Monrovia assistant Mike Minter has been on staff for four of the Wildcats nine CIF Finals losses. No one wants a "W" more Saturday night.
Nine previous trips to the CIF Finals have produced nine heartbreaks going back 75 years, covering hundreds of players and seven different head coaches. Tomorrow night M-Town will be facing a Whittier Christian team that is 4-0 in the CIF Finals.
(See brief Whittier Christian finals history below)
The good news for M-Town? The weather will be clear, the game won’t be at Citrus, and no one is taking anything for granted.
1935
In 1935 Monrovia, under Coach Gene McCallister and led by offensive lineman Louis Bowman, quarterback Frank Spratt, fullback Leroy Zimmerman, and halfback Lee McNeil (See “Last Add Monrovia”), reached the semifinals before falling to Muir Tech at the Rose Bowl.
That was on December 7th, 1935. On December 10th CIF Official Seth Van Patton informed McCallister that Muir had forfeited the game because of an ineligible player, thus M-Town advanced to the finals to face Santa Barbara. (See “Last Add Muir”)
On December 14th Santa Barbara scored with five minutes remaining to defeat Monrovia, 14-12, for the CIF title in front of 10,000 at the Rose Bowl.
1951
On December 14th, the 1951 squad was 11-0 before falling to Pomona in the title tilt (to borrow an expression from the ancients) 26-13. The game was played at Mount San Antonio College in front of an estimated overflow crowd of 17,000 people.
1959
On December 11th Monrovia, with its three headed attack of Gary Ullom (QB), Roy Howell (WR), and John Watts (RB) went to Balboa Stadium to face San Diego. Monrovia was 11-0 going into the game, SD 8-2-1. The Wildcats were on the very short end of a 53-0 score.
1973
On December 14th another powerful, talented, unbeaten Wildcat team went to the finals…and again it lost. This time to Crescenta Valley, 14-7 at Citrus College. The loss snapped a 19 game winning streak that began with a 52-12 victory over Schurr in week three of 1972.
1982
In a game played at Citrus College, Monrovia took a more difficult route to the playoffs under HC Richard Watson. The Wildcats opened the season with a tie, 6-6, against Duarte. Three weeks later they lost to Loyola and then tied South Pasadena to open RHL play. Carrying a 6-1-2 record into the post season they beat Quartz Hill, and then Bishop Montgomery on a last second 42-yard field goal by Louis Galvan. A victory in the semifinals over Lompoc put them in the finals on December 10th against Verbum Dei. The result was another loss, 7-0.
1997-1999
Three consecutive losses in the finals under Steve Garrison: 28-14 to Mira Costa. 28-24 to Paso Robles. 24-10 against Paso Robles at Citrus College.
2009
At Citrus College, in a down pour, San Dimas prevailed over the previously unbeaten Wildcats 12-7.
***
Last Add Muir: The ineligible player was reserve quarterback Tony Beebe, a transfer from the Army-Navy Academy in San Diego, who didn’t reveal to school officials he had passed only two courses the previous semester.
(Those transfers will get you every time)
Last Add Monrovia: Not trying to stir the pot, but attempting to show how the reporting has changed in sports (Remember this is 12 years before Jackie Robinson). Wildcat halfback Lee McNeill was nicknamed “Little Comma”. This guy had a terrific season and scored two touchdowns in Monrovia’s first round playoff win against Riverside, including a 66-yard sprint over left guard to paydirt.
What’s the big deal? McNeil was black, and the sportswriters of the day were very careful to point out he was black, along with Cats lineman Don Presley (who keyed a victory over Burbank in week five when he fell on a fumble in the end zone).
What’s the bigger deal? They didn’t call McNeill black…One headline read: “Speedy Negro Ace Leads Cats”. Another in the course of a game story described him as “Monrovia’s colored ball-toter”…
Comment:
I was blown away…I’m not ignorant to history, and I understand the world was a different place then, but I do have to admit seeing all of that in bold print stopped me in my tracks.
…And I don’t have another comment to add…Except I’m grateful for my upbringing, where I was raised, how I was raised, and who I was raised by…Weird, but it made me think of my recently passed mom, who was a young girl in 1935 and somehow escaped being part of that mindset.
***
The Heralds in the Finals
1979: Whittier Christian 40 Mojave 14
1983: Whittier Christian 10 Bishop Union 7
1984: Whittier Christian 13 Ontario Christian 3
1990: Whittier Christian 34 Tehachapi 21
***
Contact Joe at joe@midvalleysports.com
Leave a Reply