When McClatchy opened its doors in September 1937, Sacramento was truly a small town.
Sutterville Road was the southern end of Sacramento, the Land Park Zoo had opened 10 years earlier in 1927, Sacramento Junior College had just moved from Sacramento High to its new site on Freeport Boulevard and the Sacramento Metro Airport sat among the fields of rural Sacramento.
In 1937, Land Park began to take shape, and the Land Park Plunge on Riverside was the place to swim. Holy Spirit Church wasn’t built until 1940.
It would be 10 years before Hollywood Park and Vic’s Ice Cream would open, and 30 years before Greenhaven was begun.
The Solons played at Edmonds Field where Target is today, and a three-bedroom home on Teneighth Way would cost the new owner $11,000.
As the second public high school in Sacramento, McClatchy was built for $800,000 in 1937 as part of Franklin Roosevelt’s Public Works Administration.
The style was classicized modern and was named after the editor of the Sacramento Bee, C. K. McClatchy. The first prinicipal was Sam Pepper, a great sports fan, who truly bled “McClatchy red” for 25 years.
Notable graduates include Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, Congressmen Bob Matsui and Xavier Becerra and judges Ron Tochterman, Morrison England, Art Scotland, and Tani Cantil-Sakauye as well as author Joan Didion.
McClatchy sports
As a new high school, it took about three years before the sports teams could compete with the powerful Sacramento High School Dragons who had dominated the valley for the previous 30 years.
But by the end of 1949, McClatchy High School and its great athletes would replace the Dragons as one of the truly great athletic high schools in California.
Thirteen Hall of Fame athletes and two coaches led the surge with baseball and track being the two strongest, while football and basketball peaked at the end of the decade.
Four outstanding coaches led the Lions: George Bican* (football), Chauncey Wilson (basketball) Cliff Perry (baseball), and Jack Mauger* (track).
Some of the early great athletes included Larry Manuian (Sacramento Smokies fame), Bob Libee, Ted Latona, Bob and Gene Geremia, Ted Forbes, Ernie Maskovitch, Burt Bonomi, Jack Burgess, Nick and George Stathos and golfer Billy Ogden, Jr.
Norm Greenslate*, a major league prospect in baseball, would head off to fight in World War II after being named all-city in 1941-42.
George Vernatchi, former long-time principal at Rio Linda High School was the first pitcher to beat Sac High 8-3 in 1942.
He talks about sitting in the library the day after the game, when the librarian, a notorious Dragon fan, came up to him and in an accusing tone, said, “Are you George Vernatchi? Mr. Pepper wants to see you immediately!”
All the way down to the office, Vernatchi kept thinking, what did I do now? When he got there, Pepper shook his hand, and said, “Congratulations, George. You are the first pitcher to ever beat the Dragons. Great job!”
The following year Vernatchi would pitch McClatchy’s first no hitter and lead the Lions to the championship game where he lost in 12 innings to Christian Brothers 1-0.

Early 40s football
Perhaps the greatest athlete of the early 40s was Fred Wristen, who excelled in football, basketball, baseball and track.
He scored a touchdown in McClatchy’s first victory over Sacramento by a score of 13-6 in 1939. Wristen went on to star in football at Nevada Reno and was all-conference.
George Bican arrived at McClatchy in 1943 as football coach and led the Lions to their first undefeated season in 1944.
The Lions were led by running back Roy Sules*. Ed Sprague, Darwin Farnsworth, Wes Busch, Don Aldrich, Charles Anderson and Ernie Johnson were other outstanding players.
In 1945, McClatchy again went undefeated in the north before losing to Modesto for the title. 1946 would be another strong year building to 1947 when McClatchy beat an undefeated Sacramento team on Thanksgiving Day 35-14 for the title.
Led by Del Rasmussen*, John Pappa*, Curtis Rowland, Leon King, Tony Geremia*, Vern Sampson*, Tiger Orr and Bill Burns*, the 1947 football team is considered one of McClatchy’s greatest teams ever.

McClatchy baseball
When Cliff Perry arrived as baseball coach in 1946, McClatchy would begin a 10-year period of excellence topped off with 80 wins over four seasons, 1950-53.
In 1947, the Lions won 18 of 24, and the 1948 team led by Roger Osenbaugh*, Jim Westlake and Ray Nieto, beat Sac High 3-2 for the title.
Osenbaugh, the valedictorian, would go on to play at Stanford in 1951-52 and then with Westlake on the Sacramento Solons.
The decade ended when the 1949 baseball team led by Tony Stathos, Bud Farley, George Timme and Earl Rose had to share the Sac-Joaquin section title with the Dragons.

