Hall of Fame
William Telesmanic was born in San Francisco on November 8, 1919 and graduated in 1941 from USF. Listed at 6’ 3” and 210 lbs., he played football for the Dons for three years as an end from 1938 to 1941, as well as baseball the same years. He was named All-Coast Left End in his senior year. After college, Telesmanic was chosen by the Green Bay Packers in the seventh round of the NFL Draft (57th pick overall) in the 1941 NFL draft, but he never played.
An iconic photograph exists, taken at Kezar Stadium by Barney Peterson of the San Francisco Chronicle. The photograph depicts a moment of celebration in a game on October 23, 1938, between USF and rival Saint Mary’s. Three players, Dan Fisk, William Telesmanic, and Dan Benedetti, are shown celebrating a 45-yard successful touchdown pass by Fisk to Telesmanic. It was the first touchdown the Dons were able to manage against the Gaels in six years. The Gaels went on to win the game 13-6, and the caption given to the Chronicle photo was “The Joy That Died”. The pre-war photo is especially poignant because of what followed later: all three men died within weeks of each other in World War II.
Telesmanic was one day too young to register for the national draft, but enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps on October 13, 1941. He trained as a pilot at Moffett Field, CA and served as a First Lieutenant and Pilot on a B-26 as part of the 320th Bomber Squadron in Europe. He died on December 18, 1942, at the age of 23, with four other crew members: 2nd Lieutenant Clayton R. Blessing, Staff Sergeant Bruister H. LeNoir, Technical Sergeant Joseph P. Hunter, and Private Duer R. Heyman, when their plane crashed at sea for unknown reasons, near Ascension Island off the coast of Tunisia.
Fisk died in a flight training accident en route to Moffett Field, CA in 1942.
On October 15, 1942, Benedetti and Staff Sergeant Paul Rivers took off from Henderson Field to perform a search mission. The exact nature of their mission is unknown, but they may have been searching for Corporal George F. Priest whose plane had been lost on October 10, 1942. Priest and his pilot 2nd Lieutenant Lucius Smith III had crashed due to engine trouble on a mission, but Smith managed to survive. The squadron sent numerous planes in search of Corporal George Priest, but to no avail. Among them, also stationed at Henderson, was his brother, Corporal Ray Priest, along with his pilot 2nd Lieutenant Robert C. LeBlanc. Ray Priest, Le Blanc, Benedetti and Rivers were all reported missing in action that day and were never found. The local newspapers had to clarify which Dante Benedetti was missing, since “Little Dandy” was serving in the Coast Guard. Dan Benedetti was 26 years old. He was officially declared dead on February 19, 1945, and was posthumously promoted to the rank of Captain.
The photo was shown as part of the World War II exhibit at the College Football Hall of Fame, in South Bend, IN, and is part of the USF War Memorial exhibit. Telesmanic was inducted into the USF Hall of Fame in 1959.
