William Virgil McAlister, Coach McAlister

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.  I do not know if my older sisters were born in 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.  It was for just a brief moment and he was gone again.  Somewhere along the line our Uncle Walter (Dunbar) reported that he had run into my dad, working on the railroad under the name of Frank Volney.  From that time on I spent many days at the railroad which ran through our town hoping to see him.  It never happened.

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 in the summer time.  I completed the third grade and passed into the fourth.  The third grade was taught in one building on the school ground; then the next 3 grades were in another building on the same grounds.  The playground was in between.  Our home was located about a mile from the schoolground and we had to walk across the large front lawn of the High School to get there.  Our home was across the street from the high school.  And better yet, the tennis courts were right across from our home.  The track and football field was just the other side of the grandstand from there.

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.  I loved to do flips into the sawdust on the track field, and I did learn to pole vault.  I purchased a bamboo pole and became quite adept at the sport.  In my sixth grade year, I placed first in a county track meet at the height of 8'6".  The skill didn't show up again until I attended junior college in 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 not too far from the beach.  I had my first physical encounter there.  I have a vague memory of being on the sidewalk in front of our apartment when a boy came along and tried to start something.  I called his bluff and hit him once and that was the end of the fight.  He took off around the corner and never bothered me again.  I developed a friendship with a boy named Paul Edwards.  He had a younger brother and two older sisters.  We remained friends for many years.  His sisters worked in a theater, and we became quite skilled in sneaking into the theater by using a back exit.  I seldom paid my way into a theater.

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.  I remember well the sound of breaking waves which was almost a roar at that time of the morning.  Carrying that route didn't help my school work much because I often fell asleep in classes.  Somehow or other, I did manage to pass from one year to the next.

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 and I became the exchange student.  After that, he returned to the 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."  That is one thing that has stuck with me all my life.  (Not that I have led a perfect life; but at least as a guide to personal development.)

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 and worked as a movie "extra").  He invited us to spend a summer with him on the Southern Pacific R.R.  He was the foreman of a welding gang.  His job was to weld the joints on the tracks, which gradually got beat down over the years.  He traveled all over the western states.  When I was 15, I rode my bicycle through Los Angeles to the Southern Pacific freight yards in Burbank.  There I joined my dad, whose outfit cars were waiting temporary assignment in Winnemucca, Nevada.  it was quite an experience riding in the outfit cars as part of a long freight train travelling through the mountains.  We were moved onto a siding just outside of the city.  My dad's job was to supervise crews who took welding equipment out onto the railroad and built up the joints which were battered down by the train wheels.  One car was the cook's car where meals were prepared and served.  I spent a great deal of time with the cook playing cards during his idle hours. I did learn to wield a sledge hammer which was used by one part of the crew.  After the weld, the joint had to have a cut made in the weld where the tracks joined to allow for expansion.

           

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 on a rainy night, late, when no cars were in the way and turn my wheels and brake at the same time and spin.

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-time) my sister took the bug up to Hollywood and that was the last I saw of it.  The other car had a sad ending also.

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 area.  He was a retired sea captain and experimented with whale guns.  There was also, in the area, a group training for a circus act, and they had given him an old trampoline net made out of woven cotton rope.  He had built a frame out of old lumber, and he suggested we come out and try it out.  From then on, that was where I spent a lot of my weekend time. We weren't satisfied until we learned all the tricks we had seen professionals do.

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 pier and tear up the cement walks along the beach where I carried papers.

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 to se where I had lived in my earlier years.  A bicycle in those days was a great means of transportation because there were few cars on the roads.  Today, it is hard to visualize that there ever was such a time.

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.  There I met a girl who became my steady for the remainder of my years in Long Beach.  Don Gustuson and I met two girls who were close friends: one lived close by and the other who lived away out in 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 where I had to go to get my driver license.  I passed ok.

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.  My next car was purchased from a used car lot with the money I had received from the Workman’s Compensation accident when I went along as a supervisor with a group attending an ice rink in Los Angeles.  The car was an off brand (Jewet if I remember right).  It didn't last until my 2nd payment was due.  I loaned it to a friend while I attended a diving meet in San Francisco.  When I returned, the car wasn't running too good and again I went into a garage.  The mechanic checked it out and informed me the block was cracked and would be quite expensive to fix up.  He suggested I just take it back to the used car lot or inform them where it was.  I informed the lost and that was the last I heard of it.

