Don Cantrell: McClellan started the Fullerton fun

Don Cantrell

Rollo McClellan and several other outstanding athletes from Newport

Harbor High got the move going toward Fullerton Junior College in the

late ‘30s since the only other junior college, Santa Ana, was becoming

overloaded with star talent.

McClellan, an ace ’37 fullback at Harbor and one of the fastest

runners in Orange County, did not have a clear-cut plan for Fullerton

initially. The move was prompted one day when a former Newport athlete,

Al Ogden, and Fullerton JC coach, Wendell Pickens, paid a visit and

encouraged a shift to Fullerton.

Prior to Fullerton, McClellan enjoyed a positive final year at Newport

under Coach Ralph Reed and his assistant, Dick Spaulding, who had played

college ball with a future U.S. President named Richard M. Nixon at

Whittier.

The ’37 grid season was Reed’s best and last. The Tars had good

championship odds, but lost a key contest against Anaheim, 12-0. A 6-6

tie with Orange also threw Newport off the league rails. Still, the final

mark was 6-2-1 and that was impressive in those days.

Incidentally, it was the first year that Newport had directed a scout

to cover opponents. Reed turned that task over to Spaulding, who only saw

the first and last Newport grid clash, since he was on the road.

However, it is fair to say that the Tars were remarkable during the

season and the scouting obviously paid off. McClellan said Spaulding was

always astonished to learn of Newport’s outstanding performances when he

was off scouting.

At any rate, Pickens would welcome McClellan to Fullerton where he

would coach in 1938 and ’39. Meanwhile, Spaulding would finish at Newport

in the same time frame, then become the Fullerton JC co-coach with the

All-American Ed Goddard, who shined at Washington State as a halfback.

Unfortunately, McClellan was seriously injured in an early game

against La Verne College when he confronted a huge defender who weighed

235 pounds and ran almost as fast as McClellan. McClellan felt all he

could do was try “and knock him up in the air somewhat, but he came down

on my left shoulder and laid my right shoulder flat with the turf and

dislocated my right shoulder socket. I spun around on that shoulder about

five times before they got to me.”

He added, “So I was red-shirted that year and did not get to play, but

worked every day with the team.”

He said, “I could not stand watching the big Thanksgiving Day game

against Santa Ana so I watched it from the stands,” McClellan said, then

added with amusement, “I caught hell from Pickens, but made the starting

team the next year.”

He added, “The next two years at FJC I played with a leather shoulder

stable guard that restricted me from raising my right arm not more than

three inches from my body. Every game I was taped solid so my right

shoulder was like a rock. I learned how to use it good. Guarding for the

pass, it was always a temptation for me to grab my opponent with my right

hand so he could not jump or get too far from me. I never got called

once. Just lucky or the referee might have thought I needed a little

help.” He then laughed.

McClellan produced a fine year of superb efforts in ‘39, but it was

the ’40 season that he anticipated with interest.

Before the ’40 season started, it was noteworthy to project some names

from Harbor High. It included two All-Southern California second-team

stars named George Mickelwait, quarterback, and Frank Sheflin, end, and

center Sparks McClellan, Rollo’s kid brother.

An addition from Montebello High would impress the club early on and

more so years later with sensational play on two professional team,

Washington Redskins and Chicago Bears. His name was Howard (Howie)

Livingston. His brother Cliff, would be honored years later at the new

Orange Coast College. His jersey was retired in 1962. Cliff, in time,

made headlines with the New York Giants.

Howie might well have led the Fullerton Hornets to the Orange Empire

title as a superb quarterback and passer. His initial play against rugged

Long Beach City College was fantastic. He tossed one 40-yard touchdown

pass, then repeated that feat within minutes to help give Fullerton a

13-0 victory.

It is amusing now, but not then. After the team boarded the bus, Howie

pulled the two coaches together “and told them they had nothing to worry

about since he was capable of doing the job every game.”

McClellan said, “Well this 17-year-old superstar didn’t ever get to

play again. We sure could have used him but it would not be.”

He added, “Mickelwait was a good friend of mine and I had a little

talk with George about Howie’s attitude. Howie was a gentleman in

practices on and off the field. George told me Howie knew he said the

wrong thing and would never do it again.” McClellan never saw him after

the ’40 season.

Nonetheless, the Hornets finished the ’40 schedule with an excellent

season, recording a 6-2 mark. The painful loss was a final 14-7 defeat

by Santa Ana. But, Fullerton had beaten Pasadena, 7-3, Pomona, 33-6, and

Glendale, 6-0.

The biggest life-long championship came to McClellan out of Fullerton

when he finally won the hand of a lovely song leader named Betty Perkins.

Their 60th anniversary arrives July 25, 2001.

Their two children also made high marks in life. Son Mike became a

leader of one Harbor High Bee football championship, like his dad in

1936. Daughter Kerry married Jeff Thayer, who was outstanding in football

at Costa Mesa High and Orange Coast.