Santa Clara Football
History Narrative

By Ron Chin, SCU '75, JD '78

In his seven years at the helm "Clipper" Smith had built Santa Clara into a major football contender. No longer an early season warm-up for California and Stanford, the Broncos had elevated their schedule and quality of play. Santa Clara drew large crowds in the Bay Area. The little Big Game was a perennial sellout. Unfortunately, in Clipper's seven years he was never able to defeat Slip Madigan's Gaels, having to settle for one humiliating tie. It was the St. Mary's jinx that did Clipper in and resulted in Lawrence T. "Buck" Shaw's appointment to the SCU head coaching position.

"Buck" Shaw, unlike Madigan and Smith, was reserved and less flamboyant than his ex-Notre Dame colleagues. Revered by his players and adored by the local press, the "Silver Fox" would become one of the most admired and popular sports figures in the Bay Area. Although he retained the Notre Dame system, Shaw rejected the Rockne-like pep talks and fiery speeches. Articulate, but never condescending, he inspired intense loyalty among his players, college and professional alike. With his assistants, the fiery and inspired Al Ruffo (SCU, '32) and freshman coach Leonard Casanova (SCU, '27) Santa Clara would enjoy her greatest football glory years (1936 - 1942).

"Clipper" Smith had left behind a talent laden group of returnees for the 1936 season. Shaw built his squad around field general and All-American candidate Nello "Flash" Falaschi, who he moved from the halfback to quarterback position. The backfield was deep with skilled veterans Jim Barlow, Chuck Pavelko, Don DeRosa, Manny Gomez, Tom Gilbert and Ev "King" Fisher. The line was anchored by 180 lb. center Phil Dougherty with Fran Cope, Dick Bassi, Jim Coughlin, Lou Farasyn and Leo Artoe up front. Other talented Broncos included Bruno Pelligrini, Norm Finney, and Frank "Mississippi" Smith.

To Santa Clara's surprise, the Broncos in Shaw's initial regular season went 8-1 with victories over Stanford (13-0), Auburn (12-0), USF (15-7), Loyola (13-6), Portland (26-0), and San Jose State (20-0).

The highlight of the regular season was Santa Clara exacting revenge on their ancient foe, St. Mary's, after a thirteen year winless drought going back to 1923. In the first quarter, after forcing the Gaels to quick kick on first down, the Broncos moved the ball from the St. Mary's 33 yard line in two passing plays, Don DeRosa to Manny Gomez, for the first score. From that point on, St. Marys was kept and remained on the defensive. The Gaels' cause was further undermined by SCU assistant coach Al Ruffo's ability to decipher Slip Madigan's play signals from the bench. With ten minutes into the game, SCU lead the Gaels 13-0 and never looked back. After four quarters the Missionites had bucked the 13 year jinx and scored a 19-0 shutout of the Gaels. To the Bronco faithful, it was an end to years of frustration and the sweetest of any victory including the Sugar Bowl.

The storybook season was marred only by a disappointing 0-9 loss to Texas Christian and All-American "Slingin" Sammy Baugh which ended Santa Clara's standing as the only undefeated and untied major college team at season's end. The loss, on December 12, however, did not dampen Santa Clara's spirits, as the undefeated sixth ranked Broncos, on December 6, had previously been rewarded with their first bowl invitation against the No 1. (Williamson Poll) and No. 2 ranked (AP Poll) Lousiana State Tigers in the 1937 Sugar Bowl to be played on New Year's Day.

Despite their AP No. 6 ranking, Santa Clara was all but unknown outside the confines of the Bay Region and the west coast. Built by the "King Fisher", Govenor Huey Long, the LSU Tigers, 1936 champions of the SEC, were confident, as was the rest of the nation, of an easy win over the upstart Broncos. As Shaw would later comment, "only our alumni, our team and the coaching staff held out any hope."

The game was played before a capacity crowd of 41,000 packed into Tulane Stadium in New Orleans. The field was wet as it had been raining steadily until just before kickoff. On Santa Clara's second possession on second and ten from the LSU 44 yard line, halfback Don DeRosa ran out of the Notre Dame box looking for a receiver. DeRosa, able to shed Tiger end Bernie Dumas in the backfield, reversed his field and galloped to the Tiger 32. A few plays later "Flash" Falaschi faked a handoff to Chuck Pavelko and then dropped back and passed to Manny Gomez, who ran five yards in for the first score. A second 29 yard touchdown pass from Bruno Pelligrini to Norm Finney would put SCU ahead 14-0 in the first quarter. Due to the wet field conditions, LSU simply could not get their high powered passing attack in gear. Phil Dougherty, center, calling the defensive sets for SCU, continually kept the Tigers off balance. Although able to close the gap late in the second quarter, the Tigers and their partisan hometown fans were shocked as the 20 point underdog Californians took a 14-7 advantage into half time. Shaw, determined to give his boys their best shot, arranged with Loyola (New Orleans) coaches to provide the Broncos with fresh shoes to replace their wet mud caked ones. With these and changing to their practice uniforms, the Broncos were fresh for the second half. With each team scoring in the second half, Santa Clara would go on to pull off the major upset of the bowl season, 21-14. As Buck Shaw would later comment, "That was a day I'll never forget. LSU was supposed to have the greatest team in its history and we were such underdogs that hardly any odds were posted." But overcome the odds they did as the Broncos again proved that football is a game of upsets.

