'51 Dons

'51 Dons (2014)

In 1951, the undefeated University of San Francisco football team declines an invitation to play in the Orange Bowl after being told they would only be invited if they played without their two African-American stars: Ollie Matson and Burl Toler.

Date of release
2014-02-09
TMDB
8.0 / 10 (1)
Runtime
1h 0m
Genres
Documentary
Director
Ron Luscinski

Casting

Interesting facts

'51 Dons is a 2014 American documentary film directed by Ron Luscinski and written by Luscinski, Tom Davis and Danny Llewelyn. Narrated by Johnny Mathis, it covers the 1951 San Francisco Dons football team and its unique stand against racism. The team, including future NFL players and Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees Bob St. Clair and Gino Marchetti, declined an invitation to play in the Orange Bowl that would have required them to leave their African-American players Ollie Matson and Burl Toler home. This act was one of the contributing factors that led to the end of organized football at the University of San Francisco.

Production

Filming began in late 2013. There were over 40 interviews filmed. Filming locations included in and around the University of San Francisco campus, Kezar Stadium, California Memorial Stadium on the Cal Berkeley campus, Carmel-by-the-sea and the Greater Los Angeles area.

The surviving members of the 1951 Dons team who appear on camera include Bob St. Clair, Ralph Thomas (American football), Dick Columbini and Bill Henneberry. Several former NFL stars such as Rosey Grier, Gene Washington, Jamie Williams and Toi Cook are featured as well. In addition, many of Matson and Toler's children and grandchildren appear.

This is the only film Johnny Mathis has chosen to narrate. Mathis has personal ties to the story, as he was a close friend of Ollie Matson while a track athlete at San Francisco's Washington High. Mathis later sang at Matson's wedding.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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