BTW.... Has anyone mentioned Ken Weideman. The best allaround Cal FB player that I ever saw in person was Paul Larson. An amazing player. An AA at QB. Led the nation in total offense in 1953. Passing in 1954. Was the punter and kicker on both of those teams. The first time he touched the ball as a freshman, he took a KO 100 yds against Minnesota. As a back up hb as a sophmore, he avareged 7.0 as a ball carrier.
Also inercepted six balls as a free safety in 53 and 54.

Sorry David Bush, he was far better than Joe Kapp while at Cal.

MoragaBear;842855471 said:

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Here's veteran writer and Cal alum David Bush's take on the question: http://bearinsider.com/news/story.php?article=2475

Personally, I'd have mixed in some more later era players, like Marshawn and Desean but that's why there's no right answer to the question, only personal opinion.

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I love these lists. Unquestionably and unavoidably subjective, and without any defined criteria or ability to adequately compare era. Plenty to discuss to good-naturedly argue while seated at the Golden Bear Bar.

While I have no doubt that Brick Muller, Jackie Jensen, Les Richter, Vic Botari, Joe Kapp (my beloved former coach), Babe Horrill, Craig Morton and Ed White are beyond deserving to be on this list, I will confine my list to the Golden Bears that I recall watching (and playing with in some cases, in which cases I have tried to be unbiased) since first following the Bears in the early 1970s (in no particular order):

Chuck Muncie
Joe Roth
Ron Rivera
Aaron Rodgers
Hardy Nickerson Sr.
Marshawn Lynch
Desean Jackson
Jahvid Best
Alex Mack
Tony Gonzalez
Deltha O'Neal
Andre Carter

A woefully incomplete list of guys that were serious candidates for this list:

Ted Albrecht
Harvey Salem
Steve Rivera
Wesley Walker
Regan Upshaw
Duane Clemons
Jared Goff
Sean Dawkins
Jaret Willard
Todd Steussie
Troy Auzenne
Dave Ortega
Mike Pawlawski
Keenan Allen
Russell White
Zach Follett
Ken Harvey
Daymeion Hughes
SydQuan Thompson
JJ Arrington
Tarik Glenn

Go Bears!!

kelly09;842855658 said:

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Wow! JY IwaS THERE also, Remember Earl Rapp and Artie Wilson?

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Yes, most certainly. Did you know Rapp and Wilson? Artie Wilson, now there's a real story about disassembling barriers to MLB.

Also there were the Lake bros, Cookie Lavagetto, Billy Consolo, Geo McDermott, Bill Rigney, Joe Brovia and pitchers like Geo Bamberger, Charlie Beamon (his younger brother Bobby was on our Oakland LL team), Charley Gassaway and Ernie Broglio from El Cerrito.

We used to take the Key System bus via San Pablo Ave and/or the Key System train to Emeryville.

Players in the PCL were either on their way up to MLB or on their way down at the end of their playing careers, and some went on to coaching.

Interesting that out of the 64 or so All-Americans we've had at Cal, almost half are either OL or DL, but everyone seems to be arguing over QB's and RB's. When your talking about the BEST to ever play at Cal, being an ALL-American has to be a major factor. IMO

okaydo;842855489 said:

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1. Brick Muller
2. Stan Barnes
3. Walter Gordon
4. Benny Lom
5. Dan McMillan
6. Roy Riegels
7. Bob Herwig
8. Charley Erb
9. Bob Reinhard
10. Carl Van Heult
11. Johnny Olszewski
12. Marshawn Lynch

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This is what is wrong with Cal Football in pretty much every possible way you can interpret it to be wrong.

OldenBear;842855604 said:

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I'm taking this opinion thinking that you'd never seen Muncie - I'd go Muncie/Marshawn (either order) then Russell. But just my two pfennigs, based on who I've seen play.

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Muncie was a beast. Unstoppable even as a pro during his best years.

joe yaks;842855669 said:

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Yes, most certainly. Did you know Rapp and Wilson? Artie Wilson, now there's a real story about disassembling barriers to MLB.

Also there were the Lake bros, Cookie Lavagetto, Billy Consolo, Geo McDermott, Bill Rigney, Joe Brovia and pitchers like Geo Bamberger, Charlie Beamon (his younger brother Bobby was on our Oakland LL team), Charley Gassaway and Ernie Broglio from El Cerrito.

We used to take the Key System bus via San Pablo Ave and/or the Key System train to Emeryville.

Players in the PCL were either on their way up to MLB or on their way down at the end of their playing careers, and some went on to coaching.

