SFCityBear said:

---

This is a list from the Tournament of Champions All-Tournament teams from 1947 to 1972 who haven't been mentioned so far in the thread. It leaves out a lot of good players who played for teams of those years who did not qualify for the tournament. A lot of these players could have started and had success at Cal, IMO.

Russ Lawler, Salinas, Stanford
Ken Sears, Watsonville, Santa Clara, NBA
Clarence Grider, Lowell, Oregon State (lost an eye in a hunting accident, and didn't play)
Bob Dold, St Marys High, St Mary's
Walt Torrance, Grant Tech, UCLA (led PCC in scoring 22ppg in 1959 gave Cal fits
Joe Gardere, McClymonds, St Mary's
Cornell Green, El Cerrito, Utah State, NFL
Gene Womack, Poly High, St Mary's
Bill Simmons, Poly High, Oregon
Ed Thomas, McClymonds, USF
Jim Hadnot, McClymonds, (touted as the next Russell, didn't play college injured?)
Jim Brovelli, St Ignatius, USF
Pete Newell, Jr., St Ignatius, San Jose State
Erwin Mueller, Livermore, USF
Jim Tolliver, McClymonds, played for the pro Harlem Clowns
Russ Gumina, Sacred Heart, USF
Ron Tomsic, Fremont, Stanford
Bob Portman., SI, Creighton, (25 ppg), NBA
Don Griffin, Fremont, Stanford
Nate Williams, McClymonds, NBA (after HS, entered draft as hardship case)
Glenn Burke, Berkeley, MLB
Ruppert Jones, Berkeley, MLB standout
Clifton Pondexter, San Joaquin Memorial, Long Beach State
Francois Wise, Balboa, Long Beach State Hall of Fame
Cliff Robinson, Castlemont, USC, NBA
Mark McNamara, Del Mar, Santa Clara, NBA

---

Burke and Jones went right into baseball IIRC, so perhaps that is not necessarily a "miss." References to Pondexter and Cartwright (not on your list because listed before) bring back bad memories from when each helped their teams knock my Berkeley High Jackets out of the TOC with superlative performances. Future Cal Bear Gene Ransom lost out in both of those games.

Here's Gene v Cartwright:


How do you guard this guy???

Why did Yellow Jacket John Lambert go to U$C instead of Cal?

bearister said:

---

Why did Yellow Jacket John Lambert go to U$C instead of Cal?

---

An excellent question for which I have no answer. But it sure qualifies as a "miss" for the Bears.

SFCityBear said:

---

This is a list from the Tournament of Champions All-Tournament teams from 1947 to 1972 who haven't been mentioned so far in the thread. It leaves out a lot of good players who played for teams of those years who did not qualify for the tournament. A lot of these players could have started and had success at Cal, IMO.

Russ Lawler, Salinas, Stanford
Ken Sears, Watsonville, Santa Clara, NBA
Clarence Grider, Lowell, Oregon State (lost an eye in a hunting accident, and didn't play)
Bob Dold, St Marys High, St Mary's
Walt Torrance, Grant Tech, UCLA (led PCC in scoring 22ppg in 1959 gave Cal fits
Joe Gardere, McClymonds, St Mary's
Cornell Green, El Cerrito, Utah State, NCAA scoring leader; signed and all-NFL CB w/ Dallas Cowboys
Gene Womack, Poly High, St Mary's
Bill Simmons, Poly High, Oregon
Ed Thomas, McClymonds, USF
Jim Hadnot, McClymonds, ("... the next Russell", played at Providence College, the Friars of the BigEast)
Jim Brovelli, St Ignatius, USF
Pete Newell, Jr., St Ignatius, San Jose State
Erwin Mueller, Livermore, USF
Jim Tolliver, McClymonds, played for the pro Harlem Clowns
Russ Gumina, Sacred Heart, USF
Ron Tomsic, Fremont, Stanford
Bob Portman., SI, Creighton, (25 ppg), NBA
Don Griffin, Fremont, Stanford
Nate Williams, McClymonds, NBA (after HS, entered draft as hardship case)
Glenn Burke, Berkeley, committed to Cal; signed with the LA Dodgers, MLB.
Ruppert Jones, Berkeley, MLB
Clifton Pondexter, San Joaquin Memorial, Long Beach State
Francois Wise, Balboa, Long Beach State Hall of Fame
Cliff Robinson, Castlemont, USC, NBA
Mark McNamara, Del Mar, Santa Clara, NBA

