Founding 49ers

Dave Newhouse

Description

Inside the 49ers' early years The San Francisco 49ers are among the most dynamic franchises, not only in the National Football League but in all of professional sports. They have won five Super Bowl titles and have produced some of football's most dynamic players in Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, and Ronnie Lott, all of whom were coached by Bill Walsh, one of the game's most innovative thinkers.The 49ers' greatness came 35 years after the franchise began in 1946. During those years, they achieved no conference or league titles, even though they produced eight Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees, including the celebrated "Million Dollar Backfield." Offering a detailed look at the 49ers' prolonged growing pains, from the 1940s through the mid-1970s, Founding 49ers focuses on that mostly unfulfilled time before the DeBartolo family rescued the franchise.Author Dave Newhouse provides a fascinating look at the 49ers' early years through the eyes of the players who gave the franchise its foundation. Ex-49ers from the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s share their tales within these pages, including two members of the original 1946 team; Lou Spadia, the last surviving member of the 49ers' original front office; former 49ers coach George Seifert; and Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Fouts, son of an early 49ers broadcaster.These mostly forgotten 49ers didn't win like their successors, but they were highly entertaining, they broke down racial barriers, and they turned San Francisco into a major-league city. Founding 49ers captures the history of those pre-Walsh 49ers like no book before it.

Sujets

• Fútbol americano
• American football
• History of sport
• California

Informations

• Publié par: The Kent State University Press
• Date de parution: 08 juin 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781631011689
• Langue: English

