University of San Francisco Athletics

Bob St. Clair was born on February 18, 1931 in San Francisco and attended Polytechnic High School. St. Clair, at his Pro Football Hall of Fame induction, related to the audience what his high school football coach told him: “You’re 5’ 9”, you weigh 160 lbs., and you’re 15 years old. My advice to you is to go home and grow a little. And dammit—I did!” When St. Clair started playing football at USF, he was 6’ 5” and 215 lbs. By the time he was a junior, he had reached 6’ 7” and 235 lbs. By the time he reached the professional ranks, he was listed at 6’ 9” and 265 lbs. He told the audience: “The game is built around roughness. There is a personal thrill out of knocking a man down, really hitting him. It’s the only satisfaction a lineman has.”
 
Under Head Coach Joe Kuharich, the Dons went undefeated at 9-0 in the 1951 season. With two African-American players on the team, Burl Toler and Ollie Matson, they were not invited to any postseason 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.

When USF discontinued the football program, St. Clair transferred to the University of Tulsa, and graduated with a degree in Public Administration. When the football team at Tulsa went 8-1-1 and received in invitation to the Gator Bowl, the team voted 51-1 to accept. St. Clair told S.F.Gate: “Everyone was wondering who the hell voted no.” St. Clair received an invitation to play in the East-West Shrine Game at Kezar.

After graduation, he was chosen by the San Francisco 49ers in the third round (32^nd pick overall) in the 1953 NFL Draft. He played tackle, and is credited with blocking 10 field goals in 1956. He went on to play his entire professional football career with them, until two Achilles tendon injuries and a broken shoulder forced him to retire in 1964. S.F.Gate reported his teammates nicknamed him “The Geek” after a carnivorous character in the film Nightmare Alley, because he ate his meat raw. His family told the Press Democrat: friends learned to check the menu prior to accepting a dinner invitation with us: “If it was meat, they wouldn’t come.”

In 2001, the City of San Francisco renamed the playing field at Kezar Stadium in his honor. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1990, and was a member of the NFL All-Decade Team for the 1950’s. St. Clair earned All-NFL honors nine times, and played in five Super Bowls. The 49ers retired his jersey (#79). The Pro Football Hall of Fame states on its website: “He was blessed with size, speed, intelligence, and a genuine love of hitting. His on-the-field trademarks became hostility, power and strength.”

He also served on the Daly City Council in 1958, and as Mayor from 1961-1962. He was a County Supervisor for San Mateo County from 1966 to 1974. He was a paid lobbyist for Orange County in 1979-1980. He told the Los Angeles Times: “(In public service) I learned as I went along to compromise; (in football) you don’t compromise at all. There is no compromise. You don’t leave any wounded.” He owned a liquor store at 24^th and Sanchez in Noe Valley, which still bears his name. He also was a salesman for a Clover-Stornetta Farms under fellow Hall of Famer Gene Benedetti, in Sonoma, and did marketing for a meat distributor.