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| Lt. William V. McAlister US Navy 1944 |
The
Autobiography of William Virgil McAlister
1910
– 2000
Chapter I My
First Eight Years
I
am a bit hazy on my facts of parents because I was never one to be curious
about my heritage. My father and mother
arrived in Grand Junction, Colorado some time before my birth, Feb. 9, 1910.
Apparently they were wealthy in Kansas before my father gambled
things away. Then they moved to Grand Junction Kansas or
Colorado; but I
do know I was a twin. My brother's name was Volney. He died of consumption at 11 months. I have one picture of the two of us: me with
a worried expression and him with a happy face.
I have learned that he was my father's favorite and my father was
greatly grieved at his death.
When I was two, the family moved to San
Onofre, California. I have no
memory of life there but my sister, Vera, tells me that I nearly drowned
in the surf there, which might explain why I stayed clear of open water until I
learned a little about swimming at the age of 9. From San Onofre my folks moved to Los
Angeles, then Whittier and finally to LaHabra
when I was 4.
My first
childhood memories start when we lived in a part of a barn that was converted
into living quarters. My main memories
there are making toys of beer bottles and a little box for a team of horses and
a wagon. I remember being known as Buster. I remember my Uncle Walter (mother's brother)
visiting one day and in the course of his visit he renamed me Billy. He explained that Buster had run off across
the fields, and I was left in his place.
I accepted the explanation and immediately became "Billy"; Buster
never returned. By that time my father, Frank
Volney, had a blacksmith business going in LaHabra, and he was doing
quite well.
We moved to a house near the railroad track when I was 5. My main memories here were twofold: one -- I
could take my tricycle apart by removing a bolt that held the front wheel in
place, then turning the wheel over and rebolting it. I then had "racing tricycle"; two
-- I and another boy named Danny got some matches and some paper and started a
nice little fire under the steps to the front porch. Fortunately, my older sister, Vera,
caught us in the act and put it out in time.
But she wasn't satisfied; she had to tell our mother. I got my first real spanking.
From there we moved into a real farmhouse and had 10
acres of land (fruit). I think my mother
packed fruit to help expenses). I can
remember irrigation and I think we had an orange grove. My three main memories here were an earthquake which tipped the windmill
and other things at a peculiar angle. I
remember having my first bike and the first time I rode it without help. Someone started me by helping me balance and
then getting started. When I suddenly
discovered they were no longer helping me I immediately fell over. I remember too a pretty girl who lived on a
ranch across the street. I considered
her my sweetheart (much older than myself).
But she had a BB gun which I
proceeded to borrow. My sister Vera
got wind of it and again told our mother.
I got my second memorable spanking.
Another memory of this period seemed to be an auto accident that
occurred when my dad ran into another car on a boulevard that ran near our
place. My recollection was that I got
out of the car and ran home (about 1/2 mile).
Another recollection of this period was going into a store across the
street from my dad's blacksmith ship and doing cartwheels for cookies.
I have no recollection of school at this time. I have some recollections of watching my dad
at the blacksmith shop working with hot iron on an anvil and making the sparks
fly. He fixed farm equipment and made
horseshoes. It was always fun to see him
or his helper nail the horseshoes he had made onto horse's feet. It was quite a feat.
When I reached the age of 7, my folks had built a home in the hills just
out of town. I think it was on 5 acres of land. My dad grew lots of fruit and some
vegetables. We had chickens and that was
about it. During the period here I
completed the first, second, and third grades;
but I do not recall much of my school experience. I have two big recollections: one -- it being
the war years (1917?), I was playing
war with some other kids when I got hit with a rock on my forehead. My folks had gone somewhere, and my sister Corinne
had to take care of me until their return.
I think she thought (from the blood) that I was dying. Anyhow, I became quite a hero when the doctor
sewed me up with 14 stitches.
Another big experience was when a friend (who lived
about two miles away) brought her horse to our place, and we tied a wagon
behind the horse so someone could ride in the cart. I had the job of riding the horse. The horse spooked because of the wagon
(dumping the kids) and bolted for home.
I hung on for dear life. He galloped
across the boulevard (the same one my dad
got wrecked on) and headed for home.
He didn't stop until he got to his corral. When the owner got there she was surprised
that I was still alive.
I remember our car, a Dodge (real fancy with a canvas
top (the style in those days)). We took
a trip to Venice (1/2 day trip) to the plunge. There I
almost drowned. I had learned to
dive and float in the shallow area, and I found out it was fun to dive from the
side in deep water to the steps which extended out from the side to a small
platform. One time I missed the steps (5
feet of water). I bounced up and down
from the bottom but got nowhere.
Suddenly a mom saw my predicament and hauled me to the side. Needless to say, no more deep water
stuff. That was the last of my swimming and diving until years later.
I have some recollections such as my dad would come home
and shave, then say he wants a kiss. I
do remember that he and mom differed on his
gambling activities which took place in the
city of Whittier (15 miles).
Finally she could take it no longer and sued for divorce. He sold the place, bought her a home in Fullerton
(another 15 miles). She took us kids (3
of us: Vera, Corinne, and myself) and that is where I attended
school from the third grade to the
seventh.
Dad was supposed to pay alimony, but he never did. He just disappeared from sight. I did not see him but once in all the years
we spent in Fullerton
Chapter II The Formative
Years, 9 – 14
Life was not easy in Fullerton. Although we had a home, my mother had to work
to keep things going. She packed oranges
in Yorba Linda in season and followed the fruit
packing in the San Joaquin
Valley
I have no recollection of third grade activities nor any
that occurred in school in LaHabra. I do remember of going along with the
progression of verbs and vowels and parts of the speech in the fourth, fifth,
and sixth; and learning addition, subtraction, multiplication tables in their
progression. On the playground I wasn't
much. Marbles was a big sport in those
days, but I never became skilled in the art.
My athletic accomplishments dwelt more around the high school. My sister, Vera, became quite a tennis player and played on the high school team. In the course of time, I became quite skilled at the game which became quite handy in my
later years at the YMCA in Long Beach Long Beach
Home life was different
and uncertain. We did not know what the word luxury meant. My only spending money was the nickels I earned
by running errands for neighbors. I
loved to buy trains at the 5 & 10 cents store with which I created a model
city in my back yard. I used blocks of
wood for buildings. I think my interest
in railroads evolved around my having learned that my dad was working on the
railroad somewhere. I did have roller
skates, which I used for transportation (mainly to the library, which was about
10 blocks from where we lived). I had learned
to read, and I loved Tarzan stories. I
would skate to the library, bring the
books home, and climb into our walnut tree and read about Tarzan and the apes.
He was my idol. Lucky for me, I
never tried swinging from limb to limb in my walnut tree.
School did
not do too much for me socially. I did
get along with kids, I guess, because I do not remember any fights. I do remember that my sister bought me a pair
of corduroy pants, which I didn't care for, and when I wore them to school, one
of the kids told me I stunk. That really hurt, and I never wore the pants
again. I only remember ever being invited to one party. When I attended that, it was a pretty
good walk into an orange grove area. I
did have a good time and it was topped off by one the girls remarking to me
that that was the first time she ever saw
me smile.
I learned the things that kids learn in a
neighborhood. Maybe I shouldn't tell
this story, but it was of one of the girls who lived just up the street from
us. She was a year older than me, and
she asked me one day when I was down near her house, "Do you know what
'hook-me tay' means?" With the
knowledge I had gained, I said "I think I do." She said, "Would you like to try
it?" I thought for a moment, then said, "I don't think my mother would
want me to." That ended that.
Somewhere during this time, my mother had a house built
on the back of our lot so that she could reap the benefit of rental. I found
some lumber that made a good springboard, and other neighbor kids would do different kinds of stunts from it (no
flips however); but it preceded the things
I learned in later years in gymnastics.
Also, about this time I learned a little more of swimming (in irrigation
ditches in Sanger when I traveled one summer with my mother where she packed
fruit). My sister, Vera, took me to a make-shift swimming pool in a reservoir. There was a stand about 6 feet above the
water, and I showed my sister my first platform dive. I also have a vague recollection of going
with my sister and some friends to a pool in Whittier, which was quite
a ride from Fullerton
The years in Fullerton were simple
years. Nothing really big happened
except when Corinne dropped out of
school and moved to Hollywood.
She was a sophomore in high school at the time. I did not see much of her
until later years in Long Beach.
My mother finally gave up in Fullerton
and decided to go elsewhere. We moved to
Pasadena.
We did not stay in Pasadena long, but I did gain two valuable experiences: I learned to carry a paper route and I went
to the
YMCA a few times to do a little swimming. Not much of either, but a good introduction.
From there we moved to Long Beach where my life began to take shape. By this time, I was in the seventh
grade and enrolled in the Franklin Jr. High School in Long
Beach. My mother rented an
apartment on 2nd Street
I learned to carry
papers on a morning route for the
Los Angeles Times. It involved
getting up at 4 o'clock in the morning
and going to a corner not far away and getting my papers along with a number of
other delivery boys. Here I had my next
encounter. A boy tried to make trouble
with me, and I poked him hard in the stomach.
