Mike White is not giving up

DON CANTRELL

Edward Mayer, who helped lead Orange Coast College to its first

football championship in 1951, says his old friend Mike White has

plans to serve one more year as the assistant coach to Dick Vermeil

of the Kansas City Chiefs.

White, a former head coach of the Oakland Raiders and the

University of Illinois, was a walk-on assistant coach for Jeff

Brinkley at Newport Harbor High in 1989.

White and Vermeil enjoyed a winning season at Kansas City in ’03.

They guided the St. Louis Rams to a Super Bowl title (XXXIV) in 2000.

Vermeil plans to serve two more years for the Chiefs. He and White

have already worked two years in Kansas City.

Mayer, a stout lineman for Orange Coast in 1950-51, earned the

coveted Rod Gould Memorial trophy in ’51 for having played the most

time that year.

Incidentally, Mayer also played first base for the Pirates under

Coach Wendell Pickens cone. He had played one season at Harbor High

under Elgin Hall.

Mayer lauded the efforts and style of Vermeil and White this past

season and felt they had a promising shot at the Super Bowl before

they lost to the Indianapolis Colts, 38-31, in the AFC Divisional

playoffs.

Mayer knew White was looking forward to visiting his new home on

Balboa Island. Construction was finished before the last grid season

opened.

Mayer enjoyed a recent lunch with his ’51 coach at OCC, Ray Rosso,

and drew a hearty laugh when he showed the coach where they could

work out one day. It was a nice facility at a local golf club. After

entering the door, Ross, 87, exclaimed, “This is like heaven.”

Mayer said Rosso always enjoyed working out in the gyms. The

former Harbor High linebacker has been in good shape over the years,

but indicated one shoulder setback that called for an operation.

Newport teammate Ted Trompeter once laughed recalling Mayer and

said, “We used to call him ‘Shakey Jake,’ because of the that old,

rattling car he drove around.”

Mayer was a roommate of gridmate Bill Walsh at San Jose State.

Walsh went on to coach the San Francisco 49ers and led them to four

Super Bowl titles.

“Bill used to fly me up for some ‘Frisco games,” he recalled with

fond memories.

*

Boyd “Bogey” Horrell, a versatile athlete at Harbor High and

Orange Coast in the 40s, still remembers El Centro, one of his most

exhausting football bus trips from yesteryear. He even remembers the

bus driver, Dean Burchett, a graduate of El Centro High, who later

advanced to become a fine wrestling coach at OCC.

Horrell finally gave up farming in the Arizona desert and returned

in the recent past to Huntington Beach for retirement and to be near

one son and his family.

A Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Famer, Horrell was an all-conference

center at OCC in football and a star on the baseball team.

On occasions, he likes to reflect back on the memorable sports

events, such as the road travels.

“Yesteryear travel was much different,” Horrell said. “There were

no freeways in those days, and the speed limits varied between 55 and

65 miles per hour.

“Burchett did know the way to El Centro so he took charge,”

Horrell continued. “So we angled on out to Indio in the desert, then

headed off on route 86, which took us on to El Centro.”

The time element?

Horrell laughed and then said, “Sixteen hours. Eight hours each

way. We got back to Orange Coast after five in the morning.”

Horrell remembered the experience with humor.

“Most of us slept on the way home,” he said. “It’s easier to sleep

when you lose.”

However, OCC exacted revenge in the ’49 season at home against El

Centro.

“The worst part of the game was the earth,” he said. “That ground

was as hard as concrete.”

It also prompted Horrell to remember the Marin game in ’49 when

the Pirates flew north for the clash.

“The trouble at Marin in ’49 was the fog up around ‘Frisco and we

couldn’t land,” he said. “The pilot had to fly our team to Half Moon

Bay, south of ‘Frisco, then we had to rent a bus that could transport

us all the way up north. So, we were late getting to the game, but

the coach had phoned Marin to let them know.”

Horrell was also a star performer on Newport Harbor’s only

championship baseball team in 1948.