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 known as the Mt. Lowe Incline.  It was a cable car that went right up the side of the mountain about 200 yards where it met a street car which traveled around the mountain to a resort known as Mt. Lowe.  From there we hiked five miles to Opids Camp, which was about a mile from the Y camp.  Our baggage had been taken by truck that far by way of a road over Mt. Wilson.  We had to lug our baggage to the camp.

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.  Shorty rode a motorcycle, so I didn't travel much with him away from the Y.  He finally got a side car and that did get me around a little more.  But the big change came when Shorty went away to the YMCA College in Chicago.  He got a job there at the Hull House, which helped him with his expenses.  I started considering going to the YMCA College to prepare for the YMCA as a career.

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.  Don Anderson had his job at the Y, so Shorty applied to Whittier College for a job as Freshman football coach.  In so doing, he paved the way for me to attend Whittier College.  It so happened that about that time, Whittier College was adding a course in YMCA work under the direction of J. Gustav White.  That helped me make up my mind to go to Whittier College.  Actually, until this all came up, I had not considered college at all.  I had no money, and my school grades were poor.  I can not remember any of my family ever suggesting I should strive for good grades so I could go on to 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 “Saga”1930, Billy McAlister is pictured with the Track Team on p.134 and mentioned as a competitor in the Pole Vault. He is also mentioned on p.140 of the “Saga” as member of the LBJC Swimming and Diving Team and as holder of the Pacific Southwest Championship Crown in Diving.]

It was on these accomplishments that Shorty was able to sell my talents to Whittier College.  He arranged for me, through Verne Landreth, head of the P.E. Department, to teach gymnastics in order to pay my tuition. The deal was set and I was scheduled to enter Whittier in the Fall of 1930.  I started making my plans and saved $200 with which to go to college.  Shorty had purchased a Dodge sedan by this time, so transportation was no problem.  My girlfriend, whom I had gone steady with for a number of years, became pregnant about this time.  I was already committed to college, and it was too late for retreat.

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 earthquakes in 1933. 

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.  We got to the dance OK, but by the time the dinner was over and we had had a few dances, they ordered the dance hall closed because of the continued aftershocks and fear of fire.  A peculiar incident while dancing with Carol - the band leader brought out a little dog which he wanted to sell for $5.  Being a sucker for such things, I borrowed $5 from Jack and purchased the dog.  It turned out to be a rare breed of Papilian (which is quite a story in itself).

           

            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 and it was a shambles and burning.  The roads were blocked off and we couldn't get into the Long Beach area. It was a beautiful evening and Carol and I will forever remember our ride in the rumble seat with my little dog, which was to become named Weitzel.  It was the size of a chihuahua but the appearance of a toy Pomeranian.  We assumed it must have been a stolen dog and it was not in good health.  My mother nursed it along back to health.  The poor thing lived on cottage cheese for a long time before really improving.  It had a sad end: one day my mother gave it a chicken bone to chew on.  She had left it on the front porch and when she returned, it had choked to death.

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 mainland on a dream ship called Malola into a romantic unknown.  I had met people from the islands and there were different from us and I learned that they were not all that different; that the customs were a little odd sometimes and when you made an appointment, you clarified whether it was Hawaiian time or cost-time.  Cost time meant, be on time.         

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.  I purchased an Erskine car.  I don't remember too much about it other than it got me back and forth for the next year.   It had a bad habit of having the stick shift come loose when shifting, but somehow I managed.  I roomed at the Y for a good period of time until my mother finally came and lived with me and we had a little house out at Point Furnison. 

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.  She was late in picking me up and consequently, I arrived at the college after the graduation had started and I was too late to get into my cap and gown.  We watched the graduation from the stands.

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 which was surrounded by Eucalyptus trees at one end a part of the harbor at the other.  Taking off, one flew over water (almost like taking off from a carrier deck, and coming in between the trees.  I took good flying and it was fun; but I couldn't dig up much money to pursue the sport.

           

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.  Frank and I had a lot of fun trying to develop something out of it.  We didn't get too far.  We did bulldoze a road into the property and bought a sentry house from War Surplus.  That was the extent of development.

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.  We also were close friends to the Superintendent and his wife.

