Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Fame: Bud Attridge

Don Cantrell

George Yardley, a pro basketball Hall of Famer, still pictures

sensational high school basketball star Bud Attridge at Harbor High as,

“one of our idols...and was a champ who never lost.”

Attridge, Class of ’44 and the first-ever Sailor to win All-CIF honors,

added weight to Yardley’s words in the mid 1940s when the 5-foot-7 ace

formed an adult team and led them to a stunning defeat over the visiting

Harlem Globe Trotters in the local gym.

Attridge and the former Tar cagers, who chose to display their magic with

finesse, astonished the Globe Trotters in leading them to defeat. It

humiliated the visitors and almost wound up in a physical confrontation

near the end.

Asked once to relate his spin through a series of championships, Attridge

said he was on six championship teams, seventh grade through his senior

year in high school. “And it was never the same team,” he said.

Looking back on yesteryear champions, Attridge recalled that only one

team, ’44 varsity, ever lost a game. He said it lost to a strong St.

Anthony High team by two points. It was a team that featured a 6-foot-5

center “and he was good,” Attridge said.

His name appeared widely across Southern California as his Harbor talent

was rising. One angle eventually arose when he had a tattoo drawn across

one shoulder. That, and his edginess with some, identified him with

“tough guys” around school.

One of the hilarious events in spring of ’44 found the late Don Vaughn, a

6-7 grid center and some pals gathering 1,100 ballots to stuff into a

ballot box. The winner, between Attridge and Tommy McCorkell would be

crowned as Harbor High’s athlete of the year.

The humor spread once election officials it was a remarkable feat since

the school had only 500 students enrolled. Hence, McCorkell got the

prize. it remains amusing to Attridge.

Another funny episode arose years back when he recalled an old basketball

fan approaching Attridge’s dad at a sugar plant outside Santa Ana once.

He adds, “One has to understand that many dad-son relationships were not

the same years ago as they are today.”

The energized fan asked the key questions. The elder Attridge confirmed

he was the father of the star basketball player.

The father said he had never seen his son play, but the talk prompted Mr.

Attridge to show up for the next game at Anaheim.

It still prompts a laugh from Attridge today. Although he gave it all he

had, his father watched the game, but left scratching his head. With a

smile, Attridge said, “That is about what I expected from him.”

One of the keys to Attridge’s sterling play was that he could drive hard

toward the basket and pick up a foul, according to Yardley. He added, “He

could also shoot on the run.”

Attridge, who averaged 18.6 points a game on the varsity, has a strong

recall of three of his teammates: George Spirk, Glenn Boies and

McCorkell.

Two of the men he admired most in and beyond high school days was the

late George Yardley Sr. and the late A.L. Pinkley, who operated a

downtown drugstore for years and once served three times as a Costa Mesa

mayor.

“Those were the two men who helped me become All-CIF my senior year,” he

said. “Mr. Yardley also helped me get into the Coast Guard.” He recalls

serving fair time in the Asian Theater during World War II.

Mr. Yardley and Mrs. Yardley, who often came to observe his play, were

most supportive and may have been the pair that helped prompt USC to

extend a cage scholarship after the war.

Unfortunately, the USC timing was off and Attridge felt his grades were

not quite up to a desired level at the time.

It is interesting to note that Attridge also lettered for years in

varsity tennis, including the championship team in 1941. He didn’t recall

being a tennis star, but he always enjoyed playing the sport.

From one level to another, Attridge spent many years playing basketball

locally and around the county, which often featured adult municipal

leagues. His teams often titles as well.

After the war, Attridge started a career in the oil fields, but later

switched to landscaping and highly specialized landscaping.

Bud Attridge, still a live wire, and today’s Daily Pilot Sports Hall

of Fame honoree.