Comments on: SRV honors football, soccer, water polo commits

By: YoMama

YoMama — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 22:55:21 +0000

Harper and Vierra ended up on the same colege team at St. Mary’s – the super six. can anyone remember the six?
Harper(SM), Vierra(DLS), Roskinski(Liberty), Herman Brown(Mack), Craig Casult(Sturgis, Michigan), Ralph ” the Rocket” Walker(Chicago). Beat Cal that year with Vierra lighting it up for 20, played UNLV with Tark, Pepperdine with ” the Bird”, of course rivals Santa Clara and USF with Smith, Restani, Snake Jones, Eric Feinstein, and the rest.

By: BigDog

BigDog — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 22:43:20 +0000

post 39, st.joe’s, don’t forget Ken Gillard, forward with Vitatoe that went on to St. Mary’s, a big scorer at st.joe’s, I beleive averaged more than Vitatoe. Vitatoe ended up at ucla but then transfered to Hawaii.
Also, it wasn’t all Mike Phelps. Coach Higgins who came from Sacred Heart in SF was at the helm during the Vitatoe years. The CAL had St. Mary’s, St. Joe’s, O’Dowd, DLS, St. Liz and Salesian, all ranked in the EB and NC. The amount of local talent that came out of that league was outstanding. The only leagues to give them a run was the OAL and the ACAL. The players
who went on to college ball,
Harper (SM), Monnihan(BO), Tersherra(BO), Will(BO), Webb(Sal), McDonald(SE), Gillard(SJ), Vitaote(SJ), Canepa(Sal), Vierra(DLS), etc. Saw them all.

By: EB FB FAN

EB FB FAN — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:16:19 +0000

Thanks for noting the history of the Cream of the Crop. Looking at the lists dating back to 1984 brought back some great memories as well as some great names of high school kids who excelled at a very high level in football.

The lists also provided a glimpse at who some of the great coaches were/are. It was intriguing to me to read about what schools produced the most cream of the crop players. It was also very interesting to identify the eras that these athletes played in at their respective schools and to note the coaches who prepared these players so well. Lad, of course, at DLS. John Beam at Skyline. But the one that really jumped out at me was the number of players from Bishop O’Dowd HS named to the list. Quietly, over his two plus decades at O’Dowd, Coach Paul Perenon not only had a high number of his players named to the cream of the crop list, he also (like Lad and Beam) found a way to win 200+ games along with multiple league and NCS championships. And Perenon did it at a school that had no noteworthy history or tradition in the sport of football. Also took note of the FOUR players from O’Dowd to make the NFL list (Bjornson, Glenn, Walker and Morrison). Not to shabby for a school mostly known for a sport other than football. Good work, Coach Perenon and to all of the coaches and players named to the cream of the crop lists.

By: Inthekey

Inthekey — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:28:10 +0000

Does anybody remember the glory days at St Joe’s in Alameda 69-74..Piolts used to come out to DLS and beat-down the Spartans…It was great coaching just as it is now at De La Salle and the Brotherhood.
Here’s to the glory day’s: Marven Vitatoe, Andre Hill,Henderson McDaniels, Vernon Willams,Steve Martinez,Jerry Lankford, Ed Lankford,Jim Eyen,John O’Donnel, Manulas Martin, Tom Kidwell,David Ratto,John Holstein,Mark Connley,John Smith.Ken Giannotti, Tom Curran, and one of the best ever HS coaches Mike Phelps.

By: djgaucho

djgaucho — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:37:20 +0000

While I do believe de la salle definetly has some advantages I do believe the key is great coaching and they play great team ball they dont always have the best individual athletes like alot of the other schools.I dont know for certain that they recruit kids but I do know that just like anything else once the train starts moving everybody rushes to jump on like with Skyline in the 90′s and when there is no geographical limitations in place you have kids coming not just from concord but oakland,richmond, berekeley as well in other ebal areas and you have a dynasty but who can blame the kids you know going to de la your going to win,your going to get exposed to one of if not the best coach in the nation,you get national exposure and play some very good competition…….by the way i didnt hear what the SRV coach said about DLS that caused such an uproar can someone run that back what he said please?

By: Voice of Reason

Voice of Reason — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:11:07 +0000

Right on the money Epcthree and I, unlike Junior, am in 100% lockstep with everthing you state. I agree it is a tired subject that gets resurrected from time to time.

My angle on all of this has always been, now that DLS has won 20 NCS D1 titles in a row, given their advantages, it doesn’t appear that any one of the other D1 public schools in NCS will dethrone them any time soon. When the day comes that DLS loses to a northern California team, it will likely be to another private school team.

Just my opinion, but I believe DLS will never lose to a northern California public school team until coach Lad retires.

By: Jimmy Durkin

Jimmy Durkin — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:56:40 +0000

Yeah Epcthree, it’s certainly true that often the OAL has some better individual talent that team success. The Skyline teams and some of the McClymonds teams have been the exceptions. The Skyline teams from the 80s up through the early 2000s played as tough a schedule as anybody. Their schedules were loaded with EBAL and WCAL schools. They had wins over Serra, St. Francis, Foothill, Monte Vista, Logan, Dorsey from LA, etc. Those were the days when basically all the top players in Oakland went to Skyline (thanks to open enrollment). The talented players are a lot more spread out now, not just between all the Oakland schools but also with those leaving the city for other schools.

By: epcthree

epcthree — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 07:39:19 +0000

@ #32 – Jimmy, thanks for the lesson… I actually have been out of the Bay Area since the early 80′s and was not really cognizant of Skyline’s success during that time frame.

I think you might agree though that the OAL historically has had more than their fair share of individual athletes without necessarily having the team success that might be expected. It is a fact of life we see here in the Denver Metro area as well. 4-5 great players on teams surrounded by kids of lesser ability. It’s the cross of inner-city football across America I’m afraid.

By the way, for those DLS fans; next year you play Denver Mullen HS – for those unaware, they recently fired their head coach in what has been one of the strangest and most poorly handled situations around Colorado High School athletics in years. Chances are quite good that this game will end up being much less of a challenge for DLS than originally anticipated.

If DLS wants to strap it up, they need to look into a new school here; Valor Christian. The school is 4-5 years old and just won their 3rd consecutive State Championship, winning 63-0. They have made it clear that they intend to be a nationally regarded program and have already been refused admission into any league in or around Denver. I think it would be an interesting match up to say the least!

By: S1lverngreen

S1lverngreen — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 04:52:21 +0000

Epc,
Man! What a great post!

By: junior

junior — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 01:49:58 +0000

Epcthree- that is as good a post as I have read on this blog in years. I have no problem with a high percentage of it.

When others post as you just did- they will get no retort from me.