Sixty years ago, on May 16, 1957, Paul Wiggin, All-American tackle at Stanford, signed his contract with the Cleveland Browns, professional football team, and will report to the training camp near Cleveland on July 24. Wiggin is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Francis P. Wiggin Sr. of Lathrop and has had an outstanding football career, beginning with Manteca High, Modesto Junior College and the past three years on the Stanford varsity.
In other sports stories
from the Bulletin files:
80 years ago: May 13, 1937 – Although receiving a setback in his fight with Dick Blanchard in Sacramento Saturday night, Tillie Delnero, Manteca’s battling Italian middleweight, is not at all discouraged and is scheduled to meet the same opponent in Stockton next Tuesday night. Tillie’s big brother, Jimmie, will be seen on the same card.
Seven thinclads from Manteca High placed in the Central California CIF track and field meet held in Sacramento Saturday and thus qualified to compete in the Northern Section meet in Modesto next Saturday. Those unlimited speedsters of Coach Marcus Swinney who placed are Clarence Nilsson in the 880, Carrol Hall and Jim Connors in the 440 and Sam Woods in the high hurdles.
Manteca’s 20-30 Club entry in the Valley Baseball League suffered their first loss of the season last Sunday at the hands of the Solari Inn team at Linden, by a score of 11 to 5. The Mantecans still top the league, however, with five wins and one loss. The locals were minus their regular battery of Joe Escobar, pitcher, and Bill Rice, catcher. Fred Theiler and George Fagundes were on the mound.
70 years ago: May 17, 1947 – Earl Klapstein, a Lodi native and an alumnus of the College of the Pacific, has been employed by the Manteca High School as director of physical education and head of boys’ sports for the coming year. He will replace John Camicia as varsity football coach. Coupled with the announcement of the employment of Mr. Klapstein, Principal J. F. Bisig announced the hiring of a Manteca boy, Robert Theiler, as an assistant coach and an instructor in social studies for the coming year.
Manteca High lost a close game to Sonora High in Sonora last Friday afternoon. The score was 4 to 3. The Buffaloes scored three runs in the first inning, but went scoreless the rest of the way. Sonora scored the winning run in the extra inning. Leonard Dias had two hits for Manteca.
60 years ago: May 16, 1957 – Manteca High broke loose with five runs in the sixth inning to edge Ceres High 5 to 4. Tony Jacklich was the winning pitcher.
Gary Barlow, the Manteca High star sprinter, led the Buffalo cindermen to second place in the Valley Oak League track meet held at Modesto last Wednesday, as he captured the 100 yard dash in :10.2. The 220 was won by Barlow in the time of :22.2, which tied the old record, and he was o also on the winning relay team as anchor man. Taking the other first for the Buffaloes was Jim Mayfield, heaving the shot put at a distance of 47-1.5.
The Manteca High swimming team took the overall meet over Liberty High in the opposing pool last Wednesday by a score of 69 to 58. The 50 and 100 yard freestyles were won by Bill Kirby, Manteca star swimmer.
50 years ago: May 12, 1967 – Manteca High pushed one run across in the top of the ninth inning to edge Tracy High, 2-1 at the Tracy diamond on Wednesday. Mike O’Rourke scored the winning run from third base on a squeeze bunt by Tom Murphy. Tom Kelso got two hits for the Buffaloes in the game.
The Lincoln High frosh baseball team edged the East Union High yearlings 10-9 in a low-hit, high-scoring game last Monday afternoon. The Lancers are now 5-1 in VOL action.
40 years ago: May 12, 1977 – Both Manteca and East Union High Schools will be well-represented at the important VOL track finals tomorrow at Modesto Junior College. The Buffaloes and the Lancers qualified a host of tracksters during last Thursday’s conference trials, which were conducted despite gusty, dust-swirling winds at Guss Schmiedt Field. Leading the MHS effort was senior Jeff Watson, whose 54-6 throw in the shot put broke a 14-year-old school record set by Larry Lathrop, now a Manteca High teacher and coach. The EU boys may be paced by Miles Cardoza, who was clocked in :16.7 in the 120 high hurdles last Thursday. That was the lowest time among VOL hurdlers.
Only a half-hour after finishing the mile race, Manteca High harrier Gonzalo Aguilar crossed the finish line in the Ceres Invitational Track Meet’s two-mile run with a time of 9:36, breaking the school’s existing mark set by Nick Rodriguez in 1972.
The first six batters reached base and scored for Manteca High in the top of the sixth inning Tuesday afternoon—reason number one why the Buffaloes ran away and hid from East Union High in the late going, 10-1. Senior lefthander Darrell Womack was in top form for his final prep outing. Womack struck out 10, walked only three and yielded only two hits. Both hits came with two out in the third, when Tim Ramil doubled to right centerfield and scored on a single to right by shortstop Neil Prater.
Senior Tony Horton toured the Oakdale Golf and Country Club links in 79 to make his second straight trip to the sections as his Manteca High golf team qualified, along with Oakdale and Sonora High Schools. East Union High’s best round was an 84 by sophomore David Perry.
Ending its season on a good note, Manteca High’s tennis team defeated cross-town rivals East Union High 11.5-3.5 Tuesday on the local courts. Leading the way for the Buffaloes was Javier Castillo as he managed to defeat all three of his opponents. Lee Griffin and Mark Pinto won two out of their three matches as the Buffaloes won easily in their singles matches. In doubles play, the MHS duo of Randy Adair/James Bylow won both of its matches and Jeff Brock/Paul Moore split their matches.
