Historic Films Stock Footage Archive: AFC-187

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01:00:03 3.23	Interviews begin. Four men talking about football, the NFL and how the depression and war affected their lives, and their involvement at Billy Rose's Aquacade at Treasure Island in San Francisco
01:00:13 13.75	Speaker 1 Okay, the question is what was the high school football like in San Francisco in the 30s and early 40s. And the my recollection is that the there were four newspapers in San Francisco and each one, each newspaper had a man covering the preps, covering Poy High,i covering all the high schools. And we had a chance to get our name in the paper in those days if we played well or played for a winning team. And we didn't have television, all we had was a radio. But the papers were the main thing and the pictures and we were well covered in high school. Well, well covered by the newspapers. And then Eddie, tell him about what you think about the college in those days. I know that college football was king on the coast. Speaker 2 Eddie ? Sunday, like we talked a little bit about Sunday, football, but the Stanford in California would play well attended games at their own home stadiums on Saturday and Sunday then have special trains going down to the peninsula, which were, which were riots. They were fun. I mean, not riots, in the fact that there was the throwing bombs or anything, I mean, everybody laughing and having a good time. And, and the ferry boats going to Berkeley were just equally as good a time and and they would play outstanding football.
01:01:36 96.9	01:37 Why was it such a big deal, then? Bigger than it is now. Speaker 2 Well, because because the first of all, I think that you didn't need as many players to have a good team in college in those days. So that Stanford could operate very, very well, by having maybe 25 or 30 outstanding players, which they always did have like when they went to the Rose Bowl with the Vowe boy, and when they went to the Rose Bowl with the wild boys, they were, you know, they weren't that deep, but they were, as individuals, they were outstanding. And they had, like I say, maybe 25 30 outstanding players. Now, to have an outstanding college football team. A team probably needs 45 50 players that are outstanding. And that's what penalizes think Stanford's program, and also California's program. They can't keep up with the USCs and the University of Washingtons
01:02:37 157.68	Speaker 3 02:37 you know Eddie what you're saying, g if you dwell on it you have to remember, in those days football, players played both ways, offense and defense. And as a result, many of them played the entire game, consequently, you didn't need, as Eddie pointed out, as many football players. But I'll tell you another thing that it did it, the fans got to know the players better, because if a player that played both offense and defense and was in the entire game, people recognized his number, got to know his name. The newspapers would sort of pick out a nickname, and they might call them Bronco, this or Hand Slavidge, or Diamond Joe, and so forth. So it became a little bit more personalized that way. And although you didn't have the exposure of television, you did have the heavy concentration. But the main reason you had was there was no professional football. And the professional football at that time was played in the east, and in the Midwest. And you hardly knew anything about such a thing as pro football. So high school was a very big thing here, as was college. And then when the pros came in naturally, as it is today, of course professional. For example, we're having the Cal Stanford game coming up this Saturday. In this morning's paper, there was a small article about it. Well, in the 40s, and 30s. The entire sport page would be columns and columns written about individual players and so forth. And so that's the difference between now if you're asking about college and high school, how do you feel? Did we leave anything for you Al?
01:04:15 255.61	Speaker 4 04:15 Well, you didn't leave very much. Interviewer: What were all your nicknames. well, they called me snitch. A short percent. Speaker 4 Well they called me Snootch. 4:22 I was called Booch Speaker 2 Well, we're sorry. The newspapers used to call him the Slashing Slab. It was really it was his nickname in the newspaper. Speaker 2 Eddie and i was the sea fig Speaker 1 04:36 Dick Tracy came out with the Heels of Veals one time and that was stuck for a little while but not long. Speaker 4 04:43 I think that one reason that professional football was so followed so greatly nowadays is that before there was professional football here, people followed certain colleges. now they were Stanford rooters and there was Santa Clara rooters and USF rooters. They'd make sure that they go to those games. But then when professional football came out and gave a chance to everybody that didn't go to college, or people that came from out of town and everything to follow a team that they really enjoyed. And I think that that's what was part of the downfall of college football as far as the private schools go, but because the professional started playing on Sundays, the same time that Santa Clara, USF, St. Mary's, and and the private schools played on Sunday, and that sort of hurt the colleges, but right now everybody can go to the 49er games no matter where you come from, if you're a 49er rooter, you're out there.
