It’s all about getting to the game

Don Cantrell

Almost 60 years ago, Harbor High gridders, like many, were

confronted with numerous problems due to World War II, especially

transportation to football games.

It was not an ordinary war since the entire globe was engulfed with

the critical needs and shortages. Many things were rationed like gas,

oil, rubber, sugar and meat.

The Neth brothers, Bill and Roger, members of the championship ’42

grid team, will remember.

Outside possibly the two road contests, there were no buses being

extended to the gridders. The players or their parents were the ones who

provided transportation in their own vehicles. And they also carried

their own personal gear for the game.

Roger, a former Costa Mesa and Irvine police chief for years, laughed,

then said he recalled the players stashing their gear in “what was like

an old Navy sea bag.”

For the Dec. 12, 1942, CIF small schools championship game in La Verne

against Bonita, Roger took two players in his car and Bill did the same.

They had not driven that far before to a contest, 55 miles.

Bill said, “Pick (Coach Wendell Pickens) was very nervous about us

driving cars to Bonita. He came around asking us if we would be okay and

stressed safety.”

A one-time Los Angeles Times distributor, Bill said some think gas was

the problem with the buses.

“Gas was not the problem. Rubber was the problem. Tires were scarce,”

he said.

Gas was a problem for the private cars, Roger said, since the gas was

rationed.

“You could get about four gallons of gas per week with a regular A

sticker on your windshield and more with a B sticker, which applied to

jobs. Bill and I were in a fair position since we delivered papers and

that gave us a C (commercial) sticker.”

Bill said he was disturbed to see the appearance of the Bonita field.

“It looked like an old cow pasture with gopher holes. Old bleachers

were on one side and people were just standing on the other,” he said.

And this would be the field where Harbor High would take a CIF finals

stand against the polished Bearcats, led by the future All-American Army

halfback, Glenn Davis.

For the first time all year, Davis was shut down in the first half due

to the strength and determination of Newport’s legendary fullback Harold

Sheflin and the All-CIF second team tackle Manuel Muniz. Newport led,

6-0, at the half before serious injuries took both Sheflin and Muniz out

of action.

Then Davis ran wild in the second half, leading Bonita to a 39-6

victory. It is fair to say that Davis didn’t forget and later told Time

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

Bill Neth faced Davis at the Brea Relays in the spring of ’43 in the

100-yard dash. He had good speed and gave his best, but he said Davis

whizzed on by.

“He ran 9.7 in the (100),” he recalled.

Bill earned three letters later in track at Santa Ana Junior College.

Both recalled that the bus problem continued through the war but Roger

remembered one amusement from the ’43 grid season.

He said, “That’s when tackle Dick Harper’s parents bought a station

wagon and many of the players were constantly trying to wedge their way

into the Harper vehicle.”

Asked what drew his attention with the football picture after the war

had been under way, Roger replied, “I would look for the military

uniforms when we ran onto the field. I remember that one was Sparks

McClellan, who was wearing his Navy uniform at the Bonita game.”

McClellan advanced to become a top Navy Hellcat pilot in the South

Pacific and earned numerous war medals. He played on the ’39 varsity

team.

He also recalled that there was no football team in 1943 at Santa Ana

Junior College.

“There were not enough guys,” he explained.

The military had drawn most men into the service. However, Santa Ana

returned to glory with numerous Harbor High athletes to win the Eastern

Conference grid titles in ’44 and ’45.

Roger, who also played baseball in school days, worked the line in

high school football, but was switched to blocking back at Santa Ana by

Coach Bill Cook. He played four years at Santa Ana due to a war

regulation for a two-year college.

Bill was once named to the first-team California junior college guard

spot when at Santa Ana. He was honored at halftime one night when the

professional Los Angeles Bulldogs were playing the Hollywood Bears.

With amusement, he recalled one of the teams offered him a contract to

play for $100 per game or $50 if left on the bench. He declined.