Point Loma High School baseball player Jim Murray, a member of the 1973 Pointer team that won a CIF championship, will be feted at a 40th anniversary “Spirit of ’73 Gala” on April 26 at the Bali Hai restaurant on Shelter Island. “I have always been a person that looked forward and rarely in the rear view mirror,” Murray said in a letter to event organizers. “But as I get older and closer to retirement, I (realize) the single most important lesson in my life had to be the sense of ‘TEAM’ that I developed playing baseball at PLHS.” The 14 members of that team have taken much of their experience forward with them to become successful in careers and life. Murray and his teammates have been showing up faithfully for 15 years to play in the annual alumni vs. varsity game, a tradition born at their 25th reunion in 1998 when the challenge, “I’ll bet we could still beat those youngsters” was verbalized. Another team member, Paul Contreras, put things in perspective. “With the on-field battles, we enjoyed our success but had our failures that brought us together as a team. The ’73 Pointers picked each other up when it was required and cheered for each other all of the time. We were brothers of the ball,” Contreras writes. Organizers of the “Sprit of ’73 Gala” promise a night of great food, fabulous fun, stories that get better with age and opportunities to bid on both live and silent auctions of intriguing donated items. Tickets are $75, with all proceeds supporting PLHS baseball. Contact Martha Stauderman at [email protected] to receive an invitation or for further details. Murray noted the uniqueness of each team member, which included characters that “would have given ‘The Bad News Bears’ a run for their money.” Meanwhile, Contreras said “the team now includes friends, family, kids and grandkids. We’re a formidable group that has not stopped growing.” Murray brought out an important fact that applies to many winning teams. “We were not the best baseball players in San Diego,” Murray wrote, “but we were the best baseball team of 1973.” Murray lauded Dick Huddleston, their coach, and credited the trust and lack of selfishness as key attributes of his team. Perhaps Contreras spoke for his teammates when he wrote “my happiness is from family, good friends, adventures and great memories, one of those being a part of the 1973 Point Loma Pointers baseball team.” “This is one get-together I would not miss for the world,” Murray said.
