Three days of remembering

Don Cantrell

It appears that another history-making event is winding together

the first week of October for seven Harbor High classes, dating from 1937

to 1943.

To round things out, they are calling it their 60th anniversary and it

should prove to be a fun-filled affair.

Many of those planning to attend are not only former athletes, but

served gallantly during World War II.

Sparks McClellan, Class of ‘40, who directed the Ralph Reed Golf

Tournament for a number of years is directing the reunion along with the

help of Barton Beek, Virginia Eichler, Margaret Estus, Helen Ann Grundy

and Justine Richards.

Class members who may have missed early news on the program are

welcome to phone McClellan at (949) 548-2624 for more information.

The Oct. 3-6 program will feature one day for golf, another day for a

Catalina boat cruise, a Friday lunch at the Costa Mesa Country Club and

time for a potato bar at the McClellan’s home in Newport Beach.

Among the many former athletes expected are: Bill Neth, a star on the

‘42 champion football team; Ward Sherman and Bill Ritter, two linemen on

the ’40 team; Don Donaldson, ’39 team; Charles Buckland, Merle Coe, late

‘30s; Walter Clark, the ’40 team; and Rollo McClellan, the ’37 team.

Most all of the classy members of the school’s first-ever grid

championship, the Bee team of 1936, are members of the Class of ’38. The

late Lee Trine coached the undefeated Bee team, led by fullback Rollo

McClellan and the late Glenn O. Thompson, the Bee’s quarterback who, in

time, entered the Coast Guard and became a rear admiral.

The ’37 varsity gridders came close to winning the big title, but one

or two unfortunate lags edged them out of the race. It marked Ralph

Reed’s last year tutoring football.

Dick Spaulding was hired out of Fullerton by Harbor High. He served as

an assistant coach to Reed in ‘37, then took charge of the varsity in

1938 and ’39.

The superb gridders for Spaulding in 1938 and ’39 were basically

members of Class of ’39 and ’40. That included two second-team,

All-Southern California squad members in quarterback George Micklewait

and Frank Sheflin. The All-CIF program arrived later.

After the ’40 class graduated, Spaulding returned to Fullerton and was

replaced by Wendell Pickens, also of Fullerton.

Pickens, a quarterback graduated out of Arizona State, coached Harbor

High football and baseball for three years before he turned toward the

Navy and took a position as a physical education instructor.

The Sailor grid clubs of 1940 and ’41 were admirable teams in numerous

ways, but the sterling team from the Pickens’ period was the ’42 team,

which captured the Sunset League championship. Its only loss in ’42 was

to Bonita High in the small schools CIF playoffs.

Newport kept Bonita under control the first half while legendary Tar

fullback Harold Sheflin was in the game and healthy. He could stop the

future All-American Glenn Davis at every turn.

Sheflin’s touchdown gave Newport a first-half lead of 6-0. However, an

ankle injury just before the half put Sheflin on the bench. Davis then

ran wild in the second half to help Bonita win, 39-6.

In time, at Army’s West Point, Davis took time one day to tell Time

Magazine that Sheflin was the greatest player he had ever faced.

A lung injury made it difficult for Sheflin to play football full-time

at Santa Ana College after World War II. His ’42 mate Bill Neth, a

sterling guard, played at Santa Ana on a high level. When at Harbor he

earned 14 college scholarship offers, and in time became an assistant

grid coach for seven years under head coach Bill Cook and John Ward.

Numerous Tar gridders out of the 1941 and ’42 seasons became a strong

element at Santa Ana College. It once featured six Tars on the first

team. Bill Neth and his brother, Roger, were two of the members. Bill was

eventually named first-team, all-state at Santa Ana.