That stopped him, and from then on he and the other boys were all my
friends. My route involved peddling my bike about four miles, then delivering papers in east
Long Beach in an area now known as Belmont Shore
As in Fullerton, my mother was gone a great deal of
time, but my older sister Vera took care of me. She had accomplished one year of junior
college before we left Fullerton. She was
able to get a job and keep things going.
Being near the beach I spent a lot of time there. I can remember hiking to the plunge on the
pike. There I improved my swimming and learned
a little about diving from a
lifeguard named Pete Archer. One big experience I had was when I and
another boy decided to try our skill in swimming out a riptide. We saw one
forming and started in. It took us
surprisingly far from shore, but when we decided we had better head for shore, the life boat that stays at the Pine Avenue
pier arrived and we had to get in even though we tried to explain we were not
in trouble. They said they were
called by a guard and would have to log us in.
The boat trip to the pier was fun, but we had to hike back to where we
started, about 4 miles.
Life still wasn't easy. We seemed to move about every
six months. I changed from carrying the LA Times to the Long Beach Press, an afternoon
paper. That was much easier and the
route covered some of the big apartments downtown. Also, they had a system of rewarding a
carrier for delivering a month without a complaint. This system changed my life: it was a reward of a free membership to the YMCA. Needless to say, I delivered my papers carefully in order to maintain that membership. The membership opened a new world to me: gymnastics,
swimming, and belonging to a
Bible Club. All kinds of contests were
held for the members of bible clubs: basketball, softball games, track
meets, and swimming meets. I was
afforded all kinds of opportunities that I didn't get in school because the paper route prevented me from
participating in school activities.
The club I got into was called the Trojans and it was led by a man named Shorty Kellogg. This man played a big role in my life. He was single and lived in the YMCA dormitory. It worked out that when my mother traveled
out of town for work, I roomed with him in a double room.
The activities at the "Y" became a part of my life. I learned fundamental
gymnastics and became a member of the Leaders Club.
As a member of that club, I helped in the conduct of the
gym classes and even swimming classes. I led in apparatus work and refereed
games. I took part in gym
circuses and gymnastics competitions. In time, I mastered the YMCA sports such as handball,
squash, (now changed to racquetball),
and tennis. Shorty Kellogg was a wrestler, but I couldn't seem to build
up any interest in that sport.
In the course of time, I got a job at the desk of the
Boys Department and learned a lot the business aspect of the "Y":
handing out game equipment, writing up memberships, etc. One bad aspect of my association at the
"Y" was that I took a dislike for the
P.E. program at the high school
that I attended. I didn't care for the
regimentation of the classes and the
meaningless of the P.E. program, and I didn't get along too well with the
PE teachers.
I did finally go out for diving at the Long Beach Poly High School. I
won
the Southern California H.S. diving championship my first year. My coach was D.J. Farrell, whom I admired and
got along with. But the next year he
went to work for the Pacific Coast Club, and a new swimming coach named Wally
Degrick took over. We did not get
along. One day when I refused to perform
a double front somersault, I found myself off the team.
Chapter III The Developing
Years – Skills for a Future Career
People who influenced my life in Long Beach included
Paul Edwards, Don Gustuson, Al Preston, A.B. Donaldson, and Shorty Kellogg.
Paul Edwards was an early friend whom I knew in junior
high and high school he helped me to
discover myself and girls. We tumbled
together on the beach and at the Y.M.C.A.
Don Gustuson was from a stable family who took me in as
one of them. He was a lifelong friend
through high school, college and later years.
Our lives parted when he became an exchange student from Whittier College
to the University of Hawaii for one year and I followed the next year when
he returned to Whittier
College Islands for the remainder of
his life. We kept in touch through the
years.
Al Preston was the Boys Work Secretary of the Long Beach
Y. He was my boss when I worked there. My first job was on the desk giving out game
equipment, etc.
A.B Donaldson was the Physical Director of the Long
Beach Y who taught me all there was to know about running a P.E. program:
running classes both for boys and men.
The experience gained by his guidance enabled me to get through college
by teaching gymnastics a the college and also taking over the Physical
Education program of the local Y.M.C.A.
Shorty Kellogg was the nearest person I had to being a father. He was the
leader of our Bible Class, the Trojans. We
competed in sports, mainly basketball, football, track, and swimming. I roomed with him when my mother was out of
town following the fruit packing business.
I cannot remember him ever paying any of my bills, but as always being there as a dependable friend and guide. Between him and Donaldson, I learned all
there was to know about the physical program of the Y.M.C.A. Shorty also influenced my enrolling in college at Whittier.
He had taken over the job as
freshman football coach there and arranged
for me to come and teach gymnastics.
Which in turn opened the door for
me at the Whittier Y.
Through the Trojan Bible Club, I learned the meaning of
the triangle, which represented the Y.M.C.A.: development of the individual in
Spirit, Mind, and Body. This was taken
from the Bible where it says, "and Jesus increased in Wisdom and Stature
and in favor with God and Man.
The experiences with the Y.M.C.A. helped me through my
development: inspiring messages at luncheons or dinners put on by the Y in its
programs; attendance at Y.M.C.A. conventions at Asylomar; working with kids and
adults in learning physical activities: gymnastics, swimming, and all the Y.
sports (volleyball, handball, etc.). Associating with people, organization of
programs, and direction of Leaders Clubs, which helped in conducting of the
Y.M.C.A. physical program, all aided in my ability to run a program in the Y as
a life work.
During this
period of time, I
finally gained contact with my father. He got in touch with both me and my sister, Corinne
(who lived in Hollywood Los Angeles to the Southern Pacific freight yards in Burbank
One of my experiences in the town of Winnemucca
was a swim in the local swimming pool. I created quite a sensation with my
exhibition of diving. I wasn't much, but
better than anyone there. One friend I
made sold me a 22 revolver for $10.00, which I practiced firing on our next
stop.
Our next stop was Promontory Point on the
Great Salt Lake. I learned a lot
about the salt water there. My dad's gang rode out on the trestle crossing the lake toward Ogden,
Utah. It was a long trestle measuring in the miles
and there were little landings periodically where the men could get their
little cars on which they traveled off the tracks when trains came along. I tried a little swimming on the lake but
can't say I enjoyed it. You couldn't put
your head down or you might choke to death if you inhaled any of the salt
water.
Our next stop was away from any civilization on the salt beds which the tracks were laid
on. It was quite a sensation to be in the cars when a freight train would go by
and our cars would bounce up and down.
It was at this strip that my
dad arranged transportation for me (and
my bicycle) to return to Long Beach. It was
wonderful to have spent that summer with my dad.
From then on for many years he helped in my support and
started sending me $20.00 per month seeing as how I was pretty much on my own
and living at the Y.M.C.A. He visited me occasionally, but always
briefly. Apparently he couldn't
spend too much time away from his railroad duties; so it was pretty much a hello and goodbye situation. He nearly always brought me a gift of some
value. One was a 5 dollar gold piece,
which I eventually hocked when I was in desperate straights. Another was a diamond stick pin which I used
when I married the girl I had gone with for many years. Another was a white handled pen knife, which
I didn't particularly appreciate at the time, but I kept it over the years to
remember him by. In later years, I began some woodcarving and found the knife to be
great for the fine features of a woodcarving.
And the most growing up gift was a Model T bug: four
wheels, no fenders, a small top capable of covering two people, and a tool box
in the back. Boy-oh-boy; did I have
fun? One of my tricks was to go fast
down Atlantic Avenue
To describe the mechanism of driving a Model T Ford:
there were 3 pedals to control it: one to go forward, one to go backward and
one to brake. If the brake wasn't
enough, you pushed on reverse to stop.
To go up a steep hill sometimes, it was best to turn around and back
up. There was a radiator cap that had an
ornament on it at one time, but when I got the car there was just a hole, and
when the engine really warmed up, little puffs of steam would spurt up as the
engine turned over. What a car. A sad end though: when I bought another car
(on-Hollywood
Chapter IV Adding Experiences with Skill Sets
Going back, one of the men who had a great impact on my
life was an old guy in his 60's who introduced himself to us kids one day on
the beach. We were tumbling on the wet
sand and this old guy comes up and does some handsprings (wow!). Then after introducing himself as Captain J.
Swoop, he informed us that he had a piece of circus equipment out in the Long Beach Harbor
The adventure years From the 10th
grade to graduation in 1929 (one extra year in H.S.). My life was so full of little adventures that
as I look back, I wonder how I got it all in.