---

No mention of the Clemetson (Don and Doug) twins, PGs from Ells HS in Richmond? They played at tFarm. Don Clemetson was all-AAWU (Big Five and Big Six); drafted by and played for the Golden State Warriors.

joe amos yaks said:

---

UrsaMajor said:

---

Definitely agree about Freddy LaCour. Amazing talent that he basically wasted.

---

I thought LaCour played some for the SF Saints of the ABL.

---

He was with the Warriors for a bit, then the Saints. Also, did a short stint in New England, for a minor league team, as I remember.

joe amos yaks said:

---

SFCityBear said:

---

This is a list from the Tournament of Champions All-Tournament teams from 1947 to 1972 who haven't been mentioned so far in the thread. It leaves out a lot of good players who played for teams of those years who did not qualify for the tournament. A lot of these players could have started and had success at Cal, IMO.

Russ Lawler, Salinas, Stanford
Ken Sears, Watsonville, Santa Clara, NBA
Clarence Grider, Lowell, Oregon State (lost an eye in a hunting accident, and didn't play)
Bob Dold, St Marys High, St Mary's
Walt Torrance, Grant Tech, UCLA (led PCC in scoring 22ppg in 1959 gave Cal fits
Joe Gardere, McClymonds, St Mary's
Cornell Green, El Cerrito, Utah State, NCAA scoring leader; all-NFL CB w/ Dallas Cowboys
Gene Womack, Poly High, St Mary's
Bill Simmons, Poly High, Oregon
Ed Thomas, McClymonds, USF
Jim Hadnot, McClymonds, ("... the next Russell", played at Providence College, the Friars of the BigEast)
Jim Brovelli, St Ignatius, USF
Pete Newell, Jr., St Ignatius, San Jose State
Erwin Mueller, Livermore, USF
Jim Tolliver, McClymonds, played for the pro Harlem Clowns
Russ Gumina, Sacred Heart, USF
Ron Tomsic, Fremont, Stanford
Bob Portman., SI, Creighton, (25 ppg), NBA
Don Griffin, Fremont, Stanford
Nate Williams, McClymonds, NBA (after HS, entered draft as hardship case)
Glenn Burke, Berkeley, committed to Cal; signed with the LA Dodgers, MLB.
Ruppert Jones, Berkeley, MLB
Clifton Pondexter, San Joaquin Memorial, Long Beach State
Francois Wise, Balboa, Long Beach State Hall of Fame
Cliff Robinson, Castlemont, USC, NBA
Mark McNamara, Del Mar, Santa Clara, NBA

---

No mention of the Clemetson (Don and Doug) twins, PGs from Ells HS in Richmond? They played at tFarm. Don Clemetson was all-AAWU (Big Five and Big Six); drafted by and played for the Golden State Warriors.

---

Joe - Thanks for the info on Jim Hadnot. I may have know that at one time, but forgot it. sports-reference.com has no college stats for Hadnot. I checked the Providence website and it showed Hadnot was Providence's first legitimate big man. He shot 52%, and averaged about 18 points and 18 rebounds. He was one of the top rebounders and shot blockers in the country. Played on the same team with Lenny Wilkins and Johnny Egan. I imagine they both started and there must have been a lot of passing. Wow. Hadnot was drafted #25, but went to the ABA instead.

