David Starr Jordan Junior High School - Dolphin Yearbook (Palo Alto, CA)

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,V . ,. sw. uf , - 1 , if Mr. Hill Head Coach The Dolphin hoopsters, under the coaching of Mr. Hill, finished the season with a poor over-all won-lost record, although the team improvement throughout the season was noticeable. The first seven men held their own with all opponents, but in the late stages of many games when the boys tired, our short bench cost the victory. Jordan opened the season by dropping the Bellarmine five, 33 to 30, but then tough luck really hit the Dolphins as they lost three consecutive games by a single point: Fremont dumped in a last second foul shot to win, 37 to 36, Capuchino sank a 30 footer in the last minute to win, also 37- to 36, and then Bellarmine evened the score by swishing to a one-point victory, Morale helped us, however, and when Coaches Hill and Burns finished teaching the boys the double-pivot, zone offense and defense, and floating zone, the Dolphins snapped out of their slump and played a sparkling game to beat Wilbur, 37 to 33. ' Riding on the crest, the varsity smashed Hoover, dropped a close one to Fremont, and went into the final Wilbur game confident of victory. Wilbur, however, had different ideas, and the Warriors took an early command and held it until late in the last quarter. when the Dolphins caught up and took a one-point lead with seconds left. It looked like Jordan could stall it out, but a foul was called against Jordan, and Tani calmly dumped it in on the first try to even it up, and his second shot was tipped in for a field goal, and suddenly Wilbur held a two-point lead with five seconds to go. However, McPhail was fouled, and the crowd was breathless as he toed the foul-line. His first shot was short, however, and it looked like the game was over. But McPhail, always think- ing, signalled to Gordon Lockhart to be on the lookout for a tip-in play that would score two points and win. Suddenly everybody knew that McPhail was going to try t'o miss the second shot so Lockhart could dump it in, and as he pushed the ball toward the backboard the Paly gym was silent. But the fates 4were'against Jordan-McPhail's attempied miss hit the,rim, rolled around toward Lockhart, balanced on the rim, and then instead of falling toward Lockhart's waiting tip, slipped back through the hoop for one point-and that made the score 24 to 23 in favor, of Wilbur. h ln the final game of the season, the ekceptionally strong Marina Junior High team from San Francisco- usually champions of S.F.'s strong league-came down to play the Dolphins. Jordan really gave Marina a scare, but the deep-bench of the City team was too much, and Marina won. But victories don't make a successful season, and the fact that Mike McClellan and Gordon Lockhart im- proved from rather clumsy, slow players into first rate ballplayers was one of the highligllts of the season as for as the coaches were concerned. All in all, the players showed much improvement through the season: Bill Munsey's iump-and-push became deadly accurate, George French's driving lay-in is easilv of high school caliber right now, and Lockhart'will undoubtedly be an outstanding player in high school as he continues to develop. Don McPhail, earlier a fancy- Dan who looked great but didn't make the bucket, turned into a- hard-working, solid ball-handler and club general. McClellan, who at first cou1dn't shoot with his left hand finally developed the left handed lay in land used one against Wilburl. Frank Mitchell, whose big trouble was free-throws, didn't make one all season until the final Wilbur game, and when the pressure was really on, Frank dunked four in a row to keep the Dolphins inthe game-and serve notice that hustling Frank Mitchell will be playing some real ball at Paly High. Other-boys came along nicely, too, such as Jerry Marsh who finally conquered the iitters to come through nicely in the games, and Bob Clark, who turned out to be a smooth left-handed center. All in all, it was a successful season in that the players not only learned there is more to basketball than running and shooting, but in that the boys learned teamwork not only often leads to victory, but is more im- portant than victory itself. 5 N . ...ow , f S is li -it V, . lf ei Mr. Burns Assistant Varsitq Basketball we A Ai Phil Barbier Bob Olpin Manager Manager L to R: lst row-Frank'Mitchell, John Pappas, Roger Baer, Jerry Marsh, Don McPhail, Steve Neustadter, Mike McClellan, Jim Barger. 2nd row-Fred Michaud, Craig Duncan, Bob Clark, George French, Gordon Lockhart, Bill Munsey, Steve Weissbluth, Ray Johnson.

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. M VVL .:., e iilli . Q 2 5 3 vw In .L V if. A X . g Neil Parkin Mr. Christine Captain 2 Head Coach Lightweight Basketball The lightweight basketball team, even though they finished the season with a three-won and,six-lost record, contributed a lot to making 1955 a successful year. Coach Mark Christine, commenting that the team was a sincere, hardworking group and a pleasure to coach , fielded a smoothly-knit team that worked very well on the court. In the opening game the Bellarmine club topped the 11 5's, 33-19, even though Captain Russ Hubbard tanked 8 points. In the next two games the Dolphins, now working smoothly, smothered their opponents. Captain Hubbard again scored 8 points to lead us to an easy victory against Hoover,,but in the game against Wilbur the team had to come from a. half-time tie to notch a 28-19 victory. ' Fremont measured the 115's by a 33-25 score, but the game was not a total loss as John Roberts and Neill Parkin emerged as good floor leaders and scorers. Against Bellarmine again, the team lost 44-27, but Bill Brown and Parkin showed promise. McKinley then squeeked past the Dolphins, 25-24, after the team faded in the stretch. ln the big game of the season, against Wilbur, the Dolphins put everything together at once and slaughtered the Warriors to the tune of 33-19, with Parkin leading sthe club. The spirit of the team helped win the Sportsmanship Trophy. Against Fremont, again, the Dolphins played their best game of the season according to Coach Christine, and even though Neill Parkin hit from all angles to score 16 points, the 115's surrendered finally and lost, 42-37. Marina came down from San Francisco and whipped the lightweights, 30-27, in the last game of 'the season. 5 5