1942

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1942
Coaches: Miggs Dressel, varsity football, lightweight basketball and head of track; Merle Briggs, varsity basketball and baseball; Don Quinn, track and lightweight football; Stevens, tennis; Walt Wattenburger, assistant in varsity football and track.

1942
FOOTBALL practice games: Palo Alto 7-32, Los Banos 7-26, Bellarmine 0-0, Pacific Grove 0-12. Practice record: 0-3-1. League: Salinas 12-6, Monterey 0-13, Watsonville 18-27, Hollister 0-13. League 1-3, third place. Season 1-6-1.

The team lost Hugo Armanini, their captain, to the navy at mid year. Hugo was one of the best athletes Santa Cruz has had for a long time.

In a moral victory and playing their best game this year, the Cards tied Bellarmine 0-0, a team that has beaten Watsonville, Hollister and PAL power Sequoia. Underdogs going into the game, the Cardinals out gained and out passed the visitors. The highly touted passing attack of earlier in the season started to click as the Armanini to Newhart combination really showed some passing and running. Fontes also proved to be a real pass catcher. Andy Demos was in on every tackle and played like a real college prospect. The whole line played swell ball with Dysle, Davenhill and Krupp stopping all line plunges. Center Bill Snyder went out with a knee injury and will be lost for the Watsonville game. If the team can play like this, they can beat the Cats.

Nine of the starting lineup are seniors. The starting lineup: Ends, Stanley and Manildi; tackles, Dysle and Demos; guards, Davenhill and Poston; center, Thurman; backs, Newhart, Fontes, Armanini and Mitchell. Off the bench Pinkham, Rittenhouse and Sommers. Others Mount, Mathews, Hornbaker, Pedemont, Anderson, Gilson, Snyder, Druet, Franks and Thompson.

Andy Demos, ALL CCAL tackle, has received two offers of scholarships for his brilliant play on the gridiron. Talbert Newhart, also ALL CCAL, received a scholarship for his work at the halfback position.

LIGHTWEIGHT FOOTBALL Practice games: Los Gatos 7-0, Carmel 13-7. Practice record 2-0. LeagueL: Hollister 0-13, Salinas 6-0, Monterey 18-0 and Watsonville, 0-24, League 2-2, third place. Season record 4-2.

Eight starters are seniors. The starting lineup; ends, Bill George and Searle; tackles, Reis and Al Cunha; guards, Short and co-captain, Bill Dickson; center, King. Backs, Mario Esposito, co-captain Bob McCullah, Bob Stiffler and DiVita. Subs Macaulay, Baldwin, W. Wood, Schultz, Yockey, David, Landre, Blaine, E. Wood, Francis, Trapini, Seta, Durkin, Morey, Cecil Berg, Hackboarth, Bob and Marvin Scott, Jim Cholssen, Marvin Ellis, Choisse and Mac Gregor.

The Cardlets defeated the highly favored Carmel heavyweight team in the final twenty seconds 13-7. Bob Stiffler, the spark plug of the team made all thirteen points by hard line plunging and heads up ball. The first touchdown was started on a blocked kick by Dick King. Stiffler plunged through center very effectively until he tired. Berg and Choisser alternated on running the ends until Stiffler recovered his wind and then he plunged over for the score making it 6-7 in favor of Carmel. Choisser kicked off and Carmel was held for four downs. Choisser passed to Hackbarth, who took the ball to the thirteen yard line. With sixty seconds to go a penalty against Carmel put the ball on the eight yard line. From there Stiffler plunged it over and did the same for the extra point. The kick off and two plays ended the game for a Cardlet win.

BASKETBALL UNDEFEATED CHAMPIONS for the third time in four years and six out of the last nine. Practice games: Pacific Grove 41-14, San Jose Tech 29-12, Los Gatos 38-24, Madera the Valley champs 24-21, Palo Alto Loss, Santa Clara 37-28. Practice record 5-1. League: Monterey 24-20, Hollister 33-19; Watsonville 29-13, Boulder Creek 49-20, Salinas 37-16. League record 5-0. Season 10-1. Won the championship again after missing it last year by a scant margin.

