Albert J. Ruffo (July 1, 1908 – February 10, 2003) was an American

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

, and football coach. Ruffo grew up in

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, Washington, Olympia, and northwest of Mount ...

. In 1927 he moved to

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

to attend nearby

Santa Clara University Santa Clara University is a private Jesuit university in Santa Clara, California. Established in 1851, Santa Clara University is the oldest operating institution of higher learning in California. The university's campus surrounds the historic Mis ...

, where he played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

, and graduated with degrees in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

, and

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

. After graduating in 1931, Ruffo taught in the university's school of engineering and coached the freshman football team to help pay for attending law school. In 1936 he graduated at the head of his class from

Santa Clara University School of Law The Santa Clara University School of Law (Santa Clara Law) is the law school of Santa Clara University, a Jesuit university in Santa Clara, California, United States, in the Silicon Valley region. The School of Law was founded in 1911. The Jesuit ...

. After passing the

bar exam A bar examination is an examination administered by the bar association of a jurisdiction that a lawyer must pass in order to be admitted to the bar of that jurisdiction. Australia Administering bar exams is the responsibility of the bar associa ...

, he continued to coach football with the university as the assistant varsity coach under legendary SCU head coach Lawrence T. "Buck" Shaw and helped lead the team to victory in the 1937 and 1938

Sugar Bowl The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed onl ...

s against

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

. In San Francisco, Ruffo and a former college football teammate,

Tony Morabito Anthony James Morabito (January 12, 1910 – October 27, 1957) was the founder of the San Francisco 49ers. Following his graduation from the University of Santa Clara he had a moderately successful lumber hauling business in San Francisco, Californ ...

, became partners in a lumber delivery business. But Morabito soon began to focus on starting a pro football franchise and Ruffo was enlisted to set up the legal framework for what was to become Morabito's

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

, who began play in the

All-America Football Conference The All-America Football Conference (AAFC) was a professional American football league that challenged the established National Football League (NFL) from 1946 to 1949. One of the NFL's most formidable challengers, the AAFC attracted many of the ...

(AAFC) in 1946. While waiting for the 49ers' (and the AAFC's) first season of operation Buck Shaw and Ruffo spent the 1945 season as Head Coach and Assistant for the University of California Golden Bears. He was an assistant coach to Buck Shaw for the 49ers first two years of operation, which happened to be while he was serving as mayor of

. He later became a part owner of the team and remained so for 24 years until it was sold to

Eddie DeBartolo, Jr. Edward John DeBartolo Jr. (born November 6, 1946) is an American businessman best known for his 23-year ownership of the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). The five Super Bowls the 49ers dynasty won in 14 years were a re ...

in 1977. He served eight years on the San Jose city council (1944–1952), and was the city's 48th

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

from 1946 to 1948. During his time on the council,

A. P. Hamann Anthony P. Hamann (September 26, 1909 – March 27, 1977), better known as A. P. Hamann or ''Dutch'', was the city manager of San Jose, California, USA, from 1950 to 1969. During his tenure, San Jose grew from a small agriculture-based city ...

, another of Ruffo's teammates at Santa Clara, was hired as

city manager A city manager is an official appointed as the administrative manager of a city, in a "Mayor–council government" council–manager form of city government. Local officials serving in this position are sometimes referred to as the chief execu ...

and the rapid growth of San Jose began. After leaving public office, Ruffo worked as an attorney, specializing in

land development Land development is the alteration of landscape in any number of ways such as: * Changing landforms from a natural or semi-natural state for a purpose such as agriculture or housing * Subdividing real estate into lots, typically for the purpose ...

law; Ruffo represented land developers in many of the city's

annexation Annexation (Latin ''ad'', to, and ''nexus'', joining), in international law, is the forcible acquisition of one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. It is generally held to be an illegal act ...

and

zoning Zoning is a method of urban planning in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into areas called zones, each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a si ...

hearings, lawsuits, and deals. A 1979

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sys ...

study ranked Ruffo as one of the 10 most powerful people in San Jose. In 1997, he was inducted into the

Santa Clara County Santa Clara County, officially the County of Santa Clara, is the sixth-most populous county in the U.S. state of California, with a population of 1,936,259, as of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Santa Clara County and neighboring Sa ...

Sports Hall of Fame. Ruffo filed a lawsuit in 1998 against San Jose's new leaders to stop them from using redevelopment funds to build a new city hall. In 2001, he won a state appeals court ruling on the case.

External links

Al Ruffo Was Present 50 Years Ago At 49Ers' Birth (Nov 24, 1996)

Past and Present Leadership of The California State University

Santa Clara University Alumni - Ignatian Award Honorees
*

San Francisco Chronicle obituary (Feb 12, 2003)

Little Italy San Jose - Al Ruffo Banner (Aug 31, 2011)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruffo, Al 1908 births 2003 deaths California lawyers Mayors of San Jose, California National Football League owners San Francisco 49ers coaches Santa Clara Broncos football players Santa Clara University alumni Santa Clara University School of Law alumni 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American lawyers Players of American football from San Jose, California San Francisco 49ers owners