McClatchy basketball
Basketball in the 1940’s was dominated by the defensive style of coach Chauncey Wilson.
In 1942, the team beat arch rivals Sacramento 21-16. Pete Peletta* would lead the area in scoring in 1945 as the champion Lions went 16-1.
The Lions were on their way to another great season in 1946 ending the first half with their sixth straight win over the Dragons 44-32.
However, top scorer Peletta graduated at mid-term and McClatchy ended up in second place.
Peletta would go on to coach at University of San Francisco and take the Dons to four consecutive NCAA appearances.
The 1948-49 teams were also hurt by midterm graduation, but the scoring and rebounding of Al Ricci* led the Lions over Sac.
Track and field
Track exploded during the 1940s under coach Jack Mauger, who started at McClatchy in 1937 when it opened.
He held the world record for left-handed pole vaulters for 26 years. The Lions started their remarkable run of victory years in 1943 with a conference title and second place at the Davis Picnic.
From 1943 thru 1949, the Lions were undefeated in dual meet competition and won the Sac Joaquin section title every year. During that period, they won the Lodi and Modesto Relays, the West Coast Relays in Fresno and the Davis Picnic.
Dick Balfour, whose 13-foot pole vault made him the best in California, and John Pappa* in the sprints, led the 1947 and 1948 teams to section titles and victories at the Modesto Relays.
The seven-year dual meet win streak was stopped in 1949 when the Lions lost a meet to El Cerrito.
Outstanding track athletes included Lou Montfort, Jerry Perich and Ed Casey in the pole vault, Bob Innis in the 110 hurdles, Ed Sprague in the 100m, Ray Schultz in the long jump, Ron Keskeys in the 200m, Nick Doudnik and Glenn Kingsley in the shot put, and Ray Biaggi Rudy Manriquez and Al Baeta in the distances.
John Pappa*, who went on to an outstanding coaching career, was unbeatable in the sprints.
“Jack Mauger was and remains truly the Dean of Track and Field in Sacramento,” said Al Baeta, former runner and one of the great track coaches in the Sacramento area. “Not only did he have success at the varsity level but with B and C teams as well. Statistically, he is the winningest coach of all time in Sacramento.”
The 1940s became the foundation for the 1950s and many more league championships in all four major sports.
The top 50 athletes and five teams from 1938 to 1962 will be recognized as part of McClatchy’s 75th anniversary celebration held on September 20 at the Riverside Elks Club.
All McClatchy graduates are invited to attend and be part of the tall tales about their excellence as students/athletes at McClatchy.
For information go to restoretheroar.org.
*Hall of Fame Inductees

loscoombs2@aol.com

In the late 1940’s and early 50’s high school baseball in Sacramento was at its zenith. McClatchy, Sacramento, and Christian Brothers all had outstanding teams and talent. Roger Osenbaugh and Jim Westlake of CKM signed pro contracts after the 1948 season followed by Woody Held (Sac), Richie Meyers (Elk Grove), Tony Stathos (CKM), John McNamara (CBS), and Harry Dunlap (Sac). Sacramento Junior College combined the city’s best baseball players to go for the state title for three straight years from, 51 to 53, winning the state title in 51 and 53 at the Edmonds Field.

Possibly the greatest high school baseball teams to ever play in Sacramento were the McClatchy teams of 1951 and 52. The 51 team won 22 without a loss and the section title, and the 52 team followed with 18 more wins before losing to CBS after McClatchy’s win streak reached 40 games.

With a McClatchy Athletic Hall of Fame starting this fall after 75 years, these two teams and their players were picked as one of the three greatest teams in McClatchy’s first 25 years. They will be honored on September 20, with a dinner at the Elk’s Club and on the 21st at half time of the McClatchy football game.

Led by the Rose brothers Earl (51) and Ralph (53), Peter Stathos (52), and Dick Traversi (52), six Lions made all-city in 51 and five made the all-city team in 52. Chris Chrstian, JC Masters, and Ralph Rose were the pitchers with Earl used in relief. Traversi played first, Stathos, second, and Earl Rose played in the outfield.

McClatchy hit .309 as a team with Earl Rose setting a school record getting 49 hits in 94 at bats for a .521 average. This record has never been broken. Junior Peter Stathos also broke the school record hitting .512. He had 42 hits and drove in 28 runs. Traversi was a unanimous choice for All City getting 28 hits and being an excellent glove man at first base. Traversi would go on in his senior year to lead the city in scoring for the McClatchy basketball team.
The pitching staff was led by seniors’ Chris Christian and JC Masters. Christian had eight wins and Masters had six. Bob Jones was the catcher and made all-city. Outfielder Jerry Pesavento and shortstop Bob Ayres made honorable mention.