As the Washington Huskies had been trounced by once defeated and once tied Pittsburgh in the 1937 Rose Bowl, Santa Clara would make claim to "Best in the West" and no one in the Bay Area or west coast would disagree. Sitting at No. 6. (final AP poll), it would be the Broncos' highest national ranking.

Shaw's 1937 team would continue the success of the previous season. Blessed with a group of sophomores who had gone undefeated as freshmen, a second team almost the equal of its first and led by All-Americans Al Wolf, Phil Dougherty, and Jim Coughlin, the Broncos went undefeated and untied in the regular season. Big wins were posted over Stanford (13-7), Marquette (38-0), and their ancient foe, St. Mary's (7-0). The Santa Clara defense anchored by All-American center Phil Dougherty, allowed only nine points in nine games and 25 yards rushing per game, both NCAA records. The season was highlighted by the outstanding play of Jim Barlow, Fran Cope, Jesse Coffer, Lou Farasyn, Ray McCarthey, Larry Stringari and Tom Gilbert.

New Year's Day, 1938 brought the No. 9 ranked Santa Clara Broncos their second Sugar Bowl bid against a revenge minded SEC runner-up, Lousiana State. The Bronco's Sugar Bowl victory the previous year against the same LSU team did little to improve their underdog status. The Williamson Poll ranked LSU number 4 in the country with a 97.6 rating while giving SCU on a rating of 93.8 and a national ranking of 21. With the Southeastern Conference being rated as the strongest in the nation, the Tigers were again given the nod to win big over the Broncos. However, Santa Clara junior tackle Al Wolf would hear nothing of it, " The year before, we knew we'd have to play over our heads to beat LSU in 1937. But for the 1938 game, we were the better team. Our feeling was LSU would have to play over their heads to stay close to us." Played in a light drizzle before 40,000 fans, the defensive struggle resulted in only one score in the second quarter. Coach Shaw sent in the same play used with success against the Tigers the previous year. Jim Barlow, substitute halfback, ran to his extreme left, then turned and threw diagonally 50 yards to Ray McCarthy, who ran down to the LSU nine yard line. Two more plays including a four yard quick pass from Bruno Pelligrini to Jim Coughlin, put the Broncos ahead 6-0. The fine defensive play of Al Wolf prevented LSU from scoring in the first half. In the second half LSU repeatedly threatened to score but was thwarted again and again by the Bronco defense. John Schiecl dropped LSU fullback "Cotton" Milner at the SCU 4 yard line preventing a score. Another Tiger drive was ended with a pass interception by SCU back Orv Hannes. On the final play of the game, LSU halfback Bussey completed a long pass to LSU end Ken Kavanaugh who would have gone all the way to score but for the timely tackle by SCU fullback Bill Gunther at the Bronco 23 yardline. The Tigers threatened to score on two occasions. Although LSU out first-sowned and outgained Santa Clara by wide margins, the Broncos scored a shutout against Bernie Moore's LSU Tigers, the first in 50 games. To many commentators, the low scoring affair ranks as one of the top contests of the Sugar Bowl series. With their second consecutive Sugar Bowl victory, undefeated and untied Santa Clara would end up with a No. 9 national AP ranking, tied with Notre Dame.

The 1938 edition of Broncos initially appeared to continue where the 1937 team left off. Two convincing shutout wins over Stanford (22-0) and Arizona (27-0) resulted in an early No. 6 ranking. However, in the Little Big Game the undefeated, untied 16 game winning streak of the Broncos ended as an inspired St. Mary's team eked out a 7-0 upset over Santa Clara before 60,000 fans in Kezar Stadium. Although Santa Clara resumed its success with four consecutive victories over USF (7-0), Texas A&M (7-0), Arkansas (21-6), and Michigan State (7-6), a 6-7 upset loss to an underdog Detroit team coached by Notre Dame great Gus Dorais on a failed Bronco P.A.T. ended Santa Clara's chance for a third Sugar Bowl bid. At season's end, based on the preference of an exhausted Bronco team, a Cotton Bowl bid offered to Santa Clara was turned down, only to be accepted by St. Mary's, who would go on to defeat Texas Tech 20-13 in the Gaels one and only bowl victory.