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 and became what was described as the "90 day wonder" officer. I had hoped to get my training in Florida and the east coast.  Instead I was sent to the "ship of the desert" in Tucson, Arizona [likely The Naval Training Indoctrination School that was responsible for training over 10,000 men during World War II. The school’s headquarters were located in the Old Main Building on the University of Arizona campus from 1942 to 1945-RMc] for my initial training, then to Coronado, California for amphibious training, then to Astoria, Oregon, to become a part of a ship named the USS Ponderosa, an APA (Auxiliary Personnel Assault) vessel.  We immediately set sail for Seattle, WA to receive further training, then to San Francisco to pick up landing boats: 20 LCVP-9 (small landing boats) and 2 LCMs for heavy equipment.  Then instead of proceeding on to the 5th fleet operating in the Pacific, we were assigned to train crews for the new APA type ship.  We operated off the coast of Southern California for a number of months before being sent out to the Pacific War Zone.  To top it off, we were loaded with the first contingent of WACs (Women's Auxiliary Corps) to be sent overseas.  We dumped them in Honolulu and picked up a load of CVs (Construction Volunteers) to take to Okinawa where things were happening.  There we set off the shores of Nahar, Okinawa in an onlooker position while the war waged on.  The Battleship Oklahoma was nearby pouring shells onto the beaches and hills of Okinawa where the fighting was going.  There we encountered Kamikaze flyers.  We did get the job of making smoke with our P boats to hide the ships that were participating in this operation.  Eventually, we were sent to the other side of the island to Naja Harbor, which was 1/2 secured.  There we unloaded our CB.  While there we encountered both air Kamikaze and Kamikaze boats.  The Camas boats would start out at night from the Japanese portion of the island with depth charges, intent on coming along side of our ships and dropping their charges.  It was like a 4th of July celebration to watch the firing from shore and ships which would destroy these speedboats aiming for us.  The job of our P boats on these occasions was to circle our ship or nearby ships armed with machine guns. We had one encounter when a Kamikaze got through to an APA about 100 yards from our position.  He dropped his charge and blew a hole in the side of the AKA.  (In the process he blew his own boat and himself out of the water).  The AKA started to keel over, but the damage control got the hose sufficiently under control so that the ship did not sink.

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 while gaining altitude.  Some motorists did think it was funny.  They eventually took off and found the lake on the other side of town and decided to join up with the mallard ducks there.  After Bob came along and joined the family, we learned that he was allergic to cow's milk.  So we bought a female goat that was about to have kids.  So we learned about goats: milking, etc.

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.  Mackey bought 10 acres of it at $45.00 an acre and put it in our name.  We had lots of fun just going out there for picnics and making plans for the future (which never came about).  We did hire a bulldozer and bulldozed a road into the property from a nearby county road.  It was quite a road; but at least we could drive into the property.  Frank and I purchased two sentry houses (10' by 10') from a military base being deactivated.  We borrowed the Y.M.C.A. truck and hauled them in.  We got our little camp started, but about that time Vera and Frank moved to other places.  In the course of time, the houses were demolished by hunters coming through the hills to our property.  And after I moved to Fresno, our plans were completely abandoned.

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 on the use of a point system for attendance served me well.  I soon built up a maximum attendance.  The use of the Leaders Club system helped build attendance and get classes organized.  I installed a Tumble Bugs class for little kids, too young for the Leaders Club.  This worked great in introducing gymnastics to the smaller kids.  Trampoline proved a favorite activity in all age groups.

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, Louise Dole was a great influence in her life in many ways.

           

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 when they got up to that age.

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, he took a job with Buck Kandarian (an active Y man) taking care of pigs.  (He brought two pigs with him when we moved to 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 was more so.  She occupied her time be establishing a day nursery for kids in the neighborhood whose mamas worked.  In later years before moving to Madera, she got a job in the kitchen at the junior high school.  Don Twogood and family came to town and we did have much in common (our kids were about the same age as theirs).  The Y diving team opened up a new set of activities and involved going to meets here, there and everywhere.  But it also got me involved in running the first big meets held in Fresno.  Bob Crossland, whom I dove against in 1932 in the Olympic Trials in Pasadena, was also involved in this pursuit and we worked together (also Al White, a famous diver from San Francisco).

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 to participate on the Fresno Y Diving Team. It so happened that the Madera High School was completing a brand new swimming pool and was looking for a swimming and Diving coach.  My record seemed to fill the bill.  Age group swimming and diving was just beginning to be the big thing and our Y team had made quite a record with Gene Stephens handling the swimming and me, the diving.

           

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. to live with the McCormicks, [Olympic / National level coaches] and was diving for the LAAC [Los Angeles Athletic Club].  The boys expressed the hope that if we did move, we would get a place in Madera with a barn on it. They wanted to be away from town.

           

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, pigs from Buck Kandarian who had employed Bruce on his farm.

