The dream team goes to Chicago

Last week, we began learning about Huntington Beach High School track

coach Ray “Feet” Walker and his 1922 dream team.

Our team had been sent up to Stockton to compete with other high

schools in our state for the state track championship. Our boys

competed in the discus throw, broad jump, shot put, pole vault, high

jump, half-mile relay, hurdles, the 80, 100, 220, 440 and 880-yard

runs and the mile run.

Our team included William “Bill” Kerr, Charles Bickmore, Vernon

“Bud” Nash, Milton “Milt” Nash and Ross Nichols.

You can imagine the excitement in our beach town when word came

that we had the best high school track team in the state. When the

train arrived home carrying the team, the Huntington Beach Chamber of

Commerce held a grand reception for our heroes at the school

auditorium.

In the week that followed their return, our town showed its

loyalty and enthusiasm by raising money to send the boys to the

national championships in Chicago.

In true and generous form, our townspeople began collecting money,

starting on May 12 at 9 a.m. and continuing through noon the next

day. In that short time span, 93 businesses pledged $1,285 for the

trip to Chicago.

The town would raise $1,600 by the time the train left the station

in Los Angeles.

Our chamber hosted a banquet on May 19 in the R.H. Meyer building

at 221 Main Street to wish the champs good luck on their trip the

next day.

Going along to Chicago with the boys were Coach Walker, City

Trustee R.L. Obarr, Chamber Secretary M.A. McCreery, and Bert Gothard

and his wife. Obarr was confident the team would be victorious and

that he would carry the cup back home.

The team left L.A. at 11 a.m. on May 20 on the Southern Pacific

and arrived in Chicago four days later.

The Nationals were to be held on the campus of the University of

Chicago at Stagg Field, named for Chicago’s famous coach, Amos Alonzo

Stagg. There would be 150 high schools and 30 academies represented

from 35 states.

Since the games began in 1909, only one California team had won

first place -- Citrus High School from Azusa in 1912.

As the train rolled into Gila Bend, N.M., on May 21, Walker sent a telegram to Huntington Beach resident Ralph Reynolds that the train

had entered the desert.

When the train entered El Paso, Texas, Coach Walker sent a

telegram to Mayor Richard Drew and told of hitting a great patch of

sand.

Arriving in the Windy City, our dream team was driven to the Delta

Tau Delta fraternity house near the University of Chicago campus.

As the games began, Bickmore tied for first place in the pole

vault but lost in the coin toss.

Our luck was holding, and the spirits of the team was as strong as

ever.

Coach Walker saw that to win the national title, he must have

points in both the half-mile and mile races.

Milt Nash was able to finish second in the 440-yard run. Bud Nash

did his best and took fourth in the broad jump.

His star runner, Kerr, would have no trouble winning the half-mile

run and possibly the mile too. He entered Kerr in both, since there

would be time between races to rest.

But then, out of the blue, Walker got word the order of the events

had been changed, and the mile race would follow right behind the

half-mile run.

Kerr won the half-mile by 30 yards. But now he would have to go

right into the mile run. When Kerr reached the third lap, his body

was exhausted, and he was forced to drop out of the race.

If the order had been kept as originally planned, Kerr would have

finished and may have won it.

When the points were added together, Huntington Beach placed

second with 17 points. Cedar Rapids, Iowa, took first with 23 points.

Had Huntington Beach been cheated out of first place by the

last-minute order change? I’m sure we were. If Kerr had had a

sufficient interval of rest time, he could have scored the needed

points for Huntington Beach to take first place.

The boys were disappointed as they left Chicago. McCreery sent

word back home that the team took second place.

When the team arrived back home on June 3, they were met with

cheers from the students and the crowd who came to greet them.

There were the sounds of many car horns and a 17-gun salute as the

train pulled into town. This lifted the boys’ spirit to a new high.

Our chamber arranged to give McCreery, Walker and the boys a great

reception.

As far as our town of Huntington Beach is concerned, this dream

team will always be the champions of 1922.

* JERRY PERSON is a local historian and longtime Huntington Beach

resident. If you have ideas for future columns, write him at P.O. Box

7182, Huntington Beach, CA 92615.