As for the Clemetsons, I remember them. If you say they played for Harry Ells High in Richmond, then they would not have played in the Tournament of Champions, the teams invited had to be champions of their leagues, and I could not find where Ells had been invited during the late '50s. My list was compiled mostly from the All-Tournament teams of the TOC, and a lot of great players played on teams that did not win their leagues, and so they never got to go the TOC. Tom Meschery of Lowell, a 1st team HS All-American, may not have played in the TOC, because St Ignatius with Fred LaCour was winning AAA league titles in that era, and was the only AAA team invited. Meschery might have played in the 1953 TOC, but he would have been a freshman, and probably not yet good enough to make the All-TOC team.

McClymonds HS --
Otis Allison
Antonio Davis
. . . and Ellis, Russell, Silas, Williams.

Oakland HS --
Jabari Brown

joe amos yaks said:

---

McClymonds HS --
Otis Allison
Antonio Davis
. . . and Ellis, Russell, Silas, Williams.

Oakland HS --
Jabari Brown

---

Frank Robinson was a guard on Bill Russell's McClymonds team. He became a pretty good baseball player.

Stanford and 49er quarterback John Brodie played for Oakland Tech, and was high scorer in a couple of their TOC games.

Here is the history of the Tournament of Champions:

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/3/0/9/7/30972031/tochistory.pdf

. . . and Encinal's all-ToC (1957) Tommy Harper (signed MLB).

Mo Charlo & Johnny Holmes

Darnell Robinson Emeryville.

Dear Sf City Bear: When Meschery was a low freshman at Lowell, Lowell went to the TOC. Lowell had the best team in the tournament, but, lost to Chico by two points in their second game. as I recall, Grider missed 17 free throws in that game. The next night, Alameda, led by Willie Davisa, creamed Chico. Lowell played Alameda in a practice game before the AAA season and won by twenty points. Mescxhery played 130's as low freshman but did not start. In his only appearance in the box score, he scored two points. Done';t know whatever happened to Willie Davis. He made all-northern cal that year. Lowell went to the TOC because they beat Washington by one point in the championship AAA game. Washimngtons' best players were Eugene Brown and Ike mcCarthur.

orindabear74 said:

---

Darnell Robinson, Emery HS, Emeryville

---

There might have been a 1994 Cal (Bozeman) team with Kidd, Buckley, Grigsby, Murray, and Darnell Robinson.
. . except for Arkansas and Coach Nolan Richardson. . .

If you add Robinson to that team, we probably still lose to Wisconsin GB, but at least then maybe we make some sports list, like "Most talented teams to never even do jack squat in the NCAA Tournament".

Big C said:

---

If you add Robinson to that team, we probably still lose to Wisconsin GB, but at least then maybe we make some sports list, like "Most talented teams to never even do jack squat in the NCAA Tournament".

---

Jack Tszhit was a SF at $uSC about the same time.

Big C said:

---

If you add Robinson to that team, we probably still lose to Wisconsin GB, but at least then maybe we make some sports list, like "Most talented teams to never even do jack squat in the NCAA Tournament".

---

I still don't understand how Cal lost that game. Just like Calbear80 probably can't figure out how SDSU could lose to Cal this year. Jason Kidd and Lamond Murray should have been able to pick any 3 other students from the student body and won that GB game. It is what makes basketball interesting and often unpredictable.

SFCityBear said:

---

Big C said:

---

If you add Robinson to that team, we probably still lose to Wisconsin GB, but at least then maybe we make some sports list, like "Most talented teams to never even do jack squat in the NCAA Tournament".

---

I still don't understand how Cal lost that game. Just like Calbear80 probably can't figure out how SDSU could lose to Cal this year. Jason Kidd and Lamond Murray should have been able to pick any 3 other students from the student body and won that GB game. It is what makes basketball interesting and often unpredictable.

---

UWhiskyGB's coaching, team play, and uWhiskyGB got a hot hand. That was the difference. Kidd + Murray + 20 students = same result.

joe amos yaks said:

---

SFCityBear said:

---

Big C said:

---

If you add Robinson to that team, we probably still lose to Wisconsin GB, but at least then maybe we make some sports list, like "Most talented teams to never even do jack squat in the NCAA Tournament".

