Month: November 2006

Photo: Pescadero High’s Soccer Team. Which one is “Skinny” Elbert Pinkham? “Mountain Lion” Lloyd Locke? “Flashy” Henry McCormick?

There was a luscious blackberry patch on Pescadero High’s school grounds and the students joked that picking the berries was the chief sport during the season–but another sport, this one more traditional, was gaining popularity.

Soccer was establishing a following throughout the county leading to the formation of Pescadero High’s first soccer team.

Although the game was virtually unknown to Pescadero’s boys, the “Bob Cats” quickly learned the fundamentals, scoring goals by shooting balls only with their heads or feet.

A small but loud rooting section of classmates pushed them on. Team members included Henry McCormick, the “flashy” center forward who scored most of the Bob Cat’s goals.

It was said he could kick a goal, wink at a girl–and “bunt” an opponent in the shins, all at the same time.

“Skinny” Elbert Pinkham was the tough goalie that stopped many “a hot one” with his “million dollar wallop” while “Mountain Lion” Lloyd Locke, a transfer from hated Half Moon High, was a guard “who used his head and feet with equal ease.”

Pescadero’s fighting Bob Cats competed against San Mateo, San Jose and Colma’s Jefferson High–but their blood enemies were the Half Moon Bay “Yellow Jackets.”

When the day of the big game between the rivals came around, the weather was dreadful–the rain torrential–but it didn’t dampen the crowd’s spirits.

The Pescadero chanted:

“It’s Pescadero’s day!
Just watch us in the frag,
What’s that you say,
About the team
From Half Moon Bay?
Shhh! Not so loud
Oh, please don’t make me laugh,
Just show the way
To Half Moon Bay
For this is dear old
Pescadero’s day.”

By all accounts, the horrible weather conditions turned the field into a quagmire–and the players slipped and skidded–making the game even more thrilling.

Pescadero scored the first goal–the ball shooting out of “one of the hottest melees ever seen.” At halftime the score was Pescadero 2, Half Moon Bay, 1.

The Pescaderans continued chanting:

“Carnelian and Blue
Oh, Boy! We’re strong for you.
What can we do
To Show you that our hearts are true!
We’ll fight the foe
Until we win win the game or die
So hold ’em boys
We’ll fight for our
Carnelian and Blue.”

But things changed quickly in the second half. At a crucial point one of Pescadero’s Bob Cats slipped in the slime, the skidding ball just elduing goalie “Skinny” Pinkham–and the ball slithered into the net–tying the game.

Half Moon Bay, with a little more experience, would finally eke out a victory over the gallant Pescadero Bob Cats, who remained noble in defeat.

The Pescadero soccer team may not have won all their games but they claimed the distinction of being the only county school soccer team that had their photographs taken by a bona fide motion picture syndicate which happened to be in the area shooting the silent film called “The Timber Pirates”.

Wish I knew what happened to that movie!

Photo: Students at Pescadero High, 1926.

The kids from Pescadero High were reminiscing about an exciting field trip they had made to Davenport in 1924.

Twelve students and their teacher, Miss Kartheiser, got into three cars–when, a short time later there was the sound of a sharp crack followed by a “pfffftttt”.

No surprise. It was a flat tire–but no one despaired.

This was an ideal time for a picnic lunch. The happy group might have tarried–but they had a schedule to follow.

First stop was Swanton to see the Big Creek Power Plant, located in a steep-walled canyon. Then on to Davenport to view the electrically operated cement plant, said to be the second largest in the world.

The plant’s 500 employees produced 40 carloads of cement per day. The students witnessed a demonstration of how cement–comprised of crushed limestone, mixed with clay and gypsum–was manufactured.

According to a 1920’s Pescadero High yearbook, there were many other field trips–all fondly remembered. The “Peninsula Pageant of Progress” held in San Carlos drew special attention.

The event was more like a County Fair and there was a competition between the area’s high schools. First prize was $15 and a coveted silver cup awarded for the exhibit best representing the high school’s hometown.

Pescadero High’s students decided to build a scale model of the town’s most famous landmark: the Pigeon Point lighthouse. The kids worked diligently to complete the model, including exacting details such as the surrounding roads, farms and ranches.

Their lighthouse was the hit of the San Carlos Fair and more admiring visitors stopped at the Pescadero High booth than any other. The Pigeon Point model won the $15 first prize and the silver cup.

Unfortunately they never got the cup–the embarrassed promoters of the pageant had run out of money.

…To Be Continued…