Cal State Long Beach Sells Football Equipment to Semipros

There is no beach in Bellflower, but that did not deter Bob Schremp from making a great deal to buy used jerseys for his semipro football team.

Cal State Long Beach, which dropped football after the 1991 season, sold Schremp about 90 uniforms, plus other equipment for the Bellflower Bears. The price was right. Schremp paid the cash-strapped university about $2,800.

“Nobody wanted the stuff,” said Schremp, who has owned the Bears for 15 years. “They couldn’t get rid of it. The only guy who would want a lot of that would be a guy like me.”

During the last few years the university had football, the 49ers referred to themselves simply as “The Beach,” and some of the equipment has the school name on it.

The university threw in 100 travel bags, along with several hundred knee, thigh, hip and shoulder pads, 120 pairs of socks and dozens of undershirts. Long Beach officials were eager to get rid of the equipment, according to athletic financial officer Dan Radakovich. Renovations to the athletic department have limited its storage space.

“This was a great deal for him,” Radakovich said of the sale to Schremp. “The equipment would have been obsolete if we brought football back here anyway.”

Money from the sale will be put in a trust to restore the football program when it is economically feasible, Radakovich said. Long Beach has raised about $30,000 from the sale of all its football equipment.

The 49ers uniforms had great appeal to Schremp. Each sports a shoulder patch with the letters “GHA” honoring the late George Allen, who was the 49ers’ coach in 1990. Schremp was a big fan of Allen’s.

“He did so much for football,” Schremp said. “Out of his honor, I’m not going to take it off. We’ll play with it until who knows when.”

In another tribute to Allen, Bears home games will start at 1:05 p.m. on Sundays at Bellflower High. The first game is Aug. 22 against the Ventura Cardinals.

“TV time,” Schremp explained. “Allen always started games at five minutes past the hour because of television.”

Schremp can only dream about television for his team. Reporters don’t flock to the little field, and crowds are so small he does not charge admission.

The 30 or so players on the Bears roster do not receive salaries and must supply their own shoulder pads. They pay $175 each to cover insurance and field rental costs. Schremp, who coached the team for many years, runs a Fourth of July fireworks stand to raise money. But more often than not, he digs into his own pocket to pay the bills.

Sometimes he finds himself a little short. He gave the 49ers a down payment of $1,000 but has not raised the balance yet, so much of the equipment is still in storage at the university.

“I can’t find anyone to sponsor this team,” he said. “I have to pay the liability insurance. We have a little savings from the fireworks stand, but most of the money comes from me.”

He said he would sell some of the equipment, such as knee pads, to his players at a discount, but it won’t come near the amount he needs.

45th Catalina Ski Race Is Sunday

Outside the breakwater where the ocean gets choppy, water-skiers in the round-trip race between Long Beach and Santa Catalina Island face their stiffest challenge: fog, sharks, dolphins, large swells--and fatigue.

“It’s a very physically demanding event,” said Lee Squier of Long Beach. He has posted four top-10 finishes in 10 tries and placed first in the outboard class in 1989.

The 45th race begins at 8 a.m. Sunday with a stampede start in Long Beach Harbor near the Queen Mary. More than 100 competitors, from age 8 to 68 and representing five countries, will reach speeds of 80 m.p.h.

“You have to have total concentration,” said Squier, 39. “If you’re not reading the water properly you could end up falling.”

The top competitors, using only a single, specially designed ski, are expected to complete the 62-statute-mile course in less than an hour. The record of 54:56 was set by Mason Thompson of Newport Beach in 1984.

Poor steering by boat drivers or bad visibility because of fog has hampered even the best skiers in the past. In 1954, former Bellflower resident Chuck Stearns was in the lead with his father, Bob, observing in the boat. The boat hit a big swell and Bob hit the water, causing several minutes of delay. The younger Stearns recovered and finished third.

Another time, with Bob at the helm and Chuck running neck and neck with a rival doing 50 m.p.h., the fog got so thick near Catalina that both boats missed the turn at Avalon and wound up on San Clemente Island. Out of gas, they were rescued the following morning.

Stearns has won the race 11 times, more than anyone else. If he wins Sunday, he will be the only man to have won at least one race in each of the last five decades.

Squier, a railroad conductor who finished third in 1990, has a shot at the title. He was born the year Bob Stearns was bumped out of the boat. Squier did not take up water skiing until he was in his early 20s, and was 28 when he first tried the Catalina race.

“I used to watch the race every year and I always wanted to experience it firsthand,” he said. “After my first year in the race I discovered that if I corrected some of my mistakes and learned the technique I might be able to do pretty well in this thing.”

Race promoter Dan Stiel said that no prize money is awarded for winning the event, which is sponsored by the Long Beach Boat and Ski Club.

“People do this just for the love of the sport,” Stiel said.