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Ernie Broglio lived two doors down from me in EC. Al Reynolds who was a star on Cal's 58 College World's Series Championship also lived in the neighborhood. That team was unblievingly overpowering in the CWS.

kelly09;842855679 said:

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Ernie Broglio lived two doors down from me in EC. Al Reynolds who was a star on Cal's 58 College World's Series Championship also lived in the neighborhood. That team was unblievingly overpowering in the CWS.

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I was in the 5th grade when Broglio was pitching for ECHS...fastball, fastball, fastball...! The coaches were St John Smith (SJStu) or Dick Hunn (Cal basketball), I can't recall.

Anyway, I used to walk two blocks to ECHS and watch the Gauchos' games. I'd retrieve the foul balls that went over that tall backstop and landed in the Tenbrink's back yard.

I do recall that Ernie had a heavy shaving beard and often pitched with a piece of toilet tissue on his face to stop the bleeding from a shaving cut and a toothpick sticking out of the corner of his mouth. There were lots of scouts at those games.

joe yaks;842855652 said:

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Both tall with good field vision and strong arms.
Goff more mobile. Morton had a "knee".
Both surrounded by a cast of good receivers and RB's.
Different offenses...Bear-raid (Goff) v. pro set (Morton).
Cal defense during Morton exceeded defense for Goff.

It's like comparing San Rafael with San Jose.

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I agree with some of this. Morton was a terrific running quarterback in high school. He blew out his knee playing freshman football at Cal. In his first Cal varsity game, he threw for 285 yards in the second half, as I remember it. I don't agree on the receivers. All Morton had was Jack Schraub and halfback Tom Blanchfield, as I remember. Goff's receivers were more talented, IMO, and there were more of them. One of Morton's head coaches (who shall remain nameless) announced his plans for Cal's offense prior to the season: "We will run the ball. When you put the ball in the air, there are three things that can happen to you, and two of them are bad." Morton played on some awful teams, but he still managed to keep Cal competitive in many games. He was also a star on the Cal baseball team.

joe yaks;842855619 said:

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We saw the great Sam Chapman play several times in Emeryville at the end of his baseball career for the PCL Oakland Oaks (post-Phillie A's and Cleve-Land)...and, of course, dining at Angelo's Bar and Family Restaurant across the street.

As a kid I was "blown away" when I first learned of Sam's CFB excellence at Cal as a member of the "Thunder Team". It was like wow!...Jackie Jensen (Cal) and Gene Conley (WSu)...multi-sport excellence.

My Sam Chapman card was one of my prized Mother's Cookies' PCL trading cards...along with Mel Ott, Augie Galan, Ernie Lombardi, Johnny "Spider" Jorgensen, George Metkovich, Billy Martin, Chuck Dressen and Stengel...and the great Piper Davis and that "Old Duck" player/SACmanager Joe Gordon.

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My dad graduated Cal in '35 and went to all the Cal home games in 1937. He used to rave about Bottari , Chapman, Meek, and Herwig all the time.

In fact, my parents got married one Saturday in the Fall of 1937 in Marin County. Cal was playing a tough St. Marys team that afternoon, and my parents scheduled the wedding in the morning, so they could attend the Cal game in the afternoon. The best man had two jobs: Bring the ring and the tickets to the game. They all took the ferry to the East Bay and the Key System train to Berkeley. When they arrived they found the best man had forgotten to bring the tickets. My dad was furious. They telephoned the best man's father in San Francisco, and he grabbed the tickets and took a bus and the ferry and a train to the stadium, and arrived at the start of the second half. The halftime score was the usual blowout for the Thunder team, so my parents didn't get to watch Chapman, Bottari, and the other starters as they were resting, allowing the subs to play the rest of the game. I felt sorry for my mom, because she had to go to a Cal football game on her wedding day, and watch only the 2nd and 3rd string at that. I was told that she never complained though.

Very informative thread

How many legendary Cal football players have been cited in the past *week* by the host of ESPN's College Gameday?

Just one.

And that's why no list is complete without Roy Riegels.

SFCityBear;842855710 said:

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I agree with some of this. Morton was a terrific running quarterback in high school. He blew out his knee playing freshman football at Cal. In his first Cal varsity game, he threw for 285 yards in the second half, as I remember it. I don't agree on the receivers. All Morton had was Jack Schraub and halfback Tom Blanchfield, as I remember. Goff's receivers were more talented, IMO, and there were more of them. One of Morton's head coaches (who shall remain nameless) announced his plans for Cal's offense prior to the season: "We will run the ball. When you put the ball in the air, there are three things that can happen to you, and two of them are bad." Morton played on some awful teams, but he still managed to keep Cal competitive in many games. He was also a star on the Cal baseball team.

