Los Gatos Weekly-Times Photograph by Fred Matthes Los Gatos High School football fans Dan Albert and brothers Al and Larry Mathews, the latter a friend of 49er general manager Bill Walsh, enjoy a LGHS football game. Picture from the Past John S. Baggerly Los Gatos footballer and 49er coach Bill Walsh were friends Bill Walsh, who coached the San Francisco 49ers to three Super Bowl championships, has returned to that organization as general manager. What has that to do with today's column? Press on gentle reader, and find out. Walsh and Larry Mathews were teammates at San Jose State University and are longtime friends. More on Larry's work for the Los Gatos High School football team later. In the photo above, Larry, brother Al and friend Dan Albert attend the second game of a home-and-home set (1963-64) that LGHS played against Monterey High School, where this threesome had been football teammates. Albert was a longtime MHS football coach and has been mayor of Monterey for the past umpteen years. Al Mathews coached football at Del Mar and Campbell high schools. Publisher of the Los Gatos High football program then and now is Joe Zanardi, with local dentist Bill Frey doing the news/team photo side with Fred Matthes. On the cover of the 1964 Monterey edition of the program was a photo of Larry Mathews and then-team doctor, Frank Griffith. Besides being team physician, Griffith was in attendance at LGHS home games. His wife Anne is one of the founders of the school's magazine-style football programs, sold by members of the Spirit Squad, which today is under direction of Tonya Lynch, herself a former Spirit Squad member. The Griffiths' sons Tim, Bobby and John quarterbacked the Wildcats, and Dad was a footballer at Serra High of the West Catholic League. Walsh coached Stanford to a Sun Bowl victory over Louisiana State at El Paso, Texas, before moving up to the 49ers. Prior to Stanford, Walsh worked as an assistant to Paul Brown with the Cleveland Browns. While at Stanford and with the 49ers, Walsh maintained a business office in Palo Alto. It was there that Zanardi contacted Walsh for a few lines about Larry Mathews for the dedicatory Monterey program. Walsh mailed in a note of high praise and added, "I could always run faster than Larry." This is an inside joke between the two men. Walsh was and presumably still is knock-kneed and pigeon-toed, a defect that caused him to be moved from offensive to defensive end at SJSU. Larry's record included a West Valley Athletic League championship. After retiring from the head job, Larry became "the eyes in the sky" for current coach Butch Cattolico. "In the sky" means a crow's nest on a power pole at Helm Field and the top row in the bleachers at away games. Cattolico cherished Larry's astute observations of the enemy. Today, Larry views the Wildcats from the sidelines. The Los Gatos-Walsh connection goes back to the 1950s when Bill was head football coach at Washington High in Centerville. Walsh and Fred Canrinus, then head coach at LGHS, scheduled a game to be played in Centerville. Los Gatos managed a 6-0 halftime lead and in the second half Walsh moved his big right tackle to fullback and ground out a 7-6 victory. Even after winning Super Bowl titles with the 49ers, Walsh said his greatest thrill as a coach was when his high school team scored its first touchdown. [ Back to Contents Page | Los Gatos Weekly-Times Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, February 3, 1999. ©1999 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.