Verdugo Views: ‘Coach Stubby’ led Glendale teams to success

Glendale resident Susan Hallgren recently sent me a three-page document written by her stepgrandfather, George Sperry, on Glendale College Athletic Department stationery. It was titled “The Sage of Baseball in Glendale Since 1927.”

Intrigued, I read through what turned out to be Sperry’s reflections on the trials and tribulations of finding a baseball field for Glendale’s teams in the 1920s. Although undated, it seemed to have been written in the 1950s and referred to many places and people unknown to me.

The only personal information was that he had coached at Glendale High School and then at Glendale Community College, at the time known as Glendale Junior College.

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So, I wrote to Hallgren, asking her to call me, and emailed Lora Martinolich at Special Collections at the Glendale Central Library and Jim Pagliuso, whose parents went to Glendale High.

Pagliuso was the first to reply, suggesting that I contact his friend Dave Greenbaum, a Glendale alum. Greenbaum called back with some helpful tips and invited me to join him on a visit to Pat Lancaster, Glendale High journalism instructor who has an invaluable collection of yearbooks in his classroom.

I also heard from Martinolich, who sent information on Sperry and introduced me via email to Alex Leon of Glendale Community College.

Then, I got a call from Hallgren. She put me in touch with her stepmother, Irma Delle Tettleton, who gave me the back story on her father.

So, let’s begin at the beginning.

George and Irma Sperry moved to Glendale in 1926 (some 90 years ago) from Taft, where he coached high school football. His team was highly competitive against any and all teams, and Sperry had become widely known.

He accepted Glendale High’s offer because of the “school’s potential for growth,” his daughter said. “He taught kinesiology, the use of muscles, as well.”

I learned more while visiting Lancaster’s classroom with Greenbaum. Turning the pages of old yearbooks, I found Sperry’s name in the 1927 Stylus.

“The 1926 football season started under the leadership of a new coach, not generally known at Glendale High, but recognized in the north as one of the best high school football coaches California has ever seen,” according to the yearbook.

Reading on, I discovered that Sperry had formed a team out of young, mostly unseasoned men who won all their practice games, but lost most of their league games. Plus, many first-stringers graduated that spring. Despite that, “a better season was anticipated the following year,” the yearbook states.

And, yes, next year, “the team ended up with a conclusive, victorious season,” according to the 1927 Stylus.

By the fall of 1933, Sperry was coaching “Bee” football, based on age, weight and height, according to Lancaster. It was “a very successful team due to Sperry picking 16 players who worked together.”

Later that same season, Coach Stubby, as he was known, brought the team to second place in the Coast League

The 1948 yearbook states that Sperry’s Blasters had won five championships and attributed his success to Sperry’s one-time coach, Knute Rockne.

“[Sperry] has the reputation of developing strong men as well as championship material. By giving his hopefuls hard preseason workouts, he gradually toughens them for the rugged jolts that make the game of football,” according to the yearbook.

More to come later on Sperry’s years at Glendale Community College and the search to find a playing field for his teams.

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Readers Write:

Jo Anne Sadler, Crescenta Valley historian and author, emailed regarding the column on Gould Castle based on Ledger publisher Grace Carpenter’s 1948 stories about a wealthy “raisin king” building a castle for his wife.

“The Carpenters did not live in the castle until 22 years after the Goulds left,” Sadler wrote. “Much of [Carpenter’s] information was based on local gossip, exaggerations and legends.

“May was the one with the money. Eugene Gould was the son of a ranch foreman on one of George Briggs’ ranches,” she added.

May was George Briggs’ daughter.

George Briggs was the older brother of local legend Dr. Benjamin B. Briggs. After her fathe, George died, May Gould bought land from her uncle Benjamin for $12,000.

Sadler, who has done extensive research in the California Digital Newspaper Collection and the Los Angeles Times database, has a copy of the deed indicating it was May Gould’s castle.

“George Briggs was reputed to be the first millionaire in California, coming here in 1849 and settling in Yuba City. He was the raisin king, not Eugene,” Sadler said.

The 1900 census indicates that May Gould and her three children were living in Santa Monica. “She is listed as divorced and working as a house cleaner. In 1910, they were in Glendale, and Eugene is back and listed as a gold miner,” Sadler said.

Sadler’s book, “Frontier Days in Crescenta Valley,” details how they lost the castle to foreclosure.

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KATHERINE YAMADA can be reached at katherineyamada@gmail.com. or by mail at Verdugo Views, c/o Glendale News-Press, 202 W. First St., Second Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90012. Please include your name, address and phone number.