October 12, 2008 --
Was copied from online website... articles pasted as best as possible
HASTINGS BUSY BUILDING RAMBLER ELEVEN
Los Angeles Times (1886-Current File) - Los Angeles, Calif.
Author: CARL BLUME
Date: Sep 25, 1939
Nobody is perspiring one whit more on the South Gate High School football field these hot days than "Good Time Charley" Hastings, who takes over the head coaching assignment from Cecil Zaun this season.
Title Big Prize When South Gate Plays Bell
Undefeated Ramblers Expect Stiff Contest From Eagles in Eastern League Game
Los Angeles Times (1886-Current File) - Los Angeles, Calif.
Date: Nov 12, 1943
Just one hurdle away from their first Eastern League grid crown. Coach Charles Hastings' South Gate Ramblers come up against that last obstacle this afternoon when they journey out to Bell High School, where they engage Coach Norman
Teams' Achievements Boost Civic Pride First Title in 3 Decades Polishes Pride, Lifts Spirits in South Gate
Dec 15, 1988
Had it been a normal Friday, four South Gate High School students would have spent the evening dishing out frozen desserts at Dianna Winnor's Towne Yogurt... South Gate won the game, 13-9, and with it the Los Angeles Unified School District's City 3-A Division title. It was the school's first football championship in three decades, and one that has polished the city's pride and lifted its spirits.
Winnor allowed the four students to abandon their duties and join thousands of other South Gate residents attending the Big Game on Friday night between South Gate and Westchester.
"It seemed like the right thing to do," Winnor said. "We are all from South Gate. We graduated from there. It felt good doing it."
"They said we were too small, too slow and did not score big enough, but we took the negatives and turned them into positives," said Gary Cordray,
Coach Cordray said he was even introduced to a 1939 graduate of the school at the game, which was played at El Camino College near Gardena.
Two more recent graduates in attendance were Kevin and Scott Pearson, twins who graduated from the school in 1982.The Pearson family has deep roots in the school's athletic history. Kevin was the quarterback on the 1982 team that lost to Locke High School in a semifinal game. Both Scott and Kevin were baseball players. Douglas Pearson, the twins' father, caught the winning touchdown 33 years ago when South Gate beat North Hollywood High, 7-0, for its only other city football championship. The Pearson family still lives in South Gate.
"I had not attended a game in 4 years, but like everybody else, I jumped on the bandwagon when the team started winning," said Kevin.
1988 South Gate Team Not Its First Unbeaten
Los Angeles Times (pre-1997 Fulltext) - Los Angeles, Calif.
Date: Dec 24, 1988
The prep column (Dec. 13) praising the accomplishments of the 1988 South Gate football team could have dug back 12 years earlier, past the 1955 City champions, to the '43 Rambler squad.World War II restricted the '43 Rambler squad severely (limiting it to 6 games), but that should not diminish what this Charlie Hastings-coached team was...
Hastings' squad defeated all four Eastern League opponents without giving up a score and then went on to defeat the Catholic League champions and runners-up (Mt. Carmel and Cathedral) for an undefeated season-a gentle reminder to the '88 squad that it was not the first undefeated South Gate team.
SOUTH GATE'S FINEST Wilson, an Attention-Getter for Rams, Has Prep Fans Sitting Up, Taking Notice
Los Angeles Times (pre-1997 Fulltext) - Los Angeles, Calif.
Author: LONNIE WHITE
Date: Sep 29, 1989
Growing up as the third-oldest son in a six-boy family, [Ivan Wilson] has always been noted for his athletic talents. Wilson at first was known for his basketball skills, but as a sophomore at South Gate, his attention shifted to football.
"Ivan started playing sports when he was 7 or 8 at South Gate Park," Wilson's mother, Elizabeth, said. "He was outstanding in all sports, but basketball was his main one. However, I am not surprised that he has been so successful in football because he has always had his mind set on being a success in whatever sport he chose."
His silent leadership has made Wilson popular among his South Gate teammates. In a school that has less than a 3% black population, he was selected team captain before this season. "Ivan is not a talker, but I wanted him to be the team captain because he leads by example," [Gary Cordray] said. "He is a laid-back, down-to-earth type of guy who is loved and respected by his teammates. To them, there is no color barrier, he is just one of the guys. Around school, he is not labeled as `There goes the black football player.' He just is plain Ivan Wilson, the person."
