(04-30-2019, 09:49 AM)TreesAndBirds Wrote: RIP
Antioch High, USF, Baltimore Colt great
Interesting stories of his life, from WW2 to USF refusal to play in segregated Orange Bowl to his restaurant success.
https://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/nfl/...story.html
Great story. He was the captain of USF's "undefeated and uninvited" 1951 team that went undefeated, yet did not play in a bowl game. They were invited to play in the 1952 Orange Bowl, as long as they left their two African-American players (Ollie Matson and Burl Toler) at home. The team refused.
Two scheduling oddities. First, Stanford went 9-2 that year (Chuck Taylor's first year), but USF and Stanford didn't play each other in an era when local teams often played each other. Second, even though USF played four ranked opponents, only one of their opponents from that year still play NCAA D-1 BCS football, San Jose State, and they played SJSU twice that year. Two others (Fordham and Idaho) plays FCS (f/k/a D-1AA). The other five no longer play football.
Two days after their undefeated season ended, USF gave up football. They scored 286 points and gave up 72. Three of their team members are NFL Hall of Famers (Marchetti, Ollie Matson and Bob St. Clair). Seven others were drafted in the NFL (Red Stephens, Dick Stanfel, Ed Brown, Mike Mergen, Burl Toler, George Buksar, and Art Alois). All but Toler and Alois played in the NFL. Toler had suffered a career-ending injury in the East-West Shrine game. Marchetti said he felt Toler was the best player on the team. Pete Rozelle was the student manager. Joe Kuharich was the coach, leaving to coach for the lesser Catholic university in South Bend.
