Woodhouse honored

Don Cantrell

Bob Woodhouse coached two San Diego County high school football

teams over 26 years winning 160 games, losing only 68 and tying five,

despite never coaching on a home field.

He has drawn numerous honors during that time, but one of the most

significant career salutes will arrive Wednesday evening at the Scottish

Rites Center, Mission Valley, San Diego.

That’s when more than 600 people gather to celebrate the inaugural

induction of 42 coaches in the “San Diego County High School Coaching

Legends” awards program.

Woodhouse, 66, graduated from Newport Harbor High in 1951, is already ranked among the most notable coaches at the state prep level.

He was inducted in 1988 into the National Football Foundation Hall of

Fame and named as recipient of the Clare Can Hoorebeke Award for

outstanding contributions to prep football in Southern California in

1994.

A spokesman for the sponsoring San Diego Hall of Champions said, “Bob

Woodhouse-coached teams were always known for their tenacity and strict

discipline--he believed everyone was a starter, just give 100 percent.”

Looking back over his 26 years of coaching at San Marcos and San

Pasquel high schools in San Diego County, Woodhouse said the teams

“always dressed at home and the buses were always parked in front of our

home.”

He drove the buses for a period of time, but his late wife, Sandy,

later drove them for years.

At the close of her career before she passed away some years ago,

Sandy was honored with a handsome scroll for years of outstanding service

by the Pioneer School Bus Drivers Association, headquartered in New

Mexico.

His two schools in San Diego County generally played their games at

Escondido and Orange Glen high schools.

Unbeknownst to most old friends and relatives, Woodhouse spent another

nine years being unable to play or coach on a home field.

That included playing time at Orange Coast College and Long Beach

State College and 15 years of coaching as an assistant at Rancho Alamitos

High in the Garden Grove area.

In the early days, Orange Coast teams played at either Harbor or

Huntington Beach high schools. Long Beach State played at Veteran’s

Stadium.

Woodhouse was an outstanding tackle for two years at Harbor High under

Coach Al Irwin in 1948, ’49 and ’50. The ’49 team won eight, lost one and

scored 323 points

The ’48 team was 5-4 while the ’50 team finished 6-3.

The OCC team won the Eastern Conference championship in 1951.

Woodhouse also helped lead Harbor High to a track and field

championship in 1950 by winning his share of half-mile runs.

His San Marcos team won the 1966 San Diego section CIF title and was

runner-up in 1978 with San Pasqual.

Woodhouse, who was named San Marcos Man of the Year by the City of San

Marcos in 1970, kept a long friendship going with his college mate Ivan

Seaton. Seaton was has assistant coach for years.

His brothers, Don and Wesley, were athletes at Harbor prior to his

prep arrival. Both were pole vaulters while Wesley was also a varsity

gridder. Don was a top cheerleader.

Some of the star gridders who linked up with Woodhouse at Harbor in

‘49 and ’50 were fullback Bob Berry, halfback Mel Smalley and Morrie

Langdale, guard John Kingston, end Glenn Griffith, fullback Larry

McMasters, halfback Dick Jones, guard Gino Boero and halfback Wayne

Welty.

Prior to high school, many Costa Mesa lads drew football coaching from

Rod MacMillian, athletic director of the Harbor Area Boys’ Club, located

near Lions Field.

After some retirement years had passes, Woodhouse moved on to

Cottonwood, Arizona and picked up a fair number of pastimes, including

bow and arrow shooting, pistol shooting, biking and country western

dancing.

Woodhouse loves the wide open northern desert of Arizona, but tries to

live with intense heat that sometimes comes with summer in Cottonwood and

Sedona.

However, he loves the beauty all find in that country, especially in

the red-rock country of Sedona 15 miles west of Cottonwood.