University of San Francisco Athletics

Burl Toler was born on May 9, 1928, in Memphis, TN and attended nearby Manassas High School, and was a water boy for the football team. Despite his athletic build, he never played football in high school. Toler spent one year at City College of San Francisco, playing for the City College Rams as a linebacker and center, where he met future teammate Ollie Matson. "Nobody could block Burl because he was so strong and quick," said Walt Jourdan, a former CCSF running back. "He didn't even have a uniform. Ollie Matson ran three straight dive plays, and Burl stopped him all three times. Then Ollie ran a sweep, and Burl was there to meet him (SFGate)."

The Rams finished their 1948 season with a 12-0 record and were invited to the Mythical Junior College National Championship Game in 1948. Toler went on to become a Junior College All-American. Toler and Matson went on to become close friends, continuing both their education and football careers at USF. Toler transferred the following year, and played with the Dons for two years. An exceptionally versatile two-way player, Toler was an anchor on the offensive line as a center, and a standout defensive linebacker. He demonstrated a tremendous desire for the game and was most uncomfortable sitting on the bench. Toler was often praised for his defensive play. One of his CCSC teammates said of him: “We tell people watching the game that if you want to find where the ball is, just look for Burl (CC Guardsman).”
 
Under Head Coach Joe Kuharich, the Dons went undefeated at 9-0 in the 1951 season. With two African-American players on the team, Toler and Ollie Matson, they were not invited to any post-season bowl games. The owner of the Gator Bowl Sam Wolfson had made an agreement with the Orange and Sugar Bowls to omit teams with black players. When the Orange Bowl extended an invitation to them on the condition that the two African-American players be excluded, the team unanimously declined and from then on they were called the “undefeated, untied, and uninvited.” Although the Dons had been denied a bowl berth, the entire team was recognized at the 2008 Fiesta Bowl, at long last making an appearance in a bowl game. 

Unfortunately, without postseason funding, USF was forced to shut down its football program the following year. Attendance at the Kezar Stadium games had declined 80% since the arrival of the 49ers in 1946. The squad featured nine future NFL players, including Pro Football Hall of Fame members Matson, Marchetti, and St. Clair, and five earned Pro Bowl selections at some point in their career. The team’s Sports Information Director, Pete Rozelle, served as NFL Commissioner for 29 years. Teammate Marchetti said of Toler in the New York Times: “I’ve said it about a hundred times, but Toler was the best. He had everything an athlete should have: he loved the game, he was fast, and he was the best tackler I’ve ever seen. He would have been a hell of an NFL linebacker.”

After graduating with a Science degree in 1952, he was selected by the Cleveland Browns in the 1951 NFL draft in the ninth round (105^th pick overall). But after suffering a serious right knee injury in the 1952 All-Star College Game against the Los Angeles Rams at Chicago’s Soldier Field, he decided to become an official instead. Toler told Ebony magazine, in reference to his career-ending knee injury: “It was a big break for me, far different than the one I got so many years ago.” NFL executive Jim Kensil told Ebony: “we scouted him personally and in films, and we believe he will be one of the best men we have.”
 
He became the first African-American to serve as a field official 9n 1965 when he was appointed to Head Linesman, and in 1980 was the first African-American official in Super Bowl history. He officiated until 1990, and then served as an NFL game observer for the League, for eight years.

“He was very, very knowledgeable about the game,” Jim Tunney, who worked on the same crew with Toler for 11 years, said to the (NY Times) “He knew about blocking and tackling. He knew about the emotions the players go through playing the game, which is very important.” “He just didn’t allow racism to enter into his doing his job,” Tunney said. “He never mentioned it, and if it ever did occur, he just rose above it.” Tunney said Toler was so self-possessed that whatever racist attitudes he encountered in the game simply never became an issue.

After his retirement from as an NFL player, Toler returned to USF for a Master’s in Educational Administration. In addition to officiating, he taught for 17 years at Benjamin Franklin Middle School in San Francisco, and was the school district’s first African-American Secondary School Principal. In 2006, the middle school campus site was renamed after him. He served as a Commissioner for the San Francisco Police Department from 1978 to 1996. Toler was awarded the Isaac Hayes Achievement in Sports Award. He served on the Board of Trustees at USF from 1987 to 1998, and was a USF Alumnus of the Year. In 2017, USF renamed Phelan Hall as Burl A. Toler Hall in his honor.