           

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 through the 8th grade then went on to high school.  He competed in some gymnastics and was on the swim and dive team all four years.  Don stayed with Howard School through the 6th grade, then attended Jefferson Jr. High School for his 7th and 8th grades.  Both Don and Bob participated on the Marlin Swim and Dive team, which made quite a record in the Merced Sun Star meet over the years.  Rick attended 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.  They had a boy named Don who was the same age as our son Don and a terrific performer.  We obtained from them a pit tramp.  So we did some excavating in the wing sections of the barn and made room for all three trampolines.  The story of the "Bouncing Barn" will come later.

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.  Both Dennis Rowe and Patrick Eaton went on to dive in College and later in Masters diving.  Another girl worth mentioning was Jan Smith, who did not dive until she was a junior in high school.  She was a gymnast and loved the trampoline.  She was the only girl to learn and perform and 2 and 1/2 back somersault in high school competition.  She placed 3rd in a Valley Championship in her senior year.  She also went on to dive for UCLA and has been a participant in Masters competition many years since.  Rick Earley is another diver to participate in the Masters diving.

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 just wasn't a winter sport.  The Girl's Gym at the high school had what was called an activity room and I was able to gain the use of it in after school hours for both a boys program and a girls program.  It culminated with a gymnastic meet at the end of the season and also a final gymnastic show.  Eventually, it ended up with a high school gymnastic team for girls which I assisted with but did not run.  In the final stages, when the gymnastic Federation gained momentum and became very advanced and complicated in the competition, I dropped out of the picture.  At that stage of the game, I decided diving was my thing.

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.  There, the doctor had to operate on the knee to get the capella down to its proper place and sew it together.  The doctor said it was like sewing shredded wheat.  I was in a cast for six months.  The doctor informed me that I would never jump again.  (2) In line of the section on high school divers, I did not mention Mike Chalbeck.  It so happened that Mike was the son of a Navy Commander at the Lemoore Air Base.  He was a diver on the Lemoore diving team and placed first in the Junior Varsity Valley Championship the same year that Donald took the Varsity title in Don's senior year.  Mike's dad had brought him to Madera on a number of occasions to practice under my coaching.  It so happened that Mike's dad was to be transferred to an eastern base the next year and they learned that there was no high school diving there.  An arrangement was made for Mike to live with us for his senior year and attend Madera High School.  Rick was not yet in high school (8th grade) so that left me with no real prospect for a top diver in my H.S. program.  Mike filled in very nicely and won the Valley championship hands down.  He also qualified for All-American H.S. recognition.

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.  It was exciting for many years.  It seemed like the enthusiasm for trampoline would never run out.  However, it gradually died down and became a sport mainly for kids interested in diving.  In those years, I was able to spot the kids who would make good divers and by combining my trampoline program with my Marlin Diving program, I was able to produce top performers.  My reputation as a diving coach grew. It was soon noticed that Madera had more trampolines in back yards per capita than any other city in the U.S.

           

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 Tribune

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 as a Masters Diver inductee into the Hall of Fame.

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 every U.S. Masters championship since 1973, earning more than 142 gold medals in national and international competition.

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 U.S. Olympic team: Johnny Riley, Marshall Wayne, Al Green, Dutch Smith, Frank Kurtz and Dick Degener. It was during this time that Bill developed a new dive, a front somersault with a full twist, then ducking it in for a 1 1/2. The only twisting dive at the time was a required standing forward dive with a full twist. McAlister asked Johnny Riley to watch him do the first one and it must have been quite a sight. McAlister became one of the first to perform this new dive which became known as the “5132”.

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 Long Beach Harbor. It had a wooden frame and nets all around to keep people from falling off.

McAlister worked at the YMCAs in Fullerton and Fresno, before settling in Madera in 1958 where he was the swimming and diving coach at Madera High School. He also began an AAU program for swimming and diving.

Although he retired from full-time teaching in 1973, McAlister stayed on as coach at Madera until 1989. He coached the high school team for 31 years and the pool there has since been named in his honor. Divers throughout the valley would come to his country home to learn proper techniques on the much-improved trampolines in his “Bouncing Barn” an old barn-type structure with a high ceiling located at his home. He loved working with children and helping them to develop their skills.

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 California state junior college champion while attending Fresno City College. His youngest son, Rick, won the 1974 NCAA 3-meter springboard title while at the U.S. Air Force Academy, winning golds in Springboard in all of their competitions and Conferences in both 1974 and 1975.