Up for auction is an original vintage Mater Dei High School (Santa Ana, CA) 1956 - 1957 CIF Champs Football Varsity / Letterman / Award Jacket for the Monarch's first the first two CIF Division Championship years as a football team. This jacket is named to 1957 All Star Running Back, Henry "Hank" Enriquez, dubbed "the Reaper" and "the Hurricane," arguably one of the best football players to come out of Mater Dei's prep football program and Mater Dei's first ever recipient of the All CIF Player of the Year Award & recipient of First Team CIF honors in 1955 & 1957 (His #1 jersey was retired by Mater Dei in 1958; first ever jersey to be retired by MD High). Enriquez played under the guidance of famed Mater Dei football coach Dick Coury, who came on as head coach in 1957 with his first CIF Championship win (Coached at Mater Dei from 1957 - 1965 before coaching at USC and later in the NFL).
For Mater Dei, a high school steeped in football excellence and tradition, Henry Enriquez was the school's first stand-out All Star, who propelled his team to win both the 1956 & 1957 CIF Championships as well as three Parochial League titles in 1955, 1956, & 1957. He was the first Mater Dei All County South Player of the Year in history, and the catalyst, under the tutelage of legendary coach Dick Coury, that helped Mater Dei's high school football program become what it is today, ranked #1 in the nation. This is a significant school achievement, and it all started with fullback Henry Enriquez.
The Helm's Athletic Foundation, in their 1957 Special Release named Henry Enriquez (HS: Mater Dei High School, YR: Senior, Height: 5'-9", Weight: 190 LBS, Position: Back) the All-Southern California North-South C.I.F. High Co-Player of the 1957 Season and went on to say:
"Henry Enriquez, star of Mater Dei's Southern Group CIF Champions, gained 1,235 yards on 122 carries for an average of 10 yards per carry. He has been starting fullback at Mater Dei for three years, and his coach Dick Coury makes no bones calling him the best back in the state of California. This year he scored a total of 84 points on 14 touchdowns and in the CIF Finals against Claremont, he gained 234 yards on 20 carries and scored three TDs as the Monarchs triumphed, 39-14." (See Photos 14 & 15).
Henry E. also played fullback for the 1958 Shrine South All Star Team (jersey #24, see photos 18 & 19), as fullback and halfback on the 1958 University of Utah Utes Frosh Football Team (see photo 20), as Pirate fullback on the 1959 Orange Coast College (OCC) Bucs Football Team for his former Mater Dei Coach Steve Musseau, where he received the Lions Club Pirate of the Year Award (see photo 21), and as fullback for the San Diego State Aztecs 1961 Varsity Football Team under famed coach Don Coryell (see photo 22, jersey #38). Further, Henry Enriquez is quoted on pages 259 & 260 of Phil Ross' 2013 biography on Joe Obbema's football career, entitled: Once a Trojan Always a Trojan - A True Story, where he speaks of the Jekkyl-and-Hyde qualities of Obemma off and on the field when Enriquez worked as an assistant football coach at Mater Dei in 1965.
Jacket is in very good condition, H.L. Whiting Co. of Los Angeles, CA with wool body and leather sleeves and has minor soiling and rips on the liner along with a small cut to leather piping area on the left-hand side of jacket.
A jacket with this amount of history and prestige belongs in the collection of a Mater Dei football fan, booster, alumni, or better yet in the school's hall showcase or trophy room itself, or perhaps even in a local museum.
This auction includes the following:
1) Henry Enriquez's original 1956 - 1957 CIF Champs Mater Dei Awards Jacket with ENRIQUEZ stitched in the lower inside right of jacket
2) Original 1957 Seventh Annual Shrine North vs. South High School All Star Game Program. Henry Enriquez played as starting fullback for the South team, #24 at the All Star game held at the LA Coliseum on 07/30/1958.
3) 1" thick binder containing over 75 newspaper articles, yearbook pages, excerpts, and quotes covering Henry Enriquez's outstanding football career spanning from 1955 - 1961 (please read the Career Highlights section shown below for a compilation of these findings).
4) Flash drive with over 200 (212 to be exact) digitally clipped newspaper articles on Henry Enriquez, covering his 1955-1957 Mater Dei football seasons, the 1958 All Star North-South Shrine Game, the 1958 University of Utah football season, the 1959 Orange Coast College football season, the 1959 East-West JC Shrine football game, and the 1961 San Diego State University football season. The drive includes digital scans of the 1956, 1957, & 1958 Mater Dei Crown yearbook football pages, 1959 University of Utah Frosh yearbook football page, 1959 University of Utah Football Prospectus Report, 1960 Orange Coast College yearbook football pages, and the 1962 San Diego State University yearbook football pages.
