South to Draw On a Versatile Cast in Shrine Game

The team of the future will give an old-fashioned flavor to the Shrine high school all-star football game this year.

The Shrine game often features the college and professional stars of tomorrow, but the South team has a number of throwbacks to an earlier time, a group of modern-day Jim Thorpes who excel on both sides of the line of scrimmage.

In these days of specialty football and situation players, the South team, with its plethora of two-way players, may seem about as modern as a Model-T, but it runs on a turbocharged engine of speedy athletes.

South Coach Bill Redell, the former Crespi High coach, will explore a number of combinations when the game kicks off today at 6 p.m. in the Rose Bowl.

“It does give you a lot of versatility,” Redell said. “One of the problems in an all-star game is giving them the opportunity to play. . . . From an offensive standpoint, what we have to do is take advantage of the players we have and get them loose in the secondary.”

While Redell enjoys a wealth of backfield talent, his options have been curtailed somewhat by injuries to a pair of Cal-bound standouts, tailback Russell White and quarterback Perry Klein.

Klein, who led Carson to the City Section 4-A title last season, hurt his back during practice this week. White, the state career rushing leader at Crespi, has tendinitis in his right knee and spent most of the week in therapy.

“He made some very fine progress this week,” Redell said of White. “We think he’ll be able to go, but we won’t know until he warms up. He won’t start.”

Even with White and Klein playing limited roles, Redell will still draw on a capable backfield corps.

Jet-quick quarterback Curtis Conway of Hawthorne will be at the throttles for the South. The South co-captain was the state 100-meter champion in the spring and his speed may also be employed at wide receiver and tailback.

Backup quarterback Ron Redell of Crespi is slated for extra duty at defensive back. Strong safety Tommie Smith, also a South co-captain, could play a few series in the offensive backfield.

“We’ll try to work him in at tailback,” Redell said of Smith, who played at Antelope Valley. “A lot of it depends on if Russell can go or not. Tommie may be the best tailback we have.”

Cleveland’s Sean Burwell may play running back at Oregon but will play cornerback for the South. Brian Allen of Hart will start at tight end.

Agoura’s Carrick O’Quinn has impressed the South coaching staff and will start at inside linebacker. Rick McCathron of Thousand Oaks will back up Palmdale’s Jim Nevelle at right tackle.

The Shrine game matches Northern California’s best players against Southern California’s finest. Southern California leads the series, 17-14 with five ties.

This is billed as the 38th Shrine game but is only the 37th time the game has been played. It was cancelled in 1984 because of a scheduling conflict.