The Pike The Pike was an
adventurous place with a rolly-coaster (the Jack Rabbit Racer), the Plunge, the
special events like 4th of July fireworks (reminds me of the horrible kinds of
firecrackers and giant firecrackers we played with in those days - I never had
too much money to spend on them But I made the most of what I had and I never
lost any fingers.); the penny tosses every New Years night, which started me on
my penny collection of Indian heads and Lincoln pennies which became quite a
collection over the years), and the Fun Houses, etc. The Pike was no end of adventure (like riding
the jack Rabbit Racer at night when a friend and I would start out in the front
seats and end up in the back seats by the end of the ride - more fun. I'd kill my own children for doing such a
thing). The Plunge prepared the way for
later diving. I remember the storms that
would splash water up through the planks of the Pine Avenue
Bicycle Rides My
bike took me everywhere: over Signal Hill (the famous landmark for Long Beach
in those days), down to the Dougherty Airfield where I got my first airplane
ride in a World War !@ Jenny airplane for the price of $1.00. It wasn't much of a ride, but a real
thriller. Bicycle rides to neighboring
beaches, Sunset Beach, Newport Beach, Balboa, San Pedro, even as far away as
Santa Monica where my sister Vera and her Navy husband "Hap" Ruggles
lived at one time. I even rode as far as
Fullerton
Roller-skating There were two Roller Rinks that played a part
in my life: one was on the Pier adjacent to the Pike. I can remember handling myself quite well and
I loved to skate with a girl when it came to couples only. The other was a more modern rink that was
built quite close to where I lived with my mother at the time in the least part
of Long Beach Long
Beach North Long Beach
would spend the night with her. Don
liked the first one, Peggy Potier, and I the second, Ruth Griffith. Peggy's mother would not let the girls bring
boys home, so we only escorted them to a spot a block away. The roller rink was a great way of spending
an evening.
The Y.M.C.A. This was my mainstay in these years. When I started working there and living there
the
Leaders Club, led by the Physical Director gave me
knowledge of gymnastics and teaching of gymnastics and I applied the knowledge
by helping to run classes. We organized and worked in a squad situation with each leader directing a squad in apparatus and games and refereeing. Later as I
became an assistant director, I started what was called the
Akro-Batos Club, which went into advanced
gymnastics and gave tumbling
exhibitions to Service Clubs and special shows like the Circus put on by the
City Recreation Department. We
even used Captain Loop's trampoline on occasion. Once was a show stopper in a big amateur
circus put on by the Pasadena recreation Department. Out trampoline demonstration attracted so
much attention that they had to stop the show until other acts went back to
their places. Such was the
adventure of gymnastics.
Diving After being dropped from the high school swim team when I
couldn't get along with the new coach, I dove for the Pacific Coast Club
where I competed against Mickey Riley, Dutch Smith, Farid Sasnaka,
and other world class divers. The
only one I could occasionally beat was Johnny Riley (brother of the famous
Mickey Riley). But diving for the Club took me all over California to big meets such as the Far Western in San Francisco
in the Fleischaker Pool. My
biggest accomplishment was to dive for the new Junior College in which I won the Southern California J.C.
Championship.
[The Long Beach Newspaper, June 7, 1927, Article entitled ‘Kettering
Sets Mark in Medley Event as Locals Win Classic’ is a report on the
Southern Pacific A.A.U. Indoor Swimming and Diving Championships at the Pacific
Coast Club natatorium in Long Beach.:
“The diving test for the three-foot Junior Championship saw three Coast
Club gymnasts finishing in the top four.
Billy McAlister, who won the
Southland Prep crown two years ago, won the event through his sensational trick
dives.”]
The courting years These were the years when I
learned about girls. Don and I dated the
same girl and had all the usual romantic experiences: roller skating, dances,
shows, swimming, and sex. That's a long
story. (Dad's memory seems suddenly to
have faded here-ed.)
Chapter V
The
automotive years Thanks to Capt.
Loop, I learned to drive and got my driving license at 17. It was a life-time license in those days. Capt. Loop also roomed at the
"Y" and with my jumping on his trampoline, we became pretty good
friends. He had a Chevrolet touring car
(touring cars and roadsters in those days preceded the coupes and sedans as we
know them (common cars) today). They
were cars with canvas tops which folded back in the manner of your modern
convertible. Cap taught me a little bit
about driving and let me take his car to Los
Angeles
My first car was a Ford Model T
coupe with no top which I purchased for $25.00.
Needless to say, it wasn't much of a car, and a week after I got it a
guy offered me $30.00 for it. I sold it
to him. I never did see a pink slip; but
the buyer knew the guy who sold me the car and there were no questions asked.
My second car was a Chevrolet
sedan of the 1920 vintage. It got me
around for a couple of weeks, but it had a horrible habit of heating up. I
think I paid about the same price for it and when I took it in to a garage to
see about getting it fixed, the mechanic who looked at it said it wouldn't be
worth fixing up. I just left the car
there for him to dispose of.
My 3rd car was the one I have
already described: a Ford "bug".
That car lasted me longer and would have been great to keep if I hadn't
given it to my sister Corinne to get her around in Hollywood Los Angeles San
Francisco
My girlfriend, Ruth Griffith, was able to use her folk's car, an Essex touring car, so I did not
purchase another car until my senior year in college. Her car ran great and we had no
problems. I depended on my bicycle to
get around and get to school.
Attending YMCA camp was a great asset in my YMCA development. The camp was located in an area behind Mt.
Wilson and very difficult to get to.
We would go by truck to a place above Pasadena Mt. Wilson
My job at the camp was to run an activity program: softball tournaments between tent
groups, swimming teaching and supervision, hikes, and a track meet. I learned a lot about organization. I also learned how to catch a rattlesnake
with a forked stick. It didn't happen very
often, but when someone yelled "rattlesnake", I would come with my
forked stick and hold the critter and with help, we would cut off the head,
skin the snake, and salt the skin and put it up to dry. One of our activities for each camp was a
rattlesnake egg hunt. One of the
counselors would hide peanuts around rocks in a flat area and then at a given
time, the kids would go out hunting for them.
As I look back, that was an awfully dangerous game to play. Fortunately, we never ran across a
rattlesnake on one of these activities.
Looking back, Shorty Kellogg was the one who
taught me how to handle the rattlesnakes.
The camp had an honor award known as the Rag System. A blue rag was the first award
and given to the people (kids and counselors) who proved their worth as
campers. The awards went from blue to
brown to red and then the big one, the White Rag, which was awarded only to
those who showed themselves qualified in every way). Each rag had a night time ceremony
based on passages from the Bible. It took
four years to work up to the white rag and, needless to say,
there weren't many given out.
In my final year at that camp, I was awarded the
White Rag. The many memories and
experiences associated with the Y camp were varied and happy ones.
Chapter VI Y.M.C.A. as a career, Whittier College as
a Springboard
Before I go on, I must get back to Shorty Kellogg. As I have said before, Shorty was the nearest
thing I had to a dad for these early years in Long Beach
A man named D.N. Anderson took Shorty's place as Assistant Physical Director of the Long Beach
YMCA. I was put on as his
assistant. "Andy", as he was
known, helped me a lot in learning how to organize classes and special events
like a "Learn to swim Campaign"
and putting on a "Y Gym
Circus". But going back to
Shorty, Shorty couldn't make it financially in Chicago
so he returned to Long Beach Whittier College Whittier
College
That year, 1929, I finally had graduated from high school and did attend Long
Beach Jr. College for one semester.
It so happened that I made a good
showing in track, winning 3d place
in the Southern California J.C.
Conference and also winning the Southern California J.C. Diving Championship.
[ In the Long Beach Junior College
It was on these accomplishments
that
Shorty was able to sell my talents to Whittier College
Verne Handreth provided me
with a room in a building behind his home.
I was to do the gardening in exchange for meals. That was all well and good; but I had no
experience in gardening and I am sure, if that plan had worked out, his gardens
would have suffered.
Fortunately for me, the Physical Director at the YMCA
had some problems with one of the women in his lady's volleyball class and he
was forced to leave town by threats from her husband. That opened the way for me by being "Johnny on the spot". I started work at the ‘Y’ on the 3rd week
after arriving in town. It happened that
the ‘Y’ had a few rooms available, so I took over one of them. It all worked out perfect for me. I made enough from the ‘Y’ job to care for my
living expenses and with the gymnastics classes at the college, that took care
of tuition. Teaching at the college got
me off to a good start with everyone; and when the rush for members of their
Societies (not fraternities) started, I became a member of the Orthogonian Society
along with Richard Nixon.
Ruth, my Long Beach girl,
did cause some quick decisions. Instead of having her go for an abortion, we decided
to get married, which we did at her grandmother's
place in Long Beach. I had never
gotten acquainted with her grandmother, although that is where she stayed after
most of our dates through the years. Her
folks lived in North Long Beach, so she always managed to stay at her
grandmother's for me to pick her up there when convenient. Anyhow, my mother had never taken a fancy to Ruth
and refused to attend the ceremony.
