While doing some background reading for our VarsityXtra cover story this week, the Prep Czar (below) and I have dug through a few old-school media guides.
Les Willsey: The East Valley’s human archive for high school football.
Among them was a Tempe McClintock media guide from 20 years ago, when Karl Kiefer ran the Chargers.
Karl Kiefer, long before any current high school kids were ever dreamed about.
Kiefer’s boss as Chargers athletic director: Dr. Harold Slemmer (now the boss of all the state’s high school athletic programs).
His assistants: Phil Abbadessa (now the Phoenix Mountain Pointe coach) and Dick Baniszewski (now the Chandler Hamilton athletic director).
But the real kicker came from a St. Mary’s program circa 1967, a state championship team which included a sophomore cornerback in Pat Farrell (the hair hasn’t moved) and a senior prankster who couldn’t tackle in safety Jim Ewan (now the coach at Chandler).
Believe this: If we could successfully transition those photos into the computer age, it would have happened long ago.
But we can’t, so we’re left to enjoy the grainy, black-and-white Polaroid of yester-year.