McClatchy started the season with wins over Willows, San Juan, and Grass Valley. They reached nine straight when they beat Grant 11-2 and came closest to their only loss when their game with CBS was called for darkness after eight innings with the score 11 to 11. McClatchy had led 9-0 but four errors allowed the Pete Mikichich led CBS to tie the score and send it to extra innings.

Chris Christian next threw a one-hitter at Sac and the Lions won easily 11-2. Masters came back to beat the Dragons for their 15th straight 6-3. The Lions had to come from behind in this one as the Dragons scored two in the first. Stathos drove in two runs in the second and Ayres tripled home Masters to put the Lions ahead for good. Ralph Rose then threw a two-hitter to beat St Mary’s for their 16th straight. McClatchy beat Woodland 8-2 and came back for a close 6-5 win over Sacramento for their 22nd and final win of the season.

Coach Cliff Perry commented that, “This was the best team I have ever coached. Earl Rose was obviously the top senior with his .521 average, but seniors JC Masters, Chris Christian, Bob Jones, Dave Thomas (21 steals) , and Jerry Pesavento will be tough to replace.”

The 1952 season started up right where it left off with Ralph Rose, Roger Herscowitz, Don Deary, and Mike Toomey being the main pitchers. Sophomore Bill Werry handled the catching., Traversi played first, Stathos, second, Bob Ayres, short, and Bruce Parsons/ Hui Jackson third. Rose, Gene Huyrch, Jan Aitken, and Parsons were in the outfield.

All-city performers included: Aitken, Ayres, Stathos, Traversi, and Werry in the Sacramento Bee, and Aitken, Rose, Stathos, Traversi, and the Sacramento Union. Huyrch and Ayres made honorable mention. Peter Stathos led the team in hitting with a .438 average, Traversi hit .417 and Rose was .407. Werry .417 and Huyrch each hit four triples and Huyrch had six home runs. Stathos was chosen to play in the East-West All Star game in Oakland after the season.

The Lions started the 52 season fast with eighteen straight wins before falling for the first time at the end of the season They did win the city championship for the third straight year. Highlights included a 21-2 win over Rio Vista, 29-1 win over Turlock and their 35th straight win a 9-2 victory over St Mary’s of Stockton.

The streak finally came to an end in May when Dave Higgins (all-city) from Christian Brothers beat the Lions 11-4. McClatchy was never in the game as Higgins pitched six shutout innings before McClatchy scored twice in the 7th and 8th.
When asked about the McClatchy 51-52 baseball teams that won 40 straight games, Stathos commented, “We had a great coach, Cliff Perry, and great players, Traversi, Aitken, Ayres, and the Rose brothers. We had great pitching, JC and Chris in 51 and Ralph Rose, Herscowitz, and Deary, in 52. Werry and Hurych came out of nowhere to really help us in 52. Forty straight wins. Wow, nobody will ever do that again.”

This is the first in a series of articles as part of the McClatchy 75th year celebration, and the institution of a McClatchy Sports Hall of Fame. A banquet will be held on Sept. 20, at the Elks Clubs honoring 50 individuals and five teams from the first 25 years (1938-1962). All McClatchy graduates and family are invited to participate. For information: go to RestoretheRoar.org or contact Jim Coombs at (916) 422-9082 or Bob Sertih at (916) 441-0657.

Note: This is part two of a two-part series regarding Land Park resident Lou Coppola.

Land Park’s longtime resident Lou Coppola has certainly drawn much attention for his ongoing work with the Nor Cal Big Bands Preservation Society and his longtime career in radio. Another detail about his life was his involvement in sports, both on and off the radio airwaves.

Voice of the Solons

RADIO BEAT. Lou Coppola, far left, sits alongside KGMS radio owners, left to right, Irv Schwartz, Jack Matranga and Steve George, at an Adlai Stevenson for president speech on the state Capitol grounds in October 1952. / Photo courtesy, Lou Coppola

Many former fans of the Sacramento Solons – the Pacific Coast League baseball team that provided entertainment for local sports fans long before the 2000 debut of the Sacramento River Cats – remember Lou. Or they at least remember his voice.

It was Lou’s voice that was heard at Edmonds Field at Riverside Boulevard and Broadway during the Solons’ latter years in Sacramento.

The son of Italian immigrants Emilio and Rosa Coppola, Lou worked at the stadium as the Solons’ public address announcer from 1956 to 1958 and in 1960.

