Memories Bring Hornets Back to the Nest

The players on Fullerton College’s 1960-61 state championship men’s basketball team have plenty of happy memories.

That’s one of the reasons they gather every 10 years or so to rekindle them.

“There was a special chemistry on that team, and we’ve stayed in touch with each other through the years,” said Bill Morris, a starting guard who went on to play at USC and coach at Troy High in Fullerton.

The team will hold its 40-year reunion beginning at 5 p.m. Saturday at Mazatlan restaurant in Orange.

Leonard Guinn scored 736 points and Edgar Clark had 735 in 1960-61 for a Fullerton team that averaged 81 points and finished with a record of 32-2. Both of the team’s stars went on to play for Orange State College--now Cal State Fullerton--the following season.

The other starters were Morris, Wayne Lemons and Bob Franco. Bill Darnell, Levell Eaton, Jerry Ewart, Gary Hoffert, Dan Miller, Dennis Miller, James Starr, Terry Thatcher, Mike Wixted, Doyle Chase and Mike Garrity were reserves and Bill Mann was the head coach.

The reunion isn’t limited to the players. Clark says fans are also invited. “We think nearly all of the players will be coming and some of our cheerleaders will be there too, along with our families,” Clark said. “Any fans who want to come are welcome.”

Clark and Guinn were recruited to Fullerton College from high schools in Michigan by Alex Omalev, who left to become the coach at Orange State after the 1959-60 season.

“In my honest opinion, I thought we could have beaten some of those four-year schools that season,” said Clark, who lives in Fullerton and is one of the reunion’s organizers.

Clark especially remembers the conference playoff game between the Hornets and Santa Ana College that decided which would go to the state playoffs.

“They knew they couldn’t hold it at the Fullerton or Santa Ana gyms, and the biggest venue they could find for the game was at Los Angeles State,” Clark said. “They had a standing-room-only crowd of about 4,500 there for the game. We had lost to only two teams that season, and Santa Ana was one of them.”

Fullerton won, 58-51, and went on to beat Fresno College, Los Angeles College and San Jose College in the state tournament. The Hornets, with many of the same players, had lost to San Jose the previous season in the state title game.

“We knew we had the two best players on the JC level in California in Clark and Guinn,” Morris recalled. “Clark was 6-4 with power and great speed. He would guard guys 6-8 and 6-9 and it would never be a problem. Guinn was a very graceful player on the perimeter. We had the power of Clark inside and the finesse of Guinn outside. It was a great experience for me to play on the same team with them.”

For information about the reunion, contact Clark at (714) 525-3455.