The 1937 California Golden Bears football team, nicknamed the "Thunder Team", was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

team that represented the University of California (now known as the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

) in the

Pacific Coast Conference The Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) was a college athletic conference in the United States which existed from 1915 to 1959. Though the Pac-12 Conference claims the PCC's history as part of its own, with eight of the ten PCC members (including a ...

(PCC) during the

1937 college football season The 1937 college football season ended with the Panthers of the University of Pittsburgh being named the nation's No. 1 team (and "mythical national champion") by 30 of the 33 voters in the Associated Press writers' poll. The AP poll was in it ...

. In their third year under head coach Stub Allison, the Bears compiled a 10–0–1 record, shut out seven of eleven opponents, and outscored all opponents by a total of 214 to 33. In the final

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broadca ...

released on November 29, California was ranked No. 2 with 277 points, 50 points behind No. 1

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

. After the final rankings were posted, California shut out No. 4

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

in the 1938 Rose Bowl. The Associated Press did not conduct post-bowl polling at the time, but retroactive rankings by the

Helms Athletic Foundation The Helms Athletic Foundation, founded in 1936, was a Los Angeles-based organization dedicated to the promotion of athletics and sportsmanship. Paul H. Helms was the organization's founder and benefactor, funding the foundation via his ownership ...

and the

Dunkel System The Dunkel System, also known as the Dunkel College Football Index, is a college football rating system developed in 1929 by Richard C. "Dick" Dunkel, Sr. (1906–1975), to determine a national champion. Dunkel rated college football teams from 192 ...

declared California as the 1937 national champion. Three California players received first-team honors on the 1937 All-America college football team: fullback

Sam Chapman Samuel Blake Chapman (April 11, 1916 – December 22, 2006) was an American two-sport athletic star who played as a center fielder in Major League Baseball, spending nearly his entire career with the Philadelphia Athletics (1938–1941, 1945–1 ...

;

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison ...

Vard Stockton;

end End, END, Ending, or variation, may refer to: End *In mathematics: ** End (category theory) ** End (topology) **End (graph theory) ** End (group theory) (a subcase of the previous) **End (endomorphism) *In sports and games **End (gridiron footbal ...

Perry Schwartz Perry Schwartz (April 27, 1915 – January 4, 2001) Son of Henry & Maude (nee Perry) Swartz, was a professional American football end. He played five seasons with the National Football League's Brooklyn Dodgers (1938–1942) and the All-America F ...

; and

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

Bob Herwig Bob Herwig (December 12, 1914 – December 14, 1974) was an American football center. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1964. Until their divorce in 1946, he was married to novelist Kathleen Winsor Kathleen Winsor (Oct ...

Schedule

Awards and honors

Six California players received honors on the 1937 All-America college football team: * Fullback

was a consensus first-team selection. * Guard Vard Stockton was a first-team selection by the

United Press United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th c ...

(UP),

International News Service The International News Service (INS) was a U.S.-based news agency (newswire) founded by newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst in 1909.

Newspaper Enterprise Association The Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA) is an editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States and established in 1902. The oldest syndicate still in operation, the NEA was originally a secondary news ...

(NEA),

Central Press Association The Central Press Association was American newspaper syndication company based in Cleveland, Ohio. It was in business from 1910 to 1971. Originally independent, it was a subsidiary of King Features Syndicate from 1930 onwards. At its peak, the ...

, and

North American Newspaper Alliance The North American Newspaper Alliance (NANA) was a large newspaper syndicate that flourished between 1922 and 1980. NANA employed some of the most noted writing talents of its time, including Grantland Rice, Joseph Alsop, Michael Stern, Lothrop S ...

. * End

was a first team selection by the All-America Board and the Walter Camp Football Foundation. * Center

was a first team selection by ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...

''. * Halfback

Vic Bottari Vic Bottari (December 21, 1916 – January 6, 2003) was an American football player. Bottari, nicknamed "Vallejo Vic" attended the University of California, Berkeley and starred as a halfback, leading the Golden Bears to a win in the 1938 Rose ...

was a second-team selection by the NEA and a third-team selection by the UP. * Back Johnny "Jelly Belly" Meek was a first-team selection by ''

Collyer's Eye ''Collyer's Eye'' was a weekly sports journal published in Chicago from 1915 to 1929. In 1929, it merged with ''The Baseball World'' to become ''Collyer's Eye and The Baseball World''. It broke the story of the Black Sox Scandal a week after the f ...

''. Nine were recognized by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

(AP),

International News Service The International News Service (INS) was a U.S.-based news agency (newswire) founded by newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst in 1909.

(INS), or UP on the 1937 All-Pacific Coast football team: quarterback Johnny Meek (AP-1, INS-1, UP-1); halfback Sam Chapman (AP-1, INS-1, UP-1); halfback Vic Bottari (AP-1, INS-1, UP-1); fullback D. Anderson (AP-2); end Perry Schwartz (AP-1, INS-1, UP-1); tackle Stoll (UP-2); guard Vard Stockton (AP-1, INS-1, UP-1); guard Evans (AP-2, UP-2); and center Bob Herwig (AP-1, INS-1, UP-1). Three were also inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

: Herwig (inducted in 1964), Bottari (inducted in 1981), and Chapman (inducted in 1984).

1938 NFL Draft

The following players were claimed in the 1938 NFL Draft.

References

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

California Golden Bears football seasons College football national champions Pac-12 Conference football champion seasons Rose Bowl champion seasons College football undefeated seasons

California Golden Bears football The California Golden Bears football program represents the University of California, Berkeley in college football as a member of the Pac-12 Conference at the NCAA Division I, NCAA Division I FBS level. The team plays its home games at Californi ...

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