Glory Days Long Gone for Prep All-Star Game

Splashed across the sports page was the headline, “The Decline of the Shrine.”

That was 20 years ago.

Today, the Shrine all-star football game is accustomed to adversity. Started in 1952 to raise money for young orthopedic and burn patients at Shriners’ Hospital of Los Angeles, the event has brought in about $20,000 in each of the last 10 years -- small change compared with the $22 million in private donations needed each year to support free medical care at the 60-bed facility.

Raising funds is one of the few remaining traditions of the game, which features recently graduated high school seniors.

In the last three decades, organizers have dealt with a last-minute game cancellation because of an unusable field, numerous changes in venues, format changes designed to stem decreasing attendance and players’ declining invitations because of commitments to other all-star games. All the while trying to field enough volunteers from its aging and dwindling corps of members.

“The game’s no longer the only show in town,” Mission Viejo High Coach Bob Johnson said of the Shrine game, in which he coached in 1986. “Now, every county and every ZIP Code is trying to make money for the Lions Club, or the Elks Club or the local 7-Eleven.”

This summer, as organizers geared up for the 55th game tonight at Citrus College in Glendora, they took their hand-wringing to another level, removing two players they believed lacked qualifications as well as the game manager who signed off on their additions.

“We have been a little” lax, said Tom Reoch, who assumed game-coordinating duties this month after his predecessor, Steve Wurtzel, was forced to step down. “We have every hope of bringing the game back to the caliber it was.”

That’s a tall order considering that, in its heyday, nearly 86,000 filled the Coliseum for the 1957 game. But Reoch is confident his organization can reestablish some tradition.

Game planners are already preparing for next year -- with more new twists. Moving the game to a winter date is being discussed, a change that would result in players’ being in better shape and less inclined to skip the event as they prepare to leave for college. Already decided is a return to the original Southern California versus Northern California format. The game has matched a private-school team versus a public-school team since 2003, although City Section players have been put on the private-school roster for balance.

Though this is the fourth attempt at the North versus South matchup, organizers are confident the change will renew interest.

“There will be more of a rivalry,” Reoch promised. “And more atmosphere.”

In the latest and probably most embarrassing twist in the game’s history, organizers recently kept two former Anaheim Servite players from participating after their former coach reportedly questioned their qualifications. Servite’s Troy Thomas, who is coaching the private-school team, threatened to withdraw if the players were allowed to play.

One player was a backup linebacker for Servite last season. He was added shortly after his father agreed to be the team’s doctor, perform physicals and supply the malpractice insurance.

The other started five games on the offensive line for the Friars before quitting the team at midseason. He was added to the private-school roster not long after his father, the owner of a moving company, wrote a since-returned $1,000 check for a full-page advertisement in the game program.

“We thought we were doing something good for the hospital and the players,” said Shawn Talbott, who resigned as team coordinator after Wurtzel was asked to step down.

Thomas did not return calls seeking comment, and Wurtzel referred questions to Reoch, but the Shriners released a statement this week apologizing for the selections.

“Al Malaikah [Shrine Temple] has moved swiftly to rectify the situation,” the statement read. “Our apologies to our players, fans and sponsors for any loss of confidence in a game that has been a showcase for California talent for over 50 years. We assure that, in the future, the selection process will be based solely on the ability of the football players.”

Past Shrine standouts include Vince Ferragamo, Mike Garrett, John Elway and Lynn Swann, but the three top performers in last year’s game all redshirted their first years in college -- a receiver at Texas Southern, a running back at San Jose State and a walk-on linebacker at UCLA.

“They’ve downgraded,” said Nate Grosher, who worked the event in different capacities from 1985 to ’95. “In our years of managing the game, we required that we had the true all-stars.”

Some years, even state record-holders weren’t guaranteed a roster spot.

Ray Pallares broke the state career rushing record as a senior at Placentia Valencia, but wasn’t selected to the Southern California team in 1986. John Walsh, a quarterback at Carson who broke the single-season state record for passing yardage in 1990, made the Shrine team only after other players declined invitations.

“It was the best group of players I’ve ever been around,” said Titus Tuiasosopo of Wilmington Banning, who played in the 1988 game before moving on to USC.

The 1988 game drew close to 30,000 fans, but attendance dropped off significantly as players began to decline invitations after a rash of pregame and during-game injuries and other all-star games started to sprout. Estimated attendance at the Rose Bowl dropped to 15,000 in 1989 to an all-time low 3,000 in 1990 before organizers switched to a California versus Texas format in 1995.

That game drew a sold-out crowd of 10,000 to Cal State Fullerton, but fans saw a sloppily played 6-0 victory by the hosts that was marred by several fights and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties. The series ended with California teams winning six of seven games, which were mostly low-scoring.

To save on travel costs and regenerate local interest, the game switched back to a Southern California versus Northern California format in 2002. But by then the Shrine was beginning to lose talent. In 2001, former USC quarterback Matt Leinart and former UCLA players Tyler Ebell and Matt Ware opted to play in the CaliFlorida Bowl, which debuted in 2000.

Now, the U.S. Army All-American Bowl is the premier all-star football game. More than a dozen Californians are invited each year to play in the East versus West game, which is played in San Antonio in early January, televised nationally and features on-air college commitments by blue-chip recruits from across the country.

As more and more recruits choose to skip all-star games, whether on their own initiative or because they fear injury before going off to college, the talent level has been watered down.

The days when USC and UCLA each had several recruits in the game have ended.

In 2004, the only incoming USC players that suited up were Josh Pinkard of Oxnard Hueneme, Eugene Germany of Pomona and Thomas Herring of Los Angeles Fremont. Since then, only Pinkard has played for the Trojans.

This year, Sylmar running back C.J. Gable is the lone USC recruit scheduled to play.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Moving around

The site and format changes the Shrine Game has gone through:

*--* Years Site Format 1952-1973 Coliseum Southern vs. Northern California 1974-1983 Rose Bowl Southern California 1984 Rose Bowl game canceled 1985 East L.A. College Southern California 1986-1991 Rose Bowl Southern vs. Northern California 1992-1993 Long Beach Veterans Stadium Southern vs. Northern California 1994 Citrus College Southern vs. Northern California 1995-1997 Cal State Fullerton California vs. Texas 1998-2000 Cerritos College California vs. Texas 2001-2005 Mt. San Antonio College California vs. Texas (2001), Southern vs. Northern California (2002), Southern California public schools vs. private schools (2003-05) 2006 Citrus College Southern California public schools vs. private schools

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TONIGHT’S FACTS

* What: 55th Shrine All-Star Football Classic at Citrus College, Glendora.

* When: 7.

* Fast facts: All-star game for recently graduated seniors from Southern and City section schools.... Among those who have committed to play for the public-schools team are Norco running back Toby Gerhart, the state career rushing leader and The Times’ Glenn Davis Award winner as the Southland’s player of the year. He is headed to Stanford. On the private-school/City Section team’s roster is USC-bound C.J. Gable, a running back and defensive back from Sylmar.... The public-school team is coached by Jim Benkert of Westlake Village Westlake; the private/City team is co-coached by Troy Thomas of Anaheim Servite and Jeremiah Ross of Encino Crespi.

* Tickets: $15 at the stadium’s box office; $6 parking.

Source: Shrine Game