Champions and Orphans: The 1968 Fresno City College-College of the Sequoias football feud

Here’s the story. College of the Sequoias football Coach Al Baldock wanted to beat Fresno City College Coach Clare Slaughter in 1968. Instead, Slaughter – blessed with some of the finest talent in the history of junior-college football – beat Baldock, not once but twice. But along the way, a bunch of administrators used their authority to brand as outlaws 65 COS football players for no reason other than that 20 of the young men came from towns deemed to be unacceptable. Telling this story, though, will take some doing. Let’s begin with the basics. Baldock was head coach at COS from 1962 through 1968. Slaughter was head coach at Fresno CC from 1959 through 1978. Both...