California

1954-55 Golden Bears
(Authentic Reproduction)

The Bears took the field in new navy blue helmets that had a beautiful one-inch center stripe in athletic gold, a one-half-inch gap that showed the navy blue of the shell, and one-half-inch athletic gold flanking stripes. In 1954 QB Paul Larson again shined brightly, leading the country in passing and total offense despite the team's 5-5 mark. An All American, he was also the team MVP and The Pacific Coast Player Of The Year. Matt Hazeltine became a two-time All American a commodity that Waldorf seemed to churn out regularly, and went on to an award-winning fourteen-year pro career, all but his last year which was spent with the Giants, as a member of the Forty-Niners. He tragically died from ALS at age fifty-three. Jim Hanifan was on the receiving end of forty-four of Larson's passes, leading the country in receptions before going to Toronto in the CFL for a season. Hanifan later made his mark as a Cal assistant before working under Don Coryell at San Diego State and then with the St. Louis Cardinals. Hanifan's offensive lines with the Cardinals established him as one of the best coaches in the game and he went on to become head coach of the Cards from 1980-'85 and was interim head coach of the Atlanta Falcons. He came out of retirement to help bring the Rams to the Super Bowl under Dick Vermeil. Mike Giddings and offensive line star George Najarian also spent many years in coaching and together. Giddings served as the head coach and Najarian Director Of Player Personnel for the Hawaii franchise of the World Football League in 1974 and '75. The lukewarm performance of 1954 was foreshadowed by off-the-field scandal that hurt Cal football for years to come and eventually tarnished the entire Pacific Coast Conference. Ronnie Knox, a talented back had been recruited from Santa Monica High School after his step-father Harvey Knox, a friend of Howard Hughes, had dragged him through a number of secondary school programs in an attempt to maximize his preparation for college football. Apparently Mr. Knox then shopped his son to the highest bidder. When he surmised that the staff was not fawning over Ronnie after his son led the frosh team of ’53, nor handing him the starting quarterback job as a soph in ’54, he pulled him out of Cal at the start of the season. Mr. Knox then revealed that to obtain the services of his son, a Cal booster organization known as the Southern Seas, had hired Knox's high school coach for the Cal staff and supposedly guaranteed a job for himself. Knox transferred to UCLA and led them to the PCC title and later played in the CFL, but the resultant investigation brought severe penalties to Cal and eventually, to most of the conference members, all of whom had defied the existing NCAA rules. The investigation, penalties, and disruption to the program hastened the slide from greatness. A boatload of injuries scuttled the '55 season with the entire backfield sidelined. FB Jerry Drew still averaged ten yards per carry but this was one of the worst seasons in Cal history. DB Mike White played well but could not stem the tide in a horrid 2-7-1 year.

If interested in any of these Cal helmets please click on the photos below.