Shipping to run $14.50 in the USA and $85.00 to Europe or Japan.
Good luck & God Bless!!!
Henry Enriquez’s Football Career Highlights in Print (1955 – 1961)
1955 – Henry
Enriquez (#51) is starting varsity fullback in his sophomore year for the Mater Dei High School Monarchs under
head coach Steve Musseau (who played football for LSU until WWII interrupted
his career, and then became a paratrooper in the US Army where he incurred a
bad leg fracture that ended his football career and shifted to coach high
school football instead). The 1956 Mater
Dei Crown yearbook shows Enriquez as All C.C., first team (All Parochial
League). “The Monarchs of ’55 are the
greatest team in the history of Mater Dei High” states the Crown. The Varsity team’s record is 10-1-0 and the
Monarchs are the Parochial League Champions. This is Musseau’s first year at Mater Dei as
head football coach. Dick Coury is the
assistant coach.
1956 – Enriquez
(#1) is starting varsity fullback in his junior year and on 06/8/56 Star-News
writes, “Henry Enriquez, 185 pound fullback, (is) the team’s principal ground
gainer who averaged 14 yards per carry…(and) gained All Parochial League first
team honors.” On 10/18/56 Tustin News reports,
“On Mater Dei’s 2nd down,
Henry Enriquez, Monarch man, ran 76 yards down the field for a TD in last four
minutes of play, scoring another 6 points for Mater Dei (44-0 MD v. Tustin).” The
1957 Mater Dei Crown yearbook has him pictured as Monarch of the Week against
Capistrano (26-0 MD win). The Monarchs
are Parochial League CIF Northern Division Champions with a record of
12-0-0. Steve Musseau is head coach for
his second and final year at Mater Dei before heading off to Orange Coast
College (a local Junior College) as head coach for the Pirates in 1957. Dick Coury is assistant coach for his fourth
consecutive year.
1957 – This is Henry
Enriquez’s legacy year that will secure his place in the history books. Starting as varsity fullback (#1) for his
third year in a row, Dick Coury is now head coach for the Monarchs (Coury started
his career as a backfield coach for the Camp Drake Bulldogs, a football team
composed of U.S. Army soldiers stationed in Japan during the Korean War, before
becoming assistant football coach at Mater
Dei in 1953). A 12/01/57 Blade
Tribune article covers the Escondido game, writing, “Sparked by the 190-pound
fullback Henry Enriquez, who personally accounted for 171 (of MD’s 340 rushing)
yards in 26 carries, Mater Dei rocked the Cougars and gained a 20-7 advantage
at intermission… (Enriquez‘s last conversion being described as a 32-yard)…jet-dash
into the end zone (final score 20-14 MD).”
The Mater Dei Monarchs finish the season 11-0-1 and are named Parochial
League CIF Southern Division Champions. On
12/30/57 the Helms Athletic Association recaps Enriquez’s brilliant ’57 season
stating, “(he) gained 1,235 yard on 122 carries for an average of 10 yards per
carry…his coach Dick Coury makes no bones about calling him the best back in
the state of California. This year he
scored 84 points on 14 touchdowns and in the CIF finals against Claremont, he
gained 234 yards on 20 carries and scored three TDs as the Monarchs triumphed,
39-14.” Enriquez is awarded All CIF
North-South Section co-Player of the Year for the 1957 Season, along with
Harold Tobin of Coronado. He is the
first Mater Dei High School football player in history to receive this award.
1958 – On 02/2/58
the Independent Press Telegram announces that “three Long Beach area backfield
stars were added Friday to the 25-main South team which will meet the North in
the seventh annual Shrine High School
football game at the (LA) Coliseum July 30.
The South team represents the cream of the graduating high school crop
from Santa Barbara to San Diego and includes players from Los Angeles city
schools. The three L.B. area backs named
Friday were fullback Henry Enriquez of Mater Dei, quarterback Pete Yoder of
Downey and Lynn Gaskill of Banning.”
Photographer Rustan takes a series of South All Star Team practice
photos on 07/21/58 and writes, “starting backfield, H. – 24 Henry
Enriquez.” Enriquez appears in three of
those photos, available for viewing on Calisphere under the University of
Southern California Libraries collection.
A 07/27/28 Independent Star Press article declares, “Mater Dei’s Henry
(The Horse) Enriquez will open at fullback.