The starting lineup: forwards, Emmett Thompson and Talbert Newhart; center, Dick Fassio; guards, Jerry Stanley and Eugene Shatkin. Subs: John Fulmer, Chet Pinkham, Bob Fassio, Bob Hackbarth, Robert Hornbaker, Wayne Lear, Willie Anderson, Pinky Pedemonte and Duane Daniels. Of the twelve fellows left on the squad at the end of the season, seven stand on or above the 6 foot mark. Three first stringers are seniors, but there will be six or seven players back capable of starting next year.

Because of World War II starting on December seventh, the coast was on black out conditions at night. The basketball games were played during the day and some games were cancelled. League competition became a single round instead of the normal two.

Cardinals win over Santa Clara 37-28. Mad over their loss to Palo Alto last Friday, the Cards took it out on Santa Clara. Fassio and Stanley playing fine floor games, led the Cards to a 11-3 first quarter lead. The second quarter was a quiet affair with wild passes and missed foul shots. The subs played most of the second half. Fassio was leading scorer with 12.

Headline: Fassio sparks Cards to win over Madera. Varsity beats Valley Five 24-21, The game against a fast Fresno area champs Madera was a thriller, that was rough and tough on the players’ bodies and the spectators blood pressure. At halftime the teams looked about even and the score was exactly even, 12-12. Fassio and Newhart each scored to put the Cards ahead by three. The second team went in and three minutes later gave the lead up with the score tied 17-17. First team back and it became a battle. From there on in, it became so heated and the fouls so frequent, the officials missed half the fouls despite the fact that a whistle was blowing continuously. Fassio made two free throws to make it 19-17. Madera duplicated it to tie again 19-19. Fassio came back to dump in a swell one handed push shot on the run to give the Cards the lead. Shatkin followed with a free throw, then Fassio sank another basket with a minute to play and a 24-21 lead. The teams played five man football the last minute with the grid game ending in a scoreless tie. Cardinal players and their scoring: forwards, Newhart 6 and Thompson 0; center, Fassio 11; guards, Shatkin 6 and Stanley 0. Substitutes: Armanini 1, Fulmer, Lear, Landess and Anderson.

Cardinals decisively walloped Watsonville 29-13. Fassio playing his best game of the year, scores 16 points more then the whole Wildcat team. Starting out in the first quarter with a slow passing game, the Cardinals had complete command of the game at all times, even when the second team played the last quarter. Fassio took care of the scoring in the first quarter making two swell pivot shots in the foul circle. In the second quarter, Thompson tipped in a shot and Newhart followed with a couple of free throws. The half ended 8-2. In the third period Shatkin, Newhart and Fassio scored at will with the quarter ending 20-6. And the reserves took over winning their quarter 9-7. The Cats could not cope with the locals’ height, defense or scoring ability. Fassio was high for game with 16 points and scored over half the total by the Cards.

Santa Cruz cagers crush Salinas 37-16 to take the CCAL lead. There was good teamwork as all the Cards played fine ball with Fassio leading the scoring with 19 points. Newhart, Thompson and Lear were sweet on offense. Jerry Stanley and Gene Shatikin worked the ball very well. Both Fassio and Newhart controlled the backboards the whole game, stopping the Salinas attack cold. To start things off, Emmett Thompson sank a honey, Fassio made a tip in and then a free throw to end the quarter. Second quarter, Fassio made three nice baskets and Gene Shatkin a free throw to end the half 16-7. The only score for SC in the third was a tip in by Fassio. The final quarter found the Cards unable to miss a basket, making nine of 13 shots, including four baskets by Fassio.

Headlines in the Sentinel: Santa Cruz cagers swamp Hollister fives to win CCAL championships again; Cards beat varsity 46-15; Cardlets win 47-7. There were about 500 people in Turner gym for the executions. This is the third championship in the last four years. Everyone in the joint knew that Hollister did not have anything and wondered how many points the Cardinals would score. Dick Fassio scored on 7 out of 11 shots for 17 points in 14 minutes of basketball, before leaving the game for good.

Guard, Gene Shatkin was chosen by the Sentinel-News as an ALL CCAL player along with Dick Fassio, ALL CCAL center, who broke the individual school scoring record with a total of 138 points. Dick was voted the outstanding player in Northern California high school basketball by both the San Francisco papers, the Chronicle and Examiner. The Sentinel honor roll had this to say about Dick, “ he is the most improved player in the league” leading the Cardinals to the CCAL championship and himself taking second place in league scoring. As a junior, he is one of the finest prospects the league has every had. He is sure fire college material.

