RUTH’S JUMP: REDLANDS 1975 TO LOS ANGELES GAMES 1984

A Redlands Connection is a concoction of sports memories emanating from a city that once numbered less than 20,000 people. From pro football’s Super Bowl to baseball’s World Series, from dynamic soccer’s World Cup to golf’s and tennis’ U.S. Open, major auto racing, plus NCAA Final Four connections, Tour de France cycling, more major tennis like Wimbledon, tiny connections to that NBA and a little NHL, major college football, Kentucky Derby, aquatics and Olympic Games, that sparkling little city sits around halfway between Los Angeles and Palm Springs on Interstate 10. An Olympic-bound athlete used that road to take some real track travels. – Obrey Brown

Clay Brooks raved about Ruth Kleinsasser, a future Olympian.

So did Ted Runner.

Brooks, who spent years as a University of Redlands track & field coach, was a true professor of his sport.

Runner, whose presence on that campus as an athlete, coach and, ultimately, director of athletics, was fond of track. He’d competed. For years, he coached. It almost seemed like he kept a close eye on that sport.

When Kleinsasser – eventually Ruth Wysocki – stepped onto the track at the Los Angeles Coliseum nine years after spending her freshman season at Redlands, those two men – Brooks and Runner – watched with those 1984 Olympics with great interest.

Alhambra-born Kleinsasser, who ran at Azusa High School, was a prized performer at Redlands. What made Kleinsasser special was her true dedication. In track, she turned out to be a lifer.

She started in age-group races, late 1960s, kicking off an eventual period of 30 years, or so, until she became a Masters (over-40) runner in 1997.

As an Azusa High senior in 1973, she ran a 2:16 to win the CIF Southern Section 880-yard championship. She also sped around the track to win the 440 (57.3). That’s as tough of a double as in any championship meet.

Since there was no State meet held for girls that year – one would start in 1975 – Kleinsasser never had a chance to prove her prep domination.

By 1975, Kleinsasser was running at Redlands, primarily because internationally-renowned Bulldog coach Vince Reel had come out of retirement. Reel told me, in fact, he’d meet Kleinsasser halfway along Interstate 10 for training in Claremont.

It worked. At age 19, she ran a 2:03, qualifying for 1976 U.S. Olympic Trials. Kleinsasser took eighth in those Trials.

Ruth Wysocki
Former University of Redlands runner Ruth Wysocki, then known as Ruth Kleinsasser, beat Mary Decker, right, at the 1984 U.S. Olympic Trials in the women’s 1500-meter – one of track’s shocking upsets that year (Photo by runmoremiles.com).

THAT YEAR IN REDLANDS,

JUST A FRESHMAN RACER

Reel, married to Chinese track star Chi Cheng, had international status, especially since he’d lured top talent to Redlands – sprint star Lee Shiu-Chia, middle distance runners Chee Swee Lee, plus Americans Donna Fromme and some dandy runners like distance star Molly O’Neil, hurdler Pam Ashe, sprinters Gloria Kennedy, Lynn Jones and Denise Becton.

Throw Kleinsasser into that mix. If only she’d lasted four seasons in a Bulldog uniform.

Reel let me know about Kleinsasser, her own Redlands season a few years after she left. I arrived at Redlands’ newspaper three years after her departure, Reel’s final season as Bulldogs’ coach. There was a solid reason for her departure.

Reel spelled it out. “She told me ‘that was before the NCAA for women.’ She wanted to run NCAAs. Competition was so much better than AIAW,” Reel said.

NCAA events were far more competitive than either AIAW or NAIA. 

Vince Reel
Vince Reel, shown here as a Long Beach City College athlete, where he was State champion in the 100 and 220, in the early 1930s. A two-time sprint champion at Occidental College in 1936, he was fourth in the NCAA 220 championships for Occidental College.He would become a huge connection in the track world as a coach – Long Beach Wilson High School Track and Field Coach (1938-1957), moving on to Claremont College (1958-71), coming out of retirement to coach Redlands through 1979. He was also the Olympic track & field coach for India (1960) and China (1972). Reel was the founder of “Women’s Track and Field” magazine. (Photo credit: Long Beach City College).

Truth is, in those days, Redlands’ men were NAIA connected, not NCAA. It was easy to spot why Kleinsasser left Redlands. 

