San Francisco 49ers

Our tour through each team of the celebrated All America Football Conference continues as in this edition we go in depth into the San Francisco 49ers franchise with the team's official historian Joe Hession.

It is truly an honor to have been able to speak with the official Team Historian of the 49ers Museum at Levi Stadium, Joe Hession about the Niners in their first few seasons as members of the All America Football Conference. Joe brings so many great stories and insights to the discussion we were fortunate to record it in the podcast above. Here are some facts to take a look at as you listen to Mr. Hession speak about this era in 49ers history.

The All-American Football Conference was formed in 1946 with eight teams after a few years of planning by Arch Ward and a group of others. Ward figured that when the war would end that there would be a large talented pool of potential gridiron players who had competed not only on the battlefield but on the gridiron as well. They had played beside former pros and collegians alike and iron had sharpened iron like no other time in sports history. The teams consisted of :

In the Eastern group would be:

• New York Yankees, Dan Topping as the owner, Ray Flaherty coach, while playing at Yankee Stadium.
• Buffalo Bisons, owned by James Breuil, Head Coach Sam Cordovano, and a contract to play at the Civic Stadium.
• Brooklyn Dodgers, led by franchise owner Bill Cox, Mal Stevens was in charge of the sidelines, and a home venue of Ebbets Field.
• Miami Seahawks, owned by Harvey Hester, Coached by Jack Meagher, in the home setting of the Orange Bowl.

The Western Conference would consist of:

• Los Angeles Dons, headed by an ownership group of Ben Lindheimer's expertise, the coachong prowess of Dudley DeGroot, in the friendly confines of the L.A. Coliseum.
• Cleveland Browns, with Arthur McBride as owner, the legrndary Paul Brown as coach, at Cleveland's Municipal Stadium.
• Chicago Rockets, led by John Keeshin, the Head Coach signed was Dick Hanley, and a home track of Soldiers Field.
• San Francisco 49ers, owned by Tony Morabito, the coaching expertise of Buck Shaw, at the legendary Kezar Stadium.

Kezar Stadium was built in the 1920s and was in a residential neighborhood that had little parking. Many levels of football were played there from high school up to the pro games of the 49ers. Having less than a couple hindred parking spaces available it forced spectators to park on the streets and walk to the venue. This gave rise to local business getting a boost on game days with fans visiting and stopping to buy their services, food and wares as they made their way to the stadium. These were truly community events and helped the Bay area bond with the 49ers franchise. Joe shared with us that 49ers Hall of Famer, Bob St Clair used to tell teammmates that when they entered the tunnel to take the field that they should kick up as much dust from the dirt floot of the field's entryway so that their opponents would breath it in and be out of breath at the start of the half.

San Francisco had solid teams all 4 seasons they played in the AAFC, and they were the second place team every year behind the dominant Cleveland Browns in the Western Division.  Buck Shaw coached the team all four seasons. Here is a list of the AAFC records of the 49ers as the Pro-Football-Reference shows them.

1946 record: 9-5-0. Frankie Albert was the starting QB as the offense averaged 21.9 points per game while the defense yielded 13.5 ponts on average. Norm Standlee was the team's leading rusher with 651 yards on the season.

1947 record: 8-4-2. Frankie Albert was the starting QB as the offense averaged 23.4 points per game while the defense gave up 18.9 ponts on average. Johnny Strzykalski was the team's leading rusher with 906 yards on the season.

1948 record: 12-2. The starting QB was Frankie Albert as the offense averaged 35.4 points per game while the defense gave up 17.7 ponts on average. Johnny Strzykalski was the team's leading rusher with 915 yards on the season.

1949 record: 9-3-0. Under center was The starting QB was Frankie Albert as the offense averaged 34.7 points per game while the defense gave up 18.9 ponts on average. Hall of Fame enshrined running back, Joe Perry was the team's leading rusher with 783 yards on the season.

The over all AAFC win loss record of the 49ers in the AAFC was 38-14-2. Very respectable and if it wasn't for having the Browns in their division thyey probably would have had much better success. Their stellar record, avid fanbase and well organized front office gave way for the NFL to absorb them along with the Browns and Colts into the older more established league. Playing till this day in the NFL they most definitely have been one of the more stories franchises of the past 40 years as they have hoisted the Lombardi Trophy on multiple occassions. Those triumphs in the NFL are a story for a another day and future episode.

A Very Special thanks to information obtained from the following brilliant internet sites: Joe Hession, the Sports Reference's family of website databases & Stathead.com.

Banner photo is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons of the the 49ers AAFC logo from a 1946 game program from Larry Schmitt's collection, drawn by an unknown.