Some nights after practice Dick would play with the high school reserve team against adults in a city league game. The adults could single out stopping Dick, but against one of the best players in the league he scored 21 points. Dick Fassio, playing with the high school reserves defeated the Knights of Columbus in the biggest upset of current City league play as he scored 24 points to pace the high school to a 33-31 win. In a following game against one of the best teams in the league Dick again scored 24 points. At the end of the season the City league picked an all star team and Dick was included, not only for his scoring, but also for his brilliant floor game and even though he was high school player going against adults.

Season scoring summary: Dick Fassio 130, Shatkin 76, Newhart 76, Thompson 57, Stanley 23, Lear and Anderson 17, Hornbaker 12, Fulmer 8, Daniels 5, Armanini 5 and Bob Fassio 3.

ALL CCAL selections Dick Fassio and Eugene Shatkin

LIGHTWEIGHT BASKETBALL UNDEFEATED IN LEAGUE. CHAMPIONS for the sixth time in seven years. Practice record: Pacific Grove 25-8, Los Gatos 36-18, 23-21, Palo Alto won, Santa Clara 24-28, San Jose Tech 31-20. Practice record: 5-1. League: Hollister 47-7, Salinas 37-10; Monterey 40-21, Boulder Creek 63-9, Watsonville 29-13. League record 5-0. Season 10-1.

LIGHTWEIGHTS won their third straight championship losing only one game out of their 11 game schedule. Ending the season with a 10-1 record. Bill George, star forward and main-stay of the team led the team in scoring with 139 points. Four of this years team moved up from the substitutes ranks of last year. Three are seniors this year.

Starting lineup: forwards, Mario Esposito and Jim Choisser; center, Bill George; guards, Malcom Macaulay and Tom Osuki. At the end of the season The Sentinel-News selected the whole starting line up as ALL CCAL. Subs: Julio Ghidinelli, Tom Kenney, Dick King, Mario Esposito, Yoshimi Kawaguchi, John Reis, Kenneth Molton, Ernie Wood, Bill Lidderdale and Bob Baldassar.

Sparked by third year man Bill George, who personally accounted for 14 points or more then half his teams point, led his team to a 25-8 win over Pacific Grove in the first game of the season. Up until this season Bill has played forward, but this year is taking over the center spot. The rest of the starters have at least one years experience on the team. They are Mal Macaulay, Mario Esposito, Jim Choisser and Tom Otsuki. Scoring for this game: forwards, Macaulay and Esposito 3; center, George 14; guards, Choisser and Otsuki 2. Subs: Kawaguchi 4, Kaney 2, Ghidinelli, Arao, Wood, Bone, Reis and King 0.

Cardlets defeat San Jose Tech 30-21. Macaulay showed up especially well with his good court work plus some dead eye shots, which netted him 10 points to tie with George for scoring honors.
The teams fast breaking, colorful type of play, should draw crowds. There were more fans at the game tonight than most football games. Line up: forwards, George and Macaulay 10 each; center Searle 3; guards, Otsuki 2 and Choisser. Subs: Esposito 3, Reis and Wood 1 each, King, Ghidinelli, Kaney and Kawaguchi.

Cardlets Whip Hollister 47-7. Macaulay led all scorers with 14 points followed by George with 9. Choisser slipped in three long ones and two foul shots for 8 point and the first points he has scored in league competition. Another surprise of the evening was the “Mad Russian” Esposito who scored four points.

It took Salinas until the closing minutes of the second quarter, before they could score against the tight defense of the Cardlets that forced them into taking long impossible shots. The first quarter was dominated by the sharp shooting Mal Macaulay and teammate Bill George. The Cowbabes had Bill covered to a fare thee well, so he fed the ball to Mal with pleasing results. In the second quarter, they started to cover Mal, so he in turn, fed Bill and he looped them in.

TRACK LIGHTWEIGHTS WIN CCAL AND NCS CHAMPIONSHIP. The dream team.
At the CCAL meet, the lightweights won for the second time in three years.

At NCS, Malcom Macaulay at 125 pounds was top scorer with 11¼ points. He won the 220, broad jump and ran on the winning relay team with Dick Hackbarth, Bob Stiffler and Harold Antonnetti. Dick Hackbarth won the 100 dash.

