Reid, Whitcome inducted into Hall of Fame

Jim Reid and the late Harvey Whitcome are the latest inductees into the Carson High Football Hall of Fame.

The announcements came at Saturday's annual Kick-off Dinner at the Carson Nugget.

Reid graduated in 1988 and played two years of wide receiver for then-coach Paul Croghan, making second-team all-state his senior season.

"Blair (Roman) called me about a month ago," said Reid, who is a firefighter in Sparks and just arrived back in town Friday night from battling fires near Bridgeport, Calif.

Reid teamed with current CHS basketball coach Carlos Mendeguia at wide receiver, and those two along with quarterback John Eck gave the Senators a potent offense. The trio was the main reason why the Senators went 8-3 that year.

"At the time, that was the most success Carson had," Reid said. "We had a good quarterback, and with Carlos on one side and me on the other plus we had a good tight end, teams couldn't stop all three of us."

Mendeguia said Reid was arguably the fastest player in maybe the past 30 years at least.

"I was the possession receiver," said Mendeguia. "Jim had great speed. He was as fast as Dylan Sawyers. You miss a tackle on him and he was gone down the sideline. It was nice to have that speed on the other side of the field. He was definitely the fastest on the team."

Reid, who also starred in track at Carson, went on to play just one season of football at Azusa Pacific.

"I just played my freshman year," Reid said. "I hurt my hamstring during the track season, and I didn't think it was well enough to come back full speed (in the fall). Oh yeah, I missed it."

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Whitcome, who was the recipient of the Milan Tresnit Award, coached Pop Warner Midget football in Carson for approximately 30 years.

His award was accepted by his son-in-law Rich Martillaro, who was inducted into the CHS Hall of Fame in 2010.

Martillaro and Mendeguia both played Pop Warner for Whitcome, who passed away in 2004.

"He was a great guy," Martillaro said in a phone conversation earlier this week from his Colorado home. "He was like a second father to me (back then). He was a mentor to me off and on. From eighth grade through my senior year, he was very influential.

"He was responsible for getting kids from the Carson Children's Home involved in football. He would take them to practice and bring them home. He made sure they had the opportunity to play football. He influenced hundreds of young football players. A lot of the kids who played at Carson came through his team."

Mendeguia agreed.

"He was a great guy," said the current CHS hoops coach. "He would do anything in the world for you. He was a father figure for many kids.

"He was a great coach. He was tough. He held kids accountable, but he was fair. He treated everybody the same that played for him."