She told me, “I realized I had chosen the wrong school. Not that it isn’t a wonderful place. It was not just the right place for me.”

During her frosh season, Kleinsasser wasn’t even Redlands’ fastest half-miler. Chiu-Shia ran 2:05.36 in a meet at track-rich Occidental College, just outside of Pasadena.

What made her a Redlands Connection was 1975, a freshman, hitting 2:07.6 over 800 in Bakersfield, plus a school record 56.80 over 400 in Long Beach.

She left Redlands, though, for Citrus College.

More domination. At Citrus, known as Ruth Caldwell, she scored victories in California’s cross country championship for both 1977 and 1978. During spring track seasons in 1978 and 1979, Ruth was State junior college champion in both 800 and 1500.

There was a pattern here. Like many international competitors, she was still laying groundwork for Olympic participation. 

Name? She’d gone from Ruth Kleinsasser to Ruth Caldwell and, eventually, to Ruth Wysocki. She married top U.S. distance runner Tom Wysocki, a 1980 Olympic seeker in a year the USA did not participate in Moscow.

WYSOCKI RACED DECKER,

RUTH TAKING ON MARY

Ruth Wysocki upset highly-touted USA star Mary Decker, running 2:01.99, to win an 800 showdown at the 1978 U.S. Championships. Wysocki scored another upset victory against Decker in 1984 U.S. Olympic Trials, this time over 1500 meters.

Wysocki outsprinted Decker to win that 1500-meter Olympic Trials in 4:00.18 – her lifetime best, edging Decker by less than a half-second. By The Games finals, Wysocki in 4:08.32 – no medal.

That 1984 over 800-meters? Kim Gallagher’s 1:58.63 took silver. Wysocki? Her 2:00.34 wasn’t up to her 1:59.34 in Trials. She took sixth.

Ruth claimed it was “my husband, Tom … training for the Olympics who convinced me to train.”

Brooks, who was Reel’s coaching successor at Redlands, and Runner, each closing their Redlands careers, watched with curiosity as that one-year Lady Bulldog star made her way into those 1984 L.A. Games.

Brooks and Runner, meanwhile, called it a “Redlands victory.”

Why not? Qualifying is amazing.

Brooks, who coached at nearby Yucaipa High School before showing up at Redlands, smiled. 

“I heard a lot of great stories when she was here,” he said. “Vince, Ted, (current NFL wide receiver) Brian DeRoo, some others that ran with her … they couldn’t get enough of Ruth. She set examples here, even when she was a freshman.”

Said Runner: “All she did was work hard. Vince was good for her. Real good coach. Got close to her, doing what Ruth needed. I see why she left Redlands. There’s nothing to complain about her leaving here. She just kept getting better and better.”

RUTHIE AT ANOTHER

TRACK MEET SHOWDOWN

It wasn’t going to be easy. Despite Eastern Bloc nations that boycotted those L.A. Games, led by once-known Soviet Union, still had plenty of international talent.

At a different meet in Europe, during August one year, Romanian Doina Melinte, an 800 silver medal winner in L.A., circled that European track twice to score gold in 1:57.60. Gallagher, whom Wysocki had encountered on plenty of occasions, took silver in 1:58.63. 

Wysocki had to be thinking if she’d matched her lifetime best – that 4:00.18 at the Olympic Trials – she’d have won in Europe.

She told Reel, “Even though the Olympics were really great for me, when I got to Europe after that, I beat everybody that beat me in the Olympics, including (Doina).”

Reel shared that with me shortly afterward.

It was, he noted on her behalf, some vindication.

Brooks, for his part, sent plenty of half-milers out to do battle in Lady Bulldog colors. Not a single runner during his coaching years ever surpassed Kleinsasser, either over 400 or 800 events.

Runner, meanwhile, often reflected on that year that Kleinsasser ran at Redlands.

“She was not just a hard worker.” Observers could easily tell, Runner said, “that she had a game plan in any race she ran. Remember … just a freshman. She knew what she was doing that year.”

Wysocki, incidentally, made one last attempt to qualify for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, age 38, around a couple decades after that Redlands season.

*****

That Redlands Connection kept going for years. Over a decade later, in 1995, Wysocki ran seventh in the 1500 at the Championships in Athletics in Gothenburg. That’s Sweden.

