GAELS WORKED A MIRACLE WHEN GAELS STORMED U.S. Saint

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Nov 23, 2005 | by Jeff Faraudo, STAFF WRITER

AMOMENT in sports history such as the one created 75 years ago this month by the football team at Saint Mary's College could not happen now.

The world is too small, our loyalties too fragmented, celebrity too fleeting to imagine such an occasion again.

But on Nov. 15, 1930, the Galloping Gaels of Moraga -- 33 players strong and led by a one-of-a-kind coach named Edward "Slip" Madigan - - invaded New York City's Polo Grounds and pulled off their own miracle at Coogan's Bluff against one of the nation's mightiest college football teams.

It wasn't merely the 20-12 come-from-behind victory over Fordham University -- unbeaten in its previous 16 games and a contender for the national title -- that distinguishes the event.

It wasn't even the fact that Saint Mary's became the first school from the Pacific Coast to defeat an unbeaten, untied team from the East that elevates it above so many other games before and since.

No, what made the game so special was the reaction to it, not just from tiny Moraga, or from Oakland, where the college resided until a few years before. This was a triumph celebrated by all of the Bay Area -- including Saint Mary's rivals -- and, in fact, by the most famous Californian of the day.

President Herbert Hoover, a Stanford graduate, welcomed the Gaels to the White House for a reception two days after the game and washappy to bask in the spotlight aimed at the team.

"I am mighty glad you have come to this section of the country to help me uphold the reputation of California," the President told his guests.

Back home, everyone was in the mood to celebrate. San Francisco Mayor James Rolph Jr. made an appeal for all Bay Area citizens to unite in preparation for the Gaels' return. "Let us make them feel their triumph is a great triumph for our state," he proclaimed.

When the Gaels completed their train trip home to Oakland, they were greeted at the 16th Street station by a throng of more than 5,000 well-wishers, then ushered to a breakfast at the Athens Athletic Club.

The team then was transported by ferry to San Francisco, where 250,000 people lined Market Street and the financial district as the Gaels were escorted toward a reception at city hall. Seven bands added to the festive occasion, and official representatives from Cal, Stanford and USF, along with an endless string of political dignitaries, joined in the fun.

Madigan added to the spectacle by producing a live ram, reputed to be the Fordham mascot, Rameses IV. Turned out it was just a stunt by Madigan, who picked up the sheep at a train stop in Sacramento.

Still, it's hard to imagine the city of San Francisco pulling in a quarter-million delirious admirers these days to celebrate the achievements of any East Bay team, professional or college.

It was a bit overwhelming even 75 years ago.

"I almost cried when I stepped off this train in the midst of so many friends," Woody Peebles, a tackle for the Gaels, said at the time. "This is a big surprise to me. I don't know whether I would have had the courage to come home if I knew everybody was waiting this way."

Here's how one newspaper writer described the scene: "Like Roman legions returning from conquests in a foreign land, the stout- hearted Galloping Gaels came back to San Francisco to receive a welcome that would have done justice to Lindbergh."

In 1930, without TV or air travel, New York City virtually was a foreign land to many in the Bay Area. The West and East each claimed college football supremacy, but there were few opportunities to prove the point.

Fordham hadn't been defeated since Nov. 24, 1928 -- nearly two full calendar years before.

Madigan, equal parts coach, showman and promoter, and a former center on Knute Rockne's first's unbeaten Notre Dame team, was hired by Saint Mary's in 1921, a year after the Gaels lost 127-0 to Cal.

Saint Mary's lost to Cal 7-6 in 1930, but otherwise was unbeaten. Still, Madigan worried his team might be weary after the long train trip.

With a crowd of close to 40,000 on hand, Fordham powered to a 12- 0 first-half lead. The Gaels never crossed midfield and didn't generate a single first down.

At halftime, Madigan received a phone call in the locker room from Rockne, then delivered a teary-eyed pep talk to his players.

"It was Slip's speech to us in the clubhouse between halves that turned a handful of discouraged football players into a pack of fighting wildcats," said Angel Brovelli, the Gaels' sophomore fullback.

Nicknamed the "Dark Angel," Brovelli inspired his team in the third quarter with hard blasts into the Fordham line, and the Gaels gradually took over. Although outgained 228 yards to 122, Saint Mary's intercepted seven passes and took the lead when Dick Boyle scored on a 1-yard plunge.

Bill Beasley's 60-yard return of an interception for a TD iced the victory for the Gaels, who had conquered the East. The New York American compared the comeback to the best in any sport, labeling it "amazing, stupefying, dumbfounding."

"It was the most thrilling game seen in this part of the country in years and years," the paper wrote.