Scrapes and bruises: All part of an athlete’s life

Don Cantrell

Prior to 1930, harbor area high school students had a choice of

attending three schools at a distance, which featured Santa Ana, Tustin

and Huntington Beach.

The best local student turning to Santa Ana High was an athlete from

Costa Mesa’s Westside named Harold (Hal) Pangle, who advanced his

interests to Oregon State with the turn of 1930.

Pangle, a sterling halfback, became part of a legendary “Iron Man”

team that stunned mighty USC in 1933 on the Beaver field before thousands

cheering. The Trojans were undefeated. The Beavers managed to gain a

shocking 0-0 tie.

And Pangle, at one point, was nominated for All-American honors. He

later became a colonel in the Army during World War II.

The early thirties also found Newport’s first athletic director, Ralph

King Reed, directing buses to local elementary schools so he could talk

sports with the boys and invite them to the Harbor High campus to examine

the athletic facilities. One group would include the noted Irwin

brothers, Al and Ralph, from Newport beach.

Although the facilities would impress many of the youngsters, the

recently completed construction revealed another side, which included

debris in all directions. And workmen had yet to clean up the mess around

the buildings.

Reed chose to stage a colorful highlight for the eighth graders from

Newport and Costa Mesa by setting up a competitive running event as a

fitting climax to a high school open house.

One of the best recalls came from Dave Phoenix, a top four-year

varsity tackle on the football team, who also had swimming and running

talent.

Reflecting back, Phoenix, who lives in Laguna Beach, said “Late in the

afternoon, runners all gathered in front of the gymnasium to compete on

what was then a long, oval, gravel-covered driveway that led from the

entrance to the school on Irvine Avenue, down past the back entrance to

the main building to the manual arts building, and then back up past the

entrance to the gymnasium and the resident caretaker’s home belonging to

Mr. Rollins, to exit on Irvine Avenue.

He said, “It was one-fourth of a mile of irregular gravel-strewn

surface studded here and there with rusty nails, bits of concrete and

broken glass that came as close to what might be called a trail of

torture as one could find.”

He added, “Of course we were all young, innocent, full of beans and

rarin’ to go. For some reason, I was somewhat favored to win,

particularly by the grammar school crowd from Costa Mesa. Walt Arnold,

Wayne Dye, Jack Grady and myself all lined up with the Newport crowd of

dark horses and Reedy started us off from the entrance to the gym with a

shot from his famous starter pistol.”

He continued, “Off I went barefooted and bushy-tailed leading the

pack. Up past the first turn on Irvine Avenue, downhill on the back

stretch, going like the wind and spurred on by the cheering crowd.

“I sped around the lower end with my eyes glued on the finish line,

slightly uphill and about 100 yards away when suddenly, with about 10

yards to go, my legs began to fail. What a horrible sensation.”

Phoenix said, “I could see Coach Reed, stopwatch in hand, and my

friends and classmates all shouting and waving their arms when disaster

finally struck. Down I went, sliding full-length in the gravel to within

three or four feet of the finish line.

“I don’t know who won the race, probably Jack Grady or Walt Arnold,

but I do know it took me some time to recover from the effects of that

driveway upon my tender carcass.”

He summarized, “Well, that event initiated my career as an aspiring

athlete at Harbor High. In those days, cuts and bruises, gravel runways

and hard-packed dirt fields were standard fare for the athlete--and we

were a long way from competent medical care.”

*****

Reed would also serve as the school’s first head football coach and

would hold that post until 1937, then turn the reins over to his 1937

assistant, Dick Spaulding, a native of Elsinore, who had previously

coached at El Monte and Fullerton.

In time, Reed would turn his attention to basketball and track and

field, and wind up his career with a flow of awards, trophies and CIF

honors.