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History of the House of Scotland
The very first San Diego Scottish Highland Games had been held at Helix High School in 1955. The games became very popular, and flourished through most of the 1960's. Pipe bands, highland dancers and other groups from San Diego and the Los Angeles area would participate regularly. A lot of fun was always had, plenty of trophies were handed out to the winners, but there was not much prize money given out. By the late 1960's more and more participants were becoming interested in prize money for their talents, and the games went into hibernation.
In the early 1970's the current San Diego Scottish Highland Games were started. They were held in Balboa Stadium, behind San Diego High School at 12th and Russ Streets. The first secretary of those games was Edna Horlor, later to become a president of the House of Scotland. As secretary in 1975, she and her husband Bill were invited to Scotland to attend the Braemar Gathering, the foremost Highland games in the world. The event is held each September at Braemar, Scotland, which is in Royal Deeside, near Queen Victoria's beloved Balmoral Castle. The games are attended annually by Queen Elizabeth and her family, as it was by her royal predecessors. Edna and Bill got along famously with the Braemar committee. They were seated next to the Queen's box. The Braemar officials were very impressed with the fact that Edna Horlor held the position of Secretary of the San Diego Highland games. In Scotland, at that time, a female Game's Secretary was unheard of.
Since the fledgling San Diego Highland Games were struggling to gain community recognition and support, Edna and Bill were thinking of ways in which to boost their credibility and attraction. Lightning struck when they presented the Braemar people with the idea of San Diego having an authentic Braemar Challenge caber to test the mettle of Scottish-American athletes in San Diego.
In the Cairngorm mountains of Scotland grow the majestic Larch trees, strong and straight. A conifer, the trunks of the Larch had long been hewn into cabers, the unique star of Scottish Highland Athletic Games.
It was finally decided that the Royal Braemar Gathering would indeed honor San Diego with the gift the Horlor's sought.
A fine larch tree was selected, felled by woodsmen, and hewn into a caber stretching nearly 20 feet in length and tipping the scales at over 180 pounds. Most cabers used in competition outside Scotland are fashioned of local materials, and are of lesser weight. The Challenge Caber was then wrapped in burlap and stored beneath the grandstand at Braemar for a whole year as tradition dictates! After the Spring thaw, the caber was unwrapped, inspected and deemed a worthy gift for America. It was then waterproofed and laid to dry.
British Airways agreed to fly the caber to San Diego at no charge in the belly of a Boeing 747. Unfortunately, however, cutbacks removed the 747's from service, and the replacement DC-10's could not accommodate such an unwieldy cargo. Several other attempts at donated transportation failed to materialize. Bill and Edna again used their powers of persuasion, and the membership of the House of Scotland agreed to pay ocean freight to San Diego.
From Greenock, Scotland, on the firth of Clyde, the caber crossed the Atlantic, passed through the Panama Canal and up to the Port of San Pedro, California. Then it was trucked down to the Horlor's home in Santee.
Members of the House of Scotland drove to San Pedro to sign for the caber when it came off the ship. When they arrived, they found, much to their chagrin, that longshoremen, unaware of what it was, were using the caber to roll large crates of cargo up and down the dock.
Braemar attached no particular rules as to who would be allowed to toss this caber. There was one rule, however, that could never be broken. A challenge caber can never be cut! Custom dictates that if a regular caber cannot be tossed, it can be cut down a bit each year until it can be tossed-- but never this one. Some of the finest caber athletes tried tossing this huge caber, year after year. In fact, at least two hefty World Champions tried, but no one ever tossed it! Prize money was offered time and again, and always went unclaimed.
Edna and Bill Horlor had stored the huge caber in their home for a few years. Then they decided to donate it to the House of Scotland as a display. The city of San Diego was contacted, and obligingly agreed to install the large iron holders on the wall of the cottage. There were years when the San Diego Games were over, everyone went home and Edna and Bill were left to lift the huge larchwood caber up to replace it in the rack by themselves. Bill Horlor says that while it was stored at his home, he hauled it out into his back yard for fun. After finally getting it up on end, he struggled for a while and managed to lift it, but when the heavy top end started to head for the roof of his house, he had to push it away and let it drop. "I could just see myself having to pay to have my roof repaired," he now laughs "if that thing had fallen on it."
There are only three more of these challenge cabers in existence, one in Tokyo, one in Australia, and one in Jakarta, Indonesia. Those others are said to have been obtained only after much official government maneuvering. But ours was obtained just by two dedicated San Diegans and dedicated House of Scotland members, and it is the most massive in the world--a true challenge!
The Challenge caber was retired for a while, then the House of Scotland's Jim Scrimgeour took it to the Games a few times during the early 1980's. It was not put into competition again until the San Diego Scottish Highland Games of 1996, at Rancho Santa Fe Park in San Marcos, California. President Gary McMaster, Vice-President Ted Wilson, and Kit Brainard, husband of secretary, Joni Brainard, were responsible for its entry. Gary McMaster corresponded with Mr. William Meston, Secretary of the Royal Braemar Gathering, on procedures, and coordinated with Mr. Ray Pearson, Chieftain of the San Diego Games. The Scottish-American Athletic Society was in charge of the athletic events, and supervised the competition. Ted and Kit loaded the caber on top of Ted's VW van and president McMaster followed the van to San Marcos to be there if it fell off. Ted and Gary carried the caber into the park and set up the House of Scotland tent and displays, with the Challenge Caber on stands in front of the tent. On Sunday, after all of the traditional caber turning was over, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners of the Class A competition and the 1st place winner of the Class B competition got to attempt to turn the Braemar.
Thirteen attempts were made by the athletes. A great deal of very loud huffing an puffing was heard as the contestants brought all of their concentration to bear against this formidable rival, and two of them managed to lift, balance, run with, and flip the giant caber skyward. None were able, however, to turn the giant to a complete perpendicular position. It fell backward each time with a healthy "thud," with the competitors running for cover. The $500 in prize money offered by the House of Scotland remained unclaimed. (A big sigh of relief was said to have been heard from the treasurer John McColly.) All of the officers of the House of Scotland were pleased that the Braemar Caber once again was doing what it was made for, especially V. P Wilson, who initially suggested the idea. There had been apprehension that after sitting through so many hot Southern California summers, the caber might split, but it held up perfectly. Only a couple of new nicks were observed on the wide end when it was put back up in the cottage. There was a decided bow in the Caber, so when it was repositioned in its great iron racks in the cottage it was set with the bend up so that it might straighten in time. President Gary McMaster was able to take the first photos of the Caber in competition for the House of Scotland photo album. Mr. Meston of the Braemar Royal Highland Society was sent copies of the photos and informed of how the competition went.