Extrait

FOUNDING 49ERS
“The San Francisco 49ers won five Super Bowls but lost something big—their colorful early history. Dave Newhouse went digging for it and found it. A must-read for every 49ers fan and every pro football fan.”
—Scott Ostler , sports columnist, San Francisco Chronicle
“Football, San Francisco, and the era in which both grew up, written by the only man who could have done it. One hell of a good read!”
—Jerry Izenberg , author of Rozelle: A Biography
“ Founding 49ers is a delightful journey back to a time when the National Football League was more about players and games than corporate sponsors and television ratings. The original 49er Faithful, who sat on bench seats at Kezar Stadium, epitomized the franchise that never quite reached the gold standard that came with winning a championship. Dave Newhouse captures that Niner era perfectly.”
—Jim Street , 49ers beat writer during the 1970s
“Dave Newhouse’s newest book is must reading for anyone interested in the iconic 49ers franchise, with unforgettable portraits of Frankie Albert, Hugh McElhenny, Y. A. Tittle, John Brodie, and R. C. Owens and the Alley Oop pass. Newhouse’s book enriches the already rich list of football literature.”
—Lowell Cohn , sports columnist, Santa Rosa (CA) Press Democrat , and author of Rough Magic: Bill Walsh’s Return to Stanford Football
“Dave Newhouse has performed a valuable public service, not just for 49er fans but for anyone who watches the NFL and wonders how the league became so monstrously popular. Future NFL scholars will consult these pages for insights and anecdotes. But this isn’t a dreary history book. It’s a helluva ride and a rich read.”
—Mark Purdy , sports columnist, San Jose Mercury News
“This book provides us insight as to where it all began—the names, the personalities, and the legends who are every bit as prominent as the fascinating history of this great organization.”
—Steve Mariucci , NFL analyst and former 49ers and Detroit Lions head coach
“ Founding 49ers might as well have been acted out on a different planet; this was life in the NFL before the corporations took over. The seats at Kezar were wooden planks, nothing fancy, no luxury boxes. If you want to walk in the cleat marks of 49ers founders and their brethren, read this book.”
—Barry Gifford , novelist, playwright, 49er fan
“A brilliantly written book filled with great 49er history and wonderful personal insights from the men who built this franchise … the inside depths of the ups and downs.”
—Susan Owens , widow of 49er legend R. C. “Alley Oop” Owens
Founding 49ers
Founding
49ers
The
Dark Days
before the
Dynasty
Dave Newhouse
Black Squirrel Books ™
Kent, Ohio
© 2015 by The Kent State University Press, Kent, Ohio 44242
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2014048974
ISBN 978-1-60635-254-0
Manufactured in the United States of America
BLACK SQUIRREL BOOKS ™
Frisky, industrious squirrels are a familiar sight on the Kent State University campus and the inspiration for Black Squirrel Books ™ , a trade imprint of The Kent State University Press. www.KentStateUniversityPress.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Newhouse, Dave, 1938–
Founding 49ers : the dark days before the dynasty / Dave Newhouse.
      pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-60635-254-0 (pbk. : alk. paper) ∞ 1. San Francisco 49ers (Football team)—History. I. Title.
GV956.S3N44 2015
796.332′640979461—dc23
2014048974
19 18 17 16 15      5 4 3 2 1
To Lou Spadia, the last founding member of the 49ers, and the foundation of this book.
  Contents
Foreword by John Burton
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 Pre-1946: Football in the Fog
2 1946–47: The GI Joe League
3 1948: Racism on the Gridiron
4 1949: The Maestro
5 1950: Stubbing Their Toe
6 1951: The Bald Eagle
7 1952: The King
8 1953: Canadian Sunset
9 1954: Buck Stops Here
10 1955: Worth a Million
11 1956: Favorite Son
12 1957: Alley Oop
13 1958: Club Hangover
14 1959: Red Alert
15 1960: Heir, Apparently
16 1961: Ring Out the Old
17 1962: The Dark Ages
18 1963: Playing Hurt
19 1964: The Rainbow Runner
20 1965: Parks and Wreck
21 1966: Money Talks
22 1967: Executive Suite
23 1968: Turning the Corner
24 1969: Eyes of Texas
25 1970: Deliverance
26 1971: Nasty Man
27 1972: The Waiting Line
28 1973: Stroke of Bad Luck
29 1974: Look, Toto, Kansas
30 1975: Ladies in Charge
31 1976: Winds of Change
32 1977: New Boss Man
Epilogue
Notes
References
Index
  Foreword
San Francisco has been my home since 1941, though I hardly qualify as a native. I was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. My dad, Thomas Burton, went to medical school at age 36, when he was the father of three boys. After graduating, he wanted to go west. It was a coin flip between Santa Barbara and San Francisco, and San Francisco won. He started at Franklin Hospital and did his internship and residency there. Then he became a family doctor, the kind in those days who went from house to house.
The 49ers started in 1946, but they didn’t change the town any more than the baseball Giants did when they moved from New York in 1958. I mean, everyone was excited about the 49ers, because it gave us a real professional football team. But what really changed the town was World War II—the war changed everything! Having the 49ers here gave you something to do on Sunday.
When I attended Lincoln High School, I could get into 49er games for free by becoming an usher. When I was in college, at San Francisco State, we’d get into games by slipping an usher a buck.
One 49er I liked was Hugh McElhenny. He’d run sideways, and he was smart. A short screen pass to McElhenny, and off he went. But the 49er I liked best was Riley Matheson, a linebacker in 1948 whose nickname was “Rattlesnake.” He was really good; even Bill Walsh remembered the Rattlesnake.
You had to like quarterback Frankie Albert, with the way he ran the bootleg and quick-kicked. His backup in the 1940s was Bev Wallace, who allegedly could hit a handkerchief from 60 feet. Then the 49ers picked up Y. A. Tittle in 1951. I don’t know how Albert took that, because the All-America Football Conference took guys who were local draws. Albert went to Stanford, while Tittle went to Louisiana State University. But Albert dinked passes, whereas Tittle could throw deep.
I saw Joe Perry run 58 yards for a touchdown the first time he carried the ball (in 1948). Later in life, he lived downstairs from my ex-wife and daughter. But the only 49ers I recognized in public back then were Albert and Norm Standlee, another Stanford guy who played fullback and linebacker. You’d see guard Dick Bassi at a bar, the Florentine Garden, if someone pointed him out.
The first big-name guy I recall the 49ers drafting was tackle Leo Nomellini in 1950, the team’s first season in the National Football League. I still remember that Paul Salata, who played end in 1949 and ’50, wore No. 55. That was when ends’ numbers were in the 50s, tackles’ numbers in the 40s, guards in the 30s, centers in the 20s, quarterbacks in the 60s, fullbacks in the 70s, and halfbacks in the 80s and 90s.
The dumbest trade in all of professional sports involved the 49ers: Tittle for lineman Lou Cordileone of the New York Giants in 1961. Cordileone lasted one year with the 49ers. You’d see that jackass doing the Twist at the Condor Bar. And all Tittle did for the Giants was win three straight (conference) championships.
When the 49ers were new to San Francisco, and I was a kid in the Sunset District, the town was Irish Catholic. The parishes defined where you were from. The Sunset District had Holy Names, St. Anne’s, and, later, St. Gabriel’s. The Richmond District had Star of the Sea, St. Monica’s, and then St. Thomas. Living on one block, you’d have Murphy, Sullivan, O’Connor, and on and on and on … all Irish Catholic.
The Sunset District was just vacant lots and sand dunes when the 49ers started in 1946. After the war, construction rebuilt that entire area. All three Burton sons—Phillip, Bobby, and myself—did well in sports, especially basketball. I was the youngest. We played at Jefferson Playground at 17th and Kirkham. Then our family moved to Sloat and West Portal. I asked my daughter, “Why aren’t kids going to the playgrounds anymore?” Nobody got shot at the playground when I played basketball with guys who were older and better, like war veterans. We’d play from dawn to dusk. At San Francisco State, I scored 20 points against Bill Russell and the University of San Francisco. I’m six foot four. I was a good player, not very good. I was smart.
Then I went into the army and spent two years in Austria and Germany. My mom sent me the Sporting Green, the sports section from the San Francisco Chronicle . I remember reading about McElhenny getting hurt (in 1954) and missing the rest of the season. When I got back home in 1955, a 49er ticket was $8. I was used to $3.50. Plus the 49ers weren’t too good then, not like in the AAFC, where they were always No. 2 to the Cleveland Browns. Then those two leagues merged, and the 49ers kind of faded in the NFL. They didn’t make the smartest moves. They drafted John Brodie when they could have had Jim Brown. Cleveland took Brown. Brodie had a terrific career with the 49ers, but Brown only became the game’s greatest running back.
Back then, I’d bet on football and a horse now and then. The 49ers were playing Cleveland in an exhibition, and the oddsmakers laid six on the Browns to win. I was with a basketball buddy, Mike O’Neill, who liked to gamble. The Lucky Club at Stanyan and Haight, next to Ray’s Smoke Shop, was a bookie joint. We had to get down, and we were chasing the bet, $100 each on the Browns. I said, “Mike, 100?” And Mike said, “It’s only money.” So the 49ers won, and then we read how the Browns’ coach, Paul Brown, said he didn’t worry about winning exhibition gam