Sidelines: Reed was king

Don Cantrell

Forty years have passed since the late Ralph King Reed called it a

day at Newport Harbor High as the original athletic director. He coached

from 1930 to ‘62, a total of 32 years.

Students and athletes, who have come to know his name as it stands on

the gymnasium, have often wondered who he was and how he came to warrant

the enduring tribute. The building took on his name in mid-November of

1985.

Reed had perished in a car accident after his auto flew off an exit

ramp in Santa Ana and crashed into a pole on April 27, 1985. Many have

assumed he had a heart attack and lost control of the vehicle. He was

born Sept. 3, 1900 in Elyria, Ohio.

Interestingly enough, he and the first principal, Sidney Davidson,

hailed from the upper Midwest. Davidson was born in Wadena, Minn.

Davidson, who had previously served at Huntington Beach High, hired Reed,

via Excelsior High, as his faculty member. His second faculty member was

an outstanding lady named Marie Hiebsch, a choir and orchestra leader.

One fitting note her way toward Reed came years later when musical

activity had decreased considerably. Having learned this, Reed took it

upon himself to rally athletes into visiting her and joining the choir.

She was thrilled over the help.

Initially, Reed coached all the sports, but bowed away from varsity

football after the ’37 season. His love always stood strongest with

basketball and track and field. He coached numerous championships in

those two sports.

An inland daily paper once claimed he coached the first-ever football

title at Newport, which was a gross error. Reed did well in the last of

seven years of tutoring football, but there were no title. The first grid

crown was taken by the Bee team of ‘36, coached by Lee Trine. The ’42

varsity champs were directed by Wendell Pickens. The Tars also went to

the ’42 small schools playoff finals, but lost to Bonita, 39-6.

Reed did have football favorites from Newport’s past, which included

three of his own players, fullback Al Irwin in 1932-35, fullback Rollo

McClellan and quarterback Glenn O. Thompson from the ’37 team.

Two others he admired from the champ ’42 outfit were All-CIF fullback

Harold Sheflin and second team All-CIF tackle Manuel Muniz.

Two of his greatest athletes emerged from basketball and track. One

was George Yardley, Class of ‘46, who, in time, broke the single pro

scoring record in basketball and was subsequently named to the Naismith

Pro Basketball Hall of Fame, in Springfield, Mass. The other, Tod White,

Class of ‘55, broke the national prep mile record in the California state

meet at the Coliseum with a clocking of 4:20 flat. The record stood for

six years. Incidentally, Reed himself had been a miler at Oberlin

College, Ohio.

Yardley and White always had lofty words for Reed and his style of

coaching.

Irwin, who returned years later to coach football and swimming, often

praised Reed over the years for his direction in sports and sportsmanship

for the Harbor High athletes.

One of Reed’s favorite possessions over the years was a coveted CIF

lifetime pass for all sporting events. And, according to one family

member, he consistently attended three or four sporting events each week

for more than 20 years using that pass, which had come his way from the

late CIF commissioner, the late Ken Fagans of Balboa Island.

Former athletes also had fun recalling numerous events laced with

amusement.

McClellan, who had played quarterback on the ’36 championship Bee

team, approached Reed in early ’37 and made the effort to sell him on his

ideas over some of his own plays. Reed may have thought about the comment

briefly, but soon told McClellan he would be playing fullback, not

quarterback. McClellan still laughs over the incident.

Boyd (Boggie) Horrell, a versatile athlete from Class of ’48 who

sometimes had a few choice quips out of line, once found himself locked

in the locker room towel cage. One fellow said Reed turned the key.

However, he later returned to allow Horrell outside.

Reed always made an effort to keep his athletes toned down and clear

of any personal vanity. Hence, the athletes were sometimes bothered when

they would run practice heats for an upcoming event and find Reed giving

them a slower time.

“He wanted us to try harder,” one athlete once said.

Another athlete recalled how Reed often strolled the hallways of

school to seek out help for his athletic events.

“One day he talked me into coming back to the gym at night twice a

week to referee his adult municipal basketball games,’ the athlete said

with a laugh.”