Shorty and Don Gustuson were my "backer-uppers". Ruth's mother had always been a
good friend of mine so she was there and wished us well. Her dad chose to stay in the background and
never did take kindly to me, although he did often let Ruth use his old Essex
touring car for a great many of our dates, and did let us use the car during
the first part of our marriage. So it goes.
Ruth and I got an apartment near the YMCA. Ruth got along fine with the people at the ‘Y’
and after the baby arrived, did take part in activities. There, the
women in the Volleyball class took care of her. Sad to
say, the baby died at 3 weeks of
pneumonia. This, of course, changed our life. Our marriage lasted about 2 years. I won't go
into detail as to what broke up our marriage, but it ended with a divorce based
on "mental cruelty" which was pretty much "Let things go on and
I would soon have to drop out of college at the rate of events".
College went along smoothly after Ruth and I broke
up. My school work settled down. I was able to concentrate on my job, my studies,
and normal events at the school. After Ruth and I separated, my mother came to
live with me in a house behind Mr. Gates, the General Secretary of the
YMCA. The house was big enough
so that we were able to take in a boarder.
My mother was an excellent cook and fed us well. My life settled down to "normalcy"
for the first time in my life. The ‘Y’
work went well, my grades stayed average, I was able to partake in school
activities (the Orthogonian Club, track,
and swimming and diving).
The ‘Y’ activities consisted of running classes
for men in Physical Fitness and Volleyball and the same for women; boys gym
classes and a swimming program. College
activities consisted of running gymnastic classes for men, being captain of the
track team in my third year, and coaching the swim team (such as it was with 3
swimmers and myself as a swimmer and diver).
I won the Conference diving championship 3 years in succession. I placed in Pole vaulting my first 2 years and won the Conference Championship my 3rd year. That
year I was chosen to be the Exchange Student to the University of
Hawaii.
Chapter VII
Before I go on with my story, I should make one
correction concerning my relationship
with my dad. Concerning my trips
with him on the Southern Pacific R.R., I mentioned that my sister Corinne
and
I went out with him on the railroad.
To correct that: I spent two
summer periods with him, the first of which I have described, into Nevada
and Utah. On that trip I was alone; but the
next summer, he invited both Corinne and I and we spent the time
in the Tracy, California and Livermore area. My dad had continued to support me up until I
left Long Beach and attended Whittier College
Apparently my dad had given up his job on the railroad, and
I didn't hear from him again until one day when he showed up in Whittier
and stayed a few days with Ruth and I. We only had a place with
one bedroom, but we provided him with a cot and he slept in the garage. From there, he went to La Mesa, San
Diego, California and spent his
remaining days with his brother
Will
and his sister Clara. I had occasions in
later years to visit him there. He died there in 1942.
To go on with my story, into my life came a great little lady named Carol Nelson. I had occasion to get
acquainted in my sophomore year, but it was not until after I had separated
from Ruth
that I started dating her. We had several mutual friends who became
life long friends: Bobby Gates, Carol's dearest friend and daughter of my YMCA boss, Frank Gates;
and Jack Richardson, who was one of my best friends in college. Jack had a Ford coupe, which helped us get
around. Also, Shorty was very generous
with my using his car when the occasion demanded. One of my most memorable nights on dating Carol
was the night of the Long Beach
Jack and I had double dated with Bobby and Carol for a
big night in Alvira Street in Los Angeles (their Society blow-out). To start out with, the earthquake had really
shaken up Whittier and Los Angeles
as well as Long Beach
Leaving
the Alvira Street area so early in the evening, we decided to go to Carol's
home area and see what the earthquake had
done there. We got as far as her old
high school in Huntington Beach Long Beach
So life went on in Whittier. My next
big date was taking Carol to the College Conference Track
Championships at Occidental College.
There I won the Pole vaulting championship with a new conference record of
13'3". That was one foot
higher than I had ever jumped before, and of course, Carol got the credit.
Carol was introduced to
diving when I took her to the Olympic Trials in Pasadena
in 1932. I didn't do too great, but the diver who
placed just ahead of me won the Olympics in 1936. Perhaps if I had gone on with my diving I
might have done better, but the necessity of finishing school and going on with
a life work prevented that.
The biggest
thing of my life was being chosen as an
Exchange
Student to the University of Hawaii in 1933, my junior year. I was to attend there for one year, then
return to Whittier for my graduation year. This of course was the big
thing in my life and everything else took a back seat for that year. Carol and I agreed to let our relationship terminate for that
year and see what might happen when I returned. The college ‘Y’ and the Orthegonian Society (under the leadership of it’s President, Richard Nixon) helped raise
the money to send me. I was to have my
boat fare over and back paid, plus an allowance of $40 per month for expenses.
Chapter VIII - Exchange Student
to University of Hawaii – acknowledging God
Actually, being
chosen as Exchange student gave
me a feeling of being someone important
for the first time in my life. It
was an honor and I was treated accordingly.
I had made friends with Charlie Kenn, the exchange student
to
Whittier from the University of Hawaii, which
helped prepare me, plus Don Gustuson was the exchange
student from Whittier College that
year also. Consequently, I was fully
aware of the program and its purposes.
But me? What had I done to deserve the appointment? The exchange program was a Y.M.C.A. related program and that was in my favor.
After a beautiful
send off from the Whittier ‘Y’, I traveled to San Pedro, from whence
the ship I was to sail on would debark.
In those days (1933) there
was no such thing as air travel to the islands. The trip was terrific: deck games, terrific meals, and all the romance that goes with ocean travel. The
reception in Honolulu was something else again. The exchange students were treated as celebrities. We were lodged
in the Atherton House, a
dormitory and YMCA headquarters on the
campus. It was a beautiful new
building on the college campus, overlooking the campus, and right at the end of
the bus line that brought students in from the city of Honolulu. Of course, my roommate, Sam Rothrock, the exchange student
from LaVerne
College, had the corner room
overlooking the bus stop. We enjoyed
watching the pretty oriental girls debark from the bus. ‘Nuff said’. The campus was beautiful with all the tropical trees
like the breadfruit tree, the sausage tree and all. The girls' dorm was 1/2 block away and the
school cafeteria was within walking distance from the dorm.
It was a popular pastime to
get up a table and play bridge at noontime. From
the roof of the Atherton House (4 stories high) one could see over the city to the ocean beyond. It was
great to go up there at sunset and watch the beautiful sky and sea.
My newest break came when a job at the downtown YMCA opened
up. I think God had a hand in
getting
me started in the ‘Y’ as a kid.
It seems he always opened doors for me when I needed him most. As it was, the sponsorship from Whittier
College paid just enough for a round trip to the islands and my room
and board on the campus for 10 months.
For spending money and extras, I was on my own. The
YMCA again came to my rescue. I was
given the whole physical education program for boys, which included gymnastics, swimming
and general class organization.
It was fun to give beginners
swimming lessons to Japanese, Chinese,
and Hawaiian kids in a six foot
deep swimming hole. It was amazing how
easily these kids learned to swim when they couldn't touch the bottom of the
pool: but just going through the mechanics of swimming on the side and at the
side in the water all worked out beautifully. The kids took to gymnastics and loved the games I brought with me
such as ‘bombardment’, using a good number of volleyballs. Actually, all
the skills I had learned at home for both boys and men seemed to work out perfect in the program there. The hardest thing to get used
to was the "pidgin English” the Hawaiian
kids and the Chinese kids used. It was a
peculiar inflection of sounds and leaving
some words out (Example-"I go home now" in a very ‘sing song way’). When my year was up and I returned to the
coast, I suddenly realized how many friends
I had made with the kids. They really made me feel bad that I was leaving
them.
The exchange students were given every opportunity to learn about the islands and enjoy the island hospitality. We attended
churches, visited schools and went for luaus (the native feast combined with native dances). In the dorm I learned to eat poi and rice and
currie and thrived on it (although at home I had always hated rice). The
Chinese way of cooking rice was so different from just boiled rice. I had
occasion to eat in a Chinese home which was really a great experience in
learning the difference in their way of cooking and ours.
One thing I should have mentioned: the downtown ‘Y’ had a large membership of Chinese but very few Japanese. Apparently the two did not get along and the Japanese had built their own ‘Y’.
The Chinese Hawaiians and whites got along very nicely in the program at the main ‘Y’.
One of my big
breaks was the visit of Dr. Dexter, the President of Whittier
College and District Governor of the Lions Club,
which included the Hawaiian Islands. He looked me up as soon as he got to the islands and took me with him to banquets
and special
occasions. One special occasion was a trip by Banana boat to the
big island of Hawaii. He was to be the guest of the Lion's Club in
Hilo. We spent two great days
there: then he returned to the island of Oahu. I remained in Hilo until the rest of
the exchange students joined me. We then
traveled by banana truck (forerunner to what we know as the station
wagon). We toured the big island of Hawaii in
a spectacular manner visiting all sorts of enchanting spots: the
burial caves under the lava flows, the lovely beaches (at that
time relatively natural and unspoiled by commercialism), villages, the
Beach of Black Sands where we watched the natives take their nets out
and gather fish in the surf and then the head man distributed the catch among
the villagers. We saw the
Refuge where the natives hid when attacking tribes came to wage tribal
war, the
City of Refuge, the tropical forests, etc., etc.