In 1997, Ruth set several Masters records at distances from 800 to 5000 on the track, plus 5K and 8K road races. She was surrounded by distance runners. Her dad, Willis Kleinsasser, was a successful Masters athlete.

Alan Kleinsasser, her brother, ran a 1:50.5 over 800 meters and a 3:52.2 clocking in the 1500 – both school records at Caltech Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

Then, of course, her one time husband, Tom Wysocki, pounded 13:35.33 runs in the 5000-meter and 28:19.56 in the 10,000.

That one season, 1975, Ruth was A Redlands Connection.

YARDLEY, NBA’S FIRST 2,000-POINT KING, SENT HIS SON TO REDLANDS

A Redlands Connection is a concoction of sports memories emanating from a city that once numbered less than 20,000 people. From pro football’s Super Bowl to baseball’s World Series, from dynamic soccer’s World Cup to golf’s and tennis’ U.S. Open, major auto racing, plus NCAA Final Four connections, Tour de France cycling, more major tennis like Wimbledon, tiny connections to that NBA and a little NHL, major college football, Kentucky Derby, aquatics and Olympic Games, that sparkling little city sits around halfway between Los Angeles and Palm Springs on Interstate 10. How about this rather impressive NBA contact. – Obrey Brown

Curiously, there was a direct link to the NBA from the Bulldog basketball program. He came in the form of a role player in the late 1970s, early 1980s. His name? Rob Yardley, an outgoing, intelligent and seemingly Christian-living soul. 

Basketball historians might recognize that name, Yardley. It was George Yardley who was the first player in NBA history to score 2,000 points in a season.

George Yardley, twice an All-American player at Stanford, was Rob’s dad.

In 1957-58, Yardley, then playing in Detroit, scored an NBA record 2,001 points. At 6-5, Yardley was a good-sized forward in 1950’s basketball, and was “an offensive-minded player with a knack for scoring,” he said in his basketball Hall of Fame biography.

Described as a “flamboyant” and “gregarious” player who “never did anything without flair,” Yardley had a stellar seven-year career, making the NBA All-Star team every year except for his 1953-54 rookie season. 

George_Yardley, 1959
George Yardley, wearing the NBA uniform of the old Syracuse Nats, was the league’s top scoring threat until Wilt Chamberlain came into the league. Yardley, his son Rob winding up playing at Redlands, was the first NBA player to surpass the 2,000-point milestone. (Photo by Wikipedia Commons).

He led Fort Wayne to two NBA Finals before that team moved to Detroit in 1957. 

George came to Redlands, catching Rob coming off the Bulldogs’ bench on occasions. A few times, I’d chat with him. Like this: Which players do you remember playing with the best?

“Gene Shue, Dick McGuire, both those guys were all-stars when we played in Detroit. Good players, good teammates.”

Yardley, who averaged 28 points in that 2,001-point season, noted an obvious point about that league he played.

“Boston, tough to beat. Once in awhile, we took ’em. Gene led us to a win over the Celtics back in, uh, ’58. Good game. St. Louis and Boston. Those were the best teams.”

That trade, from Detroit to Syracuse, came midway through the 1958-59 season. Syracuse? George wasn’t there all that long, retiring at age 31. That team moved on to Philadelphia to become the 76ers.

“For me, Ed Conlin came to Detroit in that trade,” Yardley recalled. “Good player. It’s hard to go through that trade, to talk all that much.”

In 1957-58, the Pistons’ first year in Detroit, Yardley led the league in scoring, averaging 27.8 points. It surpassed George Mikan’s previous record of 1,932 points in 1958 while playing for Minneapolis.

That season, Yardley set NBA records with impressive free throws – 655-for-808, named All-NBA first team his lone time. Who else?

“Oh, wow … there was Dolph Schayes, (Bob) Cousy and (Bill) Sharman, Bobby Pettit.”

Following a sixth all-star season in 1959-60, averaging 20.2 points, Yardley retired at age 31. A decade, or so, prior to that NBA career, Yardley was a two-time All-American at Stanford. 

A season after Yardley hit that 2,001 points, Pettit. St. Louis’ center, broke his scoring mark. It didn’t last long. By 1962, Wilt Chamberlain’s 1960 rookie season eclipsed that of both Yardley and Pettitt.

