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

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C.K. McClatchy High School in Land Park is noted for its significant heritage, as well as the future leaders it produces. Members of the Class of 2011 competed against hundreds of other high schools in the White House’s annual “Race to the Top” competition, making it into the top 50 finalists. The finalist in the competition will have the honor of having the President of the United States address its graduating class. / Valley Community Newspapers photo by Susan Laird

C.K. McClatchy High School, located off of Freeport Boulevard in Land Park, was one of hundreds of applicants in the 2^nd annual “Race to the Top High School Commencement Challenge,” which invited public schools across the country to compete to have President Barack Obama speak at their graduation. Seniors were encouraged to show President Obama why their school should be a model for other schools around the country working to boost attendance and increase the number of graduates prepared for college or a career.

“We feel unafraid to ask questions and challenge ideas, preparing us to take initiative in our futures at college and in the real world,” explained Ellen Wong, McClatchy social science teacher and senior class sponsor for the class of 2011. “Our team here at McClatchy is truly one of nation builders.”

The CKM senior class of 2011 made it through to the top 50, only to find out on Friday, April 8, that their journey stopped there, but that hasn’t stopped the Lions fighting school spirit.

“The reason why I wanted to win is pretty simple – it’s the president of the United States,” exclaimed Skyler Brown, senior. “Whether you support him or not, having one of the most powerful leaders on earth take time out of his day to come to our high school would have been an honor beyond belief.”

“We still feel like winners,” said Wong. “I don’t think we were overly disappointed. It was fun to enter and I think the kids have no regrets. The idea of school spirit is to promote school and community pride and I feel we accomplished that.”

Promoting academic and community pride is exactly what the seniors wrote in the application form. Students had until March 15 to fill out the application’s four essay questions – each one focused on demonstrating how the school prepares students to meet the president’s 2020 goal of having the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.

In addition to the required essay responses, Brown and his fellow seniors also submitted a YouTube video showing the school’s culture and character, and highlighting standards and methods on what the school does to assess and prepare students to succeed in college, the workplace, and compete in the global economy. (The video can be viewed at http://youtu.be/8pd6Pi_7h9g or simply visit YouTube and type in “McClatchy 2011 commencement challenge”).

“The diversity of our school is a very good representation of America as a whole in that it covers not only practically every ethnic group, but also every social class and every level of knowledge and perspective,” said Brown. “By coming to CKM, Obama would essentially be speaking to a ‘mini-America’ which is a very accurate picture of the rising generation as a whole.”

School spirit at C.K. McClatchy is enthusiastic and filled with “Lion Pride” and the drive to leadership. Another banner inside the school says, “It’s better to be a Lion for a day than a sheep all your life.” / Photo courtesy C.K. McClatchy High School

All schools that applied were also required to build data systems to measure student growth and success. With a 36 percent Hispanic, 24 percent Asian, 10 percent African-American, 28 percent White, and a one percent Native American population, Wong feels the school has formed a beautiful melting pot of cultures. And if the seniors had the opportunity for a one-on-one with President Obama they would have shown him why they believe ‘traditional schools,’ like McClatchy, can be successful.

“McClatchy is the most integrated school in the most integrated city in the country, according to Time magazine. We Lions learn how to navigate the world by navigating the hallways of our school. More than 90 percent of the kids in this country go to public schools and I think we need to invest more money and energy in our public schools and its more cost effectively,” said Wong.

According to a White House press release, public schools that encourage systemic reform and embrace effective approaches to teaching and learning help prepare America’s students to graduate ready for college and a career, and enable them to out-compete any worker, anywhere in the world. Brown feels his school does all that, and more.

“Many of the graduating seniors have spent the past four years devoting themselves to activities and subjects that more often than not require in-depth studies of present and past governments from around the world,” Brown said. “To have all those governmental studies climax in having the leader of our own government congratulate us would have been very appropriate, especially since I personally think a few of the current seniors seriously have the potential to someday be in Obama’s shoes.”

If President Obama had come to the school’s June commencement, 17 year old Karisa Yamamoto would have told him not only how great her school is, but feels his presence would have helped inspire her graduating class even more to take the lead in their life.

“Our student body has so much potential,” Yamamoto said. “Some of us just need that extra push or those few life changing words that will get us to head into the world ready to make a difference.”

Yamamoto adds she would have also taken the opportunity to ask the Commander and Chief tips on public speaking.

“He’s one of my favorite speakers and he always seems to take command of the audience with his words,” she said.

Even though the President of the United States won’t be speaking at their June commencement, seniors like Brown agree that their time spent at CKM is still truly memorable.

“This is a nation building school, it is a model. C. K. McClatchy High School is doing an excellent job of demonstrating the best aspects of a public school and the positive effect that the teachers and facilities have on students who could very well be the leaders of tomorrow.”

Finalists:

The finalists in the 2011 Race to the Top Commencement Challenge are:

•           Bridgeport High School (Bridgeport, Washington)

•           Wayne Early Middle College High School (Goldsboro, North Carolina)

•           Booker T. Washington High School (Memphis, Tennessee)

•           Science Park High School (Newark, New Jersey)

•           Pittsburgh CAPA 6-12, School for Creative and Performing Arts (Pittsburgh, PA)                  

•           High Tech High International (San Diego, CA)

Did you know?

• C.K. McClathy High School was Sacramento’s second high school, established in 1937.
• Currently, approximately 2,000 students attend the school.
• In 2002, the school was officially listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
• Many local, state, national, and international figures graduated from CKM, including:
  • Anthony Kennedy, an associate justice with the U.S. Supreme Court since 1988
  • Curtis Michel, was a NASA astronaut during the 1960’s
  • Malcolm Floyd, a former National Football League wide receiver who played for the Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans and the St. Louis Rams
  • Michael Drake, chancellor of the University of California, Irvine, and the first African American UC chancellor
  • Steve Holm, plays catcher for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball’s National League, West Division
  •  Tani Cantil-Sakauye, the 28th Chief Justice of California, and is the first Asian-American to lead the California Supreme Court
  • Xavier Becerra,  member of the U. S. House of Representatives representing a congressional district in Los Angeles since 1993