---

I still don't understand how Cal lost that game. Just like Calbear80 probably can't figure out how SDSU could lose to Cal this year. Jason Kidd and Lamond Murray should have been able to pick any 3 other students from the student body and won that GB game. It is what makes basketball interesting and often unpredictable.

---

UWhiskyGB's coaching, team play, and uWhiskyGB got a hot hand. That was the difference. Kidd + Murray + 20 students = same result.

---

I think your are right. However, Cal way, way, way, way underperformed in that game.

SFCityBear said:

---

Big C said:

---

If you add Robinson to that team, we probably still lose to Wisconsin GB, but at least then maybe we make some sports list, like "Most talented teams to never even do jack squat in the NCAA Tournament".

---

I still don't understand how Cal lost that game. Just like Calbear80 probably can't figure out how SDSU could lose to Cal this year. Jason Kidd and Lamond Murray should have been able to pick any 3 other students from the student body and won that GB game. It is what makes basketball interesting and often unpredictable.

---

Kidd played hard in that game, Lamond did not. After the game Murray said he couldn't get up for the competition. For many years Allocco's Princeton offense at DLS resulted in wins against more talented teams that "couldn't get up for the competition."

Kurt Rambis: set to go to Cal, but Dick Davey left for Santa Clara. Same thing with Mark MacNamara.
Austen Crochere: Campinelli passed on him and he went to pPovidence
Kawhai Leonard: we passed on him during Monty's first year
Brent Barry: Campinelli passed on him

Well, this thread has certainly stirred some long dormant memory cells! Here's a name from way back that I haven't seen on this list: Kevin O'Shea, St. Ignatius and Notre Dame (1940s era AA). Another of more recent vintage since the South Bay is in play was Dennis Awtrey from Blackford High and Santa Clara. I remember a story once about Russell to the effect that he had an older brother who played at either Oakland High or Oakland Tech. When Bill landed at Mac, someone on the Mac staff said that when there were brothers, Oakland (or Tech) got the good one, we got the other! Clearly, he was not a blue chipper at that level. I saw many of the names on this list either in the TOC or college while at Berkeley. Richmond had a couple of guys who played with Mike Farmer, J. C. ( J.D.?) Banks and Clyde (?) Hardeman who were big time front court players. I'm not sure either ever played in college. LaCour and Walt Torrance were spectacular individuals but the Mac teams of that era, in the midst of their national record win streak, oozing talent and very well coached, were the cream of the crop. They even were high tech (for the era), wheeling out a portable sound system with headphones for each player during timeouts so that the coach's instructions could be heard over the din of the cheering sections.

Santa Clara's Awtrey . . . also, I'd add the Ogden bros . . . Bud and Ralph. . .but they were from SLO.

Awtrey went on to become an NBA enforcer. The summer before he entered Santa Clara, he and Ralph Ogden were two of my camp counselors at the Santa Clara summer sports camp. I think I was 11 years old.

https://www.si.com/vault/1977/10/31/626402/nobody-but-nobody-is-going-to-hurt-my-teammates

EricBear said:

---

I recall hosting Adam Keefe on his recruiting visit. That's certainly a miss. But he's a Stanford guy, through and through.

---

Did Cal guys take recruits to strip clubs and bars back then as we've heard about at many other places?

Although it doesn't really fit your East Bay emphasis, I'd say the biggest miss was Gail Goodrich. In Bruce Jenkins book about Pete Newell, he quotes Goodrich as saying he would have gone to Cal if Newell hadn't retired. The Goodrich's and Newell's were close friends (Pete was from LA and played at Loyola). That was also at the point where Newell had beaten Wooden eight times in a row. No Goodrich, maybe no Walt Hazzard, maybe Cal wins in 1964, rather that UCLA, gets Lew, then Walton, etc., etc. The two greatest misfortunes in the history of Cal athletics were Andy Smith dying early, and Newell retiring early as coach.

