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In basketball I had more experience both as a player and as a coach so we won the league championship my first year. Luckily I hit on the idea of using a combination man-to-man and zone defense. It was quite simple to teach and confused our opponents no end. I had to laugh years later when John Wooden at UCLA used essentially the same system to win three consecutive national championships. All we did was play man-to-man until the ball got to a certain point on the court, then switch to a zone.

We lived in the Bynum apartment the first year at Corona and in May we purchased a small house in Norco. It was located on one and a quarter acres and cost us thirty five hundred dollars. That was rather a large amount since our salary was about two thousand dollars per year.

Meanwhile, I was not fully certificated to teach in California and needed to earn more college credits. So the first summer Guin and Carol went to Young to stay with Grandpa and Grandma Waldrip on the ranch while I attended the University of Arizona in Tucson. I began work on a Masters Degree that summer and this effort continued until 1952 when I finally earned the Degree at Claremont College near Pomona. This effort was rather taxing for me and Guin since I worked at other jobs also. I coached all major sports after school, taught Adult School two nights a week and held a special class once a week for boys who had dropped out of school. To say the least, it was a busy schedule.

It was difficult to find teachers at that time and almost impossible to get a shop teacher. Corona High School had a fairly good automobile shop and welding facility but had no adequate teacher for those courses. I made a deal with the Principal that I would teach the shop classes if he would get some one to teach Physical Education and help with coaching major sports. We were able to get a good man and so I got some help with coaching and also got some experience in auto shop and welding.

I think the teaching staff at Corona was quite good but each teacher was paid whatever amount he or she could force the Board to pay. There was no over-all salary policy. I became active in the teacher's organization and was asked to serve as Chairman of the Salary Committee. I attended training sessions at the California Teacher's Association headquarters in Los Angeles and learned something about salary schedules, tax measures and school district budgets. When spring came and we met with the School Board, I presented them with a complete District Budget which showed that the Board could give all employees nine percent raises without causing the district any financial problem. That really marked the beginning of my career in school business management because a month later when the Business Manager resigned I applied for the position and became Assistant Superintendent-Business at Corona Union High School and Corona Elementary School Districts. I had been in the system three less than three years and was not regularly certificated but was now second only to the top man, the Superintendent. Some of my fellow teachers were a bit envious but that was only a minor problem.

I was taking School Business and School Administration courses