LJ FB: Ties run deep with LJCDS

By Ed Piper

Robert Grasso, Assistant Athletic Director at La Jolla Country Day School, is a 1989 graduate of La Jolla High.

"I was there the last year of Gene Edwards as head football coach," said Grasso, busy with duties and lunch for the Torrey football team Fri., Sept. 5, as they prepared for the invasion of the Vikings for a 4 p.m. novice game, then a 7 p.m. varsity game that night.

"Dick Huddleston was assistant coach under Edwards. Huddleston was also head baseball coach."

I asked if Rick Eveleth was head basketball coach. "Yes."

Having heard many stories of the Vikings from back then, I asked if the LJHS baseball team still practiced and played its games in the corner of the football field by Rushville Street in 1989.

"No, games were already at Muirlands Middle School, up above the high school," remembered Grasso.

He has been employed at LJCDS for 27 years. "But I love La Jolla High. I root for them every week, but  not as much when they play us," he said.

Grasso, a helpful jack-of-all-trades when I do interviews for the La Jolla Village News, said, "We love Tyler (Roach). He was here when we were finalists in the state championship" nine years ago.

At that time, Roach, not being hired at LJHS as head coach after serving as an assistant, served at Country Day as Defensive Coordinator.

"He knows both sides of football," said Grasso. For the Vikings, Roach is his own Offensive Coordinator. He played center and linebacker in his prep days at University City.

I said, "He has taken it to another level, with the spread offense and rapid tempo." Robert agreed.

Grasso said that Dave Ponsford was an assistant under Dick Huddleston back in the 1990's. Ponsford was the head coach when my granddaughter began attending La Jolla High as a ninth-grader in 2004, and when I began shooting photos of her as a varsity cheerleader, and behind my back, the football games that were going on.

"He's a great guy," the LJCDS staffer said of Ponsford. I agreed.

But I also pointed out, Roach, when he returned to La Jolla High in 2017, instituted his modern offense and upped the Vikings' game quite a bit. Grasso nodded in agreement.