What was it like playing against Chamberlain?

Yardley smiled. “His team, Philadelphia – the Warriors – beat us in the playoffs. If we’d have won, it would have been Boston.”

That would have been teams with Chamberlain, then Russell.

Rob Yardley (Photo credit, LinkedIn)
Rob Yardley, looking a little older and grayer than in his University of Redlands days in the early 1980s, was the son of an NBA great (Photo credit: LinkedIn.)

Imagine George coming into Currier Gym at that Redlands university.

It seems logical that George led Rob onto a basketball court.

“No,” said the younger Yardley, who stood 6-foot-6, “he never did (pressure me) to play basketball. I thought I was going to be a tennis star, and he introduced me to tennis. I think he likes tennis more than basketball, anyway.”

One night, Rob Yardley came off Redlands’ bench to score eight points – hardly in Chamberlain’s class, or that of Pettitt, or even his dad – in a 63-52 win at Occidental College, a campus located just outside Pasadena.

Rob hit all four of his shots, eventually fouling out. He said, “I was a butcher out there. I kept leaning on defense Coach (Gary) Smith has told me a thousand times to keep my hands off the guy on the baseline.”

Think about it: George Yardley played against the likes of Chamberlain, Pettitt, Bill Russell and Bob Cousy. There were wire service photos of George Yardley going up against Russell and Cousy.

Any particular memories of those guys?

“Russell blocked a few of my shots,” he said, smiling. “I could go on from there. Cousy, gosh, dribbled like crazy.”

Fort Wayne drafted him in 1950. Yardley grimaced a little. “That league (NBA) wasn’t considered all that big back then. Me? I’m Navy, two years.”

Highlights? NBA?

“We got to the finals two years in a row. Lost to Syracuse one year (1954), then St. Louis the next (1955).”

Boston, he noted, “didn’t have Bill Russell just yet.”

This man wouldn’t brag about his career, not even close. Seven seasons, six NBA All-Star appearances.

One chat came at a Saturday night game in Redlands, Rob part of that team’s roster. George, a Newport Harbor High School product before Stanford, talked about an engineering business he owned. Rob, too, was a Newport Harbor product, hitting Orange Coast College before Redlands.

By contrast, Rob Yardley was neither an NBA player or even an All-SCIAC player at Redlands. For locals, it was an interesting Redlands Connection.

By 1996, meanwhile, George was inducted into Naismith Memorial’s Hall of Fame.

BOB KARSTENS: A LOCAL HARLEM GLOBETROTTER … IN REDLANDS?

A Redlands Connection is a concoction of sports memories emanating from a city that once numbered less than 20,000 people. From pro football’s Super Bowl to baseball’s World Series, from dynamic soccer’s World Cup to golf’s and tennis’ U.S. Open, major auto racing, plus NCAA Final Four connections, Tour de France cycling, more major tennis like Wimbledon, tiny connections to that NBA and a little NHL, major college football, Kentucky Derby, aquatics and Olympic Games, plus a Harlem Globetrotter. that sparkling little city sits around halfway between Los Angeles and Palm Springs on Interstate 10. It is a reality that almost every major sport, plus a bunch of others, can be connected to Redlands. This story’s connector has connected in a far away expectation anyone could imagine. – Obrey Brown

BACK IN THE LATE 1990s, an older man was spotted shooting baskets at Redlands High School’s outdoor courts. A few yaeds away, a high school baseball game was about to take place. I’d assigned myself on that game. This man shooting baskets, though, who looked around his 70s, maybe 80s, was shooting hook shots from half court. Repeat that: Hook shots from half court! A man that age? Remarkably, if balls didn’t go through that hoop, his shots at least hit the rim.

It was startling to meet Bob Karstens.

There he was, from the top of that court key, he hiked that basketball through his legs – like a football center – toward that basket. Again, if his shots didn’t go in, they were close.

At one point, he broke out three basketballs, dribbling them simultaneously, as if he were a hoops-playing magician. I was waiting to cover that baseball game, though. Something was up with this elderly man, though. I couldn’t take my eyes off his activity.

Friendly. Outgoing. Gentle. This man spoke in respectful terms.

“I’m Obrey Brown. I write for the local newspaper, about to cover that baseball game over there. Saw what you were doing. Decided to come over.”

