Remember when: Anderson Union High School: football in the early 1940s

Anderson Historical Society

GRID IRON GUYS: The AUHS football team of 1943 included (back row, left to right) Mr. Todd (coach), Melvin Moretti, Wayne Potter, Murray Arnold, Jimmy Stewart, Stanley Arnold, Lloyd Wallace, Bill Guill, Wendell Phillips (manager), (front row, left to right) Bob Nichols, Frank Ely, Dewey Casebeer, Alexander Smith, Clifton Gould and Merle Ulberg.

Anderson Historical Society

LOTS OF GRASS: Dolores Wilsey was crowned “The Bermuda Kid” for bringing the most Bermuda Grass to sod the AUHS football field.

It has been brought to my attention that there will be a football banquet (or something similar) to stir up support for the athletic program at Anderson Union High School.

I will be unable to attend. So, my younger brother, Hubert Keith Arnold, has asked (really demanded) that I write a little bit about how it was some 66 years ago.

When I started at AUHS in 1940, the student body consisted of less than 200. We had no real football field, no track and no real baseball diamond.

As a matter of fact, we were the hicks from the sticks in the eyes of Shasta Union High and the Red Bluff High School.

Our football “uniforms” were hand-me-downs from the University of California at Berkley.

The helmets were leather “head huggers,” the hip pads were rather threadbare, the pads were canvas and no two uniforms were exactly the same with the exception of the jerseys. (I remember making a tackle in a game with Red Bluff and the lacings holding my hip pads together broke.)

I guess we were actually blessed with cantilever helmets and shoulder pads after we got a real football field.

The powers that were there at the time decided we should have something to play on besides the dirt and rocks, so a drive was started to construct a track and a playing field.

This was in the school year 1940-1941. I cannot remember the name of the person who came up with the bulldozer and construction equipment.

I do remember all the dust and noise as the brush and rocks were removed and the quarter mile dirt track was cut around what was to become the athletic field.

When the ground was prepared, there was a great discussion about what should be used for turf. Then, as now, Bermuda Grass was the most stubborn ground cover of which we could think. (Gravel being ruled out.)

How then, could we get enough Bermuda Grass to plant a whole football field? (At this time the school was so large that a football team consisted of six players, not 11.)

A six-man football field was, as I recall, shorter and not as wide as an 11 man field. Still, that’s a lot of grass. The student body was enlisted to bring in all the Bermuda Grass that could be brought and the person who brought the most would be crowned “The Bermuda Kid.”

For several weeks the school buses brought more Bermuda Grass than students. Physical education periods were largely sticking the grass roots in the area and keeping it watered.

The most industrious student who was eventually crowned “The Bermuda Kid” was Dolores Wilsey of Happy Valley.

To add to the story: During the school year 1942-1943, it was difficult for teams to travel because of the war effort and the gasoline rationing, so football games were played where and when one could be found close to home.

During this year the Shasta Union High School football team decided that they would make a six-man team and challenge AUHS to a game.

As a matter of course, the game was scheduled and the teams met and since we were a small squad we were to be matched weight for weight.

SUHS had no real experience. The final score was AUHS 50, SUHS 0. This didn’t set too well with the big boys from the north, so AUHS was challenged again.

Needless to say, SUHS did better with a totally different group of players (some of their 11 man squad) and managed to save a little face. This time the score was a little closer: AUHS 45, SUHS 0.

As a consequence, the high school in Red Bluff decided to get into the act. They, too, challenged the AUHS team to a series of games. The final scores of those games were a little different than the games with SUHS.

The scores in those two games were: AUHS 35, Red Bluff 20; AUHS 24, Red Bluff, 12. However, the season ended on a sour note. We played the Trinity (Weaverville) team and lost to the tune of 18 to 20.

The following year the big boys got revenge: Shasta 12, Anderson 6; Red Bluff 12, Anderson 12; Red Bluff 7, Anderson 6; Los Molinos 18, Anderson 39; Los Molinos 19, Anderson 19. Actually, the team thought it was Anderson 19, Coach Bailey 19. That’s another story.