01:05:45 345.75	Speaker 1 05:45 Another thing, too, I think that what really hurt the small schools was with the pros. But it was the unlimited substitution rule, where you'd bring Oklahoma in here and they bring 80 Kids and the keys are and Santa Clara maybe had like Eddie said, 35 40, and we just couldn't compete with the, with the bigger schools with the unlimited substitution. Speaker 5 06:12. Interviewer unseen I'm gonna go back and talk a little bit about what it was like to be in the army and be in the war. And then to come back to the city. And what it was like for you personally? Speaker 1 06:21 Well, I'll start, of course, like Eddie said, we'd signed the contract to play with the 49ers in 46. I got home in July of 46, just in time to go to the first camp. And it was the scramble for a job. We'd been out of school for three or four years. And uh we didn't know what we're going to do, as far as the rest of our lives are concerned. And so Al had his laundry and Milt had the insurance business with Mike ? going here in San Francisco, where he started. And Eddie and I are scrambling for jobs, you know, to get organized really. Football to us in those days was an interim thing that we'd like to do. We'd like to play, and there was very little money involved. But it gave us a start to start looking for something to do.
01:07:06 426.54	Speaker 5 07:07 Weren't you stars though. I mean, I know there wasn't quite the amount of hoopla that there is now. But weren't you still stars in the community? Didn't people recognize that? Speaker 1 07:15 Oh, well, yeah, certainly. I think Sure. We hadn't. We had no problem, namely, recognition or anything like that. But it was, it's not like today, where your guy shows up and he's got a half million dollar contract, and he shows up and they give him another million just to be someplace. It wasn't like that. We'd go downtown and promote somebody shirts or something, they'd give us a shirt. You know, that's all we'd get out of it. But it wasn't like it is today, though. Speaker 5 07:41 What do you remember about that? Speaker 2 07:44 Well I remember that uh we really had to work because when the, I remember being the captain of the 49ers team. In the last game, we played the Buffalo Bills. And the next Monday, I was working for Justin, Pacific and Murphy. Phil Murphy is an ironworker, I was a journeyman iron worker. And I'm out working that hard the next day after playing and being captain of the 49ers team. So, we all worked all of us did. There was no offseason, signing endorsements, or posing for Macy's ads, I'll tell you that much. But we were very much appreciated. And we were very much recognized. And we've made a tremendous amount of marvelous friends that that we were able to acquire through athletics. And I think that if I had to do all over again, there'll be no way I just go right back and do everything, just like I did. Or better. Right, we had a marvelous time we led lives in a good generation.
01:08:54 534.89	Speaker 5 08:54 Interviewer I think, how do you? How do you think things would have been different in the city and in your lives if the war hadn't happened? Speaker 3 09:03 If the war hadn't happened? Speaker 5 Yeah, How would things be different? Speaker 3 I honestly haven't haven't thought about it because the war did happen. And it never occurred to me to think of well, what would be different? I really don't know. We had the war, we had to go through that experience. Not to dwell on what Eddie said. But I think getting back to the question you asked how, how it affected us and football and so forth. I think the nice thing about football, for anyone is, no matter how great a star you might have been, or if you've just been an ordinary player. There's a an esprit de corps, a bond between all football players throughout the United States. And no matter where you go, you may be at a party or something and someone played at Harvard and someone at Stanford, Santa Clara, immediately there's an affinity for each other and empathy that because you all went through that grind those two a day practices and all Well, the tough parts about it. And I think all of us feel we're very happy to have been been part of the game because of the wonderful friendships that we made. My pals here were made really because of football. And then many of my dear friends at Stanford, Frank Albert, Chuck Taylor, go on and on. They're they're still my very dear friends. And so that's the nice thing. Everybody can't be a great star. But it's great to be part of something like that. How do you feel about it Al? Speaker 4 10:31 Well, I think that if the war didn't come along, I might have been in professional football with the rest of you three. Speaker 3 There's no question about it.
