James A Mcalister Funeral Home

Corona. He was 66 years old.McAlister and his former Blair High School teammate Kermit Johnson are on the short list of Southern California’s greatest-ever prep athletes after leading the Vikings to a 13-0 record and the school’s only CIF Southern Section championship in 1969.“He had confided in me that he was ill and I just didn’t know it would come this quickly,” Johnson said of his former backfield mate and lifelong friend. “James and I never had a conflict or issue regarding our athletic accomplishments or ability. We always stayed in touch and we would call each other. The calls would be 45 minutes minimum.“We would also have lunch three or four times a year and we would rarely talk about football. It was always about his family and how he loved his boys and things that he liked to do to help other kids”Just gone too soon James McAlister !!! R. I. P. Big Guy !!! #UCLA#NFL#PhiladelphiaEagles#Philadelphia#Pasadena@NFL@Eaglespic.twitter.com/HxRL8i08hp— ERIC C. HIGGINS (@thebige158) April 1, 2018McAlister and Johnson were both running backs for that ’69 team and combined for almost 4,000 yards that season to go along with 57 touchdowns. Blair beat Bishop Amat, who had legendary quarterback Pat Haden and receiver John McKay, in the Division 4-A final at the Coliseum.Both McAlister and Johnson signed with UCLA and set team and individual records during their time in Westwood.James McAlister’s 1970 high school yearbook photo from Blair High School. He passed away over the weekend. He was 66.McAlister was also a record-setting long jumper while at UCLA. Meanwhile Johnson, at one point, held almost every single season and career rushing record at UCLA.While at Blair, the twosome were known as either the “Dynamic Duo” or “Blair Pair”, but at UCLA they became Mr. Outside (Johnson) and Mr. Inside (McAlister). Johnson was the speedster and McAlister was the bruiser who could also break long runs. Pepper Rodgers, UCLA’s football coach at the time, took a page out of former Blair head coach Pete Yoder’s playbook by using the tw... (The Pasadena Star-News)