PREPS / ROB FERNAS : In 1966, Vollnogle Had to Bring in the ‘Swat’ Team

Carson High football Coach Gene Vollnogle has earned a reputation for his mild-mannered approach to coaching. He prefers to compliment his players when they do well rather than rant and rave when they make mistakes.

But there have been exceptions. Such was the case before the 1966 season.

Vollnogle--who will be gunning for the 300th victory of his coaching career, including B-level games, when Carson plays at Lynwood at 7:30 Friday night--had warned his 1966 team not to be late for a preseason meeting at school.

Carson was coming off three consecutive losing seasons, and Vollnogle had promised himself that he would run a tighter ship.

When four of the Colts’ standout players--including that year’s L.A. City player of the year, Bob Bartlett--walked into the meeting four minutes late, Vollnogle was put on the spot to enforce his new code of discipline.

“The pressure was on us,” he said. “These were our four stars. We brought them up and gave them a swat for each minute they were late. In those days, you could use a swatter. It was brutal. It could have been child abuse.

“When the other players saw that, they said: ‘My God, those are our stars. If that happens to them, what’s going to happen to us?’ ”

Needless to say, Vollnogle didn’t encounter too many discipline problems the rest of the year. Carson went on to post an 11-0 record and capture the first of the school’s seven L.A. City Section titles.

Chris Ferragamo, the former Banning High and Harbor College football coach, played center on Vollnogle’s first varsity team in 1957 at Banning.

What does he remember about his old coach?

“He never let us get water,” Ferragamo said with a laugh. “He thought we were camels.”

The Pilots finished 9-2 that season and reached the City title game, losing to Manual Arts, 23-13.

One of the South Bay’s more impressive varsity football debuts was turned in last week by San Pedro quarterback Rino Marconi. The junior completed six of 14 passes for 125 yards and one touchdown in a 29-8 victory over University High of West Los Angeles.

“He’s really good,” said Pirate Coach Henry Pacheco. “His stats would have been better, but we had a couple of dropped passes.”

Pacheco was also pleased with the play of his defense, which limited University to six yards total rushing. He singled out the performances of linebacker Matt Ybarra, tackle Chris Martinez and free safety Herb Whitaker, who led the Pirates with eight unassisted tackles and seven assists.

San Pedro travels to face North Hollywood at 8 p.m. Friday.

Palos Verdes, following its 32-0 victory over North Torrance, has moved into the No. 1 spot in the CIF-Southern Section Division VIII sportswriters’ football poll.

The Sea Kings (2-0) overtook previous No. 1 Cabrillo of Lompoc, which lost to Righetti of Santa Maria, 20-13. West Torrance (2-0) is ranked second behind Palos Verdes, while Redondo (2-0) is ranked eighth.

In Division III, Hawthorne (2-0) maintained its hold on the No. 1 ranking despite increased support for Esperanza of Anaheim, the No. 2-ranked team. That might have something to do with the teams’ scores the past two weeks.

Esperanza (2-0) opened the season with a 20-3 victory over Santa Ana, and Hawthorne beat Santa Ana 20-17 last week.

Leuzinger’s football team, which was riddled with injuries last season, is having the same problem this year.

The Olympians played without six starters, five of whom were injured, last week in a 27-13 loss to Paramount. Missing in action were fullback-linebacker Manny Gonzalez (broken hand), defensive end Charlie Gonzalez (dislocated elbow), offensive lineman Rayne Mack (injured back), running back Anthony Cooley (separated shoulder) and tight end Mario Arnold (pulled hamstring).

Center Sam Alvarado was suspended from the game for his involvement in a fight on campus, Coach Steve Carnes said.

PREP NOTES--Agoura, led by highly regarded Deena Drossin, edged Palos Verdes, 61-62, last weekend in a meeting of girls’ cross-country powers at the Woodbridge Invitational in Irvine. Agoura is ranked second nationally by Harrier magazine, while Palos Verdes is ranked sixth. Both teams decided last week to move up to the major division (I-AA) for Southern Section competition. Palos Verdes previously was classified as a III-AA team, while Agoura was in the II-AA division. . . . Miraleste’s water polo team had a nice showing in the Millikan Tournament last weekend, reaching the championship game before losing to Capistrano Valley, 13-7. . . . David Rosato, a senior receiver-defensive back for South Torrance, enjoyed a big game in a losing effort against Redondo, 20-7, last week. Rosato, an All-South Bay shortstop in baseball, caught two passes for 58 yards and returned two interceptions for 77 yards.