Sidelines: Goat Hill Kids and Mackerel Flatters

Don Cantrell

Some highly respected names out of sports yesteryears dealing with

Newport Harbor High are inclined to believe it may be time to set the

record straight on the old yarns dealing with the terms, “Goat Hill,”

and, “Mackerel Flat.”

In fact, many oldtimers feel it should be observed as simply the work

of some comic promoter from the mid-40s who churned up the action.

The basic yarn was that Harbor High athletic rivalries eventually

sparked a scene where Costa Mesa students were called, “Goat Hillers,”

and that Newport students were labeled as, “Mackerel Flatters.”

One element felt that would stir up a competitive spirit among the

kids form Newport and Costa Mesa. Or, perhaps they thought it might pinch

the vanities.

Truth of the matter is that it never did and the Mackerel Flat term

never caught on.

But in the mid-40s, the term, “Goat Hill,” did catch on, as it was

fixed on students from the Costa Mesa agricultural community.

Nonetheless, the Costa Mesa kids loved the term and started using it

in their social gatherings.

Who could have sparked up any glittering lights of interest over the

term of Goat Hill or Goat Hill Kids in the mid-40s? Many students of the

day are prompted to smile and point the finger at Don (Muk) McCallum, a

‘47 end on the grid team team and the 1947-48 student body president.

Although he was a native Balboan, he mixed closely with the, “Goat

Hill boys,” and they came to follow his dress via the war surplus store:

Navy p-coats and clod hoppers.

His unique talent for promotion shined in later years when he and two

partners launched a Tahitian resort and later found Life Magazine

featuring them across a few pages in Tahiti.

Many locals from the day feel the Goat Hill scenario was ephemeral,

lasting about three to four years, then faded with the turn of the ‘50s.

Even most oldtimers are not quite certain what Goat Hill is supposed

to mean personality-wise. Those who were fond of the crowd recall them as

fun and likable people with a great sense of humor. There was no picture

of tough, edgy guys.

Prior to the mid-40s, there was virtually little ever said about the

kids on the hill or beach.

Al Irwin, a student from 1932-36, who became the schools’ football

coach from 1948-55, said he has almost no recall of the terms in his high

school days.

Sparks McClellan, a student from 1936-40 and a center on the ’39 grid

team, said, “I never heard the term, Goat Hill, until after I returned

home from World War II in 1945.” Goat Hill was never mentioned in the

yearbook or school paper.

Roger Neth, a tackle on the ’42 championship football team and a

former Costa Mesa police chief, said he had no recall of any Goat

Hll-Mackerel Flat episodes, though he says there could have been, “some

chit-chat now and then.”

In the past, some have said the term arose because there were so many

goats in Costa Mesa.

With a laugh, Neth, siding with his old gridmate from the ’43 varsity,

Joe Muniz, said, “I never saw a goat in Costa Mesa.”

The latest tall tale arose a few months ago in a Santa Ana paper,

which claimed the term arose in the ‘20s when some Santa Ana residents

moved their homes to cheap land in northern Costa Mesa. They chose to

raise goats when their cows failed to produce milk.

The story falls apart because there was no Harbor High School in the

‘20s and, interestingly enough, three dairies in central Costa Mesa had

no problem with their cows.

One thing for sure, however, and that is that numerous folks from

yesteryear do recall goats in the area, including Keo Fisher King, a ’49

senior. She said, “On the corner of 21st and Orange Avenue, Mr. and Mrs.

Tait had a whole dairy of them. The Joiners kept goats and I think the

McVays did, too.”

Ivan Caley, a ’48 tackle, said he owned a goat in high school and

milked it in front of his house every morning. A ’49 football team member

recalled that guard David Canchola owned a goat.

Joe Muniz grins, then says, “There may have been a goat here and

there, but that’s not enough to refer to this area as Goat Hill.”

Another party claims Harbor should follow the Navy football team,

which has long had a billy goat as the mascot.

So, if you’re toying with the idea of changing Costa Mesa’s name to

“Costa Mesa By-the-Sea, maybe you should think about “Goat Hill.”

Or, ... maybe not.