Home again, (the University) school went well and was
exciting with monthly dances and such. I
dated Chinese girls, Portuguese, and one Japanese girl on a very secret style of date. She called me after I had given a
demonstration in gymnastics in a recreation show at the big city auditorium.
She suggested we meet at such and such spot in a park near the auditorium in
the evening. We met and got acquainted
and had several of this type of meeting.
All stayed on the up and up and we enjoyed each other's company. I did not get to know her folks, other than
to know her father was a successful businessman in town. All of my dates were pretty much the same,
get to know the kids but don't fall in love.
Of all my dates, I enjoyed myself more with Chinese girls than any
other.
The exchange students who had represented the
university of Hawaii were very helpful, Ted Ing, Ainely Maihebu,
and Charlie
Keaonn all aided in our enjoyment of the experience. I did some diving at the Punaho School where there
was a center of swimming activities under a famous coach named ‘..’. A diver I met who became a great friend was
Art
Rutherford. We dove together a
lot at the Fort DeRussy Center and there I met a young lady
who was active in flying activities at Roger Field, the main airport for ‘inter-island’
flying. It became the big international airport in later years. This young lady owned a quarter interest in
the aircraft at the field. She was
employed by the downtown newspaper, the Honolulu Advertiser. She was interested in diving and offered to
exchange flying lessons for diving lessons.
Who was I to turn down an offer like that. She learned the good points of diving and by the end of my lessons, I had soloed in a Piper Cub and in a Great Lakes bi-plane. I ended with a student license which
would enable me to go into airfields where they had planes to let out and I
could rent one for my own fun. However, I
could not take up passengers on a student license.
Through Art Rutherford, I met a man name Wayne Maxfield who had an apartment just behind where Art lived. He invited me to room with him during the summer at a very reasonable
rate. It worked out perfectly with my ‘Y’ job, the diving at Fort DeRussy, and time for flying lessons. The Physical Director at the ‘Y’ took the summer off for an extended trip to
the mainland and I was in charge of the program at the ‘Y’ for the summer. My
support from Whittier College had ended
at the end of the school year, but all worked out well for the extended time in
Hawaii.
To terminate
this chapter, the whole Hawaiian experience helped me grow up. When I returned to Whittier, someone else
had my job there, but there was an opening
at the San Pedro Army and Navy ‘Y’, and who was I to turn down
another opportunity to add to my experience.
Chapter IX - ‘Back
to the realities of life’
The Hawaiian experience was such a wonderful experience
that it seemed more like a dream. I had
sailed away from the United States
But then, to get back to the realities of life. Was I still the same? It turned out that the answer was yes. I had one more year of school to do and how
to do it suddenly became a problem. Fortunately,
a job at the San Pedro Army and Navy Y turned up. Problem: how to get back and forth to Whittier College
Part of my job at the San Pedro Y was working
at the business desk: renting rooms, taking in memberships and general
duties. It was a good experience. Whittier College went well except that I
didn't get into much of the school life due to my job at San Pedro. I received my degree in Y.M.C.A. (social
work) and a special in Secondary Physical Education. I had a little problem in getting my diploma:
on the day of graduation, my sister from Hollywood ,
Corinne, was to pick me up in San Pedro and drive me to Whittier
So from that point, I launched my career, free from
college studies. At least for a period
of time. My career now followed the
Y.M.C.A lines. My mother came
and helped me set up housekeeping in San Pedro.
I got reacquainted with Carol and we almost got engaged.
While in San Pedro, I put in a few hard
earned dollars in pursuit of flying hours.
The goal of course was to accumulate enough hours to obtain a
"private" license which would allow me to take up passengers. That goal was never reached. The airport was a small strip of land in Wilmington
In 1936 I got an offer to a job at the
Riverside Y. It was a much bigger job
and a chance to establish myself in Y work.
So I took it.
There I made a good reputation. The man I followed was Art
Mose, who had set up a good program. Art had a
good boy’s leadership program, which made class work a lot easier. The men's program was also well
organized and I learned a lot
just following the guidelines he had set up. One of the big things he looked for in selecting me was "gymnastic" ability.
Art had set up a "gym-circus"
each year, which helped out in their camping program by selling
tickets. Running a gym-circus was right up my alley, so I got well
established there. One of the great
things about the work there was the automatic attendance at the
annual Y conference at Asilonar each year. I established a good relationship with two
important families, (the Doles, and the Twogoods) who played
a big part in getting my life on track.
In due time, with a little help from Louise Dole, I got back
on track with Carol. It just took a couple more broken engagements and we
finally took the big step in 1938.
I had spent the first part of my time in Riverside living at the
Y. My mother and I again got an apartment
where I lived until Carol and I took the big step.
I was still pretty much my 'dumb self.'
Carol, with the help of her family, Don, Betty, and Frank,
set up a beautiful wedding and we got off to a pretty good start. We had arranged for the use of a cabin in the
mountains owned by the Twogood family. I
was able only to obtain a few days for our honeymoon. Finances didn't permit an extensive
honeymoon. But we did enjoy and got to
know each other better. For
Carol, it was too late to back out and I am sure those first weeks were
a little rough.
We did manage to rent an adequate house, not too far from the Y and
there we began to build our life. Carol
fit in to my Y job Beautifully. I soon learned
though that I could not make a super athlete out of her, and the doctor bills
put a stop to my efforts. But, she took
hold of my life and I soon learned that I was now a complete person (not
perfect, but better). Our social life was
built
around the Y and friends, developed through the Y,
bloomed. Vera and her navy
husband, Frank Speckhardt, had purchased property in Riverside
and my mother moved in with them.
My reputation grew in Y work.
One of my big projects was to put on an annual Gym-Circus. It so happened one year that the
Superintendent of Schools attended our Gym-circus. He was so impressed that he offered me a job
as Physical
Education teacher for the 4th
grade through high school at Placentia, CA. (That's another story.)
Things went well in those few years at Riverside, 1936-39. We bought property in the hills (Gammon
Hills, near Perris) not too far from Riverside
Chapter X - The Start of a Family, and From Y Work to School Work.
In 1939 our first big step was to accept the job at Placentia. There we found out what life was all
about. My mob was to offer a program of
physical education for kids from the 4th grade through high school in the one
gym and swimming pool. I think that was
the reason I was chosen: the two schools were adjacent to each other and
readily available to the equipment I was to use. I did not have to supervise playground
activities for the lower grades. That
was the job of classroom teachers. My
job was to use the gym and pool much in the manner I had done in
the Y. For the high school, I not only
had a gymnastic program and swimming program, but I taught a class in woodcarving and coached minor sports. For a sideline activity, I built or put
together my first homemade trampoline. It was constructed from oil well pipe for the frame, and woven rope for the bed. We
used cut up old truck inner tubes for the
springs. What a great piece of
equipment. Another little side job was
to finance a student in the building of a sailboat of the Snark type. In the course of time, I got in some good sailing at the Balboa harbor and off the coast near Balboa.
Carol and I started our family while in Placentia and along came Barbara
Ellen. Whatta gal.
We made a life-long friend in Placentia in Berty and Nordstrom. He was principal of Placentia Grammar School.
These friends turned up again a few years later (after World War II) in Fresno
But time passed and along came the war in 1941. Jimmy Smith, Coach of Swimming, Diving, and
Water Polo in Fullerton joined the Navy.
I was handy and they offered me the job.
In as much as I had not been
offered a 4th year contract at Placentia, I accepted. I obtained a
summer job at the Y in Santa Ana to fill in.
I took the place of one Al Fish whom I had known in my
previous Y years. He and his wife, Isabel,
became life long friends in later years.
The job in Fullerton was another broadening experience. We obtained a house about one block from the
school. I brought my trampoline along and set it up near the gym. I was appointed "B" football coach as
a sideline. My main duties were boys classes in tumbling and gymnastics
and swimming.
To complicate our life, as the war developed and
rental housing became scarce, the owners
of our house decided to take it back. In order to find a place to live in,
it became necessary to purchase a home.
We bought a cute little place on Cornell Ave. it was a happy place as Barbara was growing and
along came Bruce. What joy it was
to have a boy and girl in the family. Bruce
was a loveable red-head. The nurses in the hospital where he was born called him "Butch". Fortunately, the name didn't stick.
Enlistment in the Navy and the
War
Things went along quite well until it was learned that the Amphibious
landings in the Pacific were
taking their toll of officers. I got the bug and put in my application for officers
training in the navy. Lo and behold, I was accepted. I gave up my job at Fullerton
I had an eerie experience the next morning which will always haunt
me. One of our crews had found the body
of the Kamikaze and had brought it
aboard. I was on watch that morning and
I became conscious of a huge black bird in the rigging of the forward
mast. The crew had prepared the body for
a sea burial. After due preparation, the
body was lowered over the side and dropped into the water. At that moment, the bird in the rigging took
off. I never saw another bird like
it. It seemed like the spirit of the
Japanese was somehow connected with that bird.