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Thanks for this. And Randy Gold was the starting QB for that game? Both K/RB Tom Blanchfield and WR Jack Schraub were players, but don't forget [U](corrected)[/U] RB Mike Epstein, little WR Jerry Bradley (who had a big game against Staubach/Navy), and RB Tom Relles.

Coach Willsey was all about defense; however, the quote sounds more like tOSu's Woody Hayes.

SFCityBear;842855715 said:

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My dad graduated Cal in '35 and went to all the Cal home games in 1937. He used to rave about Bottari , Chapman, Meek, and Herwig all the time.

In fact, my parents got married one Saturday in the Fall of 1937 in Marin County. Cal was playing a tough St. Marys team that afternoon, and my parents scheduled the wedding in the morning, so they could attend the Cal game in the afternoon. The best man had two jobs: Bring the ring and the tickets to the game. They all took the ferry to the East Bay and the Key System train to Berkeley. When they arrived they found the best man had forgotten to bring the tickets. My dad was furious. They telephoned the best man's father in San Francisco, and he grabbed the tickets and took a bus and the ferry and a train to the stadium, and arrived at the start of the second half. The halftime score was the usual blowout for the Thunder team, so my parents didn't get to watch Chapman, Bottari, and the other starters as they were resting, allowing the subs to play the rest of the game. I felt sorry for my mom, because she had to go to a Cal football game on her wedding day, and watch only the 2nd and 3rd string at that. I was told that she never complained though.

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Well, did your Mom go to Cal? Nevertheless, I understand and it's a good story...and cheers for the Key System.

My beautiful bride's grandfather worked for Dean Witter and for a decade was located in Portland, OR. During that time he'd travel by train to Berkeley several times a year to take in a Cal FB game. Just a weekend trip. Then he was transferred back to San Francisco and that was cool. However, a few years latter the doctor "ordered" him not to attend Cal games because of a heart condition. That was in the mid-1950's He was a very avid and emotional Cal fan.

SFCityBear;842855710 said:

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One of Morton's head coaches (who shall remain nameless) announced his plans for Cal's offense prior to the season: "We will run the ball. When you put the ball in the air, there are three things that can happen to you, and two of them are bad."

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My comeback would be, "when you hand off the ball to the running back, there are three things that can happen to you, and two of them are bad." :p

Big C_Cal;842855510 said:

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Interesting how, so far, Jared Goff is getting ZERO love. Holds most all of Cal's passing records and was the number one pick in the draft. How much different would it be if he led us to the Rose Bowl? What if he had had a rookie year like the guy from the Cowboys? Hey, I get it, though. I bet if he ends up developing into an elite NFL quarterback, he will suddenly find a spot on The Dirty Dozen.

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golden sloth showed him some love and I must do the same. As sloth pointed out, Goff was the most important piece during our return to respectability. We're fortunate that he was raised in a Cal household.

kelly09;842855660 said:

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BTW.... Has anyone mentioned Ken Weideman. The best allaround Cal FB player that I ever saw in person was Paul Larson. An amazing player. An AA at QB. Led the nation in total offense in 1953. Passing in 1954. Was the punter and kicker on both of those teams. The first time he touched the ball as a freshman, he took a KO 100 yds against Minnesota. As a back up hb as a sophmore, he avareged 7.0 as a ball carrier.
Also inercepted six balls as a free safety in 53 and 54.

Sorry David Bush, he was far better than Joe Kapp while at Cal.

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I was a big Joe Kapp fan from the first time I saw him. But I have to agree with you. Larson was the better player, maybe the best I ever saw at Cal in terms of all-around talent and skill.

joe yaks;842855755 said:

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Thanks for this. And Randy Gold was the starting QB for that game? Both K/RB Tom Blanchfield and WR Jack Schraub were players, but don't forget TE Mike Epstein, little WR Jerry Bradley (who had a big game against Staubach/Navy), and RB Tom Relles.

Coach Willsey was all about defense; however, the quote sounds more like tOSu's Woody Hayes.

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Thanks for your post. If you are referring to Morton's first game in 1962, it might be more likely that Larry Balliett was the starter. Randy Gold had been the starter for two years, and by his third year, it was clear that the Bears needed better QB play, so Gold only threw 12 passes that season. Morton had to sit out some games with his knee, and when he finally got to play, it was in the 2nd half of a game where he passed for 285 yards. He never gave up the job after that.