Wilson has given South Gate wider exposure, having made several national preseason All-American teams and many recruiting lists
Ivan Wilson has grown accustomed to the attention he gets as a football player for South Gate High School. The 17-year old senior tailback is used to having all eyes focused on him once he puts on his red and white Ram uniform. He knows that he will always stand out among his teammates. Wilson says that he has not given much thought to which college he will attend but he has already taken the Scholastic Aptitude Test once and is enrolled in...
Here, Pride's the Point Football: South Gate High's Coach Gary Cordray teaches confidence in self and teammates. He doesn't graduate major-college stars, but his Rams keep winning.
Los Angeles Times (pre-1997 Fulltext) - Los Angeles, Calif.
Author: DICK WAGNER
Date: Sep 13, 1990
The South Gate Rams, 25-1-1 the last two seasons, draw home crowds of 3,000 and enjoy support from the business community. [Gary Cordray], a fun-loving man who wears a Mickey Mouse watch and a whistle that sits on his protruding stomach, would never think of leaving.
"Here's the guy we call House," Cordray said, pointing out 6-foot-3 lineman Carlos Nunez. "House started at 316 in 10th grade, now he's gonna be playing this year at 280. He's trim, lean and mean. He's going to play some hell on some defensive backs."
Although Cordray was compassionate toward his players at the practice, he could also be tough, living up to his reputation as a disciplinarian. During the championship season two years ago, Cordray benched several of his starters in one game for breaking rules.
"I don't think it could be any better than right here," says Gary Cordray of South Gate High.; Coach Cordray is both fun-loving and a disciplinarian as he tries to instill Ram pride in his players. / SARAH M. BROWN / For The Times
"I'd say this is sort of like the `Happy Days' TV show," Cordray said last week as he stood in the center of the concrete campus. "I don't think it could be any better than right here. It's serene, you don't see a lot of stupidity. It's the best-kept secret, 'cause if anyone knew how good it was here they'd probably take my job 'cause there are a lot more smarter coaches than I am.".
Cordray will take an eight-season 52-30 record into Friday night's opening game with Wilson of Los Angeles. In 1988, the Rams were 14-0 and CIF city champions. South Gate's success has resulted mainly from tight defense played by youngsters whose desire and togetherness overcome lack of size.
The repertoire of offensive plays covers just half of a small chalkboard in an office beneath the stadium bleachers. "They always say South Gate doesn't have any size, but everybody is together. We are a team of unity. It takes heart to win, and that's what South Gate has." Cordray, 44, grew up in the Appalachian town of McConnelsville, Ohio, "thinking that on Friday night, football was the most important thing in town." He said Ohio State's Woody Hayes was like a god to him, though Cordray
A 300-member booster club is headed by Henry Gonzalez, a former city councilman "The team pulls the community together," he said. "Everybody's so proud of the kids."
He knew he wanted to keep that football atmosphere always. Unable to find it at L.A.'s Washington High, his previous school, Cordray helped create it in South Gate, where football is so popular that he said the team
A water tower looms at the east end of the Rams' campus stadium, but a sign on the gym near the west end gets the players' attention. It reads: "South Gate High Ram Pride." "See those words?" Cordray asked. "That's what I believe in: South Gate Ram Pride. Our kids see that when they come out here, and we talk about it every day." The pride penetrates so deeply that the players also paint the yard lines on the field and paint off any graffiti that might be on campus buildings.
More than 130 boys tried out for the varsity this summer, Cordray said, twice the number of candidates his first season. The 80 who won uniforms were doing jumping jacks, shouting, "One! Two! Three!" with crisp enthusiasm. That spirit pleased Cordray. "Our bench is alive all the time," he said. "We're chatterin', cheerin' it up, guys are screamin' and hollerin'. We don't need cheerleaders, bands and all that kind of stuff. If we can't read that sign up there, we're in trouble."
South Gate does not produce future stars: Just three players in Cordray's eight years have gone on to play at four-year colleges. "We don't tell them they're going to be college or professional players. We tell them, ` This is going to be your last hurrah, but we're going to get you to play like the pros do or your favorite college team does.'
Some, such as 300-pound former center Rudy Fortiz, become assistant coaches. "Rudy's my offensive line coach, equipment manager, first-aid man and also my eating buddy," Cordray said. A family atmosphere is evident. Last Friday night the booster club held a spaghetti dinner for the team at which the coaches talked to the players' parents about equipment,
Red helmets lay on the grass as the Rams stretched. Cordray walked along the lines. "This guy right here is so low off the ground, I swear, if moles could tackle, he'd be the best ballplayer in the world," Cordray said as he came to senior Rene Portugal.
