Timeout for trivia

Sports questions from yesteryear involving harbor area athletic

personalities can be most interesting and fun.

After the 1930s, one might be prompted to ask what Newport Harbor

High football coach once played college football with a future

president of the United States?

A sharp old-timer would be quick to exclaim: “Dick Spaulding,

Harbor High grid chief in 1938-39.”

The one who became the president many years later was the late

Richard Nixon. The pair played at Whittier College in the early ‘30s.

Spaulding was a fair gridder who graduated from Escondido High. He

once reflected dimly on his grid talent because he was pigeon-toed.

Nixon loved the game of football, but rarely ever got off the bench

because he wasn’t strong enough to deal with the first- and

second-string players.

Spaulding established high marks in prep football while coaching

at Fullerton High. He once set a record, guiding the Fullerton

Indians to 28 straight Sunset League victories. He took one team to

the CIF finals.

One of the most interesting accolades for Spaulding arrived during

his final years of education when the Buena Park High stadium was

named after him. He had served 18 years as Buena Park’s principal.

Incidentally, Nixon served once as student body president at

Whittier College and drew Spaulding into the picture to serve as vice

president.

The Nixons once invited the Spauldings back to the White House for

a visit. The friendship was fairly solid over the years until Nixon

was jolted by the Watergate scandal.

Although Spaulding drew ample attention over the years as a champ

grid coach, his widow, Thelma, once said baseball was his favorite

game.

One of the early day owners of the Cleveland Rams pro football

team once arrived at Harbor High’s auditorium one evening for a

national appearance on radio.

He also had served some years as a professional prize fighter and

later became an outstanding golfer among celebrities. He died Monday

and people around the world conveyed tributes and good cheer. His

name? Bob Hope.

In time, the Rams shifted to Los Angeles. Years later they moved

to St. Louis.

Who was the former Harbor High rock-ribbed tackle who advanced to

Santa Ana College initially and almost collided with the great Jackie

Robinson of Pasadena College?

It was Dave Phoenix, in the mid-30s at Pasadena one night when the

superb athlete, Robinson, streaked right past him on a quick-opening

line play to score. Robinson went on to break the racial barrier for

blacks in baseball when he signed a contract in the late 40s to play

for the Dodgers. It’s safe to say that Robinson was most versatile in

sports. And, a sterling player in baseball.

The one-time Heisman Trophy winner for Army in the mid-40s and a

college Hall of Famer in football was Glenn Davis. He was a 9.7

sprinter in his prep days when he led Bonita High to the CIF small

schools title against Harbor High, 39-6, in ’42.

Coincidentally, one Newport ’42 tackle, Bill Neth, and Davis

eventually ended up working for the same company, the Los Angeles

Times.

Another Neth, Roger, a second-team Newport tackle in ’42 who

served for years as the police chief for Costa Mesa and Irvine, has

had occasions of bumping into Davis when he is invited to the Amigos

Viejos luncheons at the Newport Harbor Yacht Club.

Many old Newport fans still recall that Davis once told Time

Magazine that his favorite gridder from the early 40s was the late

Harold Sheflin, the All-CIF fullback for Harbor High, who had the

speed and power to handle Davis.