Flint St. Mary Football Team – 1942

Standing, left to right – Coach Bert Szabo, Elmer Belanger, Wally Jakowczyk, Harry Martin. Joe Schaffer, Ray Stedron, Marion Galvas, Harry Novak, Don Dowd, Bill Warda, Bottom row, left to right – Harvey Ethier, Al Dowd, Stan Bula. Francis Marta, Jim Mercier. Bill Kish. Ed Smith, Ferman Amore. Not in picture; Joe Bokor, Joe Gillen, Ray Hazel,
John Morrison, Bob Sarhatt

Nothing in the late summer of 1942 indicated that St. Mary High was on the brink of an undefeated football season. Indeed more factors than not pointed to trouble: The starting quarterback had a broken arm.

Coach Bert Szabo was new, replacing two previous coaches who had gone off to war. Only six positions were decided a day before the opener.

The Wildcats had never beaten mighty St. Michael in nine previous tries.

Yet, two months later, there they stood 9-0-1, with championships in the Flint parochial series, the Saginaw Valley parochial Southern Division and the Valley playoff game.

St. Mary shut out seven opponents, including St. Michael 15-0 and Class A Midland 32-0. The only blemish, a 6-6 tie with Saginaw St. Andrew, was avenged in a 6-0 victory in the Southern Division playoff game. The Wildcats then beat Sacred Heart of Mount Pleasant 20-6 for the overall Valley parochial crown.

The key factors turned out to be Wally Jakowczyk, a halfback with 9.9-second speed in the 100; a defense that allowed just 18 points all season and a rookie coach who knew what he was doing.

“He was a knowledgeable guy who taught us a lot of stuff,” said center Elmer Belanger.

“Bert was a great innovator,” said two-way end Ray Stedron. “He could get anything out of us guys.”

Jakowczyk scored 90 of the team’s 189 points, many on kick returns or interceptions where his open-field speed hit high gear. “I had a lot of help,” he said.

Fullback Marion Galvas mixed in some scoring passes to Stedron and Don Dowd, and George LaBombard was the other halfback. In those days, the quarterback did little more than block and run the ball occasionally, and Ferman Amore was an adequate replacement for the injured Ambrose Dasky.

The other linemen were Harry Novak, John Morrison, Harry Martin and Francis Marta. Almost everyone played both ways.

“We didn’t have two teams, we only had one,” said Belanger. “And we played 60-minute games in those days. The first string played practically 60 minutes on both sides.”

The Wildcats reeled off two straight shutouts to open the season, then gave up their first score on a fluke.

Jakowczyk was just about to intercept a Saginaw St. Andrew pass at the goal line, when LaBombard barreled into him trying to knock it down. Instead, he tipped the ball to a Saginaw player, who jogged in for the score.

Jakowczyk tied it with a 60-yard punt return in the fourth quarter, but the Wildcats fumbled trying to run in the conversion.

Somewhere in the next few weeks, the Mary’s scrimmaged Northern, which was in midst of an 8-0 season. The Class C Wildcats played the Class A Vikings to a standoff. “We started at 4 o’clock and played until dark,” said Belanger. “Neither one of us could score.”

“I remember Northern Coach Guy Houston saying, “We’ll play until someone scores,'”said Jakowczyk. “We just kept playing until it was too dark.”

“We didn’t know how good we were,” said Belanger. “Every time we went on the field, we figured we were going to be beat. But we just kept on winning.”