Rosso recalls

DON CANTRELL

It was 61 years ago and Ray Rosso was strapped into his Navy fighter

plane in Hawaii and preparing for his orders to fly out and join the

USS Lexington for the closing days of World War II in the South

Pacific.

The odds for a long life were not impressive during the early

years of the devastating war for American pilots since the nation

lagged behind on modernized aircraft, but by 1945 the U.S. aerial

advancement was superior to the Asian enemy, Japan.

In fact, the U.S. had bombed Tokyo seriously in early 1945, then

struck Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August with two atomic bombs,

leveling both cities.

Hence, Rosso soon learned after the August action that he could

turn in his uniform and pack bags for his home in California.

Rosso not only returned to enjoy a long career coaching football,

sailing, golf and tennis, he celebrated his 89th birthday on Monday.

His return in the mid-1940s also found him heading to the tower of

top junior college coaching. Blessed by superior athletes at Chaffey

College, he directed the Panthers to two conference titles in

1946-47, and led the ’47 club to a victory over Northeastern Oklahoma

in the Junior Rose Bowl.

It was familiar ground since Rosso played guard for Cal at the

Rose Bowl in 1937. He was also an 180-pound guard who could kick

short-range field goals when called upon and became honored on the

All-Pacific Coast squad in 1939.

His high achievements at Chaffey prompted the new Orange Coast

College president, Basil Peterson, to extend the head football

coaching job to him in 1948.

Rosso happily accepted since a new college provided a sterling

challenge and he and his family were constant visitors to the harbor

area over the years.

He and his lovely wife, Jean, have three children, two boys and a

girl. The Rossos have lived on Lido Isle for many years.

In time, Rosso led OCC to its first grid championship in 1951 and

that highlighted his 8-year coaching period, 1948-55.

He was turning to tutor spring sports when Al Irwin of Newport

Harbor High was selected to be the new OCC grid coach in 1956.

Born in Turin, Italy, Rosso has been charting plans in the recent

past to try and attend the Olympic winter games in that area in 2006.

Rosso has never turned away from sports and has continued to

follow OCC athletic teams over the years. He still maintains

friendships with former OCC coaches and athletes, including Irwin and

former Pirate grid chief Dick Tucker.

He still remembers how OCC came together, having been granted a

huge amount of land by the government from the old Santa Ana Army Air

Base.

“When we took the campus over, all the old buildings were there,”

Rosso said, “but we had to build our own football practice fields and

the baseball field.”

This was created across two former golf courses, he explained.

Looking back, Rosso noted that the old memories arise at a time

when the first football team physician, Bernard Mason, is being

mourned since he passed away recently. Mason was known by hundreds of

former players over the years.

“I’ll be 89 this month and I still marvel that I’m able to be

around,” Rosso said.

“Finally, as you get older, people, places and events grow larger

in your memory. We were in our 62nd anniversary March 5.”