Tars had diversity

ROGER CARLSON

Hopefully, Chapters I, II and III of Newport Harbor High’s storied

1973 and ’74 Sunset League championship football teams stirred the

echoes. But there are still a few leftovers.

Although the ’74 edition was clearly there in ‘73, in terms of

starters they were definitely separate groups.

Linebacker John Phipps was the only ’73 holdover on the ’74

defense and, offensively, there were but four -- judging by the

published starting lineups as each season began.

The two-time offensive starters included tailback Brian Theriot,

flanker Tom Bazacas, wide receiver Vinnie Mulroy and left guard Marc

Wilsey. Another two-time “starter” was place-kicker Art Sorce, who

set CIF field goal records in a season (13) and single game (four in

the victory over Long Beach Poly in the CIF Playoffs). Among his

exploits was a 51-yarder.

The ’73 team finished 9-2 and shared the Sunset League crown with

Anaheim.

The ’74 team finished 10-2 and was the sole champion of the Sunset

League.

Wilsey, who owns several restaurants in Newport Beach, the Pacific

Whey Cafe in the Crystal Cove Promenade perhaps the most prominent,

brought out a number of facts which I’d like to pass on.

The only three-year letterman on the ’74 team, Wilsey recalls

Bucko Shaw as a starter in the season opener of ‘73, but it doesn’t

show in published accounts.

What is very clear are the memories of the parents in each of

those two explosive seasons.

“As I sit here today I can tell you truthfully that the parents,

as well as the total community involvement, during those two years

were as instrumental in the success of the teams as were the players

and coaches,” said Wilsey.

The interior line was always shoved around in terms of credit, so

here’s another look: In ’73 it was John Gust at center, flanked by

Wilsey and Jeff Kravitz at guards and Tom Formica and Ken Newberry at

tackles.

In ’74 Scott Reid anchored the line at center, with guards Rick

John and Wilsey, and tackles Dave Helfrich and Jeff Starr.

Neither team would have gained a yard without the unsung work and

performances of those two groups. Seldom, if ever, are offensive

lineman given the credit they deserve. It just goes with the

territory, I guess.

The ’74 team’s co-captains were Wilsey, the offensive captain at

guard, and Shaw, the defensive captain at “monster” in the secondary.

“The starting players and coaches almost completely turned over

between those two years, but the one constant was the boosters --

parents, friends, community members -- that kept the momentum going,”

continued Wilsey, who shrunk, according to game programs of the two

seasons.

In 1973, under Coach Don Lent, Wilsey was listed at 5-foot-7, 168

pounds.

A year later as a senior in Coach Bill Pizzica’s program, he was

listed at 5-5, 160.

How can that happen? The wily Pizzica always wanted his players’

size and stats underplayed. Most veteran coaches would lean to those

tendencies.

Indeed, when gathering information on the next game, I’d always

get the “so-so” report of his own team’s previous deeds, while

Pizzica would make sure we were well aware of the awesome task coming

up against someone deemed near-unbeatable.

Then, when the article was published, the wily Pizzica would grab

his copy of the sports page and tell his teams (five seasons in all),

“Look, even the Pilot thinks you’re going to lose.”

“In ‘73,” continued Wilsey, “you had the starters’ parents of

Kravito (Kravitz), Big Mill (Pat Millican), John Boy (Gust), Mockett

(Bill Mockett), No No (George Norris), Gavino (Gavin Hedrick), Bob-O

(Bob Unvert), Bucko (David “Bucko” Shaw), Half Pint (one of assistant

coach Sid Shue’s nicknames for me, along with Tough Nut), Vinnie

(Vince Mulroy), John Boy (John Phipps), Flyin’ Brian (Brian Theriot),

Zacabas (Tommy Bazacas) and many more.