30 years ago: May 13, 1987 – While senior pitcher Cathy Cortez was hurling a record-setting third no-hitter, her East Union High teammates combined for nine hits—including a barrage of three home runs in the first inning—to master Livingston High 13-0 at the Northgate Softball Complex Tuesday afternoon. The win clinched the VOL championship for the third year in a row for the Lady Lancers.
East Union High exploded for 13 runs in the second inning and went on to pummel Livingston High 22-10 in a league baseball game Tuesday. The victory gives EU a share of the league championship—its first since 1975. Tom Madrid had two extra-base hits for Coach Darrell Hardcastle’s nine, now 16-6 on the year.
A seventh-inning comeback fell short for Manteca High and the Buffaloes lost 5-4 to Los Banos High to drop to 5-16 overall in baseball action. Eric Hill had 2-for-4, including a double, with three RBI’s in a losing cause.
Manteca High won both team titles in the VOL track meet held Thursday afternoon at Guss Schmiedt Field. The Buffalo girls held off Oakdale High 82-70, while the MHS boys dominated with 108 points. East Union High’s Trina Dutcher set a school record leap of 5-0 in the high jump and Jon Fletcher took first in the 200 meters with a personal best of 23.95. Manteca High’s Joe Johnson captured the high jump with a career-best of 6-4.
Manteca High’s softball team hung on to take a 9-5 win over Central Catholic High yesterday as Coach Bill Mendosa tried to play as many of his players as he could. Brenda Moffat had a triple and Jill Gleaves, a double, for the Lady Buffs.
Manteca High’s tennis team set up its big season showdown with Oakdale High Tuesday by whipping Los Banos High 12.5-2.5 in a league contest on the MHS courts. Meanwhile, East Union High completed its season with a 15-0 loss to Livingston High. For the Buffaloes, Stephen Sanguinetti and Eric Reis each won three singles matches, while the doubles team of Jon Belluomini/James Smith won a pair to power the Buffaloes.
20 years ago: May 15, 1997 – The Sierra High boys’ track team captured the VOL title at the league meet on a sweltering Modesto JC oval. Coach Greg Leland’s runners totaled 137 points over runner-up Tracy High’s 73. The T’wolves had three individual champions: Antoine Lewis in the 110 high hurdles (14.85), Anthony Chapman in the 300 intermediate hurdles (40 flat) and Jeremy Lum in the pole vault (13-6). The latter two were both school records. The T’wolves set meet records in both relays. Dohnie Royster, Preston Pate, Eli Campbell and Henry Turner blazed out to a 41.96 clocking in the 4x100 to set a new league meet mark. Then, in the final event of the meet, Turner, Jimmy Ross, Leon Thompson and Vince Carter cranked out a 3:23.8 in the 4x400, also a new meet record. East Union High’s VOL champions were Ryan Tarr in the triple jump (44-4.5) and Justin Willingham in the 3200 meters (9:33.98).
Banging out 12 hits—highlighted by a three-run homer by Kimiko Ota—the East Union High softball team crushed West High 15-3 on Thursday afternoon in Tracy. The game was called after six innings. Maisie Ota led the Lady Lancer attack with three hits and two RBI’s.
A stingy defense and well-placed hitting by the Manteca High softball team blanked West High 10-0 on Tuesday on the MHS diamond. Audrey Jackson led the MHS attack with three hits. Winning pitcher Ranette Sousa allowed just two hits while striking out two batters.
10 years ago: May 16, 2007 – East Union High freshman Kacie Dalton wasn’t even a part of the Lancers’ varsity soccer team when the season began. By the end of the day Tuesday, Dalton was responsible for sending EU to the second round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III playoffs after she booted the game’s only goal at the 65th minute to edge Rocklin’s Whitney High 1-0. Ashley McGuiness found Dalton open in the box for her 12th assist of the season.
The East Union High softball team moved halfway to the Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV championship Tuesday with a pair of wins at Arnaiz Stadium in Stockton. The Lancers managed to pull out a close one in the bottom of the sixth inning with a 2-1 win over Lincoln High. In the nightcap, EU had little trouble in dispatching Whitney High, 6-0. Erin Arevalo pitched a three-hitter and fanned 13 batters in the Lincoln win. Arevalo hurled the nightcap win with another three-hitter and 12 strikeouts. Rochelle Sellers had three hits in each game for the Lancers.
Sierra High junior Derek Sinclair highlighted a day of many highlights for area athlete s during Friday’s Valley Oak League track and field championships at Turlock’s Stanislaus State University. Sinclair shattered the seven year-old school record in the shot put with a heave of 49-5.5 to earn a first-place medal. He also won the discus at 139-4. Sinclair led the T’wolf boy s to the meet title. Also a double winner for SHS was Palmer Thiele who claimed the 1600 (4:39.26) and the 3200 (10:17.36).
Toby Fox struck out 10 in a five-inning one-hitter as Manteca High thumped visiting Weston Ranch High 18-0 Friday in their VOL baseball finale. Fox was just as deadly in the batter’s box as he went 4-for-4 with three doubles, six RBI’s and four runs scored for first-year coach Neil MacDannald.
Christian Edwards tripled and scored on a throwing error in the seventh inning as East Union High edged Sierra High 9-8 in baseball action yesterday. Brothers Wade and Seth Morten put on an offensive clinic. While Seth, a senior, hit two doubles and a single, his brother Wade hit a pair of identical, towering home runs in each of his first two at-bats, good for five RBI.