Our tour of duty was soon over and our ship took off for Saipan
where we picked up hospital cases and
transported them back to San
Francisco. Our next tour was to take a shipload of beer to the soldiers
fighting in the Philippines. Again we returned with casualties to the mainland
(Seattle). This time we were there long enough for me to
make a trip home to see Carol. Somehow, 9 months later, Bob was born.
Our trip out this time was a load of B-29 personnel destined
for
Guam. While in transit, atom bombs were dropped on Hiroshima
and Nagasaki and the war ended. Our ship proceeded on
to Guam
where we discharged the B-29 personnel. Then
we proceeded on to Manila where we sat
waiting for our next assignment.
While there I learned that my sister, Corinne, (who was with the
WAC's) was stationed there. I
had a shore visit with her. We then
proceeded to Hong Kong where we took aboard Chinese Nationalist troops
to be transported to Tzingtoa
in North
China. These troops were to
outflank the Chinese Communist troops which were occupying that part of China. We never heard from these troops again. After dropping these troops off, we proceeded
back to Okinawa. While there we
had quite an experience with a typhoon.
After recovering from that, we transported occupation troops into Port
Jinsen, Korea. Then we headed
for Yokohama,
Japan, and picked up Marines headed for San
Diego. By that time, I had
advanced from the rank of Lt. J.G. to a full lieutenant. Also, my time was up and I retired from the Navy with an Honorable
Discharge. How nice it was to
return home after all that time in the Navy (20 months). We had a decision to make: return to school,
teaching in Fullerton , or accept an offer to
take my old job back in Riverside
as Physical Director. We chose the latter.
Chapter XI – Riverside, CA – Raising a family – the early years
During the time I was traipsing around the Pacific, Carol
had sold our house in Fullerton and moved in with Louise
Dole in Riverside, whose husband also was in the Navy. Carol and our two young ones, Barbara
and Bruce,
and Louise and her two young ones of similar age, had set up housekeeping in a
garage house. The idea of a garage house
was to build a two car garage with a kitchen and bath added to be a part of a
complete house when finished. Carol
had bought property not too far away with the idea of building a
similar garage house on it. It was
completed just about the time I got out of the Navy. The house was on a 2/3 acre walnut grove on Brockton Avenue right near the Union
Pacific Railroad. One lot lay
between our property and the railroad.
That is what I came home to. Bruce
used to stand behind our little tool house and peek around the corner when the
big steam engines went by.
We learned a little bit about farming and animals while at this
location: the walnuts had to be irrigated from a system running at the back end
of the lot. The lady next door had
mallard ducks, so we got a male and female.
Lo and behold, we had a flock of little ones in the course of time. It was a joy to watch them play in the
irrigation water. They did grow up and
learn to fly. It was embarrassing when
they would take off as a flock and fly over Brockton Avenue
Things went well in Riverside. Vera and Frank bought property
with a small house on it. Frank
loved gardening and developed a very nice hot-house for plants of all
kinds. They added a room to accommodate Mackey
(our mother) and so we were all accumulated in one town for a while.
Frank and I got the idea of hill property to fool around on
and maybe eventually build our homes on.
We located 20 acres (two plots of ten) in the Gavilon Hills near Perris
about 15 miles out of Riverside
The years in Riverside after the war were years
of growing and learning what life was all about. With Carol our home situation
stabilized. We became interested in the
Presbyterian Church and attended fairly regularly. My activities with the Kiwanis Club put me on a
good standing in the community.
Carol's association with the Y-Wives organization put her on
a good footing with the YMCA organization.
My son Bruce and I started the
first Indian Guides (Dad and son) club
in Riverside. The Indian Guides was a new program in the YMCA. It was built
around Indian lore and was becoming popular all over California.
One thing that helped financially: I squeezed into my program at the Y the
coaching of a swim team from the junior college. The program not only gave us a little spending money, it gave me some credit on school teaching. One of my
divers was Don Twogood, who had been a part of my gymnastic and swimming
program from previous years at the Riverside Y. Another thing of interest was getting my old trampoline from Fullerton,
which I set up in our front yard of our property on Brockton Ave. People got a kick out of seeing our kids
bouncing up and down.
When I was offered the position of Physical Director at the
Fresno Y, it was a chance to move up a little bit in the Y world and it
did offer some increase in pay. It
did bring up the old dilemma of finding a new home to live in and selling off the home we had. We had not added to the structure of our
garage house. In taking the job in Fresno,
I had to move up there and leave Carol behind with the kids and the
job of selling the house. It was a
tremendous burden to put on Carol but she managed and we got a place in the Mayfair district of Fresno. Things worked out, and the move was made.
Chapter XII – Fresno, CA – Career Development
The move to Fresno was a good move in that it gave me a lot of opportunities
to start new programs. They had a great
Y's Men's Club which was very helpful to me in every was. They had a Y's Men's Wives organization which
was great for Carol. The Y
had a very adequate gym and a good pool. Bob Hutchinson was the General Secretary and
we got along fine. We had some
disagreements, but they always ended up happily.
My first problem was to build up
attendance in boys classes. What I had learned in Riverside
I first had my old trampoline
shipped up from Riverside. It was used for introduction. Then we
purchased one of the first folding trampolines put out by a big gymnastic company
(the
Medart). It served well until we
were able (in time) to purchase a
goliath size Nissan. It was really a super tramp and really
added to our program. All this added to the annual Gym Circus which was sponsored by the Y's men's Club. I found that when I needed backing on the purchase of equipment or help in putting
on an event, that the Y's Men's Club was
a great group to call on. One of the
big events each year was a city-wide Halloween party in which the kids put on a costume parade downtown
(within reasonable distance from the Y).
Then on their return, they went through a "Ghost Trail"
set up by members of the
Leaders Club. This was followed by a costume contest and party
in the gymnasium, sponsored by the Y's Men's Club. Another big event was an annual learn to swim week
put on in our pool until it finally grew in popularity and we used the San Joaquin Memorial High
School pool.
I became a member of the Lions Club and, of course, got
the assignment of boys activities. My biggest
event there was putting on a
Dads and Sons camp for one
week-end at the Riverview Park on the San Joaquin River. It was after the same pattern I had tried in Riverside. The
idea was good, but it didn't catch on. We only
used it one year. The one we put on was a big success, but proved too
much work for what it accomplished.
The use of swimming pools was
one of my big things. There was an
abundance of public pools: Blakeleys, Airways, Swim Park, and Weymouth. We had
parties in all of them and established a reputation for kids diving. Airways had a periodic show and I always
participated in it with my various divers: Bob Reese, Gene Merriman, Leonard
Kalakian, and Barbara, of course.
In the course of time I got a good gymnastics team started and
we made trips to the Berkeley YMCA, Pomona Y, Whittier Y, and even as far as
Reno. This led to the promotion of an
annual All-City Gymnastics meet. Bob
Schoendube, coach at Roosevelt H.S., was instrumental in
promoting this event. Ara
Hairabedian, coach at Fresno State University was also helpful. Bob was also a diving enthusiast and
helped in promoting diving activities.
One of the big diving events of the year was the San Joaquin Valley
Invitational, put on each year. Barbara
was on the big participants in this event.
It involved top divers from all
over the state.
Going back to the Fresno Y, my job consisted not
only in running classes for men (calisthenics and volleyball, mainly) and
classes for boys, but supervision of a weight room facility, 3 handball courts,
and swimming.
All these spaces required some supervision and establishment of use
rules, but also ways of building up interest.
We put on periodic handball tournaments and one year, a body-building
contest. Basketball for men involved an
annual church league contest. This
involved organization and conduct of the leagues.
All of these things involved the knowledge I had picked up along the
way. Being
a member of both the Y's Men's Club and the
Lion's Club helped in my personal
growth. Participating in the Y.M.C.A.
summer camp added a new dimension
to my activities. I think it
was here that I grew spiritually. One
blessing of the camp was that Carol
and the kids took a big part in
it. If they weren't old enough to be
a camper, they still played a big part in
the activities. Carol got along with
everyone from YMCA personnel to leaders, cooks, and members of families
represented in different ways.
The friends made over the years were tremendous; the Nordstroms (dating
back to Placentia and Fresno), the Twogoods (dating back to
their childhood in Riverside and adulthood in Fresno), the Bronsons
(Boys Work Section at Fresno, whose kids matched our own as did
Twogoods).
Chapter XIII – Fresno, CA – Raising a family – the middle years
This covers a period of 10 years (1949 to 1958). It was a period when our family
increased from three to five kids. Barbara,
Bruce and Bob started things in Fullerton and Riverside, but the big
growing up period took place in Fresno. Carol had done a lot of growing up
into maturity during those years in Fullerton
and Riverside
Barbara and Bruce attended Mayfair School, which was a short distance
from where we lived and the principal was Howard Nordstrom, whom I had worked
with in Placentia. bob also attended
this school. Don attended a new school,
Alice Birney (which put us in a new district).
