of the night.

In the end, the Saints would vote to have Newport’s Thompson and Berry

on their all-opponents team.

The break for the Saints came at the close when they deflected a punt

by Newport’s Bob Watts near the Sailors’ 10-yard line.

They recovered the ball and ran four running plays. The last run

scored and the Saints won, 14-12.

Thompson was in tears after the game since his two conversion attempts

failed. The Saints blocked one point-after-attempt kick. Still, he wound

up making the All-CIF squad as a second-team end.

“We were lucky to get out of Newport alive,” one St. Anthony coach

said.

No one could stop the powerful Saints in ’48 except Santa Barbara,

which tied the Saints, 7-7, in the CIF finale.

It was Irwin’s first coaching year at Newport and he drew one thing he

favored and that was a winning season at 5-4.

Most importantly, he had earned the respect of the ’48 team for his

insight and wisdom relative to spirit and incentive.