So...my 30 year high school reunion is coming up next year and have been looking up past teachers/coaches that have had an impact on my life...hoping to reconnect with some of them. Ray Dejong was the coach of our football team back in the mid '80's. It's not until I started looking him up recently did I realize that he was a lineman at Cal during the 1948-49 seasons, having played in two Rose Bowls under Pappy Waldorf. All these years later, and I'm just now finding out my coach in high-school is a Cal legend!

I haven't found anything online on whether he is still with us...I believe he would be in his late 80's...early 90's. I would love to hopefully reconnect with him, and if not, would really enjoy to hear from the Old Blues out there that knew him..stories about him. He was a great coach and mentor...old school guy....gritty...hard-ass, but taught us discipline, teamwork and loyalty. Have some great memories of Ray and hopefully he's still tossin' around the old pigskin.

RighteousGoldenBear;842716990 said:

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So...my 30 year high school reunion is coming up next year and have been looking up past teachers/coaches that have had an impact on my life...hoping to reconnect with some of them. Ray Dejong was the coach of our football team back in the mid '80's. It's not until I started looking him up recently did I realize that he was a lineman at Cal during the 1948-49 seasons, having played in two Rose Bowls under Pappy Waldorf. All these years later, and I'm just now finding out my coach in high-school is a Cal legend!

I haven't found anything online on whether he is still with us...I believe he would be in his late 80's...early 90's. I would love to hopefully reconnect with him, and if not, would really enjoy to hear from the Old Blues out there that knew him..stories about him. He was a great coach and mentor...old school guy....gritty...hard-ass, but taught us discipline, teamwork and loyalty. Have some great memories of Ray and hopefully he's still tossin' around the old pigskin.

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Don't know him personally, Righteous - but he coached our rival's high school when I was a young 'un - this would be the late 60s. And like you, I didn't realize the Pappy connection until well after high school. (Heck, Rene Herrerias, who took over for Newell, coached basketball at our high school then - and taught me to drive - and I didn't have any clue about the Cal stuff). And if I remember right, Ray's team consistently kicked our team's butt.

You'd get a kick out of this, from the San Mateo County Historical Association's web site:

"Plaque commemorating Ray Dejong of South San Francisco High being inducted into the San Mateo County Sports Hall of Fame on May 31, 1994. Plaque includes image of Dejong and a brief biography: "Ray DeJong coached at South San Francisco High School for nearly four decades, including 28 years as varsity head coach. In his 35 seasons as a grid coach for the Warriors from 1950 to 1985--including seven with the frosh-soph--his teams had a 154-94-8 record in 28 varsity seasons. His teams also collected nine league titles, a 29-game winning streak int he mid-'60s and three undefeated seasons. He was also a starting lineman for two undefeated Berkeley teams under Pappy Waldorf in 1948 and '49, and he played in two Rose Bowls."



Unfortunately I've got no other info about him.

Well, good news is I can't find him in Social Security death index at familysearch.org

I do genealogy research as a hobby. He'll be findable.

i was hoping someone would post more information on Mr. DeJong. My relationship with the man was that of a student at South San Francisco High School, where he enjoyed a successful career as head football coach. I knew Mr. DeJong went to Cal and was a big deal for the Bears. The only reason I knew is because my dad, who played basketball at South City while Mr. DeJong was a star at Cal, told me all about him. By the time I showed up at South City, I knew all about the great program Coach DeJong had established. I attended Warriors home games and some road games as well. This was back in the day when most home games were under the lights on Friday night and the community showed up to support the team. His teams were tough, physical and he loved to win by running the ball and wearing down the other team. My freshman year he had a truly gifted back named Greg Jones who went on to success at UCLA. As a student, my only interaction with him was a couple PE classes he taught. Of course, we were all in awe of him. Much later in life my cousin and I would see him at Cal home games. We would exchange greetings with him. He was very friendly and would have a few words to say about the prospects of the Bears and our South City Warriors.

So I did some research and found through the Big C Society membership list that he lives in Albany. The list was from 2015. Did a little more digging and found a Ray DeJong aged ~90 living in Albany. Google turned up an address and phone number. So, there seems to be be a good chance the guy in Albany is Ray DeJong, Cal great and successful football coach.

waaay too many of you Warriors around here. No Colts?

OldenBear;842717746 said:

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waaay too many of you Warriors around here. No Colts?

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I would say that's a good thing that contributes to the quality of this board. Plus, it's another classic Blue vs Red thing. We all can agree that blue is best.

GOCAL73;842717757 said:

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I would say that's a good thing that contributes to the quality of this board. Plus, it's another classic Blue vs Red thing. We all can agree that blue is best.

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after I got to Berkeley, I started referring to the El Camino colors as 'scarlet and gray' or some such bs.....there's probably still a deep psychological scar left.


:beer: