Video Tribute to the 1951 USF Dons | '51 Dons Banner Raising Ceremony

As a result of on-going dialogue with students, campus leadership organizations and university administration, University of San Francisco President Paul J. Fitzgerald, S.J. has announced the new name of Phelan Hall as Burl A. Toler Hall in honor of one of the standouts on the 1951 Dons football team who was also a longtime educator in San Francisco and pioneering football official.
 
Burl A. Toler Hall was officially dedicated this afternoon in a one-hour ceremony which included a welcome by USF President Paul J. Fitzgerald, S.J., remarks by Burl's son Greg, Shaya Kara, the president of the Associated Students of USF (ASUSF) Senate; Bill Henneberry, a teammate of Toler's on USF's 1951 football team; and former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown.
 
The event took place on what would have been Toler's 89th birthday. To commemorate the event, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee has pronounced May 9, 2017 as Burl A. Toler Day in San Francisco.
 
"The USF community of students, faculty, staff and alumni is delighted and proud to recognize our distinguished alumnus, Burl A. Toler, Sr.," said University President Paul J. Fitzgerald, S.J. "This dedication means that future generations of Dons will learn his name and his life story, and thus his legacy will live on in the heart of our campus, indeed in the heart of the city where his many contributions have changed lives and made history. This is a profound honor for all of us here today and an inspiration for those who will walk by and live in Toler Hall."
 
Throughout his life, Toler embodied USF's Jesuit Catholic Mission as a student, a member of the 1951 Dons' "undefeated, untied and uninvited" football team, then as a beloved father, husband, longtime San Francisco educator and well-known NFL linesman official.
 
 
A native of Memphis, Tenn., Toler enrolled at USF in 1949 after spending one year at City College of San Francisco, where he and future Don teammate and NFL Hall of Famer Ollie Matson led CCSF to the mythical national junior college championship in 1948.
 
Toler was a member of the '51 Dons team which featured nine future NFL players, including three who were eventually inducted into the Professional Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. Under the guidance of head coach Joe Kuharich, the 1951 Dons posted a 9-0-0 regular season record, becoming the only football team in school history to go undefeated. The squad featured nine NFL players, including Pro Football Hall of Fame members in Matson, Gino Marchetti and Bob St. Clair. Five of the eight players earned Pro Bowl selections at some point in their career and the team's sports information director, Pete Rozelle, served as the commissioner of the NFL for 29 years.
 
The supreme triumph of the '51 Dons came in choosing not to accept an invitation to a bowl game under the condition the team played without its two African-American players, Matson and Toler. The team's dramatic stand against racism is perhaps the single greatest symbolic victory in the history of college football and is why the University awarded an honorary doctorate to the team in 2005.
 
Toler, a two-way player as an offensive lineman and linebacker, was a ninth-round draft pick of the Cleveland Browns but never played in a NFL game after sustaining a career-ending knee injury in a college all-star game. He became the first African-American to serve as a field official in a major American professional sports league when he was appointed by the NFL as a head linesman prior to the 1965 season and was the first African-American official to work a Super Bowl.
 
Toler worked for 17 years as a math and physical education teacher at Benjamin Franklin Middle School in San Francisco, where he would eventually become the school's principal. The school closed in 2004 but reopened two years later as the Burl A. Toler Campus and is now home to two charter schools.
 
Toler was also a commissioner of the San Francisco Police Department from 1978-96 and served on USF's Board of Trustees from 1987-98. He was inducted into USF's Athletic Hall of Fame in 1959 and is listed as a Legend of the Hilltop. Toler passed away in 2009 at the age of 81.
 
The renaming of Phelan Hall to Burl A. Toler Hall came after students raised concerns about former San Francisco Mayor James D. Phelan (who graduated from USF in 1881 when the school was called St. Ignatius College) and his public opposition to immigration, diversity and inclusion – all crucial aspects of USF's Jesuit Catholic education as well as its mission and values. While Phelan's racist remarks, speech and actions were a product of his era, he made many lasting contributions to San Francisco's positive advancement. USF does not intend to erase Phelan from its history.
 
About the University of San Francisco
The University of San Francisco is located in the heart of one of the world's most innovative and diverse cities and is home to a vibrant academic community of students and faculty who achieve excellence in their fields. Its diverse student body enjoys direct access to faculty, small classes, and outstanding opportunities in the city itself. USF is San Francisco's first university, and its Jesuit Catholic mission helps ignite a student's passion for social justice and a desire to "Change the World from Here." For more information, please visit usfca.edu.
 
About USF Athletics
The University of San Francisco is committed to excellence in athletics as part of a larger commitment to educating students in the Jesuit Catholic tradition. USF Athletics is built upon Four Pillars of Success that aim to develop young men and women in this tradition: Excel in the Classroom; Win at the Highest Level of Competition; Engage in the Community; and Become Leaders in the World. USF Athletics strives to develop programs of national distinction while providing its student-athletes with a world-class educational experience at one of the nation's leading Jesuit institutions. Educational opportunities, programs that compete at the highest levels of competition and student-athletes who become leaders in their chosen professions and communities are the cornerstones of USF Athletics. A charter member of the West Coast Conference, USF sponsors 15 NCAA Division I programs comprised of over 250 student-athletes. USF teams have won 10 national championships and two individual titles.