S.T. Saffold small forward (6'4") from Edison, Stockton.
Played for Coach Stu Inman at SJstu (1963-66) with Pete Newell, Jr.
Signed with NFL Cinnci Bengals; played WR.
__

*Footnote warranted:
Later Coach Inman became the Portland Trailblazers' GM. He selected uKy C Sam Bowie #2 in the 1984 NBA draft one spot ahead of the Bulls (#3) who then selected Michael Jordan. The Blazers already had the great G Clyde Drexler and G Jim Paxson on their roster and needed a center. There you go. . . you get what you get!

Jeff82 said:

---

Although it doesn't really fit your East Bay emphasis, I'd say the biggest miss was Gail Goodrich. In Bruce Jenkins book about Pete Newell, he quotes Goodrich as saying he would have gone to Cal if Newell hadn't retired. The Goodrich's and Newell's were close friends (Pete was from LA and played at Loyola). That was also at the point where Newell had beaten Wooden eight times in a row. No Goodrich, maybe no Walt Hazzard, maybe Cal wins in 1964, rather that UCLA, gets Lew, then Walton, etc., etc. The two greatest misfortunes in the history of Cal athletics were Andy Smith dying early, and Newell retiring early as coach.

---

I'd add the arrival of single platoon football, which forced Pappy Waldorf to retire, and Todd Bozeman's making under-the-table payments in recruiting which put Cal on probation, and basketball program into the tank as far as competing for championships.

Can you say more about single platoon football and it's effect on Pappy?

Agree that Bozeman's cheating was egregious, although not sure if we would have been a championship caliber team anyway (how much of his recruiting success was because of cheating to begin with?)

If you're gonna drop $30K on a PG, at least get one than doesn't dribble the ball chest high.

EricBear said:

---

Bars/parties sure. It's college. But nothing dumb.

Forget how we entertained Keefe. Probably late night rebounding drills.

---

Staff may be excluded, but that may have earned you POST OF THE DAY.

joe amos yaks said:

---

Santa Clara's Awtrey . . . also, I'd add the Ogden bros . . . Bud and Ralph. . .but they were from SLO.

---

Actually, the Ogdens were from San Jose, Lincoln High I believe. Lincoln gave Cal all time middle distance star Don Bowden. Bud Ogden was a good HS player who really blossomed at Santa Clara. Younger brother Ralph was an elite recruit coming out of HS who underperformed expectations in college although the was good enough to get a cup of coffee in the NBA.

SFCityBear said:

---

Jeff82 said:

---

Although it doesn't really fit your East Bay emphasis, I'd say the biggest miss was Gail Goodrich. In Bruce Jenkins book about Pete Newell, he quotes Goodrich as saying he would have gone to Cal if Newell hadn't retired. The Goodrich's and Newell's were close friends (Pete was from LA and played at Loyola). That was also at the point where Newell had beaten Wooden eight times in a row. No Goodrich, maybe no Walt Hazzard, maybe Cal wins in 1964, rather that UCLA, gets Lew, then Walton, etc., etc. The two greatest misfortunes in the history of Cal athletics were Andy Smith dying early, and Newell retiring early as coach.

---

I'd add the arrival of single platoon football, which forced Pappy Waldorf to retire, and Todd Bozeman's making under-the-table payments in recruiting which put Cal on probation, and basketball program into the tank as far as competing for championships.

---

I'm not sure that one platoon football did as much to bring down Pappy as did the Ronnie Knox recruiting fiasco and the recruiting scandals that killed the PCC. When the Southern Seas when down in flames it damaged the recruiting pipeline to Southern California. Also, much of Cal's success in the mid-1940s emanated from the glut of returning GIs after WWII and that had started to peter out by the early '50s. By the time I reached campus in 1954, the Bears were well on their way to the dumps. Still, Waldorf might have survived if the scandal hadn't broken on his watch.