University of San Francisco Athletics

Alfred John Cleary, Jr.  was born on May 27, 1919 in San Francisco. He was a 3rd generation San Franciscan, and was named after his father, Alfred John Cleary, Sr. who, in 1930, was appointed the first Chief Administrative Officer of San Francisco by the Mayor, and was credited with choosing the site for the Bay Bridge, built in 1933.

He attended Saint Ignatius College Preparatory, and then USF in the class of 1941. In 1942, he was commissioned as an Ensign in the United States Navy. In 1947, after his military service, Cleary joined Clementina Ltd., founded by Ed Larkin in 1941, named after Clementina Street, where the company was storing equipment. The equipment rental company would eventually become Clementina-Clemco Holdings, the world’s largest supplier of air-powered abrasive blast equipment. In 1968, his son, Alfred J. Cleary III took over the management of the company.

He was a generous supporter of charities: the Catholic Youth Organization, and was Chairman of the Archdiocesan Commission on Social Justice, Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Marianist Provence, and a Director of the Little Sisters of the Poor. He was a Director of the Board of Trustees of USF, Pacific Graduate School of Psychology, Bellarmine College Preparatory, Sacred Heart School of Menlo Park, Jamestown Community Center, and the San Francisco Boys' Home. He was a member of the Menlo Circus Club, World Trade Club, Knights of Malta, and a member and past President of the Olympic Club.



Photo courtesy of the Olympic Club, San Francisco.