“And you also had he parents of the guys waiting in the wings for

‘74, including but not limited to RJ (John), Starzie (Starr), Helfro

(Helfrich), Scotty (Reid), Hulk (Richardson), Steverson (Mark

Steverson), Foley (Steve Foley), Gordo (Gordon Adams), Artie (Sorce),

Simmons (Dave Simmons) and, again, many more.”

There was also Ron Lamerton and others, who refused to play as

juniors under Lent, but were persuaded to return to the fold under

Pizzica.

I was always able to identify with Lamerton, since I had my own

problems as a reporter with Lent.

Lent, who had spent several years at Magnolia High in Anaheim,

didn’t have much use for the Pilot’s sports department, or me, and I

was never able to soften his hard-line approach.

“It feels like it was a unique time,” continued Wilsey, who was

the CFO of a national company for some 20 years before entering the

Newport Beach scene with his number of restaurants. After years of

travel, he has now settled in San Clemente.

“Community icons like John Wayne were involved (with

congratulatory messages),” said Wilsey, “and ex-players were

involved. Everybody was involved.”

It was that set of parents who were responsible for the “old”

weight room out near the baseball diamond.

Another who recalls those Friday Night Lights with a passion is

former team photographer Sandy Simpson, who provided information

regarding Hedrick and A.G. Kawamura.

“Gavin captains oil rigs all over the world,” said Simpson, “and

his last destination around Christmas was Indonesia.

“Kawamura was a second-string running back in ’73 and did not go

on to play college ball,” Simpson continued. “In fact, he didn’t play

as a senior, but he has done all right for himself as he is now the

Secretary of Agriculture for the State of California.”

More information comes from Marilyn Gust, who said Newberry is a

high school physics teacher and wrestling coach in Northern

California.

Also, Kravitz lives near Portland, Ore., and is in interstate

trucking, while Tom Saftig, who went on to Stanford after Orange

Coast College and competed in crew, recently celebrated his 25th

wedding anniversary.

*

The wild exploits of some of the Sailors has always dominated the

memory bank when considering these particular Tars.

One story which comes to the mind is of two ex-Tars who were at a

midwestern university and on the wrong end of some strong discipline

when they were found to have taken an elevator apart and reassembled

it in their college dormitory.

The big one, of course, about which it is rather difficult to get

too specific, is the night four Tars with way too much time on their

hands, sneaked into a local mortuary on 17th Street in Costa Mesa

where they managed to get a corpse wrapped up. They then sneaked out

the back door with it and raced off to the residence of one of their

assistant coaches, and stood the corpse up against his front door at

this home.

The door bell rang, the coach answered and, well, that’s as far as

the story goes because the four wayward Tars were running for the

getaway car.

Local police kept the story at a very low profile, which was

probably a good idea.

The guilty four were part of a small band of knaves, generally

considered to be “managed” by the late Shaw, whose happy-go-lucky

attitude and friendly ways endeared himself to virtually everyone who

ever met him.

I asked one of the perpetrators why they chose to do this and why

they’d do this to this particular coach.

“Because he was really a good guy and we loved him,” was the

dead-pan response from what is now a near-50-year-old businessman.

So goes the logic of some of these Tars, who always make me think

of “Animal House” when discussing Friday Night Lights in 1973 and

‘74.

But don’t be confused on this issue -- not everyone on these two

teams was crazy, just the handful of tricksters. And on the field

they and their teammates were the class of the toughest league in

Southern California, two years running.

The complete story on the dubious endeavor with the corpse is said

to be among the catacombs of the Newport Harbor campus, according to

my source. But I wouldn’t dream to reveal it.

What’s next? Some are suggesting a “reunion” for the two teams,

but at this point nothing has begun in that direction.

Somehow I can’t believe a bevy of Tars won’t soon be running amok

at the Pacific Whey Cafe.

*

Bill Brown, the 1982 scholarship winner of the John Gust Memorial

Award, symbolic of the team’s most improved player, presented the

32nd scholarship award recently to Chris Taylor at the Sailors’

recent team banquet, celebrating yet another championship season.

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

can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].