Dunn - Sports of Santa Cruz County

IMAGES
of America

SPORTS OF

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY

In 1913, fire destroyed the original campus structure of Santa Cruz High School on Walnut Avenue. Somehow, this sweet photograph of the 19121913 girls basketball team escaped the inferno. Basketball was invented by Dr. James Naismith at the YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1891 and spread quickly to the West Coast, where Berkeley women tied Stanford 9-9 in 1896. It arrived at Santa Cruz High the following decade via the local YMCA, and it was a popular activity for young women until the 1950s. With the passage of the Title IX Equal Opportunity in Education Act of 1972, girls basketball returned to local high schools in the 1970s and has been a popular mainstay ever since. (Geoffrey Dunn Collection.)

ON THE COVER: The 1909 Santa Cruz Sand Crabs of the California League were managed by the legendary Bill Devereaux (fourth from left). The team, playing at what was then dubbed Casino Park, had a brutal 223-game schedule that year, and did not finish out the season, as the outlaw league was on the verge of financial collapse. Santa Cruz finished second in the first half, with a stellar 62-36 record, winning 17 straight games at one point. But the Sand Crabs were out of the league by July 11 due to poor gate receipts. (Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History.)

IMAGES
of America

SPORTS OF

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY

Geoffrey Dunn

Copyright 2013 by Geoffrey Dunn
ISBN 978-1-4671-3007-3
Ebook ISBN 9781439644256

Published by Arcadia Publishing
Charleston, South Carolina

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To Siri, Tess, Dylan, and Lindy

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

No one ever writes a book on his or her own. While a single name often appears on the cover, the production of a book is always a team enterprise. In the present case, many people contributed to this book over the years.

I fell in love with Santa Cruz County sports at an early age. From my Little League days nearly 50 years ago, to my son Dylans current career in local basketball and baseball, Ive been blessed with a great group of coaches, teammates, friends, and parents who have been a part of these athletic communities for nearly half a century. Space does not allow me to thank them all, but please know that the friendship, camaraderie, mentoring, and support have always been appreciated, and a lot of it went into this book.

That said, two people, Bill and Roberta Dodge, have helped me out considerably with this effort. Bill was a fixture at Santa Cruz High as a baseball and basketball coach for three decades. He and his wife, Roberta, have encouraged me to write about Santa Cruz sports history. I will always be grateful for their friendship and encouragement.

I was also blessed with two great coaches at Soquel High, Ron Walters and Tom Curtiss, who have been there for me throughout the years. I was blessed to coach the Santa Cruz High varsity baseball team in the 1990s with two of the regions great athletes and competitors, John Wilson and Rudy Escalante. Tom Wilson, Steve Seymour, Danny Braga, Joel Domhoff, Kim Joslin, Dennis Porath, Mike and Jeff Hamm, Pete Pappas (my cribbage partner), Mark Violante, Stu Walters, Kristy and Marie Netto, Paula Pappas Panelli, Gene Pini, John Sipin, Pete Newell, Tim Erwin, Bill Starrs, Angelo Ross, Kris Reyes, and Kim Luke (Mildred Fierce)all fine local athletes and coacheshave also contributed in various ways to this book over the years. To them, I give my heartfelt gratitude.

Local historians Carolyn Swift, Phil Reader, Sandy Lydon, Stan Stevens, Frank Perry, George Ow, Joan Gilbert Martin, Barry Brown, and Kim Stoner have always been there when I needed an assist. The late Harold Van Gorder (see ) gifted me several of the photographs in this collection. Unless otherwise noted, all photographs are from my personal collection. Jim Seimas of the Santa Cruz Sentinel has done yeomans work in keeping local sports history alive. Marla Novo and Nina Simon from the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History have been both wonderful and thoroughly supportive.

My acquisitions editor at Arcadia, Jeff Ruetsche, has been an absolute jewel to work with. He has helped to guide this project through to the finish line. To him, I offer my eternal appreciation.

Finally, I thank my familySiri, Tess, Dylan, and Lindyfor their love and support over the years. Theyve been real sports about this project, and I appreciate it.

INTRODUCTION

Because of its moderate and inviting climate, along with its unique blend of rugged mountains, flat coastal terraces, and welcoming beaches and surf, Santa Cruz County has always been a haven for athletic activities, dating back to pre-European contact. It remains so to this day, with a wide variety of sporting endeavors beyond the norm, from mat surfing to womens Roller Derby. Perhaps most significantlyand best known internationallySanta Cruz served as a springboard for modern surfing. During the summer of 1885, three princes visiting from Hawaii surfed here in the Americas for the very first time.

What is not so well known is that Santa Cruz was an early bastion for organized baseball on the West Coast, beginning in the 1860s, and was home to a series of professional teams as early as the 1870s. Other colorful athletic activities took place here in the 19th century, including fire-hose teams, long-distance walking, and bicycling, along with more traditional American sporting activities, such as basketball, football, boxing, tennis, and polo. One of Santa Cruzs greatest boosters and baseball fans was the legendary local promoter Fred Swanton. During the early 1900s, he coined the promotional slogan Santa CruzNever a Dull Moment. One of the reasons there was never a dull moment here was because of the plethora of sports and athletic activities going on. Swanton made sure of that.

The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, which was founded by Swanton, provided an important venue for competitive swimming (the legendary Olympian Duke Kahanamoku performed here in three separate decades) along with the widely popular Plunge Carnivals and Aquatic Shows. There is also a strong tradition of women athletes in the region, in particular, Marion Hollins, the founder of Pasatiempo and one of the greatest all-around women athletes in the United States in the 20th century.

Unfortunately, most of these athletic endeavors have been largely overlooked by local historians, dating back to the late 19th century. Perhaps believing that sports and athletics are largely extraneous and incidental affairs, Santa Cruz County sports history has been largely missing from the historical record. E.S. Harrisons seminal work, History of Santa Cruz County, California (1892), hardly mentions a single sporting activity in the region, though many of the figures whose lives are chronicled therein actively engaged in such pursuits.

In fact, our unique sports history tells us a great deal about Santa Cruz County life, from pre-missionary times to the present. Sports are a significant cultural activity that profoundly reflectand definethe daily life of any community. Many people identify themselves, in part, by their athletic endeavors, perhaps especially so in Santa Cruz.