Chevrons and Diamonds

Los Angeles’ Gilmore Stadium played host to what should have been a star-studded gridiron battle in front of 26,000 fans on January 20, 1946. The hometown Hollywood Bears whose backfield was familiar to the Gilmore faithful as former UCLA standouts Kenny Washington and Woody Strode faced off against Elroy Hirsch (future Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee) and Paul Governali (future College Football Hall of Fame inductee). Instead of an abundance of offense, the fans witnessed 11 total turnovers and 301 total yards of offense.

View or print the entire 1946 Service All Stars vs Hollywood Bears game program.

While the statistics were fairly balanced, the 14-0 shutout victory by the Bears showed that the ball bounced in their favor. The Bears defense intercepted the All-Stars three times and forced four fumbles, recovering three while holding their opponent to 33 rushing and 121 yards through the air. The All-Stars did manage one big play; a 42-yard pass to Elroy Hirsch. The star halfback from the Navy, Claude “Buddy” Young was shut down on several offensive plays and left the game following an ankle injury.

1946 Service All-Stars Roster:

#	Player	Affiliation	Pos
11	Tony Sumpter	El Toro	G
13	Bill Schroeder	El Toro	B
15	Bob Sweiger	Navy	B
18	Chuck Page	El Toro	B
21	Lawrence King	El Toro	E
24	Verne Gagne	El Toro	E
25	Claude Young	Navy	B
29	Harvey Johnson	El Toro	B
30	Chuck Huenke	El Toro	T
31	Willie Walls	Navy	E
33	Lou Palazzi	4th Air Force	C
34	Sam Brazinsky	El Toro	C
36	Wilbur Wilkin	El Toro	T
40	Elroy Hirsch	El Toro	B
42	Bob Dove	El Toro	E
43	Charles O’Rourke	Navy	B
44	Bill Kennedy	El Toro	G
45	Paul Governali	El Toro	B
50	Pat Lahey	El Toro	E
71	Harley McCollum	El Toro	T
77	George Kinard	Navy	G
88	“Kit” Kittrell	El Toro	B

“The All-Stars were completely outplayed,” Los Angeles Daily News reporter, Warren Pack wrote in his January 21, 1946 piece, “and, if it hadn’t been for four costly Hollywood fumbles, the game might have turned into a route.”

The All-Stars consisted largely of Marine Corps players augmented with five from the Navy and Lou Palazzi from the Army Air Forces. Coincidentally, all but eight of the Bears roster served during the war. Washington, like his UCLA teammate Jackie Robinson did with Major League Baseball, signed with the newly arrived (from Cleveland) National Football League’s Rams becoming the first black player in the league. Woody Strode followed Washington to the Rams before embarking on a career in wrestling and in television and film.

1945 Hollywood Bears Roster:

#	Player	School	Pos	WWII Service
No	Player	School/Affiliation	Pos	WWII Service
1	Nate DeFrancisco	UCLA	G	USAAF
2	Gerry Conlee	St. Mary’s	C	Navy
4	Alec Shellogg	Notre Dame	T	USAAF
5	Glen Galvin	USC	E
6	James Nelson	Alabama	B	USAAF
7	Byron Gentry	USC	G	US Army
8	Lou Tomasetti	Bucknell	B	Navy
9	Bob Hoffman	USC	B	USAAF
11	Willard Goodhue	Oxy	B	Navy
12	John Petrovich	Texas	B	US Army
13	Kenny Washington	UCLA	B
14	Leo Cantor	UCLA	B	USAAF
15	Nick Susoeff	WSU	E	US Army
16	Bob Roland	Detroit Tech	G	Navy
17	Woody Strode	UCLA	E	USAAF
18	George Bernhardt	Illinois	G	USAAF
19	Tom Brown	William & Mary	B	USAAF
20	Bill Fisk	USC	E
22	Charles Anderson	Ohio State	B
23	Ezzerett  “Ez” Anderson	Kentucky State	E
24	Jack Thatcher	Oxy	G
25	Marshall Axcell		T	Navy
26	Paul Stenn	Villanova	T
27	Joe Dixon	Alabama	C	USMC
28	Walt Messemer	Army	T	USAAF
29	James Nemec	Catholic U.	T
30	Joe Crawford	St. Mary’s	T	Navy
33	Jack Jacobs	Oklahoma	B	USAAF
44	Garland Gregory	Louisiana Tech	G	USAAF
45	Art Elston	Clevland Rams	C	USAAF

Consisting of eight pages, the game program is printed on glossy paper stock in monochrome black ink with the cover featuring four colors. Dominated by player photographs and an overall appealing graphic design along with its connections to the games pioneers makes this piece extremely desirable.

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