Rating: 
Summary: Labor of Love
Review: Run - don't walk - to the nearest bookstore and get your copy of this dream of a book. Kristine Setting Clark's latest is not only a great read, it's an inspiration...and a reminder to all of us living in these troubled times that each moment one of us bravely steps forward and takes that seemingly lonely High Road, that he or she not only models the heroic, they relight the fire in our hearts that events in this world so often extinguish; even 51 years down the road. A must-read.
Rating:
Summary: Standing Tall and United
Review: This book has a "Field of Dreams" and "It's a Wonderful Life" feel to it due to the courageous selflessness and undaunting unity displayed by the players on the unbeaten University of San Francisco gridiron juggernaut. I am also delighted to see a book about some of the great and often unheralded teams of the old Catholic Conference of California. My cousin Fran Hare played three times against USF, including the brilliant 1951 squad led by the running heroics of the incomparable Ollie Matson and the defensive excellence of Gino Marchetti and Bob St. Clair. Fran's older brother, the late Vern Hare, was on the 1948 Santa Clara team which upset Oklahoma in 1948. He was a teammate of the great Hall of Fame end Tom Fears, who played both at Santa Clara and UCLA. When I lived in Los Angeles and was a sports editor I talked to all kinds of people associated with Loyola football, a school which put on the field stellar future pros such as Gene Brito, Skippy Gincanelli and Don Klosterman. Loyola had a great team in 1950 which lost only one game, a 28-26 upset at home in Gilmore Stadium against Santa Clara. Yes, and there was also St. Mary's located in the San Francisco suburb of Moraga. In the thirties the Gaels had one of the nation's premier football coaches in Slip Madigan. In perhaps the school's finest gridiron hour, the Gaels defeated USC in 1931 at the L.A. Coliseum, 13-7, the only blemish on Howard Jones's team's record as the Trojans recovered from that reversal to win the national title with what historians called one of the premier college teams of the early era. The competition was intense and many of the players from these schools went on to National Football League glory. What galled a lot of us was that many of these players and their schools failed to receive the national credit they deserved. This fine book detailing a superb team from a richly endowed grid era corrects that aforementioned deficiency. The recognition is highly deserved!
Rating:
Summary: Standing Tall and United
Review: This book has a "Field of Dreams" and "It's a Wonderful Life" feel to it due to the courageous selflessness and undaunting unity displayed by the players on the unbeaten University of San Francisco gridiron juggernaut. I am also delighted to see a book about some of the great and often unheralded teams of the old Catholic Conference of California. My cousin Fran Hare played three times against USF, including the brilliant 1951 squad led by the running heroics of the incomparable Ollie Matson and the defensive excellence of Gino Marchetti and Bob St. Clair. Fran's older brother, the late Vern Hare, was on the 1948 Santa Clara team which upset Oklahoma in 1948. He was a teammate of the great Hall of Fame end Tom Fears, who played both at Santa Clara and UCLA. When I lived in Los Angeles and was a sports editor I talked to all kinds of people associated with Loyola football, a school which put on the field stellar future pros such as Gene Brito, Skippy Gincanelli and Don Klosterman. Loyola had a great team in 1950 which lost only one game, a 28-26 upset at home in Gilmore Stadium against Santa Clara. Yes, and there was also St. Mary's located in the San Francisco suburb of Moraga. In the thirties the Gaels had one of the nation's premier football coaches in Slip Madigan. In perhaps the school's finest gridiron hour, the Gaels defeated USC in 1931 at the L.A. Coliseum, 13-7, the only blemish on Howard Jones's team's record as the Trojans recovered from that reversal to win the national title with what historians called one of the premier college teams of the early era. The competition was intense and many of the players from these schools went on to National Football League glory. What galled a lot of us was that many of these players and their schools failed to receive the national credit they deserved. This fine book detailing a superb team from a richly endowed grid era corrects that aforementioned deficiency. The recognition is highly deserved!
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting Reading
Review: This book is easy to read and is organized chronologically with some background on the school and the program and then a a game by game rundown of the magical '51 season for the dons. The book uses newspaper clippings to summarize parts of the season and some great photos of the games and programs are also part of the book. The book indicates that the dons were excluded from a bowl bid more by the color of two of their stars than by a weak schedule and that the team decided to accept this rather than play without members of their team. If this is accurate, they are heroes for their integrity and not just their athletics. The book tells a wonderful story of one of the teams that was truly great and that few fans have ever heard of. It also will give you a trivia question that will stump most of the experts: What is the only college team to ever have three members in the hall of fame?
Rating:
Summary: Interesting Reading
Review: This book is easy to read and is organized chronologically with some background on the school and the program and then a a game by game rundown of the magical '51 season for the dons. The book uses newspaper clippings to summarize parts of the season and some great photos of the games and programs are also part of the book. The book indicates that the dons were excluded from a bowl bid more by the color of two of their stars than by a weak schedule and that the team decided to accept this rather than play without members of their team. If this is accurate, they are heroes for their integrity and not just their athletics. The book tells a wonderful story of one of the teams that was truly great and that few fans have ever heard of. It also will give you a trivia question that will stump most of the experts: What is the only college team to ever have three members in the hall of fame?
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