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David Contreras's avatar

I played in that program for three years, '64, '65, and '66. I was on the Freshman team in '64. We were actually the Scout team that scrimmaged the "Varsity" Freshmen weren't eligible for games. Playing home games in the Rose Bowl was fun. We had such great talent. Coach Beatty was a genius. We also had some great position coaches. My favorite was Ron Hull, a UCLA two-way All American. He brought other Bruins to coach at CSLA, like Foster Anderson and Johnny Hermann. Jim "Red" Williams took over the program after Coach Beatty left. It still makes me sad that CSLA did not support football. We could have been at the level of SDSU, Fresno State and Hawai'i. I was able to watch Billy Jean King practice daily on our courts. One Correction: We defeated UC Santa Barbara in the 1965 Camelia Bowl in Sacramento. Mahalo for the story.

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Football Archaeology's avatar

Thanks for sharing your fond memories with the team. The overall story shows the impact that a coach -or other leader- can have on an organization, including their ability to bring in quality assistants.

I've corrected the mistake.

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Ainterestedhuman's avatar

Hi, would you still have any pictures, stories, or any jerseys? I wanted to get all this information to get more history on the football team as a whole, many present students want to learn and heard stories about the team we wish to join, there are so much missing holes in the stories, what scheme you guys ran, traditions, atmosphere, stadium, I really want to know the jersey looks and the scheme you guys ran, if you can reply to me with an email I can ask you all these things if possible!!!

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Football Archaeology's avatar

There are several images showing the jerseys in Part II of the story. I obtained them from the school yearbooks, which should be available in the library. (I can't reply by email since I do not have your email.)

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Jon Crowley's avatar

Wonderful story about a little-known football past at CSULA, a school which I passed on my way to work for many years.

Billie Jean King was an alum and played tennis there as well.

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Football Archaeology's avatar

Thanks. I did not know about Billie Jean King.

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Dick Friedman's avatar

This is a superb series! Congrats!!

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Football Archaeology's avatar

Thanks. I dove into it not know where it was going to end, and it turned out to have fun endng.

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Sports Dispatch's avatar

Fantastic football history! I live about 60 miles from Slippery Rock and never knew they traveled to the West coast. The Rockets.are currently ranked 7 in the DII rankings.

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