Both Barbara and Bruce attended the Roosevelt High School
All kids fit into my job at the Y, which was fortunate because it gave
me a relationship with them that I might otherwise have missed out on because
of the odd hours of my job. Carol had
started a Campfire girls group which involved Barbara. The group eventually gave me the basis for a
Saturday night gymnastic group at the y.
That led to a girls night at the y.
Bruce and I, along with Nick Bronzan (Boys Work Section of the Y) and
his son, and Clarence Bettencourt and his son established the first Indian
Guides group in the valley. Bob and Don
were active in my gym and swim program for boys. When we started inter-Y gymnastic
competition, Barbara, Bob and Don played a big part. Also, when our Y Diving group started
competing, they played a major role.
Bruce was active for a long time, but eventually got involved in a paper
route and spent most of his after school time in that pursuit. Before leaving Fresno Madera
Barbara really got involved in diving: first in the
AAU program and then with high school competition. She won the Valley Championship in her
sophomore and junior years, then when we moved to Madera, she had the
opportunity to move to Southern California and live with
the McCormicks while attending Anaheim High School and competing in diving for
the Los Angeles Athletic Club. Barbara had won a Junior National
Diving event held at Fresno State College which involved the top divers from Southern California .
Glen McCormick, one of the top diving coaches in the country
and coach of Pat McCormick (his wife) invited her to spend the next summer
with them and dive for the LAAC.
The period of time spent in Fresno, 1949-1958, covered so many
activities that it is hard to think back and put them in place: the Lions Club, the Y's Men's Club, the
American Red Cross, YMCA Circuses, Gymnastic demonstrations, Leaders Club,
Volleyball team, handball tournaments, even a Body Beautiful Contest for men
one year, noon volleyball, businessmen's
Calisthenics and Volleyball, boys classes in hum and swimming. Carol had learned the meaning of being
a Y widow in Riverside ,
but Fresno Madera
Chapter XIV – Madera, CA – Career Change – Home & Family
Development
A big change in our lives came when I was offered the job at the Madera
High School. It came about through Bill
Yocum, whose daughter had traveled from Madera
to Fresno Madera High
School
Bill Yocum convinced L.C. Thompson, Superintendent of the Madera School
District and Loranne Bowles, the head of the girls P.E. Department, that I was
the man to take over the new pool, just being completed in the summer of 1958. My
job was to manage the swimming pool during the summer and teach classes in
swimming to all students during the school year ( in addition to being the
coach of swimming and diving). The
Boosters Club purchased a trampoline on the condition that only I could
supervise it.
My job at the Fresno Y had become very stressful and I was ready for a
change. At this stage of our lives, Barbara had moved to L.A. Madera
Fortunately, such a place was found, only 4 miles from the school, on the West side of Madera. It was an old farm house with a barn on 2
1/2 acres of pasture and almond trees.
The house had only two bedrooms and an all purpose room. It had a separate garage with laundry space.
We soon added an extra bedroom which gave a little more space. Eventually, the garage was made into a
guesthouse with its own toilet. There
was a shower already there. The barn was full of old hay and horse manure and
an old tractor. We immediately made a
pen behind the barn to accommodate Bruce's pigs which he brought from Fresno
We learned real fast on how to irrigate the pasture and how to harvest
almonds and walnuts. Sasso, the man we
had purchased the property from had a large vegetable garden, which lasted
about one year under my care. The
strawberry patch lasted a couple of years and the raspberries lasted a few
more. I did raise a patch of peanuts one
year, but decided I was no farmer.
Taking care of the pool at the high school took most of my daylight
hours and I just wasn't much of a farmer.
We did get beef started in the pasture and enjoyed all the problems that
went along with raising calves to the age of slaughtering. We generally had 3 coming up. When we slaughtered one, we added another
small one to be raised. The boys had
their hobbies: Bruce and pigs, Bob and alligators, Don and rabbits. They did join the 4-H for awhile and raised bummer
lambs for the fair.
A pen of chickens came with the place, but they were too old to be much
good. The preacher helped kill and clean
them and they went into the deep freeze.
Getting rid of rats is another story.
One of the first additions to the house was a bedroom added to the back
room. This gave Carol and me a room more
remote from the front two bedrooms.
Bruce remained in the forward bedroom and Bob and Don shared the middle
bedroom. We all shared the bathroom
which was between the two bedrooms. The
added room was financed by my cashing in on my YMCA retirement.
Life went on smooth enough: Bruce was in his junior year of high
school, Bob and Don attended the new Howard grade school, and Rick still a
little guy.
My first experience with raising calves was unique in itself. I found I couldn't buy them from a neighbor,
so I had to learn how to go to the auction and bid for one. I wasn't too good at that.
Eventually, I made friends with a man, Mr. Wood, who was in the cattle
business and arranged to get calves from him.
I even had a couple born on the place.
Getting someone to come in and slaughter a calf was quite an
experience. That went along with having
the carcass taken to the butcher, who in turn cut them up (under Carol's direction)
and packaged them, then put them in the ice locker. All very complicated! We learned through
experience. We carried on this procedure until the boys grew up and graduated
from high school.
We were blessed with a real nice neighbor who had the pasture adjoining
our place. His name was Burl Sloan. His wife, Nyla, and Carol got along
great. He was helpful in every way. When anything needed fixing, we called on
him. He was a great carpenter and over
the years made some really great additions to the house and garage.
And the years rolled by; Bruce was a junior in high school when we
arrived. He went out for the swim team
one season. He was reluctant to go out
the next year, so he was given a choice: swim or get a job. He got a job in a local stationery
store. Bob stayed with Howard School Howard
School Howard School
the same as Don through the 6th grade then to Jefferson
junior high for his 7th and 8th grades.
Gymnastics became quite a big thing with me in these years. I promoted an annual Junior Olympic gymnastic
meet in which all three of the younger boys participated: Bob, Don, and
Rick. We had one black boy, Freddi
McFerren, who participated along with the kids and made quite a reputation as a
gymnast. Trampoline was popular in these
meets and about that time, I had cleaned out the barn (with the help of the boys)
and installed a trampoline in the barn.
The story there is that I had attended a gymnastic camp (as an
instructor) put on by the Berkeley Y in their summer camp. I had been able to purchase the demonstration
trampoline at a very reasonable price.
When I first brought it home, I set it up in the back yard; but it was
too hot. So it was moved out under a big
tree in the front yard. The tree slowed
things down, plus it was not practical in the winter. Eventually, it ended up in the barn. In another year, I purchased a goliath
trampoline (7 by 14'), so we had two in the barn. In those years, we had developed a strong friendship
with a family by the name of Dunfield in Cupertino
Now to the story of the development of the Marlin Swim Club
which eventually became just the Madera Marlin Divers. On arriving in Madera, the new swim pool
had just been completed at the high school.
My job was to manage it during the summertime as a public pool and in
the rest of the year as part of the Physical Education program of the Madera
High School. The pool was built
with money from a Recreation Tax controlled by the School district. The pool was very popular and crowded in
those early years. We had a rest period
in the middle of the afternoon which was followed by some fun roles before all
swimmers went back into the pool. A few
fast swimmers were reluctant to represent Madera in a swim meet in Merced. Lo and behold, they came home with a nice
trophy. We organized into a club and
they selected the name of Madera Marlin Swim Team. Each year after that, we arranged a practice
time in the summer and participated in the Merced Sun Star meet in the
summer. We made so many points in diving
that we would add that to our swim points and come away with the team
trophy. Pretty soon, the meet officials
got wise and divided the meet into a swim championship and a diving
championship. Madera won the
diving championship every year for
the next 24 years until they finally dropped the meet altogether. The Madera marlins became a strong
swim club and started competing in AAU events.
The club organization was strong enough to sponsor and organize an annual swim relays event. This got too big and was eventually
dropped. In the course of time, the
swimmers and divers became two groups with me in charge of the divers and Arlie
Ruble in charge of the swimmers.
The same division eventually happened with the high school swim
team.
In the course of the years, the high school swim team took the same
pattern as the Marlins: the swim team was divided into two responsibilities: swimming
and diving. I took over the diving and Arlie
Ruble took over the swimming.
I enjoyed great success with the diving, winning many Valley
championships over the years. Bob,
Don, and Rick garnered Valley Championships. Dennis Rowe and Patrick Eaton were the
most successful of the non-family boy divers.
There were a long string of girl divers who attained prominence over the
years: Sue Romias, Carol James, Patti Uhalde, Patty Chavin, Andrea Mortimer,
Debbie Forehand, Lori Kirk, Michelle McGinnis, Heather Sagouspe, Karen Pavey,
Cheryl Jones, Lisa Lopez, Kris Lyle, Coleen Hibbard, and the Seibert sisters,
Heidi and Heather.
