Author Description

The 1951 University of San Francisco Dons football team was one of the greatest, if not the greatest, college football teams to ever play the game. The 1951 squad went undefeated and the team boasted ten future NFL players, five future NFL Pro-Bowlers, and three future members of the NFL Hall of Fame-a record for one college team. Even the future NFL Commissioner, Pete Rozelle, played a role as the Dons' Athletic Publicist. At the height of their success, the team experienced one of the greatest snubs in college football history. Due to the team having two African-American star players in Ollie Matson and Burl Toler (Toler went on to become the first African-American official in the NFL), they were not invited to play in any of the college football bowl games. The SEC (Southeastern Conference), in 1951, would not schedule teams with 'Negro players', and the Orange Bowl invited the USF squad to play, minus Toler and Matson. As Gino Marchetti, defensive tackle for the team said, "We would have told them to go to hell, first. That's exactly how I feel!" Now, over 50 years later, the team is finally receiving the recognition it so richly deserves. This remarkable team has been the feature of a NFL film, has had numerous articles written about them, and in July 2000 a Senate Resolution passed honouring them. Now, this new book documents the 1951 Dons entire story from how it all started up to their recent invitation to be recognised by the White House.