Sidelines: The Well-rounded Woodhouse

Don Cantrell

Bob Woodhouse, 68, a Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Famer, will make an

effort to attend Saturday’s 50th anniversary of Orange Coast College’s

first championship football team, but needs to work out a schedule with

his doctor relative to back treatment.

Now a resident of Cottonwood, Ariz., Woodhouse has been struggling of

late to move around physically. He is even pondering the prospects of a

new hip.

A native of Costa Mesa and a member of the Newport Harbor High Class

of 1951, Woodhouse made sterling marks in football at Harbor High, Orange

Coast and Long Beach State over a period of eight years. He also, as a

half-miler, led the Tars to a track title in 1951.

He may be the only ’51 OCC gridder who advanced into the field of

coaching where he achieved outstanding records and drew a flow of honors

during his grid career.

He always had a good sense of humor and honored all his teammates down

through the years.

After his retirement to Arizona some years back, he said, “I spend my

days now involved in off-road exploring, pistol shooting, tennis and

square dancing. I know it doesn’t sound near as exciting as the capers we

used to pull, but I enjoy it anyway.”

On one of his last trips to California, he ventured by car to San

Diego, where he was honored by that county’s prep world for his

remarkable coaching record at San Marcos and San Pasqual high schools. He

coached 30 years combined at the two schools and won his share of

championships.

Reflecting back to coaching, he once said his biggest influence came

from former Anaheim High coach Clare Van Hoorebeke and former Harbor High

grid tutor Ernie Johnson.

In fact, some years ago the CIF honored Woodhouse with the Van

Hoorebeke Award for excellent contributions to prep coaching in Southern

California.

“They both had high standards. And I value what I was able to draw

from them,” he said.

Woodhouse, who coached his first five years as an assistant to Bob

Lampshire at Rancho Alamitos High, compiled a 160-68-5 record during his

30 seasons at the two San Diego schools.

Essentially, his coaching methods were similar to that of his OCC

coach, Ray Rosso.

“I always tried to play everybody,” Woodhouse said. “Very few were

ever left on the bench.’

The two San Diego schools never had a home stadium, so his clubs

always traveled by bus. In fact, Woodhouse drove the bus the first batch

of years, but later his late wife, Sandra Cullen, drove the team bus for

years. She eventually earned a driver award from the Pioneer Corp. in New

Mexico, which featured a national program.

The Woodhouse couple always had the big bus parked in front of their

home and gave it proper care.

His first wife died in 1994. He later came to marry Lynda Hansen,

whose son had played for him before being drafted by the Chicago Bears.

Sadly, she passed away in 1997.

An All-Eastern Conference lineman at OCC, Woodhouse reflecting back,

once said, “I always admired the line coach Johnny Owens. He helped keep

our spirits up.” Owens was a former grid coach at Orange High.

Woodhouse also enjoyed the humor that often came from Owens. He said

Owens used to run along the sidelines and yell, “Ineligible receiver

downfield.” Owens would hope for a penalty, but the referees generally

ignored his antics.

One night in a “fog bowl” game against Chaffey, Owens could have sworn

the Chaffey coach was on the field standing in the huddle. Owens raced

across the field only to discover that he had erred and left the field a

bit red-faced.

Woodhouse grew up with Mel Smalley on Costa Mesa’s Westside and they

played together on the 8-1 Harbor High team of ’49 and the 7-3 OCC team

of ’51. Smalley was the ’49 team’s leading scorer with 104 points as a

halfback.

Woodhouse won a small schools CIF championship in 1996 and he was

voted Coach of the Year in San Diego County in 1973. In 1975-76, he

served as president of the California Athletic Directors.

Woodhouse was also named to the National Football Foundation’s Hall of

Fame and earned its Most Inspirational Award.

Although he’s fairly well-removed from the old home town, he sometimes

finds locals dropping by to visit. The last visits, he said, came from

Smalley and Armand Nettles, the one-time CIF basketeer from Newport in

the early 50s.