Remembering Harbor’s first grid winning season

A major step in sports history -- the first winning football

season -- came to Newport Harbor 67 years ago at the close of the

1935 grid year under Coach Ralph King Reed, the school’s first

athletic director.

The school opened its doors in 1930, but didn’t produce a grid

team until ’31 with a light turnout of 16 players. And it did win two

games its first season.

Coincidentally, the key player to lead the ’35 team to a winning

season was a 212-pound fullback named Al Irwin, who, in time, would

become the Newport Harbor grid chief, 1948-55. He was voted the most

valuable player in the Orange League in ’35.

A ’36 gridder named Frank Sheflin said he recalled Irwin “who

became a powerhouse like my brother Harold.” Frank’s brother, a

215-pounder in ‘42, led Newport to its first-ever varsity grid

championship and an advance to the small schools CIF Playoffs.

Irwin, a 15 varsity sports letterman, gained his first-ever

football championship in ‘56, when he directed Orange Coast College

to an Eastern Conference title and went to the Potato Bowl.

Newport, posting a 4-3-1 record in ‘55, shut out five rivals,

which proved one thing to Irwin. “We had a very strong defense. It

was outstanding,” he said.

The Tars defeated Valencia, 7-0; Laguna Beach, 25-0; Capistrano,

7-0; and Tustin, 13-0. It tied Orange, 0-0, but lost to Claremont,

20-7, Anaheim, 6-0, and Huntington Beach, 7-0.

Irwin was not just a power runner and rugged linebacker, he also

conducted the team punting and conversion kicks. One unique thing in

that department is that Irwin was a skillful drop-kicker. No one ever

held the ball for him.

Irwin noted that Reed stayed with the short-punt formation, but

“had spruced it up as the years passed.” He said it featured some

spread plays, sideline plays, wide-open plays and an end-around.

One thing he dreaded in the early days were the uniforms. Irwin

said the colors were blue and buff. The blue jerseys had buff numbers

“and it was horrible,” he said. “It was hard to determine the numbers

from the stands.”

He would know that for certain since he and his brother Ralph’s

best fan, their mother, was always there to observe the games.

Irwin said the grid pants were Army khaki and the helmets were

painted khaki. “They also had little padding inside,” he added. And

there were no noseguards in the ‘30s and ‘40s.

More praise came Al Irwin’s way in the 1935-36 Newport yearbook,

where he was called “one of the greatest grid stars Harbor has ever

had turned out.”

The Orange League named Irwin to the first all-league team, but

added three other Tars to the squad, including quarterback Charles

Langmade, lineman Willard Bailey and back Al Pearce.

Also outstanding in ’35 were Chet Hanson, Aubrey Eichorn, George

Foster, Hal Davis, Jack Pilkinton and halfbacks Harold Steck, Bud

Griffin and Henry Maunder.

Other familiar names on the ’35 squad: Louis Glesenkamp, Craig

Phoenix, Ralph Myrehn, Phil Vaughn, Charles Buckland, Elwood Beatty

and Harold Scovel.

Glesenkamp, a 135-pound halfback, was also an ace low hurdler,

sprinter and pole vaulter, who later earned the Bronze Star and five

landing stars for his heroism at Guadalcanal and at Luzon,

Philippines, as an Army tech sergeant in World War II.

He recalled one interesting focus on the fleet-footed Maunder.

Glesenkamp said he believed he was the first Black to play for

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

The ’35 Tars were outweighed in every game, but were remembered

best by all rivals as having one of the most stubborn defenses in

Orange County.

Walt Kelly, a 6-foot-4 end and a cousin to the Irwin brothers, was

a sterling ’35 player, one who would be honored on the all-league

first team in ’36. He was also an outstanding basketball center and

star track man, who often won gold medals for his performances.

In addition, out of World War II, Kelly became a remarkable

co-pilot on a B-25 bomber in the South Pacific, one that destroyed a

huge Japanese cruiser in Rabaul Harbor.

Phoenix, a tackle, was also an outstanding tennis player for the

Tars, while Myrehn, a stout defensive player, was the older brother

of Paul Myrehn, who would, in time, shine on the ’42 champ football

team as a halfback.