BOb Karstens - 2
Bob Karstens, photographed around 1942 or ’43, during which time he was a white man playing for the all-Black Harlem Globetrotters. (Photo by Harlem Globetrotters.)

Yes, he introduced himself. “Bob,” I told him, “it’s nice to meet you.”

“Thanks. Likewise.”

There was something different. I had an eerie, inner sense. We continued to chat, this smallish man who stood a couple inches shorter than my 5-foot-10 height, seemed to brighten up when I told him I was from Redlands’ newspaper.

“You might be interested in this …” he started saying.

After three decades, that’s a phrase I heard often enough from folks seeking publicity. Usually, it might come from a pushy parent, or a publicity-seeking coach, or a public relations/Sports Information Director informing me about a once-in-a-lifetime story that I just couldn’t miss. Hey, I came after him, though. Okay, Bob, finish what you were saying. “I might be interested in this – in what, Bob?”

Karstens, who was standing in front of me, was not Black. As a matter of fact, without his shirt on, I could tell that he needed a little sun. It pays to listen, though. Outwardly, this sunless white guy mentioned he spent a season playing for the Harlem Globetrotters.

Say what? In case you’re wondering, the Globies were a dedicated Black man hoops squad.

“I spent a year with them back in the 1940s,” Karstens explained, “during the war.” It was, he told me, when legendary Reece “Goose” Tatum was taken into the Army. Those Globetrotters thus needed a clown prince.

Goose Tatum
Harlem Globetrotters’ Clown Prince Reece “Goose” Tatum went into the military in 1942, opening up a spot for Bob Karstens, who became a white player to suit up for basketball’s magicians. (Photo by Blackthen.com.)

Abe Saperstein, a future Hall of Fame founder and orchestrator of the ‘Trotters, apparently tapped Bob on the shoulder and said, “You’re it.”

Abe_Saperstein
Abe Saperstein, the Hall of Fame founder of the Harlem Globetrotters, was the man who signed Bob Karstens to fill in for Goose Tatum during the 1942-43 season. (Photo by Wikipedia Commons.)

Karstens himself had been a gifted ball handler from that team, House of David, from Benton, Mich., a famous traveling bearded baseball team that barnstormed America. Not much known for anything in sports beyond baseball, Karstens told me, the House of David had dabbled in some hoops play during the late 1930s and into the 1940s.

Here’s the rub: I didn’t necessarily believe Bob, not at first. In my business, you’ve got to hold people at arm’s length when they tell you curious stories. I could, literally, share experiences about people that turned out to be half-true. Or true for a week, but not beyond. Or outright false. Still, there was something genuine about Bob.

Suddenly, I placed covering that high school baseball game in my back pocket. Bob invited me over to his house a couple blocks away – down Roosevelt, across Cypress, over onto Lytle. When Bob opened his garage door, he led me to three huge boxes.

It was full of Harlem Globetrotters’ memorabilia. Suddenly, any doubts about this guy ended in a hurry. Karstens, I could see, was standing in photos with Saperstein, Tatum, Meadowlark Lemon, a bunch of well-known Globies … plus WILT CHAMBERLAIN!

Suddenly, my notebook was produced. Pen in hand, scribbling madly, all his ramblings and utterings he’d voiced over at Redlands high school – you know, when I didn’t originally believe him – started getting written. I had a lot of catch-up to do, including asking a bunch more questions.

“How long have you lived in Redlands?”

“Where’d you learn to play basketball?”

“What kind of money did you make?”

“Did you really start that pre-game Magic Circle routine?”

Truthfully, I didn’t have to ask many questions. Bob was spinning tale after tale. Just follow along, Obrey. Keep listening. Keep writing. What a story – and I had it! My pen just had to keep up with his stories. Reporters came along later and fabricated ideas that they’d uncovered this man, somehow sniffing out a story that I had handed to me by this guy himself.

Karstens, from Davenport, Iowa, took over for that Army-bound Tatum on the ‘Trotters’ 1942-43 roster. Any memory of the ‘Trotters will instantly recall their legendary pre-game introductions at center court, dubbed the Magic Circle pre-game routine.

It’s recorded: This was Karstens’ invention. He organized this ritual. He played on that all-Black ‘Trotters eight years before even NBA integrated. Part of the ‘Trotters’ history is that playing doubleheaders with those early NBA teams, thus allowing that relatively unknown league to grow into prosperity.

