bond. A lot of things happen – funny, sad, heartbreaking. You grow up together, you win and lose together. You have some heartbreaking losses and some lucky wins and you share those things and you always will.” John Freeman, the Portland city schools sprint champion in 1947 out of Sabin High School, says he still thinks about those games and teammates. Jim Sweeney, who went on to a long coaching career at Washington State and Fresno State universities, often talked about his Pilot years. Jim Menath remembers his one season with pleasure; injuries finished his football career early. Joe Marshello misses all his teammates who have gone ahead, most of all his brother Don. The late Bob Boehmer once said he never forgot anything that happened to him when he played ball for the Pilots – the scent of grass and soaked jerseys and mud, the ring of laughter, the crash of colliding lines, the tidal roars of crowds, the rickety buses on road trips, the camaraderie, the delicious soreness after a win, the sad ache after losses. The late Bernie Harrington once said he loved practice even more than games, because to practice was to be working hard and well with your best friends. It was Bernie Harrington who framed a letter from George Halas of the Chicago Bears on his wall; Mr. Halas invited young Mr Harrington to come and join his team, but young Mr. Harrington joined the United States Navy after he graduated, and served as a Seabee in the Pacific, and when he returned it was too late to play pro ball, but he savored pointing to that letter, yes he did. Joe Marshello is from New Jersey. Served in the Navy during the war: “pharmacist’s mate, third class, stationed at Key West, Florida the whole time, though I tried to get sea duty.” He and his brother Don were recruited to play for the Pilots by an alumnus from Jersey City. At their heaviest he and Don went maybe 180 pounds. Emmett Barrett, who went on to play for the New York Giants, weighed 165 at his peak. The fleet half back John Freeman weighed 180. He says he remembers players on Oregon State who were three times bigger than the biggest Pilot linemen. The University of Idaho guys were twice as big, and the guys from Santa Clara and Pacific University were only a little bigger. John Oberweiser is from Billings, Montana. Served in the Army Air Corps during the war, as a navigator on a B-25 with the 14th Air Force stationed in China. Played two seasons
for the Pilots after the war, and then moved home to be care for his widowed mother and complete college at the University of Montana. John was an end. He weighed 180. Ray Manning Jr. served in the Marines during the war. Third Marine Division, Guadalcanal to Bougainville to Iwo Jima. He’d played football in high school and in the Marine Corps and thought he would try out for the team when he enrolled at the age of 23 in 1946. He played one year, and then met the woman who would be his wife, and decided he’d better buckle down and get to work. Top playing weight? About 180. Most common injury? Bloody noses from helmet bars being smashed down on your nose, say Joe Marshello and the cheerful Jim Souza (top playing weight: 155), who still organize a monthly meeting of Pilot football players at the Nite Hawk Café on Portland
Boulevard every month, with Ray Utz. Best player they played against? Eddie LeBaron, the slight and slippery quarterback for the College of the Pacific, who would go on to play 11 years professionally for Washington and Dallas. Best part of playing for the Pilots? Camaraderie. “It was a tough ending,” says Jim Souza. “We practiced on Friday and cleaned out our lockers on Monday and that was the end of University of Portland football. But what fun we had! I enjoyed every minute that I played. It was a great time. I loved it, and we loved the University of Portland...” Matt Sabo ’91 is the communications manager for Transformational Education Network, a Christian non-profit organization in Virginia dedicated to providing education for students in Africa and Haiti (www.ten3.org). He was for many years a sportswriter for newspapers in Oregon and Virginia.
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