‘Can-do’ attitude

Obtaining the job was a self-motivated endeavor, Lou recalled.

“I had heard that (Solons co-owner) Fred David was not happy with the guy who was doing the PA, so I went over there and I said, ‘Hey, I do PA, no problem. I’m at home and I’ve done it at all these places. I’ve done radio in Korea and I’ve done radio in Pittsburg and in Oroville and I’ve covered every sport.’ He said, ‘Would you like to go to work?’ And I said, ‘Sure.’ He said, ‘I’ll pay you $10 a night.’ That was a smile. Boy, $10 a night to do the PA!’”

Lou noted that that amount of money was a large upgrade from his former days of being paid $2 per night as the PA man for city softball games in Concord.

He added, “To get the $2 a night, I had to drag the field and line it for the games. In those days, $2 just went so far.”

Play-by-play announcer

Lou’s career also included providing play-by-play radio coverage for Sacramento State College (today’s Sacramento State University) and Christian Brothers, El Camino and Woodland high school sports, promoter J. C. Agajanian’s 200-Miler at the old State Fairgrounds, an LPGA tournament at Valley Hi Country Club and local tennis and boxing competitions. He also interviewed many Major League Baseball players during spring trainings in Tucson, Ariz.

Crafting an image

In 1959, Lou helped create mental images for many radio listeners who tuned into KCRA’s AM radio station for Solons home and away games. KCRA later added the FM station, KCTC.

During one of his recent interviews with this publication, Lou described his memories of that year.

“Only one year did (KCRA owners, the) Kellys decide, ‘We want to take (Solons radio broadcasts) away from KFBK,’ and they made a bid and got it,” Lou said. “I think they paid $32,000. (At Edmonds Field,) I did the engineering, but (Stu Nahan) would do the play-by-play for maybe the first six innings and then he’d have to leave to go do the 10:30 (p.m.) sports on (KCRA) Channel 3 for the TV side. I continued (the play-by-play) by myself, finishing up the game. I also was the official scorekeeper at the same time. I had to score while Stu did the play-by-play and then I did the play-by-play and continued scoring.”

Re-creations

ON THE AIR. Lou Coppola is shown during his KCRA radio years in this 1970s photograph. / Photo courtesy, Lou Coppola

Lou also shared his memories about providing re-creations of Solons away games for the KCRA radio station.

“The re-creations were fun,” Lou recalled. “We borrowed a lot of the things that we heard from other people doing re-creations and the fact that you had to have a certain kind of crowd noise there to emphasize whether it was an important play during the course of the game. We would have to make it sound special that the ball hit the bat and it was going to be a good hit. You had to make that sound. And you would have a little mallet and the mallet would make the sound of the ball hitting the bat. We would have a little hanging bat with a flat surface and one side had been shaved, so when you hit it, it wouldn’t bounce off. The catcher was so close to our microphone – we pretended he was – ball one, outside, ball two. We wouldn’t call curve balls. We could say, high and inside, we could say high and outside, we could say low. From our vantage point, we couldn’t tell really what were the breaking pitches. We could only tell by the speed of the pitch which was a fast ball, which was a breaking pitch. And there weren’t too many pitches in the dirt. The pitchers for the Solons were all very, very accurate. I don’t think they gave a lot of walks, as I remember.”

And in recently re-creating one of his often-used re-creations, Lou slapped the inside of one of his thighs. He then explained that the sound made by this action was used to simulate the sound of a hardball hitting a catcher’s glove.

Tony Koester

Although Lou and Nahan provided radio play-by-play in 1959, the most notable play-by-play Solons game announcer was KFBK’s Tony Koester, who spent about 20 years working in that role.

During the Solons’ final season in 1960, Lou returned to his former position as the Solons’ public address announcer.

Met Solons players

Lou said that he had the opportunity to see many notable Solons players, including infielders Harry Bright, Milt Smith, Nippy Jones and Leo Righetti, catchers Cuno Barragan and Bob Roselli, centerfielder Al Heist and pitchers, Bud Beasley, Marshall Bridges, Roger Osenbaugh and Bud Watkins.

These players played under the managerial direction of the rotund and jovial Tommy Heath.

Unique baseball memory

Although Lou has a great number of baseball-related memories regarding Edmonds Field, when asked to describe one of his favorite moments at the old ballpark, he shared a memory that was not directly associated with the game itself or anyone on the playing field.

