Former powerhouse community college inaugurates hall of fame

Plenty of college athletic departments sponsor halls of fame. But the one that has just opened at the former Compton Community College is epic. Since Compton opened nearly a century ago, the college has sent teams and athletes to national championships and on to gold medals at the Olympics. This hall of fame is central to an effort to uplift the campus after a spell of mismanagement nearly a decade ago that nearly sunk the community college.

As a high school student, Albert “Lefty” Olguin drove from his home in San Pedro to Compton College to see for himself if the Tartar men’s basketball team was as good as he’d heard.

It was better, he says.

Since he became Compton College’s athletic director a few years ago, he’s found out how much of a champions factory this place used to be. A couple of blown-up black-and-white photos in his office show a cigar-chomping coach on the football field with his players.

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"The pictures you see here are from the 1955 national champion football team," said Olguin. "This team was famous for a lot of things, playing in front of 55,000 people in the junior Rose Bowl, but basically, they were the first, they broke the color barrier."

That team will be inducted into the Tartar Athletic Hall of Fame.

So will Olympic gold medalists from 1936 and 1952, former NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle, and coach James Newman and his basketball team.

"The record that stands out for everybody is his 33 and 0, 1969 – 1970 basketball state champions, the team was amazing, no three point line back then," he said. "They scored 166 points in one game. Today it’s still a record."

James Newman, tall, thin, and in a cardinal red track suit, greets workers as they lay carpet over the wood floor where the team racked up those 166 points. The hall of fame induction ceremony’s set to take place in the gym.

"I used to have a pillow in this place because I slept here most of them time," Newman tells the workers. They pause to hear Newman tell the story behind the banner high in the rafters. It’s the 42-year-old state championship banner. "That first one up there is my first year here, we won 32 in a row, nobody stopped us. We just walked through the state and got it done," he said.

The last championship banner – for women’s track - is from about 15 years ago. About six years ago the college’s reputation hit rock bottom after the state stripped Compton Community College of its academic accreditation. Administrators had mismanaged and defrauded the campus for years. Nearby El Camino College took over its administration. By then, James Newman had moved on to other coaching jobs - but the news from his hometown hit him hard.

"I was disappointed in those people who had the responsibility of keeping the tradition going and keeping this college on the level in which it was on when I was here, to see that," he said.

Newman and alumni are returning to help. Most of his team from 1970 is returning for the hall of fame induction ceremony. Newman greets former players Larry Holyfield and Ron Richardson. Both went on to play university basketball and earned their college degrees.

Holyfield played forward for the 1970 Compton College team. He went on to play basketball at UCLA for John Wooden between 1970 and 1973, the golden years of Bruin basketball. Holyfield and other former players say Newman taught them the desire to win on the court and to learn what they needed for the next steps in life. That, they say, is why he deserves a place in the Compton College sports hall of fame.

Several more former players met Newman at the college cafeteria. Memories and catching up kept them talking through lunch. Some of the former players are social workers, teachers, and lawyers.

Student body treasurer Camille Johnson stopped by to tell the men it means a lot to the school that they’ve come back.

"These men and women, they appreciate the history of this campus and they’ve come back to support what Compton is today," she said. "I don’t believe we are down trodden. It is a wonderful thing to be a student here. I love this school."

Going forward, Johnson said, Compton College doesn’t deserve the bad reputation it developed in recent years. She and others are working hard to turn the school around - and to send the message that the students and the college are serious about the offering students what they need to take the next steps in their lives.

The induction ceremony for The Tartar Athletic Hall of Fame at El Camino College Compton Center takes place tomorrow afternoon between 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. in the campus gym.