By Ed Piper
"Gavin Graff, our top pitcher, is going Monday," reported Gary Frank, La Jolla High head baseball coach, on the Vikings' entrance into the 71st annual Lions Tournament next week (March 29-April 2). Frank begins his 18th campaign as Vikings head coach in this unusual COVID season.
"Each of our first three games Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday should be good ones," responded Frank to a reporter's question of which one he should attend if he is picking one.
Graff faces Shadow Hills of Indio Monday at home at 3:30 p.m. Then the Vikings travel across town to Bishop's Tuesday for a second tournament game. On Wednesday, Mater Dei Catholic is the opponent on the Vikings' home field at Muirlands Middle School.
Prior to La Jolla's participation in the Lions tourney, the Vikings are playing in the Pirate Classic this week. They traveled to Oceanside Tues., March 23, a 5-2 loss, to the tournament host team. On Thurs., March 25, they clobbered Orange Glen 29-1 at home. Then Sat., March 27, they again play host, this time to El Camino (of Oceanside).
La Jolla plays in the 5A/4A Division of the Lions Tourney, below Open, 7A, and 6A. The tournament accommodates 3A, 2A, and 1A divisions as well.
Over 130 teams participate in the eight divisions. Included are schools ranked in the top 25 in the U.S., as well as schools with under 100 students.
Mike Morrow and Les Cassie founded the tournament in 1951 for the Downtown Lions Club in San Diego. That certainly was a different time and place, shortly after World War II amid optimism by Baby Boomers for the future of their country.
"It is the oldest and largest high school baseball tournament in the United States," states the tourney's home page.
Cassie, an alumnus of Hoover High, coached Ted Williams in high school. The story is told that "Teddy Ballgame", the last MLB player to hit .400 for a season (1941), chose Hoover because he didn't think he was good enough to play for Mike Morrow at San Diego High. Cassie went on to replace Morrow as coach at SDHS. Morrow moved to coach the USD baseball team.
San Diego schools were having trouble funding teams to play in Spring Break tournaments in Riverside and Los Angeles. Morrow as a Lions Club member. He and Cassie asked the Downtown Lions Club to fund various teams at the different tournaments. Funding government entities was prohibited by the Lions Club charter, so the local Lions Club decided to sponsor a tournament locally.
Four pristine ballfields known as "Navy Fields" on the site of the current Convention Center were leased for an eight-team tournament in 1951, the year Giants' star Willie Mays entered the Major Leagues. La Jolla High was one of the original participants. The others included Point Loma, USDHS, St. Augustine, San Diego High, Hoover, Sweetwater, and Grossmont.
The tournament grew to 24 teams by the end of the 1950's. It expanded to 36 teams in the 60's. Forty-eight schools played until the mid-1980's. Teams from out-of-town then began to participate regularly.
Dick Serano, USDHS coach, and John Baumgartner of Hilltop played a big role in seeding and scheduling. Dennis Pugh, who coached at Mission Bay High, moved to Cal State San Marcos, then returned to Mission Bay recently, took over seeding and scheduling after Serano and Baumgartner's era.
Forty percent of the teams now come from outside San Diego County, including Northern and Southern California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Oregon, and Alaska, and sometimes states in the East. Teams have come from Virginia, Florida, Pennsylvania, New York, and Georgia.
Vikings who have played for La Jolla High in the Lions Tourney include Bradley Zimmer (Cleveland, 2017-present), Bruce Robinson (Yankees and A's, 1978-1980), David Robinson (Padres, 1970-1971), Mark Kiger (A's, 2006), and Sam Hinds (Brewers, 1977).
Bob Boone, who caught for the Phillies, Angels, and Royals from 1972-1980, played in the Lions Tournament in high school and came out of the catcher "factory" that Crawford was in the 50's and 60's. Other catchers were Dave Duncan (A's), Ed Herrmann (White Sox), and Tim Blackwell.
The Crawford catchers' coach was Bill Sandback, who just passed away in 2019. Sandback's teams at Crawford reached the section championship game seven times in eight seasons from 1962-1969. They won four large-school section titles. Sandback later coached at Mesa College for 14 seasons.
