Football program cover

It is considered the biggest high school football game in California history – the legendary 1956 CIF championship game between Anaheim and Downey High Schools. The game has never been matched in terms of local interest, young idols, and a record-setting crowd. Sixty years later, the game that ended in a tie between the two undefeated teams is still being celebrated by historians, football fans, and alumni from both high schools.

In anticipation of an Oct. 21-23 60th anniversary celebration of the game, both Anaheim and Downey are planning reunions and commemorations to honor players from the 1956 teams.

Both sides are also teaming up to help kick start a documentary film project, “A Last Hurrah.” The fundraising effort is to provide film maker Paul Molina with an initial production budget to record and edit interviews with players, including Anaheim’s star running back Mickey Flynn, as well as fans who attended the game.

“There is a sense of urgency,” says Molina. “It’s almost certain that these reunions will not be formally arranged ever again.”

A 5-minute promo video of the project may be viewed via the project’s GoFundMe campaign. When achieved, the $24,000 goal will allow completion of a work-in-progress by November in order to obtain finishing funds from foundations and organizations dedicated to historical and cultural preservation.

Molina graduated as a football star from Katella High School in Anaheim. He went on to UCLA’s School of Theater, Film, and Television, spending the past 25 years producing and writing documentaries and news programming for PBS, The Learning Channel, E! Entertainment, NBC affiliates, Netflix and others. Now he’s ready to film a project that is much more personal to him.

“As a native southern California, I am very passionate about this dream project,” Molina said. “In today’s digital world, it’s difficult to appreciate the amount of hype this game generated 60 years ago, but the media buzz was unprecedented. Each team had a superstar in the backfield, Anaheim’s Mickey Flynn and Downey’s Randy Meadows. Each guy averaged over 16 yards per carry!”

The documentary will take viewers back to when Anaheim and Downey were still considered small towns that were truly represented by their high schools teams, each a football powerhouse with legendary coaches who would achieve hall of fame status: Anaheim’s Clare Van Hoorebeke and Downey’s Dick Hill. Businesses closed early, and opposing schools brought busloads of fans to watch the teams clash in the L.A. Memorial Coliseum.

But it’s also the aftermath of the gridiron match that proved a game of such magnitude could not – and would not – ever happen again.

“Although the game is what drives this story forward, this documentary is about much more – a social and cultural transformation of an entire region, when all eyes of the nation were on California,” says Molina.  “This documentary would appeal to all persons interested in American history in the 1950s.”

Molina is collaborating with Art Hansen, a CSUF professor emeritus who is writing a book entitled “The Golden Kingdom: Prep Football and Early Cold War Society and Culture in Southern California.”  The book, once published, will provide a social and cultural “context” to help readers fathom why the fortunes of high school football programs, as embodied and symbolized by the 1956 Anaheim Colonists and the Downey Vikings, assumed such potent significance, meaning, and value within early Cold War Southern California.

Molina adds: “The landscape of southern California was changing so rapidly that if we look back at that period from afar, perhaps we can also reflect on how we sometimes treat our heroes, and what that says about us,” he explained.  “Most importantly, this film will allow the men and women interviewed to tell their stories – which will make us all richer by reflecting upon their experiences, and ours.”

Click here to donate via the GoFundMe campaign.  Any amount is welcome, but incentives are being offered as follows:

$25 – A digital download of the finished documentary “A Last Hurrah.”

$50 – Digital downloads of “A Last Hurrah” and the 1956 Anaheim vs. Downey title game preserved by the OC Sports Hall of Fame and the Anaheim and Downey alumni associations.

$100 – Digital downloads of “A Last Hurrah,” the 1956 Anaheim vs. Downey title game, and the game program.

$250 – All of the above, plus a hard copy replica program signed by Mickey Flynn.

$500 – All of the above, plus an Anaheim High Mickey Flynn #25 jersey.

$1000 – All of the above, including a signed #25 Mickey Flynn jersey and a collectible OC Sports Hall of Fame book and poster featuring Anaheim High memorabilia from the 1956 game.

$5000 – All of the above, and screen credit as an executive producer

More information about the Anaheim celebration on Oct. 21 is available at www.anaheimcolonists.com. For those who wish to make a donation by check, donations may be mailed to the AHSAA, P.O. Box 389, Anaheim, CA, 92805. Please write “A Last Hurrah” on the check’s memo line. Questions may be directed to anaheimalumni@yahoo.com or to Paul Molina via paulgmolina@gmail.com.