Kezar is back!
No, not with kids watching intently from the Christopher Milk section, nor fans heaving bottles at the team as it departed -- but the new and improved version of Kezar Stadium is open again, refurbished even.
Getting you up to speed, the original 60,000-seat bowl built some nine decades ago was reduced to 10,000 seats in the late 1980s, making it easier to police and more suitable for high school football and college soccer games.
Then the tastefully redone stadium which features an arch rebuilt as a nod to the past was shut down last year. Installed since then was a new running track. Also, 1,000 bright orange seats from the soon-to-be-razed Candlestick Park were inserted in the center part of the bleachers under the press box.
Kezar brings back fond memories for many. I saw St. Ignatius' Dan Fouts throw spirals there, Riordan's Carl Braboy dodge tacklers and Serra's Lynn Swann take a kickoff 90 yards up the middle of the field against SI.
Years earlier I watched John Brodie lead the Niners against the best of the NFL with seagulls swooping and boo-birds booing -- all for free compliments of those Christopher Milk tickets that could be cut from the back of cartons. Two of those coupons off quart containers gained a kid admission. You could even MAKE money on the game if you gathered up cushions and returned them to vendors after the game at a nickel a pop.
By 1975, the Niners were playing at Candlestick but there was still the occasional non-athletic event at Kezar. On March 23 of that year I attended the S.N.A.C.K. concert at Kezar, which stood for "Students Need Activities, Culture and Kicks." It was a Bill Graham event and featured Santana, Jefferson Airplane, Jerry Garcia and Friends, Joan Baez, The Doobie Brothers and others. My buddy Keith Larsen, now the Menlo School basketball coach, came along and my neighbor Geri Fennelly and a friend also hitched a ride with us; Geri was the daughter of late WCAL commissioner Ed Fennellly, a great man.
The S.N.A.C.K. concert raised $200,000, enough to fund San Francisco after-school sports for a year. I should have bought a poster from the event -- it's a collector's item now.
The return of Kezar is good news for the AAA which has its Turkey Day championship football game and other contests there. It's also welcome news to fans of Sacred Heart Cathedral which plays its home games at the ancient venue. All of the Fightin' Irish non-league games will be at Kezar in 2015 -- vs. Terra Nova, St. Joseph-Santa Maria and Monte Vista-Danville.
That has Terra Nova coach and former Serra player Tim Adam revved up.
"I am fired up!" Adams said. "Fantastic venue. Since I played three years of varsity football at Serra I had many opportunities to enjoy the great turf ... what great memories of the old stadium and locker room, but everyone loved the field!"
SMASH HIT: The state basketball tournament at Cal's Haas Pavilion was a smashing success. Four games went overtime and three of them were decided in double-OT. It was all highlighted by Bishop O'Dowd's one-point win against Mater Dei in extra time on Ivan Rabb's free throw with .8 seconds left.
Naturally Rabb had to make it suspenseful by nearly air-balling his first free throw, with the ball just barely kissing off the front rim. It would have been a bad ending to a glittering prep career if Rabb had missed both free throws and then Mater Dei won in double-OT, but the mega-star came through when it mattered most.
Quipped CIF-State executive director Roger Blake to reporters of the weekend: “It’s been pretty boring, hasn’t it? (They’ve) been very competitive games.”
Most fans sounding off on message boards and pundits seemed to fancy Haas Pavilion's more intimate feel, as opposed to cavernous Sleep Train Arena, home of the Sacramento Kings, where previous state tourneys have been held.
The press seating at Haas was uncomfortable but the fans don't care about that. The important thing was the games were exciting and the venue had more of a gymnasium feel that was more suitable for prep games. I wouldn't mind seeing more state tourneys at Haas.
MOVIN' ON UP: If you think late August prep football openers are a tad early, it's probably only going to get worse. On Saturday in his address to prep writers, CIF-State executive director Blake said the state will try to move up its athletic schedules, given that many schools begin classes in mid-August and Week 0 games don't happen until almost September. Blake also said there's a desire to get the state football championships away from Christmas week and to have the state track meet before graduation. Chalk it up to making the football season too long in the first place.
Briefly: Bellarmine College Prep grad and Navy basketball player Grant "Boo" Vermeer has earned an academic achievement award ... Mitty is at Valley Christian at 4 p.m. today in a key WCAL softball game ... Menlo College is seeking a men's basketball coach ... The Logan baseball job held by John Goulding (retiring after season) has been posted and a P.E. job is available.
John Murphy is the Web Content Manager of Prep2Prep. He may be contacted at jmurphy@Prep2Prep.com. Follow him on Twitter @PrepCat
