Yardley bash at Big Canyon CC

ROGER CARLSON

A Tribute to George Yardley has been lined up for Big Canyon Country

Club on April 29 and with facilities able to accommodate only 200,

George’s friends might be well-advised to make reservations early at

$250 per seat.

Yardley, Newport Harbor High’s No. 1 and a member of the Naismith

Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, continues his battle with Lou

Gehrig’s disease, also known as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

Hall of Famers Bill Sharman, Dolph Shayes (wow, remember the

Syracuse Nationals?) and Ann Meyers are among the early list, as well

as former Olympic diving standout Pat McCormick (four golds).

They used to call George “The Bird,” long before Larry Bird lit it

up, and he was easily one of the most flamboyant and outgoing

personalities of the NBA just when the circuit was beginning to take

off.

The Lakers were in Minneapolis and featured George Mikan; and

before they were the Detroit Pistons, they were the Fort Wayne

Pistons, where our George is still fondly remembered for his play,

and style.

Checks for the big show should be made out to ALSA-OCC-George

Yardley.

The Orange County Chapter of the ALS Association is the

beneficiary, so tickets are cheap at twice the price. It’ll start at

6 p.m.

Yardley, long known for his lack of political correctness, could

get away with almost anything because of his outgoing and engaging

style and the tribute to George will surely be a merry night

regardless of his ongoing battle, which leaves little room for

positives.

One of my favorite stories is when George was at the Hall of

Fame’s big dinner party in Springfield, Mass. He went to the podium

before what must have been 3,000 or so, maybe more, and told the

audience of his assessment of the game.

After giving the commissioner several ideas on how to improve the

game, he said, “I believe sports agents are worse than dope dealers,”

causing audible gasps all over the room. For sure it was a comment

they had never heard before, but that’s always been the way of The

Bird.

His most recent high spot came in November at a spectacular

birthday party, which he continues to draw from.

George’s daughter, Anne, is presently working hard on attracting a

master of ceremonies. She’s hopeful of getting two to become “Dueling

MCs.”

The anticipated full house will bring forth a solid chunk and Anne

Yardley is hopeful additional contributions to the ALSA-OCC will

swell the pot. Anne can be reached at www.georgeyardley.com.

*

I grew up reading about the exploits of Ted Williams and Joe

DiMaggio, as well as research on the legendary performances of Red

Grange, Bronko Nagurski, Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, as well as Howard

Jones, Knute Rockne and Amos Alonzo Stagg.

I never saw any of them compete in person. Most were from the

past, but books and films filled the void.

So it is not surprising that when musing over memorabilia from

Robert Hoyt, the grandfather of recent John Gust Award winner Peter

Hoyt at Newport Harbor High, a letter from the fabled coach to Hoyt

in 1951 explaining his use of the spread punt, jumped out of various

clippings of Hoyt’s playing days when with the Santa Ana Junior

College Dons and College of the Pacific Tigers.

Hoyt, it seems, spent some time with the Dons’ coaches after his

playing days at COP and offered to find a better scheme for the Dons’

kicking game.

He wrote the fabled coach, who was then at Susquehanna University

in Pennsylvania, and, as was customary for Stagg, the Grand Old Man

responded in a style typical of those days, with honesty and

simplicity oozing from the pages.

Here is how a legend of the game, who was the college coach of

Newport Harbor High legend Al Irwin, explained it:

*

Dear Mr. Hoyt

Regarding the spread punt, I have been accustomed to station my

guards a about a yard away from the center, tackles 3 to5 yards out

from the guards, varying with the condition of the speed of the

tackles and the ends about 6 to 8 yards out from the tackles.

Fast men should be at the tackle position even though you have to

exchange players. I have often put fast backs at tackle. I have been

sending the center and the two men in tackle position along with the

ends to cover the punt.

Sometimes I place a couple of men behind the openings between the

guards and the center. Sometimes I have them cross-block, the left

one being a foot to 18 inches ahead, with the third backfield man a

general blocker about 4 or5 yards behind, blocking to either side

according to the dangerous man.

Sometimes I have the guards block diagonally backward and outward.

The most important point that I find is that the center be able to

snap the ball back fast to the kicker standing 12 or 13 yards back. I teach my men to punt with a single step. If they learn that well,

they can stand 12 yards back and, if the kicker has a fast rhythm,

they could even stand 11 yards back. I train them to kick reasonably

high with the wind and reasonably high and straight down the field if

possible.

My advice would be to experiment on this yourself. Hoping that

this will be of help to you, I am,

Sincerely,

A.A. Stagg

*

There weren’t any “red zones” in those days, most everyone played

on both sides of the ball and the helmets were pretty shabby. And, as

you can read between the lines, there was a basic attitude.

But the game, I believe, was a better game, and it was played by

college students under the hands of coaches who often could double as

professors.

Maybe that’s why Irwin has always been something special at

Newport Harbor.

Hoyt was the president of the Orange County Sports Association,

which was the foundation of the Freedom Bowl and Pigskin Classic, as

well as the Orange County Sports Hall of Fame. Also a major factor in

the original mix of four in the OCSA was Newport Beach’s Paul Salata.

One of Hoyt’s great moments as a player was in a 26-14 victory

over Oceanside in the 1947 season opener, whenb he connected on all

10 pass attempts. Hoyt and Newport Harbor products Ralph Freitag and

Hal Sheflin scored touchdowns. Also in the mix for the Dons was

Harbor’s Carl Oberto, Roger Neth, Don Vaughn and Don Burns.

In a memorable 26-19 victory over Pasadena JC at the Rose Bowl,

Oberto, Sheflin and Freitag (two) scored touchdowns.

Hey! See you next Sunday!

* ROGER CARLSON is the former sports editor for the Daily Pilot.

His column usually appears on Sundays. He can be reached by e-mail at

rogeranddorothea@msn.com.