Your post got me interested in who else played with Morton, and I have to apologize for leaving out a number of good receivers and running backs, as you pointed out. In 1962, WR Bill Turner caught 44 passes, HB Tom Blanchfield caught 19, HB Alan Nelson caught 18, TE Ron Vaughn (a good friend of mine) caught 16, and Bill Krum had 15. Mike Epstein was not a factor receiving with only 3 catches that season, but he did average about 14 yards rushing.

In 1963 Jack Schraub arrived, catching 30 balls, followed by Loren Hawley with 25, and Jerry Mosher with 18. Tom Relles and Rudy Carvajal were also in the backfield, but Morton did not throw to the backs much that season. Blanchfield led them with 5 catches.

In 1964 Schraub caught 52 balls, Jerry Mosher 37, Tom Relles 30, Tom Blanchfield 26, and Jerry Bradley 18, among others.

Ray Willsey made that statement implying that Cal would mostly run the ball in Willsey's first year, 1964, seemingly denying the fact that he had the best passer in the nation at QB. What was interesting was that Cal did not do what Willsey had said. In 1964, Cal ran and passed the ball in equal amounts, averaging 32 pass attempts and 34 rushing attempts per game. In 1962 and 1963, under Marv Levy, and with Morton, Cal passed the ball only about 40% of the time.

The quote about passing first appeared in the press in 1962, and was attributed to Darrell Royal, but Royal gave the credit to Woody Hayes. In any case, it was not a Willsey original. Could he have said it to mislead Cal's opponents?

joe yaks;842855756 said:

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Well, did your Mom go to Cal? Nevertheless, I understand and it's a good story...and cheers for the Key System.

My beautiful bride's grandfather worked for Dean Witter and for a decade was located in Portland, OR. During that time he'd travel by train to Berkeley several times a year to take in a Cal FB game. Just a weekend trip. Then he was transferred back to San Francisco and that was cool. However, a few years latter the doctor "ordered" him not to attend Cal games because of a heart condition. That was in the mid-1950's He was a very avid and emotional Cal fan.

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No, my mom wasn't able to go to college. My dad graduated Cal in Architecture, and landed a job as a draftsman, which paid $8 a week. My mom was making $20 a week as a secretary, and so she basically supported them, until my dad was able to pass the examinations to get his California license. He used to joke that he married my mom for her money. He started his own architectural practice, and became quite well known, so that when he passed away, the UC College of Environmental Design invited me to donate all of his drawings, papers and photographs to their archives, where today young grad students are able to study his work. My mom ran the business side of his office for many years.

There was one rocky point in their relationship, when the day before the Big Game, my mom accidentally tossed an envelope containing the tickets into the fireplace and burned them beyond recognition. They made frantic calls to the Cal Ticket Office, and the tickets were replaced and they went to the game. For a while there, I sure thought it looked like a divorce was about to happen. I had to stay home and watch the game on TV, which was the one where the score was tied 21-21 with a second or two left, and Paul Larson was lining up a field goal try, with Stanford students rushing to tear down the goal posts, before Larson could kick the ball, and then the TV went dark, and I had to listen on the radio, to hear what happened.

That was a great story about your bride's grandfather. He sounds like a true Cal fan, through and through. Did he take the doctor's advice?

MoragaBear;842855947 said:

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The Pac-12 Network will have a new series on the 12 greatest players for each program coming up this fall.

Our writer David Bush was asked for his input, which is why his story focused on only 12.

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For recruiting purposes, I hope more of the recent star players make the final cut. An episode with highlights from guys like Beast Mode, DJax, ARod, Best, Goff etc. would be sweet.

Squid over Dante Hughes?

Is David Bush correct when he was asked about Cal's 12 best [U]football players[/U]? In another thread, I saw that the PAC-12 network was highlighting each schools top 12 [U]student athletes[/U] - so that takes it well beyond just football.

Great article. It's hard to argue with David Bush's excellent analysis, but I have to take exception to one point:

"The conference also wanted us to vote for the top coach in each school. This one was fairly easy. With a nod toward Pappy Waldorf and Stub Allison, it has to be Andy Smith.

His "Wonder Teams" were a combined 74-16-7. They won five conference titles and three national championships. His teams went to the Rose Bowl twice, winning one and tying the other. Under today's format they would have visited Pasadena more often."

My understanding is that the Cal players turned down the opportunity to return to Pasadena in 1923, protesting that Washington and Jefferson allegedly cheating the previous year by having graduates play and preferring to stay home for the holidays. If the game had the prestige that bowls developed about 20 years later, we would have seen more trips to Pasadena.

southseasbear;842856341 said:

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Great article. It's hard to argue with David Bush's excellent analysis, but I have to take exception to one point:

"The conference also wanted us to vote for the top coach in each school. This one was fairly easy. With a nod toward Pappy Waldorf and Stub Allison, it has to be Andy Smith.

