Laney College - Oak Log Yearbook (Oakland, CA)

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vita XM flIllillll'llI,S '58-'S' l.. VK A 4' Cage Team. YKLAQ KLA 17 V4 if ty l . . tn fg-on 'E' aat ii gli t 2 1 ' img if ,Q E 'll-Birll Mentor liill Rorlcurell by Frei! llflcllonald Coach Bill Rockwellls T-Bird cfagers ended the l95l'5-59 season with an over-all ll?-T mark and a 9-5 Big Eight record. ,good for fourth place. The Tllunderhirds were parted hy forward Rufus Hawkins. loading T-Bird scorer. third loading Big Eight point maker. and an almost unanimous All-Big Eight selection. Forwards Russ Vlfickwire. second team All-Big Eight. and Holm Laird. centers Ron Nelson and Jim Hatchett. and guards Holm Johnson. John Wloonvy. Ron Gower. and LaVan Patton recviwcl many plaudits also in the Oakland cause. Oakland opened the season with an 85-52 victory over Napa ,IC with llawkins and Gower doing most of the sooring. J RAKL4 Qglll 7 I2 T-Birdy End Second ffm zlglrt Winning Season Jumping Jim Hatchet! prepares to score as the awed Contra Costa Comets look on.

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ln the- second quarter, end Bill Herrcrar broke through the Stockton line to recover a loose hall on the Mustang six-yard line. Fullback Dave Littleton powered over from the two to give Oak- land the go ahead score. Long runs by halfback Rich McKinney and joe Crismon and the passing of Larry Albright were too much for the Stock- toners as the T-Birds built up a 23-3 lead. which was cut to 28-24 when two quick scores caught the Oakland third-stringers napping in the fourth quarter. Against Sacramento, the combination of Peters to Palmore almost pulled another game out of the fire for Oakland. Peters hit Palmore for two touch- downs, one for 66 yards and the big 6-foot 2-inch end scored the third Oakland score when he inter- cepted a pass and ran 50 yards for a touchdown. Palmoreis scoring efforts were not sufficient for a victory as Sacramento held on to win 24-22. Guard John Hutcherson. who gained third string All-American honors for 1953. was lauded for his defensive play at the linebacker slot. Oakland dropped two more games. 16-0 to Modesto in their Homecoming Game, and 33-12 to City College of San Fran- cisco. The Thunderbirds could not get going against the Pirates as Modesto scored two touchdowns in the first half giving them a 16-0 bulge at halftime. ln the second hall, Larry Albright threw a 40-yard pass to lonely end Charles Shaw in the end zone. Shaw dropped the ball and the game ended 16-0. San Francisco boxed the T-Bird attack up as quarterback Ron Casper's passing was not good enough to keep Oakland in the game. Caspar completed 10 of 18 passes for 121 yards but it was not good enough to overcome the balanced CCSP offense. Things went from had to worse as San Nlateo held Oakland to 102 yards total offense and walloped the 'lihunderbirds 36-0. Oakland fullback Willie? Love collected 4-7 of the Blue and Coldis 52 yards on the ground and Caspar hit on six of 11 passes for 50 yards. The Thunderbirds ended the season with a 20-12 loss to Contra Costa College. The loss was particularly hard to take as the arch-rival Comets had not won a game to date. Q It ROOM Conch Gil Cullies and Dalek Treibwusser. joe Crisman put Oakland on the scoreboard first as he went 16 yards for a touchdown in the opening quarter. The Comets roared back to go ahead 8-6 in the second quarter but Caspar to Albright and end Rolf Dahl passes put the T- Birds on the Commet eight-yard line. Stan Peters slammed the final eight yards for the six-pointer which closed out the Thunderbird scoring for the day and season. Contra Costa rallied in the second half to win 20-12. Halfback Crismon was selected as the most valuable player of the season and guard john Hutcherson received the most improved player award. Halfback Stan Peters led the T-Birds in rushing. passing. and total offense to earn the title 'Win Offense? Letter winners for Oakland included Larry Albright. Don Bruck, John Conroy. Joe Crismon. Bill Herrera, ,lohn Hutch- erson, Dave Littleton, Hill Love, Rich McKinney, Larry Rich- ardson, Rich Walton, Carroll Wright, Lornell Ashley, Dennis Campbell, Rolf Dahl, Bob Finke, Ron Casper, George Lopez. Gary Lovett, Jim Madde. Artuis Palmore. Stan Peters, Charles Peoples, Charles Shaw. Odell Stafford. Overton Williams. Carl Wright. and manager Charles Purnell. 'l'he1959 Vf1rsiIySqu11r1. ig, N

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After an upset at the hands of highly rated St. Nlaryis Frosh. the Oaklanders went on a five-game victory streak. downing Santa Clara Frosh, Diablo Valley College, Vallejo, Fresno. and Fullerton in the opening of the Winter Classic at Santa Maria. Caifornia. 1n the holiday tournament finals the 19-point eiiort ol Wick- wire and Hawkins, 15 points were not enough as Oakland bowed 72-59 to hosting Allan Hancock. Wickvviire and Hawkins were both on the All-Tourney team. After four straight victories. including a win over the previous- ly unbeaten Stanford JV,s, the Thunderbirds crushed Stockton JC, walloped Modesto. 75-54. and then saw a 19-game Big Eight win streak snapped as they bowed to league champion San Fran- cisco 59-43. The Thunderbirds played the contest without the services of Wickxvire, who missed the game because of illness. Bob Johnson led Oakland with 13 points. Coach Rockwell's men kept their Big Eight championship hopes alive with a 79-62 win over San lVlateo and a decisive 87-4-5 victory over Santa Rosa. But once again the hot and cold T-Birds stumbled as they succumbed to Contra Costa 71-59. Oakland could hit only 28 per cent of their shots while Contra Costa hit the nets with a sizzling 50 per cent. Hawkins and the highly-effective Jim Hatchett led the Blue and Colds with 22 and I0 points respectively. Hatchett held All-League center Tyler Wilburri on even terms. scoring two more points than the Comet ace and controlling the defensive boards. Twin no contest wins over Stockton and Modesto showed that the powerhouse Thunderbirds had the 'ghorsesi' to beat any team in the Big Eight when right. Hawkins hit 26 points against Stockton and proved why he was the Northern California Player of the Year in 1057-58 with his defensive play and rebounding. But once more Oakland lapsed and fell behind by 17 points against Contra Costa's Comets in the first half. Ott the bench came Hon Nelson. who sat out the first period. and Nelson put on a one-man show which almost pulled the game out of the fire for Oakland in the second half. Nelson scored 16 points off the guarding of Tyler Wilbon. outrebounded. outfought. and outplay ed the Contra Costa star. leading the Thunderbirds to within one point of the 01-60 Rich- mond victors. A loss to Santa Rosa and two victories over Sacramento JC ended the Oakland season and the Thunderbirds' hopes of an unprecedented second straight Big Eight championship. ln the T-Birds annual basketball dinner, Bob Johnson was voted the MlV1ost Valuable Playerfi Letter winners for Oakland were Hawkins, Wickwire, Ron Nelson. Bob Laird. Jim Hatchett. LaVan Patton, John Mooney, Bob Suter, Don Melen. Jim Reiley. Jim Eastin. and Johnson. Mel Eckhart Ron Nelson Guard Center Bob johnson Hob Laird Guard Forward John Mooney Hob Suter Guard Guard Pat Reiley Dick Nelson Center Forward