La Jolla Could Lose Its Shirt : Torrey Pines Favored to End Era in Prep Tennis

SAN DIEGO —  The tennis players and their friends at La Jolla High School have special T-shirts printed up each year, chronicling the accomplishments of the Viking boys’ tennis team. Each time La Jolla wins another San Diego Section team championship, another year is added to the list on the back of the shirt.

It is getting a little crowded on the latest edition. Last spring, the Vikings won their 15th consecutive title, an unparalleled feat in San Diego prep history.

However, if local tennis observers are correct in their predictions, there won’t be any 1985 T-shirt.

The Vikings are 10-0 this season, but Torrey Pines is favored by many coaches to win the title. Even the La Jolla coach is among those who think Torrey Pines is the team to beat.

“They have the superstars on top, guys like Craig Ellison,” said Mike Corle, in his third year as Viking coach. “We don’t have any superstars, any automatic points. But we do have depth.”

If the Falcons--or any other team--knock off La Jolla, it will be the end of an era.

“It would have to be a big thing,” said Corle, who is stepping down after this season because of family commitments. “I’d have to compare our streak to that of UCLA in basketball, Oklahoma in football, the Boston Celtics in the NBA. I think you’d have to search the nation far and wide to find something like our streak. But it’s inevitable that it ends sometime.”

During its 15-year run, La Jolla has been home to players whose fame extended beyond San Diego. Raul Ramirez played for the Vikings, as did Roger Knapp, Jack Kruger, Chico Hagey and Jack Griffin.

The team was also a focal point for controversy that resulted in a change in CIF eligibility rules for prep athletes. Ramirez was among several standouts who came from Mexico to play for then-coach Russ Lanthorne. Knapp moved from Iowa to La Jolla to play tennis. Eligibility guidelines were altered in the late 1970s to discourage such moves.

Since then, with a team of purely “local boys,” the Vikings have prevailed--sometimes by the skin of their racket strings. Last year, La Jolla and Bishop’s, a private school located less than a mile from La Jolla High, tied, 14-14, in the final, but the Vikings won when total games were counted, 104-101.

Corle said La Jolla’s upscale economic standing, with its emphasis on activities such as tennis, is a major reason for the team’s continuing success.

“These kids are raised on tennis courts,” he said. “Many of them have courts at home. There are more courts per capita in La Jolla than anywhere else in the county. And, obviously, the tradition helps. But there has been a leveling off in talent.”

Some of Corle’s colleagues agree on the importance of the Viking tradition. Bill Scott, who coaches the Bishop’s boys’ team along with John Hammermeister, said he considers Torrey Pines the best team, but refused to count La Jolla out.

“La Jolla’s going to be hard to beat,” said Scott, whose Knights lost to La Jolla last week, 14 1/2-13 1/2. “They have good, solid doubles teams. They also have that tradition. I’ve run into that with boys’ and girls’ teams. You get into matches (against La Jolla) you’re supposed to win, and it doesn’t happen.”

Still, Scott added, “Torrey Pines is the class team. Then there are a lot of teams right after them--La Jolla, Ramona, Mount Carmel, us--and anybody could beat anybody and get to the finals against Torrey Pines. It all depends on what side of the (tournament) draw you get.”

Mount Carmel Coach Tony Goffredo, whose Sundevils tied La Jolla, 14-14, but lost on games, 113-108, early in the season, had a similar assessment.

“Torrey Pines is the team to beat, definitely,” he said. “I don’t even know if La Jolla is second.”

Such talk inspires the Vikings.

“I like it better this way,” said senior Steve Mosher, who teams with senior Barry Saywitz in doubles. “I’d rather be the underdog.”

Said Saywitz: “To think we’ve been winning for 15 years is something special. Everyone in the community knows about it. I’m sure a lot of the former players will be there (at the projected showdown with Torrey Pines), rooting for us.”

Senior Peter Charlton, the Vikings’ top singles player, said he considers the La Jolla tradition to be a burden rather than a comfort.

“It’s important to me, it’s been 15 years and we’ve got to keep it going,” he said. “But I don’t think the tradition helps us at all. It hurts us, especially this year. Everybody’s rooting for Torrey Pines, they want it to change.”

Corle said if La Jolla is to win championship No. 16, it will have to get contributions from all of its players, especially the doubles teams, Saywitz and Mosher and Jason Holquist and Mike Mitchell.

“We have some real good players, but none will go on to USC or Stanford or UCLA, and that’s heresy for La Jolla,” he said. “But this is the deepest team I’ve had. It doesn’t have any weak spots. For us to beat Torrey Pines, we have to have contributions from everybody, all four singles and both doubles. Nobody has to win everything, but everybody has to give us some points.”