By Ed Piper
Midway through my 21st year being around La Jolla High sports, and San Diego high school athletics in general, I have taken on an interest whenever I have the chance to explore and understand some of the history of prep sports in the area.
Such an occasion arose again recently, when Frank Booth, 91, Point Loma High Class of 1953, attended a local function. Frank, friendly and engaging, and still in pretty good health at his ripe young age, said he played basketball and baseball in high school for the Pointers.
"My daughter took my (class) ring," he said, apparently for safe-keeping. "She also took my letterman's jacket (with the big "PL" on the front left)," I would imagine for the same reason.
Always ask the question you think is impossible: I asked Booth if he was related to John Wilkes Booth, the actor and assassin of President Abraham Lincoln in 1865. He said "yes".
I once had a student who was related to William Styron, the author of The Nat Turner Rebellion. I think this is where my penchant to "go for it" in asking the question everyone else thinks is ridiculous and embarrassing--you never know what you're going to find out.
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