Santa Ana JC track bites the dust...

[jhc68]

A friend just sent me the link below.

I attended Santa Ana JC long ago when track was a proud tradition there and California junior college competition was very high quality, deep and fierce, even in dual meets. On our '65 team, both Ed Caruthers and Fred Kuller made the national team that met the Soviets that summer. Larry Stuart was a national force in the javelin for many years.

The list on the website is impressive but does not convey the numbers of great athletes who went on to D1 athletics from Santa Ana in the 1960's, and from the two nearby rivals -- Orange Coast College (coached by Ernie Bullard) and Fullerton JC (coached by Tom Tellez). Those were the days! Sad to see it all end.

http://www.gocollegetrack.com/Knuth.htm

[lovetorun]

Sad indeed...I remember Coach John Ward recruiting me to go to SAC but I ended going to Fullerton JC with Tom Tellez....and we won the Southern Cal JC champs in CC in 1964.

I remember that SAC's composition track was one of the fastest around...saw Leamon King run a 10.1 100m on it at the pre-Olympic meet in the fall of 1956.

[no one]

yes - very sad. Santa Ana JC was at the top of the Cal JC wars, which means at the top of the JC wars. A college team-mate had been head coach in XC and Track&Field there for many years and had forewarned me about this eventuality, about one year ago - given the recent political climate (read 'personalities') there.
Regrettably, turns out he was right on the money.

An older brother attended a rival school, in SFV, that battled Santa Ana in mid distances. He eventually went to USC when Fred Kuller ran on the WR 440 relay. SAJC set the JC ntl 4x8 relay, if memory serves after which my brother ran on a team that broke that record a yr or two later.

There were great rivalries resulting in great performances and great school pride ... for many So Cal teams. Sign of the times methinks.

[EPelle]

One of their other stars was Jim Sorensen, USA OT 2nd-placer in 1996, and current masters world-record holder in the 1.500m. He ran 1.50/14.50 at Santa Ana.

[jhc68]

no one: I would guess that the other JC you refer to is Pierce. I have the impression that Pierce JC has also dropped T&F, another shame.

You are certainly right. Decades ago SAJC and Pierce had a lot of seriously competitive races between middle-distance individuals and relays. On both teams guys in the 1:54 range were not able to get a spot on the 4x880 or medley relays.

[no one]

jhc68

you are correct - on all fronts - and your impressions about t&f and xc being dropped is sadly ... true as well. Although not running these in the record setting 4X Pierce had guys @ 1:49, 1:50.x, 1:50.x, and 1:53 (yards) with others near that - as prs. They also ran a 3:09 or 3:10 or thereabouts which was a natl record as well.

I had stayed away from track for quite a few years and then this thing called the internet was invented by Al Gore and I researched some records - thinking it might still stand. Surprise - Blinn averaged about 1:41 and took the record down to 6:somethin. :shock: :lol:

I have a baton that was used in those 4x800 relays here in my office - I don't know how I ended up with it - red and white ..... and wood.

I pretty much learned how to race at the Pierce all comers meets in the summer, along with seeing world class performances and WRs in a few cases.

There were several SoCal JC teams that would have done quite well in NCAA competitions -including, and perhaps especially, Santa Ana and Pierce.

Great memories

That brother lives in South Lake Tahoe as does a few others from those teams - and sees them quite frequently (~weekly?)

[lovetorun]

no one and Jhc68...speaking of 4x880 relay marks...do you remember the 7:48.0 by Tustin H.S. I believe in 1965...that record will stand through the millenium! My cousin, Sam Francis was on that team: Craig Lewis, ??, Allen Sanford and Sam Francis.

[no one]

I do remember -vaguely. I think you guys a a yr or two or 3 older than me - Tustin was a powerhouse - as was Westminster - well there were quite a few. Orange county had some 'early HS pioneers' in mid distances - too bad the 2 mile didn't come around until 1965. Didn't Francis run that pretty well - Sanford too?

Our college team had guys from all up and down the CIF-SS ... Ventura county to Capistrano - and everywhere in between. Quite a group.

Still think the CIF SS championships were the best track meets I'd been to. Big showdowns all the time. Plenty of crowd participation and very informed fans, many of whom had been competitors from years past.

Friday/Saturday night @ Cerritos JC or MSAC - doesn't get better. Everybody runs faster at night - whether they do or not.

[lovetorun]

Yeah, Sanford ran a 9:19.3 (still the school record) 2 mile and Sam Francis's claim to fame was in winning the 1965 LA Indoor H.S. mile in 4:20.5.

[jhc68]

Kudos to you, lovetorun: Your model set the standard for Sammy and Allen... I know they were very much award of your records.

[tc]

For you old CIF-SS geezers: the Tustin 7:48.0 relay team was Chris Conley, Craig Lewis, Sam Francis and Al Sanford. Substituting Dennis Howard for Conley, they also ran 17:49.3 for four miles. Francis ran 4:17.9 for sixth at the Southern Section meet. Sanford's bests were 4:19.0 and 9:19.2.

[lovetorun]

Kudos to you, lovetorun: Your model set the standard for Sammy and Allen... I know they were very much award of your records.

-

Thanks Jhc68...Sam and Al ran MUCH faster than I did.

[lovetorun]

For you old CIF-SS geezers: the Tustin 7:48.0 relay team was Chris Conley, Craig Lewis, Sam Francis and Al Sanford. Substituting Dennis Howard for Conley, they also ran 17:49.3 for four miles. Francis ran 4:17.9 for sixth at the Southern Section meet. Sanford's bests were 4:19.0 and 9:19.2.

tc...thanks for the info...all sounds accurate to me. Coach Tom Noon who coached all the above athletes, ended his coaching career at Golden West College.

[no one]

I have somethin you guys might be interested in - if you don't already have it. Its a pdf file with the results of all divisions of CIF - SS cross country every year from the 50s (some even before) to 70s or 80s or ?? Top five - sometimes ten - in 'A' , 'AA' , 'AAA' and ...

Right now, however its in an external hard drive that we may not retrieve all the data. If your interested - hafta figure out how to get - I think it might travel via email. But I won't have answers until tomorrow.

I'm sure you'd recognize lotsa names

[hanklaw]

Is this what you're talking about?

http://www.dyestatcal.com/ATHLETICS/XC/ ... ss_res.pdf

1925 thru 1971 SS XC results.

hank