Also this: Karstens invented a “goof” ball, one that bounces in all different directions because of various weights placed inside. Plus he invented a “yo-yo” ball. Seasoned ‘Trotter fans know those routines well.

This guy lived in Redlands?

He loaned me some photos from his stash for my next day’s sports section. I had a gold mine of a notebook – quotes, stories, photos and prime history. I sent our photographer, Lee Calkins, over to Bob’s house for an updated mug shot of my new best friend.

This guy I had originally, cynically, though silently, was slightly doubted. I made up with myself, though.

Karstens. The Globetrotters. Tatum. Saperstein. Chamberlain. A bunch of legendary players. Once Tatum returned from the service, Karstens returned to the sidelines. Leave it to the ‘Trotters, though, to promote someone on their all-Black team that wasn’t Black!

Karstens, for his part, stayed on as ‘Trotters’ team manager until 1954, having coached the infamous Washington Generals. That team was the ‘Trotters’ nightly opponent. After leaving the ‘Trotters — changes in management, pay, plus family, always on the road — Karstens went into construction. 

By 1994, he was inducted into the ‘Trotters’ Hall of Fame.

At age 89, Karstens died on Dec. 31, 2004. I covered his Redlands funeral that was attended by former ‘Trotter players Geese Ausbie and Govonor Vaughn. When that pair of retired Globies took their turn at Karstens’ services, Ausbie looked down at Bob’s widow, Pauline, asking, “Did anyone bring a ball?”

It was classic clowning, a special moment for a departed member of their legendary team. A wife, three sons and four grandchildren were among Karstens’ attending survivors in a fully side service. There were plenty of funeral onlookers. This man had quite a following at a Church of the Nazarene.

A ball? Vaughn smoked his former teammate, Ausbie, a shadow ball pass. To those in attendance at this church – corner of Citrus and Grove – this couldn’t have been a better sendoff. 

Shadow ball, incidentally, is an invisible ball. One guy pretends to throw it, another guy pretends to catch it. If the right group of guys are performing this, it’s highly entertaining. 

This was, apparently, Bob’s ball entry into Heaven.

Looking back, there were personal stories about track legend Jesse Owens and baseball’s amazing Jackie Robinson – Karstens right in the middle of everything during train travels . 

“I look at that like Jackie Robinson in baseball,” said Vaughn. “No one else could’ve done it but Jackie Robinson.

“And no one else could’ve played for the Globetrotters but Bob Karstens.”

He was a white man playing on a Black team.

“I’m glad Goose Tatum went into the Army,” said Vaughn.

A few years earlier, Karstens told me that he ran into both of those sports legends on railroad travel. A train conductor once asked him to depart from that Blacks-only section.

Those Globetrotters were this nation’s most powerful basketball team during the 1940s. It was long before NBA success produced its eventual gold mine of hoops-playing legends.

Karstens let me know how important that Harlem team was in lifting NBA play.

“It’s hard to size it all up,” he said, “because I can’t tell an entire story. All I can say is that without that Harlem team, it’s really hard to say just where the NBA would land.

It was, of course, always a delight to watch them play. Probably few know Saperstein’s full story on its original creation from the 1920s.

Those Globie tricks — yo-yo ball, weighted basketball known as the “goofball, invented by Karstens?

“We don’t do all those tricks all now,” said Ausbie, who traveled from Arkansas to Redlands for his funeral service.

Ausbie? While playing for that legendary team from 1961-85, he was considered Harlem’s “Clown Prince.”

The ‘Trotters are a full century old. A small portion of their rich history had surfaced about an hour’s drive east of Los Angeles, in Redlands – a long way from Harlem, a New York City suburb.

“I had skills to fit in and do basketball tricks,” Karstens told me.

It was shown at an old age on that outdoor court at Redlands High.

Once those pregame routines came on board inside their Magic Circle, “Sweet Georgia Brown” music was added, either in the 1940s or 1950s.

Said Vaughn: “That song is better known than Jingle Bells or Happy Birthday.”

Basketball?

“I’d sit with him during (NBA) games,” said Karstens’ widow, Pauline, just after his funeral. “He complained. He didn’t really have a favorite team. He’d call it just a pushing and shoving match.”