"The majority of the school is Hispanic, so most of us get along," said senior Steve Martinez, the team's best defensive player.
"How come you want to play football for South Gate Cordray asked Terrones as they stood on the edge of the practice field. "I don't know . . . to make my mom and dad happy for me," Terrones answered shyly. "Yeah? How about yourself?" "Me too." "Yeah? What do you have here?" "South Gate High School Ram pride." Cordray hustled back onto the field to supervise a kickoff return drill. He does not view what he is doing as work. "I'm country, I don't know anything else, this is it," he said.
Dec 13, 1990
Armando Ramirez, South Gate, lineman-South Gate Coach Gary Cordray calls Ramirez a "super pass blocker." Ramirez, who can bench-press 280 pounds and run the 40-yard dash in 4.9 seconds, started for three years, during which the Rams were 29-6-1.
Back to Starting-and Starring-Roles Football: Tony DaCosta and Ivan Wilson sat out the 1991 season, but they have returned to become prominent players for El Camino this season.
Oct 16, 1992
[Tony DaCosta], a Torrance High graduate, is the Warriors' starting fullback. Juggling school, football and family life is difficult, but the 6-foot-3, 240-pound sophomore is in good company. His backfield partner, tailback [Ivan Wilson], also has a schedule that makes it difficult to play football.
Wilson credits DaCosta for much of his success. "At my high school, fullbacks just weren't this big," he said. "It's really great to have Tony blocking for me. He's so good."
When Ivan Wilson and Tony DaCosta met in the stands last season, they were wearing street clothes, not football uniforms.;DaCosta is rounding into shape after gaining 40 pounds in 1991.;Wilson leads the team in rushing and has scored five touchdowns.
The 5-10, 180-pound Wilson commutes from South Gate, where he lives with an aunt because his parents moved to Apple Valley. He often takes a bus, but never misses practice. DaCosta and Wilson were teammates on El Camino's 1990 state championship team, which won the Orange County Bowl and finished 9-2.
Wilson was recruited by schools such as UCLA, Nebraska, USC and California, but failed to score the minimum 700 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test to be...
Nov 10, 1992
For Steve Medina it was the chance of a lifetime ... the chance to touch the football after it had been snapped. Medina, a 6-foot-2, 301-pound center, was given the opportunity to carry the ball on a two-point conversion attempt in South Gate's 37-9 victory over LA Jordan last Friday. Medina got his two-point conversion after Roger Satti, normally a starting guard, scored a TD on a four-yard run..
Senior running back Hoffman Cortes rambled for 182 yards on 21 carries to lead South Gate past Roosevelt, 22 to 6, in a Southeastern Conference showdown at Roosevelt.
Roosevelt running back John Pineda had 73 yards on 12 carries. Sophomore quarterback Fernando Delgadillo came off the bench to complete 4 of 13 passes for 92 yards in the second half for Roosevelt.
Oct 9, 1994
[Willie Laffitte] completed eight of 16 passes for 126 yards and two touchdowns, but [Erick Barnes]' second-quarter interception set up his own five-yard touchdown reception. Barnes caught a second touchdown pass of 20 yards, then sealed the victory with another interception with 54 seconds left in the game, stealing the ball from a Toiler receiver in the University end zone.
Nov 10, 1994
South Gate High Coach Gary Cordray notched his 100th career coaching victory in the Rams' 26-14 victory Friday over Jefferson. Cordray, who also coached at Washington from 1978-81, has a record of 100-70-2. "I've never had a real goal to win 100, 150 or 200 games," Cordray said.
"I like to think my success as a coach comes from doing a lot of studying game film and being prepared but I don't think of this victory as a milestone.
Sep 23, 1995
Roosevelt 28, South Gate 22: Senior Juan Carrera scored on an 87-yard kickoff return and an 11yard touchdown pass from Christian Salazar, but it wasn't
Oct 7, 1995
South Gate 25, LA Jordan 14: Senior defensive back Juan Carrera intercepted two passes in the second quarter, returning one 97 yards for a touchdown that ...
AFTER FURTHER REVIEW, SOUTH GATE ELIMINATED
Published on November 27, 1997, Press-Telegram (Long Beach, CA)
South Gate should have played a CIF L.A. City Section 3-A quarterfinal playoff game Wednesday night. It was supposed to be a rematch with Garfield, which was one of three teams to beat the Rams in the regular season. But a funny thing happened on the way to the quarterfinals. The Rams didn't make it past the first round. South Gate coach Gary Cordray was still having trouble shaking off the controversial 26-22 loss to Chatsworth early this week. ``We should have won,'' Cordray said. ``This is a tough one to swallow.''