The 440 yard relay team shattered the CCAL record by 4 seconds. All will be back next year, but Stiffler. Giving the team a total of 25 points. All first place finishes each worth 5 points.

Other team members: Cardiff, Faulds, Morgan, Sinclair, Hall, Scott, David, King, F. Baldwin, Julio Ghidinelli, Langrish, Amos, Ariyoshi and G. Muttersbach.

NCS covers the counties of Alameda, Contra Cost, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Marin, Mendocino, Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito.

At the CCAL meet the varsity took second to Salinas. Jay Blaine broad jump star, won the 440 and Wayne Fontes won the 880.

Usual placers at dual meets for the varsity were Mario Esposito, Wayne Fontes, Bob McCullah, Howard Dysle and little Art Medina. Other team members: Bergstrom, Lander, Wright, Franks, Dellamora, Summers, Sheldon, Thurman and Lear.

NCS varsity placers were: Jay Blaine was second in 440 and Tony Fontes third in 880. For a total of 4 points for tenth place.

BASEBALL a much modified schedule due to the war. Games: Carmel 14-0, Monterey 10-4, Watsonville 3-4. Record 2-1.

This year the team had the smallest squad in history. The squad: Dick Fassio starting pitcher; Bob Fassio and Reis C; infielders, Emmett Thompson, Hackbarth, Choisser, Mazzei, Lear, Medina and Saunders. Outfielders: Dario Fassio, Rittenhouse, Lear, Mount, McGee, Baldasser and D Baldwin.

Headlines: Dick Fassio hurls no-run, no hit ball game as Santa Cruz slaughters Carmel nine 14-0; Cardinals wallop Monterey in second tilt 10-4. Article: Curly haired Dick Fassio, one of Northern California’s best scholastic basketball players, changed suits and pitched a no hitter with 14 strike outs against Carmel. Dick fanned the first six men to face him. Only one ball left the infield, a short fly ball to right. Hitting in the clean up spot, he also delivered a hit and two runs. Line up for the Cards with position played, hits and then at bats in the game. Hackbarth SS, 1-4; Baldwin LF, 1-4, Reis C, 1-4; Fassio P, 1-4; Saunders 3B, 3-4; Rittenhouse CF, 1-4; Lear 1B, 1-4; Medina 2B, 2-4; Dario Fassio RF, 2-4.

In the afternoon of the same day, the team traveled a few miles to play a game against Monterey. Dick played left field and laced out two doubles and a single to lead his team to a 10-4 victory. Charley McGee hurled a two hitter until the seventh inning, when he tired and gave up five more hits to end with a seven hitter. His mates pounded out 11 hits.

Headline, Dick Fassio Number One Man. The Sentinel-News athletic roll of honor for the week of April 12-19 is topped by the name of DICK FASSIO, high school hurler, who turned the trick so many pitchers aim for, pitching a no hit, no run game. In practice at the high school he tries hard to improve both at bat and on the mound. He’s still the same modest kid he always has been, not at all swell headed about all the publicity.

Salinas JC dumps Cardinal nine 1-4. An epidemic of fielding lapses cost the Cards four runs, all unearned. Outside of two bad fielding innings, the third and fifth, the Cards had everything under control with Dick Fassio hurling five hit ball and striking out seven. The Cards only run came in the last inning when Fassio smashed one over the left field fence for a home run. Hackbarth at SS and Lear at 1B were unable to play. Line up listed in same order as above. Saunders 3B, 1-3; Baldwin LF, 0-2; Reis C, 1-3; Fassio P, 1-3; Thompson 1B, 0-3; Rittenhouse CF, 0-3; Medina 2B, 0-2; Baldassar SS, 1-3; McGee RF, 0-2; Choisser 2B, 0-1.

A eight team tournament with the four teams of the A league playing in Salinas at 9 am and the winners would play at 1 pm. The winner would play the winner of the B league who were doing the same thing. The winner of the A and B league playoff would be considered CCAL champions.

For the A league, Watsonville and Santa Cruz played and at the same time Salinas was playing Hollister. In the B league Gonzales played King City and Monterey played Carmel. Santa Cruz lost the first game 4 to 3 in extra innings. Dick Fassio pitched a fine game and hit a triple. Watsonville won the A league championship.

