Prep Friday : CENTRAL CONFERENCE SEMIFINAL : Happy Days at Bolsa Grande, Anaheim : For Once-Dominant Colonists, It Seems Tradition Is Back

They’re adding to the basics at Anaheim High School this week, meaning that the Colonists are learning more than just the three Rs.

Add to those subjects history which the Colonists hope will be repeated when they meet Bolsa Grande at 7:30 tonight in a Central Conference semifinal playoff game in Anaheim’s Glover Stadium.

Whether this team will live up to the Anaheim’s storied past remains to be seen, but at least these players have helped arouse the memories of a time when the Colonists were the preeminent football power in Orange County.

The signs of a return to glory are virtually everywhere at the Anaheim campus on Lincoln Avenue. Whether it’s the players’ T-shirts that proclaim “The Tradition is Back” or slogans painted on the school buildings (“Home of Champions,” “Colonist Spirit Knows No Limit”), the student body is being reminded that Anaheim High School was once synonymous with football supremacy.

Even the team’s game program reads “GLOVER STADIUM. . . . The House Built by Colonists Football.”

Thanks to a team that has reached the semifinals for the first time since 1975, the community has taken notice.

Anaheim (8-4) drew 4,000 for last week’s quarterfinal victory over La Habra. They expect at least that many against Bolsa Grande (11-1).

The hoopla over Anaheim’s past puts extra pressure on the players, but Coach Roger Stahlhut, an Anaheim graduate, says it will work to their advantage.

“This is a group of quality kids who appreciate their heritage,” Stahlhut said. “It’s good that they know that Anaheim has been successful before and can continue to be successful if they work hard enough at it.”

All of this suggests that Anaheim disappeared off the football map after the retirement of Clare VanHoorebeke in 1972. But under Stahlhut’s guidance, the Colonists have reached the playoffs seven of the past 10 years.

The difference is that this is the first team in some time that has captured the community’s imagination, which perhaps explains the appearance in Glover Stadium last week of a large number of Anaheim lettermen jackets bearing the legends ‘57, ‘62, and ’63.

And if there is a difference between this year’s team and the great ones of the 1950s and 1960s, it’s that no-name teamwork has replaced the star system that once prevailed among the Colonists.

Although quarterback Ernest Johnston, running back Joaquin Garcia, and linebacker Jeff Bell have been the standouts of this Anaheim squad, they have not been singled out for attention in the same manner that past players were.

Judging by their nicknames, the Colonists of yore had to be good to back them up: VanHoorebeke was The Dutch Master; star running back Mickey Flynn from the 1950s was the Ghost of La Palma and linebacker Pat Mahoney was the Anaheim Assassin in the 1960s.

Anaheim football begins, as always, with VanHoorebeke, the Colonists’ coach from 1950-1972, during which time they won 16 Sunset League titles, made 17 playoff appearances, and won Southern Section championships in 1956 and 1967.

“Used to be that if you wanted a seat at La Palma Park (as Glover Stadium was then known), you had to get there between 6:30 and 7 o’clock for an 8 o’clock game,” said Larry Quille, a retired teacher and the school’s unofficial historian. “Van used to think that 10,000 was a small crowd.”

To mark the 50th anniversary of the school’s football program in 1969, Quille did some research and found that in that time, Anaheim had played 66 schools from San Diego to Santa Barbara.

At its peak, Anaheim drew 41,000 to the Coliseum for the 1956 Southern Section championship game against Downey, which was coached by current Santa Ana Coach Dick Hill. The game ended in a 13-13 tie and the schools shared the championship.

Quille believes that aside from having a great coach in VanHoorebeke, Anaheim benefitted from the county’s population boom of the 1950s and 1960s, when it could draw on an enormous talent pool.

By the 1970s, there were eight schools in the Anaheim Union High School District alone, as well as Canyon in the Anaheim Hills, and there were just so many players to go around.

Too, the county’s population centers were shifting southward with such schools as El Modena, Foothill, El Toro, Mission Viejo and Capistrano Valley reaping the benefits.

Another major factor, according to Stahlhut, is that many of the students at Anaheim in the 1970s and 1980s were what Stahlhut termed first generation students in that they came from other areas and didn’t grow up with the school’s football tradition.

But one way or another, the Colonists are back, led by a coach who played at the school and is sure not only to keep the legacy alive, but make it grow once again.

“Roger’s worked hard for his program’s success and from having played there, I know that the community will support them down the line,” said Jerry Witte, who grew up in Anaheim and now coaches at Saddleback High School. “It’s nice to see people excited about Anaheim football again.”

BOLSA GRANDE vs. ANAHEIM Tonight at Glover Stadium, 7:30

BOLSA GRANDE MATADORS Garden Grove League (11-1)

Gahr Won, 34-12 Buena Park Won, 43-8 Savanna Won, 34-8 Artesia Won, 19-0 Valencia Lost, 33-10 Santiago Won, 21-0 Los Amigos Won, 38-6 Garden Grove Won, 42-14 Rancho Alamitos Won, 14-3 La Quinta Won, 28-17 Fullerton Won, 39-28 Tustin Won, 24-14

ANAHEIM COLONISTS Orange League (8-4)

Fullerton Lost, 14-7 Loara Lost, 24-0 Troy Lost, 10-0 Garden Grove Won, 35-0 Buena Park Won, 27-6 Western Won, 14-9 Savanna Won, 42-15 Magnolia Won, 26-0 Valencia Lost, 17-0 Brea-Olinda Won, 18-7 La Miranda Won, 14-7 La Habra Won, 19-0