Sidelines: Behind the scenes

Don Cantrell

Jim and Martha Newkirk continue contributing their goodwill and

kindness to people and the field of education with little fanfare.

Newkirk, a former grid and baseball champion at Newport Harbor High,

Class of ‘55, Orange Coast and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, has long served

sports as well in Southern California.

The Newkirks, who now live in Laguna Beach, recently conveyed a $1

million gift to UC Irvine to establish “The Newkirk Center for Science

and Society,” with the goal of making scientific research more available

to the community.

“Too often great research gets buried in academia,” Newkirk said.

The former superb pitcher indicated UCI will be fielding a baseball

team this year.

“I’ll support it somewhat,” he said.

In the recent past, he and his lovely wife flew to the Orient and

joined a fair number of doctors to help many children with medical

problems. Jim gave his assistance to the doctors, while Martha played a

familiar role as a professional nurse.

Golf often consumes time on Newkirk’s schedule and he enjoys it.

“I’ll be going on a six-day venture to golf heaven -- Pebble Beach,

Spyglass,” he said of his travels this month.

One oldtimer from World War II deserves a salute for his Army role and

many past sports contributions to Harbor High.

Louis Glesenkamp, who earned the Bronze Star and five landing stars

for his heroism at Guadalcanal and at Luzon in the Philippines as an Army

tech sergeant.

Few remember his war achievements, but they were sterling for the

one-time 135-pound halfback at Harbor High under Coach Ralph Reed.

A modest gentleman, Glesenkamp never boasted about his times in

combat. His idea of a good Army story was about how he, as a tank

sergeant, was called by a soldier down the beach at Guadalcanal.

His astonishment came to discover that the fellow was an old friend

from high school days. It was a rare happening.

He was a solid player on the 1935 and ’36 Tar football teams. One of

his ’35 teammates was the legendary fullback Al Irwin, who later coached

the Tars from 1948-55.

He had a fond memory of halfback Henry Maunder on the ’36 team.

Glesenkamp said the fleet-footed runner was the first black to play for

Newport, adding, “He was a great guy.”

Interestingly enough, Maunder, after all the years, phoned Irwin in

the recent past to send his greetings. Irwin said he had left the area

and became a successful furniture store owner in Los Angeles.

The other memorable part of Harbor High’s yesteryear’s for Glesenkamp

was the kids. He always enjoyed giving them help in track since he had

been a pole-vaulter and low hurdler.

Gino Boero, the “Ice box,” or “Refrigerator,” for the ’49 Harbor High

grid team, being a stout 240-pound guard as a sophomore, is drawing

praise from his old coach again these days and that’s Al Irwin.

Irwin caught view of Boero a number of times recently and discovered

that his former guard was walking from Costa Mesa to the Newport Pier

every day, which is superb exercise.

“And he looks great,” Irwin said.

Another old-timer called this corner in the summer and it was

surprising. His name: R.C. Crane a star basketball player for Newport in

1950-51. Many had lost track of him over the years.

After early years at the former Richard’s Lido Market, he became laced

into the insurance field and wholesale business with success.

He now lives in Tucson, Ariz. but has discussed the possibility of

shifting on to Las Vegas.

He once helped lead Richard’s to the basketball championship (1952) of

a municipal league in Laguna Beach. One of the highlights, much to his

amazement, was welcoming another forward to the team one night. It was

one-time All-CIF Newport ace Bud Attridge from the early ‘40s. Attridge,

who once had a fan named George Yardley, ’46 Class, still had great

skills on the basketball court. Yardley, in time, became a pro Hall of

Famer in the NBA.

Crane, who was very popular with the Newport kids in his day, has done

a remarkable job battling cancer and a heart problem.