From 1939 to 1942 Buck Shaw and his "Prune Picker" Broncos would continue to surprise the collegiate football world. With a total student body of less that 500, the "Shawmen" would go 5-1-3 in 1939, 6-1-1 in 1940, 6-3-0 in 1941, and 7-2 in 1942. Beginning in 1938, in the face of the Pacific Coast Conference's (presently Pacific 10) unsuccessful "freeze out" of the west coast independents (i.e., SMC, SCU and USF), Santa Clara scheduled strong inter-sectional contests. From 1938 to 1942 the Broncos posted wins over Arizona, Texas A&M, Purdue, Arkansas, Michigan State, and Oregon State. Between 1938 and 1942 the Broncos defeated the Stanford Indians in five out of seven contests (notable loss being the 1940 6-7 defeat to "T" formation Clark Shaunnesey's Rose Bowl Indian team Wow Boys) and dominated their ancient foe, St. Mary's every season but one. In the West, Santa Clara went 2-1-1 against UCLA and at the end of the "freeze out" went two for two against California. Between 1939 and 1942 Santa Clara would be nationally ranked three times by the Associated Press.

These years were highlighted by the outstanding play of Ken Casanega, whose punt returns of 62 and 50 yards beat California in 1941, John Schiechl, selected All-American center in 1939, Tom Fears, Alyn Beals, Eddie Forrest, Jessie Freitas, and Jack Roach.

By 1941 Shaw had established Santa Clara as the "Notre Dame of the West," a perennial contender for national honors. The leading college football annual, Illustrated Football, would write, "A waking dream, a blissful certainty, along with death and taxes, is a powerhouse at Santa Clara. Far Western fans have come to bank on the Broncos, and handsome, grey-haired Buck Shaw again is making delivery."

Following America's entry into World War II, the college football situation changed drastically. On the west coast large crowds were discouraged, travel time limited, and intersectional contests curtailed. College men entering the service put an obvious crimp on recruitment and team rosters. At Santa Clara the entire campus was mobilized for war with every available student enrolled in ROTC or military training. Practices were limited to less than two hours per day. Many college and former stars had enlisted and were playing for service teams, most notably in California, St. Mary's Naval Pre-Flight on the Moraga Campus.

In the face of growing wartime difficulties, the sophomore dominated Santa Clara team continued to achieved success on the field. With Tom Fears, Alyn Beals, Jessie Freitas, Jim Desmond, Al Santucci, Bill Prentice, Eddie Forrest, Max Sailor, and Ev Fisher, Cy Smith, Les Palm, Ed Alliguire, Art McCaffray and running out the newly installed "double wing" formation, the Broncos went undefeated in their first four outings, defeating Utah (12-0), Stanford (14-6), California (7-6), and Oregon State (7-0). Going into the UCLA game, the Broncos were the only undefeated, untied team in the nation and ranked No. 13 in the Associated Press. Played before 50,000 fans in the Los Angeles Coliseum, the Broncos dominated the Bruins in the downs and yards gained, but lost the game 6-14. The following week Santa Clara dominated the St. Mary's Gaels 20-7 before 40,000 fans in Kezar Stadium. However, in the last game of the season the Broncos lost to a powerful St. Mary's Pre-Flight aggregation of ex-college stars, including SCU's own Nello Falaschi and Chuck Pavelko and Stanford's Frankie Albert and Bobby Grayson, 6-13 before 30,000 fans at Kezar.

With the loss to St. Mary's Pre-Flight, Santa Clara's hopes for a major bowl bid were dashed for 1942. Having rejected two minor bowl offers, a proud, but disappointed, Buck Shaw commented, "In all of my 14 years as a coach and assistant coach at this university I have never seen a team that has displayed as much spirit and cooperation as the 1942 squad. If any club deserved a bowl bid, this one did." Despite no bowl invitation, Santa Clara would be ranked No. 14 in the final AP poll of 1942.

By the end of 1942 the wartime conditions could no longer support football at Santa Clara and the program was suspended for the duration. Buck Shaw would continue on for awhile overseeing Santa Clara's physical training program. In 1945 he would accept the first head coaching position of the All-American professional football franchise San Francisco Forty-Niners owned by Vic Morabito, a Santa Clara alum. The Forty-Niners, wearing red and white uniforms and playing at Kezar Stadium, would select a record eight ex-Santa Clarans in their first draft.

Santa Clara would not field a team again until 1946.

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© 2003, Let Them Play Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) charitable organization incorporated in the state of California. Not affiliated with Santa Clara University. Use of the words 'Santa Clara', 'Broncos', or other descriptions and accounts of Santa Clara Football are used solely within a fair use of same and is provided solely as a means of historical information and context to the public domain. All rights reserved.