“One of the best things that I can say about Edmonds Field is that my son attended a lot of ballgames (at the stadium) – actually before he was born,” Lou said. “The year was 1957 and it was my second year at the PA. I had a box seat for my wife (Betty) given to me by Fred David along the first base line and she was allowed to sit there with Charlie slowly growing inside (of her). And on the night of July the 4th, 1957, Mrs. Coppola, Betty, was saying, ‘I don’t feel good and will you tell Lou, I’m going home?’ And she told the usher to tell me that and he said, ‘She’ll see you at home.’ She got home and I had to do an extra inning ballgame that kept me up past midnight. So, when I got home, it was about 12:15 (a.m.) – we lived in Hollywood Park then – and about a half an hour later, she said, ‘I think we’ve got to go to the hospital. I think the time has come.’ We got over in about 15 minutes to Sutter Memorial (Hospital) and we had in 35 or 40 minutes a new boy, a new son, Charles Christopher Coppola.”

And as a sort of icing on the cake, Lou added that the Solons won the extra inning affair, 2-1.

Unfortunately for the baseball city of Sacramento, after the 1960 departure of the Solons, it was without a professional ballclub until 1974, when another PCL team, which was also known as the Sacramento Solons, began the first of its three years playing at Hughes Stadium.

Another professional baseball drought followed until the arrival of the River Cats.

‘Thrills galore’

Lou, who also played as the catcher for the Concord Athletic Club’s traveling team from 1947 to 1950 and spent 19 years playing on a Golden Seniors Softball Club of Sacramento team, said that he fondly looks back on his days of working for the Solons.

“It was low key, compact and kind of challenging (working in the PA box), but it was just enriching,” Lou said. “For a baseball guy who played in high school and semipro for about 10 years in the Bay Area, it was a great experience working for the so-called ‘open league.’ It gave me thrills galore. It was good baseball, good offense and defense and good guys.”

Marty Relles

In the 1940s, ’50s and early ’60s, the Solons played ball at a storied old wooden ballpark named Edmonds Field located at the intersection of Riverside Blvd. and Broadway.

Unlike the Kings, the Solons actually won a Pacific Coast League title in 1942.

Back then, Hall of Fame players with names like Joe DiMaggio and Duke Snider and Ted Williams took their first cuts in the Pacific Coast League. So, when I was growing up in the 1950s, attending a Solons game at Edmonds Field with my dad was always a memorable experience.

The structure itself stood out like a sore thumb on little old Broadway. At full capacity it accommodated about 10,000 fans, a pretty big venue for its time. Fans attending the Solon games parked for free all along the north and west sides of the park and entered the stadium from a main gate located on its northwest corner.

Vendors lined the underbelly of the park, selling hot dogs, sodas, Cracker Jack and peanuts: all the traditional baseball fare.

From there, fans proceeded up through arches lining both sides of the field to the stands. From home plate, the right and left field lines stretched out 330 feet to an 18 foot high fence. The center field fence stood 400 feet away from the plate, so a home run hit to that part of the field had to carry about 450 feet.

Some of the home runs I saw hit at Edmonds Field were memorable, towering blasts. I can remember the sounds of the fans cheering as if it were yesterday.

Going to the games at Edmonds Field with my father was memorable for other reasons.

My dad grew up in Sacramento and because he was a policeman, he always encountered lots of friends from all walks of life at the ballpark. People with monikers like Izzy, Tiny and Lefty.

He always started his conversation with them by saying, “This is my oldest son Marty, you remember him.” The guys would reply, “He’s grown up a lot since the last time I saw him Mart,” and I would swell up to my tallest possible height. Then we headed up to the stands to watch the game.

During their whole tenure, the Solons won only one championship, but they always competed and fought hard for every victory. I remember the outstanding center fielder, Al Heist, injuring his knee, making a diving catch to save a no-hitter for his pitcher.

In this modern day of cash-register sports, you don’t often see that kind of effort anymore.

My dad actually played several games in Edmonds Field with the Sacramento Police Department baseball team. They competed once every year in a charity game with the San Francisco Police Department team.

I served as a mascot for the local police team. One year as the teams played, I did a dance atop the dugout like good mascots do. In doing that, my enthusiasm got the best of me, and I fell off the roof down to the floor of the dugout. Fortunately, I fell right into the open arms of my dad’s good friend, Lefty Rogers who shrugged and said, “What are you doing here, Marty.”

That might have been the best catch Lefty ever made.

The days of Edmonds Field and the Sacramento Solons are a long forgotten memory now. They leveled the field and built a grocery store at the site almost 50 years ago. But I, for one, have not forgotten the old ballpark. Now it’s another inspirational Janey Way memory.

marty@valcomnews.com