Here is the 1972 Playboy preseason All-American team featuring USC offensive tackle Pete Adams (77) and tight end Charles Young (89). No. 22 on the left is tailback Terry Metcalf of Long Beach State when the 49ers played football. Full team listed after the jump:
OFFENSE: Top to bottom, left to right: Jerry Sisemore (76), lineman, Texas; Tom Brahaney (54), center, Oklahoma; Terry Metcalf (22), running back, Long Beach State; John Carroll (10), kicker, Oklahoma; Otis Armstrong (24), running back, Purdue; Pete Adams (77), lineman, USC; Gary Huff (19), quarterback, Florida State; Skip Singletary (64), lineman, Temple; Johnny Rodgers (20), wide receiver, Nebraska; Greg Pruitt (30), running back, Oklahoma; Charles Young (89), tight end, USC; Nick Bebout (71), lineman, Wyoming.
DEFENSE: Top to bottom, left to right: Steve Brown (44), linebacker, Oregon State; Ray Guy (44), punter, Southern Miss; Joe Ehrmann (76), lineman, Syracuse; Tom Jackson (50), linebacker, Louisville; Matt Blair (47), linebacker, Iowa State; Willie Harper (81), lineman, Nebraska; Jackie Wallace (25), cornerback, Arizona; Rich Glover (79), middle guard, Nebraska; Greg Marx (75), lineman, Notre Dame; Dave Butz (62), lineman, Purdue; Cullen Bryant (16), cornerback, Colorado; Brad Van Pelt (10), linebacker, Michigan State. Front: Bob Devaney, Coach of the Year, Nebraska
Wolfman, it’s time to bring back the CFL updates. I turned on the TV last night and there was CJ Gable playing on the same team with Justin Medlock and Jeremiah Masoli, of all people. A late-2000s Pac-10 reunion.
Long Beach State. …Their last two head coaches were George Allen and Willie Brown. ….hard believe. ..
Very Interesting that there was not a single SEC player of the 24 players there. Goes to show that the talent had not shifted to the Southen Region of the USA as yet. Mind boggling.
As more blacks started to enter the SEC after Sam Bam Cunningham demolished Alabama in 1970 the conference started to dominate football.
Or the inner cities like Detroit, Cleveland, Philadelphia and Chicago hadn’t yet deteriorated to the point where blacks stopped leaving the South and many returned from the North.
This where Nobs aka Mark Larsen usually opines… Mark? Mark???
Or FlameOn… where is she?
The bigger cause I believe, more so than economic conditions, is that they could now return and play football for some of the major SEC schools as the walls of segregation came down.
Economic conditions as you mentioned was also a reason blacks headed to the North and out West during WW2. The migration slowed in recent decades due to ecconomic conditions, gang violence, the increase latino population willing to work for lessor wages, and as I said the climate became more open Blacks in the SEC.
Take a look at the NFL rosters today. They are dominated by players from the South East, South West USA, as well as California.
Dead on.
Where would football be without Brothas?!
Hmm I wonder if Fred Larsen was at Southern Cal in ’72?? Early 80’s more likely.
Was he related to Mark Larson?
THAT’S THE ONE!!
No Bruins…par for the course
Only one other player from the Pac 8- we dominated like no other back then.
ucla misses playing LBSU
That’s right, they did used to play CSULB for a easy warm up game.
A large portion of African American ballers were still playing at HBCU schools, ie Grambling, Southern, Tuskegee, FAMU. When the SEC doors became fully open to AA players, that pretty much became the demise of the HBCU. The same thing happened when Jackie Robinson integrated the Majors, which also started the end of the Negro Leagues.