Enriquez has been one of the most pleasant surprises in the first week
of drills. South Coaches Gus Headintgon,
Rollie Eilerts, and Paul Hubner claim the Mater Dei man-handler is the
strongest runner in camp.” On 07/31/58,
the day after the Shrine game, the Press Telegram writes, “Mater Dei’s Henry
Enriquez carried five times and netted 15 yards.” A National City Star-News editorial compares a
new talent with Henry, predicting, Alfred Tanoai “will be another Henry (The
Reaper) Enriquez. Enriquez was all-CIF
and the leading ground gainer and scorer in the tough Parochial League in his
prep days at Mater Dei. The name may not
ring a bell, but big Henry rang several bells in the heads of would-be tacklers. He liked to run over them and Tanoai likes to
do the same thing.” As fall ’58 rolls
around, Enriquez becomes a member of the University
of Utah Utes freshman football team and the Salt Lake City Daily Chronicle
prints on 11/10/58 that “Halfback Henry Enriquez (#43) led the Pappose
touchdown parade with three tallies.”
Further, on 11/15/58, an article entitled, Keep an Eye on Those Frosh, from the Salt Lake Tribune reports, and
“…take a look at a player like Henry Enriquez, a 189-pounder who has been moved
from fullback to halfback. Henry’s
average fell off a little Friday against the BYU frosh, with only 48 plunging
yards in 11 carries. But before the game
he was averaging 7.8 yards a carry on 21 attempts. Enriquez is no flash in the pan—he averaged
12.1 yards every time he carried the ball his senior year in high school in
California. He’s just one of a dozen backfield
prospects (for the ’59 University of Utah varsity squad).”
1959 – Likely
published around the summer of ’59, the 1959 University of Utah Prospectus calls “Henry Enriques (misspelled his
last name), a standout back, (who) will likely be shifted from fullback to
lefthalf and will be a strong candidate for the second unit.” He’s listed on page 24 as “No. 32, Enriquez,
Henry, FB, 190 lbs, 5’-10”, Age 19, Sophomore, Hometown: Santa Ana, CA.” Page 7 names him as an “Outstanding Sophomore,”
page 25 shows how to phonetically pronounce his last name, “N-reek-es,” and
page 31 goes on to call Henry “a great high school performer at Mater Dei High
School in Santa Ana, California. He made
the All-California Interscholastic Federation squad and was voted player of the
year. (He) averaged more than 10 yards
per carry during his high school career.
(His) High school coach (was) Dick Coury.” Sometime between 6/59 – 9/59 Henry must have
made the realization that he wouldn’t see much game time as a Utah Ute varsity second
stringer and jumps ship to former coach Steve Musseau’s Orange Coast College (OCC) Pirate football quad. Exit University of Utah and enter OCC as the
Barnacle paper writes on 10/02/59 that “paced by the brilliant running of Henry
Enriquez…OCC came up with a winner in the opening game of the season beating a
rugged Oakland Thunderbird team by 19-16 Saturday night…in the second period,
Henry Enriquez made his debut as a Pirate fullback, and the results were rather
eye-popping, to say the least. Time and
again the fleet-footed 5’-9”, 190-pounder shot through the Oakland line for big
gains. Shortly after the Pirates
recovered an enemy fumble in Thunderbird territory Enriquez rambled 22 yards
right through the Oakland defenders for a touchdown and a 13-8 OCC lead, which
was the tally at half-time. Enriquez scored
again in the third period with a two-yard dive into paydirt to hike the OCC
lead to 19-8 and Pirate fans were breathing easier at this stage…Enriquez and
Oakland passer Ray Johnson were named by the sportswriters as outstanding
performers of the game.” In a 10/09/59
article recapping a game against Hartnell the print says, “Fullback Henry
Enriquez paced the Pirates rushers with 27 yards in 11 carries” and OCC wins
the game with a 4th quarter touchdown. A 10/30/59 Barnacle article calls Henry,
nicknamed “Hank”, “dependable…in the Buck backfield”, and on 11/06/59, in a
13-12 OCC loss to the Fullerton Hornets the article reports “Enriquez ran for
74 of the total 80 yards. Featuring the
drive was a 50 yard gallop by Enriquez on the first play of the game.” On an 11/08/59 review of a Pirates vs. Owls
game the reporter says, “The sluggish Owls never were in the game after Henry
Enriquez ran 97 yards with the opening kickoff to put Orange Coast ahead.” On 11/20/59 in a precursor article to the
Buc’s last game of the season, the Barnacle is convinced, “The fortunes of the
Bucs seem to rest on the broad shoulders of one man—Henry Enriquez. He has been to key in each of the Pirates’
wins and has gained as many yards as the rest of the team combined along with
scoring almost half of the points.