TENNIS after a two year absence from the top ranks, the Cards took the championship again for the twenty-sixth time. Eugene Shatkin won the CCAL singles title for the second time. Coach Roy Stevens deserves much credit for giving so many top teams to Santa Cruz High.

The doubles team of Milo Nittler and Shatkin won at CCAL also. Other team members Roy Cushing, Duane Daniels, Bob Mace, Verle Duckering and Burt Landess.

GOLF won the championship handily. Most of the time the Cards were so far out in front that they played mostly for the score instead of against the other team.

Dick King, Jim Wilson and Bob Searle paced the team. Other members: Richard Manildi, Malcom Macaulay, Bill Emmons and Willard Pennell.

INDIVIDUALS
Eugene Shatkin has been a big cog in keeping the winning record of the tennis team going in his four years at SCHS. Cards took the championship again for the twenty-sixth time. Eugene won the CCAL singles title for the second time. Coach Roy Stevens deserves much credit for giving so many top teams to Santa Cruz High. Gene was chosen by the Sentinel-News as an ALL CCAL basketball player. He was an outstanding guard on the undefeated varsity team, which lost only its first game of the year. They were able to beat Madera, the Valley championship team and always tough San Jose teams.

The Sentinel-News selected Dick Fassio as an ALL CCAL center. Dick broke the individual school scoring record with a total of 138 points. Dick was voted the outstanding player in Northern California high school basketball by both the San Francisco papers, the Chronicle and Examiner. The Sentinel honor roll had this to say about Dick, “ he is the most improved player in the league” leading the Cardinals to the CCAL championship and himself taking second place in league scoring. As a junior, he is one of the finest prospects the league has every had. He is sure fire college material. Some nights after practice Dick would play with the high school reserve team against adults in a city league game. The adults could single out stopping Dick, but against one of the best players in the league he scored 21 points. Dick Fassio, playing with the high school reserves defeated the Knights of Columbus in the biggest upset of current City league play as he scored 24 points to pace the high school to a 33-31 win. In a following game against one of the best teams in the league Dick again scored 24 points. At the end of the season the City league picked an all star team and Dick was included, not only for his scoring, but also for his brilliant floor game and even though he was high school player going against adults. Dick Fassio Number One Man. The Sentinel-News athletic roll of honor for the week of April 12-19 is topped by the name of DICK FASSIO, high school hurler, who turned the trick so many pitchers aim for, pitching a no hit, no run game. In practice at the high school he tries hard to improve both at bat and on the mound. He’s still the same modest kid he always has been, not at all swell headed about all the publicity.

TRACK LIGHTWEIGHTS WIN CCAL AND NCS CHAMPIONSHIP. The dream team scored 25 points at the Northern California meet against forty of the top schools in the Northern part of the state. This team is a very special group, but Malcom Macaulay was the top man in making this all happen. At the CCAL meet, the lightweights won CCAL for the second time in three years. At NCS, Malcom Macaulay at 125 pounds was top scorer with 11¼ points. He won the 220, broad jump and ran on the winning relay team with Dick Hackbarth, Bob Stiffler and Harold Antonnetti. Malcom along with Bill George were the big scorers on the Champion lightweight basketball team. Malcom also played on the lightweight football team this year and when he was a senior he was a starter on the varsity track team.

Sparked by third year man Bill George, who personally accounted for 14 points or more then half his teams point, led his team to a 25-8 win over Pacific Grove in the first game of the season. Up until this season Bill has played forward, but this year is taking over the center spot. In the past two years the lightweight basketball team is undefeated in league and only lost one game a year. A fine record that Bill has been a big part of, especially with scoring abilities. His first year he was part of the mosquito squad”, younger and smaller players, who would get into games that were not close and be as scrappy as they could. He is much past that stage now.

FORMER PLAYERS
Paul Juhl playing short stop for Hartnell College went 5 for 5 against Menlo. At this time the Navy had a restriction on maximum weight for enlistees of 165 pounds. But they gave Paul another 10 pound to add on to the 165 to qualify. He still had to lose weight to get into the Navy, which he did. When he was discharged from the Navy he enrolled at San Jose State and on graduation started coaching in the San Joaquin Valley. His best basketball team there was at Lodi as it won their section championship. He returned to live in Santa Cruz and coached at Los Gatos High for many years. Even beating Santa Cruz in basketball.

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