His "Wonder Teams" were a combined 74-16-7. They won five conference titles and three national championships. His teams went to the Rose Bowl twice, winning one and tying the other. Under today's format they would have visited Pasadena more often."

My understanding is that the Cal players turned down the opportunity to return to Pasadena in 1923, protesting that Washington and Jefferson allegedly cheating the previous year by having graduates play and preferring to stay home for the holidays. If the game had the prestige that bowls developed about 20 years later, we would have seen more trips to Pasadena.

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Yes, but the 1922 (post WW-I) W&J College team played the same 11 players the entire game including one guy who had first played 2 years at St Olaf College who then played in the 1919 Rose (pre-WW-I) with the winning Great Lakes Navy team that included the great George Halas (HoF) and Paddy Driscoll (HoF).

W&J (1922) was also led by the first black QB to play in the Rose.

However...why they were named tNC in 1922 is not acceptable to me. Perhaps it was our Wonder Team's 0 pass completions for zero yards and 49 rushing yards net.

Or maybe it was the infamous gargoyle of "east coast media bias".

In any case, I think the Wonders should have opted to play in the 1923 Rose and kicked PStu's asz. Instead, $uSC got to do it. Never decline tRose option.

Hel-lo-o...where are:

Matt Hazeltine, C/LB (1954 CFB AA along with Paul Larson) All-NFL with your SF 49ers.

Mike Mohamed, LB (2010) All PAC-10 2008 Honor', All Conference 2009 thru 2010; PAC-10 All-Academic team 2008, 2009, 2010.

MinotStateBeav;842855507 said:

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Here's my top Cal Team since following since 1986

WR Sean Dawkins
WR DeSean Jackson

TE Tony Gonzalez
TE Craig Stevens

OT Troy Auzenne
OT Langston Walker

OG Todd Steussie
OG Jeremy Newberry

C Alex Mack
C Marvin Philip

FB Chris Manderino
FB Will Ta'ufo'ou

RB Marshawn Lynch -Wrecking Ball
RB JJ Arrington (can't deny a 2k rusher)

QB Aaron Rodgers
QB Mike Pawlawski

DL Chidi Ahanotu
DL Regan Upshaw
DL Andre Carter
DL Tully Banta-Cain

LB Hardy Nickerson
LB Zach Follett
LB Desmond Bishop

CB Syd'Quan Thompson
CB Deltha O'Neal

S Giordano
S DeCoud

K Longwell
P Anger

tons of good WRs/RBs/DBs to choose from. That offensive line would be really nasty lol.

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Excellent list, but...

Steussie and Auzenne were clearly superior talent, but I never saw DTs quit trying to get around a lineman except for Tarik Glenn. He often just smothered whoever was playing across from him.

Doug Brien was the most clutch kicker ever. By the time he was a senior, Snyder funneled big games to come down to a last minute kick and Brien never missed one.

And I'd never include Newberry -- he had serious talent, but I bet he led the league in penalties, certainly in unnecessary penalties. He was called for many holding and unnecessary roughness plays, none of which were to prevent a sack or anything like that. He got them at every position he played.

Glad you included Pawlawski -- not the greatest passer, but a superb QB and made the passed he had to and was probably the best team leader we've EVER had.

Deltha O'Neil -- how the heck could Bush leave him off? The best DB I've seen play in that stadium. One of his most impressive plays was one he didn't quite make. In a Big Game at Furd, the qb threw one away under pressure. The wr gave up on it, but Deltha did not. The ball landed barely out of his reach and no heart attacks were recorded on the Furd side. We think.

And that doesn't even include his returns. Teams flat stopped kicking to him.

Greg Zomalt was our best fullback. He blocked for Russell White and we never ran a sweep to either side that Zomalt missed the first guy. He also did a superb job at pass protection and being a safety valve, making some game saving plays.

Nick Harris' punts sometimes nearly caused seizures by barely getting the punt off, but some games was our best offensive weapon, pinning teams to their goal line. Best punter we've ever had.

>"...Greg Zomalt was our best fullback. He blocked for Russell White and we never ran a sweep to either side that Zomalt missed the first guy. He also did a superb job at pass protection and being a safety valve, making some game saving plays..."<


Great call, but I think I'd have to consider John Tuggle and Paul Jones. And they played at the same time.