Enriquez rolled up 200 yards and two touchdowns in the Citrus game and
the score was 32-6. In the Riverside
game he was held to a very small gain and Coast lost 13-6.” The last bit of print on Henry’s OCC season
finishes with an awards banquet, covered on 12/11/59, where he “was presented
with the Pirate of the Year award by the Lions Club.” OCC’s team finished the season 3-6 (they had
gone 6-2-1 in ’58).
1960 – For Henry
Enriquez, the year 1960 is a mystery as he seemingly disappears from all print. Likely Henry was either focused on his
college studies or transferred over to another local Junior College Football
team (if even eligible to play for another JC?)
If further research produces any answers this 1960 section will be
updated.
1961 – Now as a
member of the San Diego State University’s
Aztec varsity football team the San Diego Daily Aztec reports on 09/12/61,
“Also in the backfield are…Hank Enriquez (#38), SD-CIF small schools ‘Co-Player
of the Year’ three seasons ago at Mater Dei High (this would infer he skipped
football in 1960 since he played in 1959 at OCC, in 1958 for University of
Utah, and in 1957 at Mater Dei),” and “With both Mendez and Warren sidelined,
Coryell has made some position changes. Enriquez
was moved to halfback along with Jimmy King and Russ Boehke.” A 09/26/61 Daily Aztec article reports
“Fullback Hank Enriquez gained 17 up the middle on a draw play, giving SDS a
first down on the Diablo 20…With fourth-and-one on the 11, Enriquez missed his
signal, Sevier was tossed for a yard loss back to the 12 and LA took over on
downs just before the half ended…Next came Rockhold with 21, Enriquez with 18
and Fernandez with 17. Korsmeir was the
SDS total offense leader with 75 yards.”
An article entitled, Aztecs Will
Attempt to Break Mustangs in Bowl Tomorrow, published on 10/10/61 in the
Daily Aztec states, “Hank Enriquez will be at fullback, and Carson at
wingback.” Enriquez is pictured in another
article on the same page with the caption, “Top Left – Mario Mendez, Aztec
halfback tries his own left end with the help of fullback Hank Enriquez (38). LB’s halfback Tom Turril is about to be
blocked out of the action by Enriquez.” Finally,
towards the end of the season the Daily Aztec reports on 11/10/61 that “The
Aztecs will not be at full strength Saturday.
Fullback Henry Enriquez, who was slated for a starting berth, is
sidelined with a leg injury. In his
place will be Phil Farias on defense and Joe Rockhold on offense,” (inferring
that Enriquez also played defense for his team on occasion). The Aztecs finished the season 7-2-1 (seven
wins, two losses, and a tie), which was a big turnaround from the previous year
when they had only won a single game.
Mater Dei High School Football History (taken from their website):
Mater Dei High School first opened its doors to 120 students and 20 football players in 1950. The school played its first varsity football games the following year, and the Monarchs won their first two CIF championships in 1956 and 1957.
For more than six decades, Monarch football has been the cornerstone of an athletic program that recently led Sports Illustrated to name Mater Dei the Number 2 High School Athletic Program in America. Competing annually against the best competition in Southern California, Mater Dei has compiled an enviable record for football success:
In addition, Mater Dei is only high school in America that has produced three Heisman Trophy winners.
Keywords: Vintage Football, Antique Football, Rare Football, Heisman Trophy, CIF Champs, CIF Champions, Letterman Jacket, Letterman's Jacket, Varsity Jacket, Letter Jacket, Henry Enriquez, Running Back, Dick Coury, Monarch Football, Monarchs, Player of the Year, Wool Jacket, 1950's Jacket, 50's Jacket, 1956 Jacket, 1957 Jacket, Catholic High School, Mater Dei Santa Ana, Santa Ana, CA, California, Pius X, St. Monica, S.J. Capistrano, Tustin, Pomona Catholic, St. John Vianney, Mary Star, St. Francis, Barstow, St. Monica, South Pasadena, Servite, Arroyo-Grande, San Marino, Bell Gardens, USC, University of Southern California, Fullback, Joe Obbema, John Huarte, Mission, 1958 Shrine Football Game, Shrine South Team, 1940's Football, 1950's Football, 40s Football, 50s Football, La Coliseum, Los Angeles Coliseum, Awards Jacket, Award Jacket, Sports Jacket, Leather Jacket, Wool Jacket, SDSU, San Diego State University, OCC, Orange Coast College, University of Utah, Utes, Don Coryell