01:10:42 642.03	Speaker 4 10:42 I wouldn't try it out anyway. So it might, your life has changed a little bit because of the war. And if there was no war, i think that I think life would go on just the same. I mean, I don't think that the war changed anything. But you can't say it didn't change your life. I mean, but as you say, it's hard to explain what would have happened or what you would have done if there wasn't a war, you know. Speaker 1 11:11 My impression having growing up in San Francisco in the early 30s, during the Depression days, and watching the people that were getting checks, if the war hadn't happened, I'd probably been a policeman, a fireman or school teacher, because those are the ones that were taking home the checks in those days and, and that's all we had to look forward to. If we hadn't played football, myself, possibly Milt, we would have never gone to college, because nobody could afford to send us to college in those days. And we were lucky to be able to play football and get a scholarship to the college and get a little higher education. But if the war hadn't come along well I'd probably been a cop or a fireman or school teacher, coach or something like that. Interviewer were things looking up by the end of this 30's though. Speaker 1 39 was one of the tough years, as I recall, economically.
01:12:00 720.15	Speaker 2 It was a war economy. You know, the shipyards had moved out into Vallejo and Hunters Point and whatnot, Speaker 1 things were starting to pick up in the 40s because early 40s Interviewer Tell me about Treasure Island. Speaker 2 Well, I can tell you a plenty about Treasure Island. Because Al said he drove a laundry truck over to Treasure Island from his dad's plant. And I was I was a policeman at the at treasure island with a lot of other wonderful people like Hampton Pough and, and geez there was a whole bunch of us over there. And in those days, one had to be 21 to be sworn into the San Francisco Police Department. But it goes to show you how lax things work because I was about 19 when they just kind of overlooked my age and so we entered the San Francisco Police Department as a special policeman at Treasure Island. And I was there in 1940, the summer of 1940. And Billy Rose's Aquacade and and the follies Brouchere. The the I remember seeing my first television set this thing that was hanging on the wall and they said everybody will have this in their home and they will get enjoyment out of this and there'll be national broadcast. I said Are they kidding? It was this just a marvelous experience to have been part of the Treasure Island and to have worked there. And Sally Rand's ranch, nude ranch, and all those kinds of the gateway and they were just a wonderful experience.
01:13:28 808.41	Interviewer Sounds like there was some pretty racy things going on Speaker 2 not really, no Speaker 3 not compared with today, if you compare it with today, that was pretty meek. Speaker 2 I was there for three and a half months. And I think the most serious offense I ever had to blow a whistle on was tell some kids to get off the fountain. I mean that that would be the extent of the police activity that I was engaged in. Interviewer What was your favorite thing here? Speaker 3 I think Billy Rose's Acquacade s was one of my favorites. And the pavilions had wonderful places to eat. And it was a place that I would take my wife there and we'd enjoy it and just hold hands and walk around and there's so many of the fares were didn't cost anything. They were outside. Oh, yeah. It wasn't terribly expensive. Speaker 2 Benny Goodman would be there Speaker 3 That's right dance bands. It was it was a fun, a fun affair. Speaker 2 Real fun. Real fun. Interviewer What was your favorite? Speaker 4 Well, my favorite was that I really didn't have a favorite. I'd have to go there at four o'clock in the morning and pick up the linen and be out of there by 11:30. So I'd always make sure that I would get the Sally Rands'around 11:30 quarter to 12 to pick up the veils and have them cleaned for it. But that's about the extent of my Treasure Island days that once I'd get through at 2 in the morning, I didn't particularly care about going back at night. Okay,
01:14:55 895.46	Interviews end.
01:16:27 987	Reel ends.