The Rams appeared to win on the game's final play when running back Ivan Curiel wedged up the middle from the 1-yard line. The side judge signaled touchdown, and the celebration began. However, no other official had indicated that Curiel was in the end zone. After a discussion, it was ruled that the Rams hadn't scored and Chatsworth won the game. ``After everybody had left the field, (one of the officials) told me (Curiel) was a quarter of an inch short,'' Cordray said. ``The decision had been made, what was I going to say?'' It was a tough ending to a night that also included a mistaken whistle that took away a South Gate fumble recovery deep in Chatsworth territory and a Rams'
``People talk about home field advantage,'' said Cordray, whose team was playing at home. ``That's not always true. You could play in the middle of Firestone Boulevard and it wouldn't necessarily be any easier.''
HIGH SCHOOL NOTEBOOK
Published on October 20, 1998, Press-Telegram (Long Beach, CA)
Jairo Garcia and the South Gate offense didn't have much chance to think about the school records they were shattering in Friday night's 51-45, triple-overtime Southeastern Conference football victory over L.A. Jordan. During the game, at least. Afterward, there was time to appreciate what was accomplished: Garcia's record-breaking totals of 51 rushing attempts, six touchdowns and 38 points and the Rams' new high-water mark of 51 points.``I was excited and ecstatic about breaking the records,'' Garcia said
Garcia and Coach Gary Cordray gave their offensive line tremendous credit. ... Cordray said of the largely inexperienced cast of blockers: ``They have done a very good job of coming together.'' ``They're doing a great job of opening holes,'' Garcia said. ``The Jordan defense knew where the play was going, but we still ran the ball there anyway . ..
Sep 25, 2002
South Gate began the season with the possibility of playing all its games away from home because its stadium was undergoing a retrofitting project to meet earthquake codes.
First-year Coach Ed Cantu tried to prepare his team over the summer by having shirts made that read “Road Warriors.”
Contract negotiations with developers delayed completion of the project until December, at the earliest.
But the Rams learned last week they will play a regular home schedule beginning Friday against Locke, thanks to former South Gate mayor Henry Gonzalez, who helped convince the city to donate portable bleachers for the school’s use.
The bleachers will be set up on the dirt track behind the Rams’ side of the field as well as behind the end zones.
“It’s huge for the kids,” said Cantu, a former defensive coordinator at Bell. “They’re very enthusiastic about the game. I certainly hope that it can inspire us more than the last two games.”
South Gate is 0-2 but can at least look forward to a true homecoming game next month.
Oct 15, 2003
When South Gate's Marco Vasquez rushed for 304 yards against Garfield at the end of his junior season, it only whetted the appetite of Ram football fans. Vasquez has rushed for 993 yards in five games for the Rams (3- 2). The senior is coming off a 309-yard, four-touchdown performance against L.A. Hamilton.
"He's like a wild horse," South Gate assistant Juan Carrera said. "It takes two or three guys to bring him down."
Oct 16, 2003
In South Gate football history, the Rams have had some pretty good games from their running backs. But nobody ever had one like Marco Vasquez did last Friday against Hamilton. The senior rushed for a school-record 309 yards and four TDs on 26 carries as the Rams (3-2) defeated the Tigers 42-7. South Gate coach Gary Cordray can only hope Vasquez can do it again this week in the Eastern League opener against Bell. ``The winner of this game has the upper hand toward making the playoffs and winning the league championship,'' Cordray said. ``Vasquez has had a great season and I don't see why he can't continue it. ``He's rushed for 993 yards this season, he's strong and he does a great job of bouncing off tacklers.''
Nov 1, 2003
Roosevelt 14, South Gate 13
Chris Hurtado rushed for 152 yards on 16 carries and scored both touchdowns to lead host Roosevelt. South Gate (5-3, 2-1) opened the scoring with a 56-yard run by Marco Vasquez in the second quarter and Marco Pulido kicked the extra point. Hurtado scored on a one-yard run with 1:05 remaining in the second quarter but the two-point run conversion failed. With 3:01 remaining in the third quarter, South Gate jumped ahead 13-6 when Vasquez scored again, this time on a 20-yard run but the extra point kick was wide. Hurtado then scored with one second remaining in the third on a nine-yard run and then ran the ball in for the two point conversion to finish the scoring. Mario Campos forced a fumble and Omar Chavira recovered at South Gate's 44-yard line with two minutes remaining to clinch the victory for the Roughriders (5-3, 2-1)