I enjoyed a reputation as a very
successful diving coach through the valley. The other thing that helped
develop my reputation in the community
was the promotion of gymnastics. Early in the years we developed a program at
the school by using the 6th period
which was devoted to the development of activity clubs. Gymnastics got a good start and
resulted in the presentation of a High School assembly once a year in which I
presented a gymnastics show with the help of a teacher named Mrs.
Ferrara. Once the 6th period was abolished, the
program was no longer offered. I also
developed an after school program in
the Fall and Winter each year, devoted to gymnastics
on the Elementary and junior hi level.
This program became popular and resulted in the presentation of gymnastics
show each year. Also it offered an
annual City Gymnastic Meet.
Before going on, I should mention the most successful of the divers I
have coached. Barbara, of course, went
on to win a great many national AAU championships on both the 3 meter
springboard and the 10 meter platform.
In one meet in 1964, she was the first female diver to win the one meter, three meter, and ten meter
in a national meet. she also went on to make the Olympic team in 1964
and 1968, Rick Earley, whom I had started in
Fresno with the Fresno Y team became a Valley high school champion after I
left there (he also dove for the Madera Marlins during the summer). He went on to win Olympic fame and an
active diving coach in Southern California . Michelle McGinnis became the first Marlin diver to win a National Junior Olympic championship. She was followed by Cheryl Jones and Glenae
Haire. Lisa Lopez did not attain
quite that success, but went on to dive in college and masters diving and
became my assistant coach of the Madera
High School
Possibly the development of my "after-school" gymnastic program
has been one of my big things over the years.
It was started to compliment my Marlin diving program. It was carried on in the Fall (October to
February) to fill in the space after diving stopped. Diving in Madera
Two happenings that occurred in this period of time that should have
been mentioned: (1) while attending the summer gymnastic camp put on by the
Berkeley Y, I sustained a serious injury.
Just after supervising a class on the trampoline, I got smart and got in
a line of older girls performing a handspring over the vaulting horse. As I jumped to show my prowess on that stunt,
I felt something go wrong on my left leg.
The man spotting the participants and I went down in a heap. As I took inventory of what had happened, I
pulled up my pant leg on my left leg and found my knee-cap up in the middle of
my thigh. The camp doctor immobilized
the leg, then put me in my car, to be driven by Gordon Peak, down to Fresno to the St.
Agnes Hospital Madera Madera High
School
In the course of the year with us, Mike became a part of the
family. Carol regarded him as our
fifth son. Rick and Mike got
along beautifully. They spent hours
working out on the trampolines almost
every evening. In the course of things, Rick
worked up to a triple front somersault.
Mike did double backs in swing time, etc.
Both improved their diving skills
as a result. The year of this
writing, 1992, Mike, after many years of absences
from the sport of diving, took up the
sport again and placed 3rd on both
the 1 meter and 3 meter Master's National Diving Championships.
Chapter XV -
When we finally got things settled in the barn and a little
organization to the way the trampolines were arranged, I started having Saturday
classes for kids. There was a pit
tramp in one wing and a Goliath in the middle
section. The standard size folding tramp was in the other wing, which we had partially excavated to create a little overhead room. This was at a time when gymnastic popularity
was at a peak when the TV covered the Olympics in a new way and added a new
dimension to gymnastics. My after school
program at the school and trampolining became very popular with the younger age
kids. Besides our own kids from Madera , we attracted kids from Fresno ,
Dos Palos, Chowchilla, and Merced
The thing that took the wind out of my sails was when the state ordered all trampolines out of the school programs. It was nice for people wanting to buy
trampolines because the schools sold off their trampolines real cheap. The
rule affected my annual gymnastics show in that the school ruled that I could no longer use our popular trampoline acts. However, this rule did not prevent me from
carrying on my program of using the trampolines in my barn for the development of divers. Eventually, I had to stop allowing my high
school divers from using the trampolines at our home during high school diving
season.
The final blow to my program came when Ray Seibert gathered a
lot of used gymnastic equipment and created
a gymnastic and Dance Studio near town.
He put in all the necessary facilities for promoting a first
class gymnastic program for kids in Madera and all the surrounding
towns. I ceased to offer a program in the barn as not to detract in any way
from his operation. I did act as an
instructor at his gym in the early part of his operation which started in the
Fall (the same period of time that we always started our program at the high
school). The big difference was that Seibert’s
Gym
was a year-round program.
When the diving season started in the second school semester, I gave
up my work at the gym and never went back to it. I did follow the program for several years
and was
amazed at the caliber of gymnastics that they produced. The club did get the high school Girls Gymnastic
program started again after several years that the high school did not
offer a team in the athletic program. I still have a little interest in the
Bouncing Barn as a help for young developing divers; but the main use now is by
my self in staying in shape for Masters Diving.
Diving into
history: The late Coach Bill McAlister
Is honored by Hall
of Fame
Special to the Madera
Friday, January 07, 2005
The
late Coach
Bill McAlister in perfect form at age 86 in 1996.
|
The International Masters Swimming
Hall of Fame announces the induction of the late Bill McAlister of Madera
Only nine individuals are selected
annually by an international committee to be honored for their international
achievement in masters aquatic competition.
The ceremony will take place on
Jan. 8 at the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
This year’s inductees include:
Flora Connolly (GBR) Masters Swimmer, Bumpy Jones (USA) Masters Swimmer, William
McAlister (USA) Masters Diver, Tod Spieker (USA) Masters Swimmer, Phil
Whitten (USA) Masters Contributor, John Deininger (USA) Masters Diver, Betsy
Jordan (USA) Masters Swimmer, Sandy Neilson-Bell (USA) Masters Swimmer, Richard
Reinstaedtler (GER) Masters Swimmer
McAlister’s biography includes:
•International highlights: 142 gold medals in U.S. national and FINA Masters world diving championships - 1-meter and 3-meter springboard and 10-meter platform.
•Since 1974, he competed in six age groups (60-64 through 85-89); known as “Father of Masters Diving.”
Born in 1910, McAlister became a living legend in the diving world before his death in 2000 at the age of 89. He envisioned diving as a sport that should include members of all ages and was instrumental in the formation of Masters Diving in 1973.
He was the Masters Diving chairman from 1977-1981, and founder of the Masters Diving newsletter.
He competed in almost everyU.S.
Bill’s final year of competition occurred in 1998 when at age 89 he won 4 gold medals in both the springboard and platform competition.
McAlister began his diving career after winning a membership to the Long Beach YMCA as a bonus from his paper route. YMCA coach Shorty Kellogg saw his talent in gymnastics and diving and took him under his wing. He coached Bill diving off a 1920-vintage wooden diving board, which was described as an “old chunk of wood.”
•International highlights: 142 gold medals in U.S. national and FINA Masters world diving championships - 1-meter and 3-meter springboard and 10-meter platform.
•Since 1974, he competed in six age groups (60-64 through 85-89); known as “Father of Masters Diving.”
Born in 1910, McAlister became a living legend in the diving world before his death in 2000 at the age of 89. He envisioned diving as a sport that should include members of all ages and was instrumental in the formation of Masters Diving in 1973.
He was the Masters Diving chairman from 1977-1981, and founder of the Masters Diving newsletter.
He competed in almost every
Bill’s final year of competition occurred in 1998 when at age 89 he won 4 gold medals in both the springboard and platform competition.
McAlister began his diving career after winning a membership to the Long Beach YMCA as a bonus from his paper route. YMCA coach Shorty Kellogg saw his talent in gymnastics and diving and took him under his wing. He coached Bill diving off a 1920-vintage wooden diving board, which was described as an “old chunk of wood.”
Nearby, at the Pacific Coast Club, there was an indoor pool with both 1-meter and 3-meter wooden buck boards. The ceiling in the pool was so low that McAlister was forced to hold his hands over his head so as not to bump the ceiling too hard. If lucky, he would get a good bounce and end up under the skylight, missing the ceiling.
At the age of 22, McAlister competed in the Olympic trials of 1932, placing seventh on the 3-meter springboard. He dove against the world's best divers of the time, all of whom made up the
McAlister was an innovator in the use of the trampoline for improving diving.
Under the coaching of Capt. J.D. Loop during McAlister’s early diving career, he trained on a crude trampoline made with cotton rope, and an old piece of circus equipment left over from
McAlister worked at the YMCAs in
Although he retired from full-time teaching in 1973, McAlister stayed on as coach at
McAlister’s family has also been involved in swimming and diving. His wife, Carol, coached him from the deck for his Masters diving and his five children all participated in swimming and diving. His daughter Barbara won seven senior national titles in springboard diving, competed in the 1963 Pan American games, winning the 3-meter springboard gold medal and was twice an Olympic finalist (1964 and 1968). Son Donny was a four-time Valley champion and an All-American and won the Ivy League Conference in 1967, and Bob was a
