2006: Volney Peters, Breitbard Hall-of-Fame inductee

02-18-2006

By Tom Shanahan, San Diego Hall of Champions

A popular sports debate is to discuss the records that will never be broken. Among the debates at the top of the list are records set by such baseball figures as Joe DiMaggio with is 56-game hitting streak and Cy Young with his 511 career pitching victories.

But in football, it’s safe to assume that Volney Peters established a record at the University of Southern California that isn’t likely to be broken. Peters was a two-way lineman for the Trojans who rarely came off the field.

As a senior in 1950, Peters completed his three-year career for the Trojans by playing by establishing a school record for career minutes played. It was an era of single platoon football, but the game long ago switched to two-platoon football with offensive and defensive units.

Peters, a 1947 Hoover High graduate, was one of the first great linemen from a San Diego high school to go on and earn national acclaim in college and later play pro football in the National Football League. He is a big man for his era as a 6-foot-4, 220-pounder.

San Diego high school football is now recognized from coast-to-coast as a gold mine for recruiters to stop and mine talent. But in Peters’ day it was rare for a player such as him or fellow Hoover alumnus Bill McColl to earn scholarship to prestigious football powers.

McColl, who preceded Peters in the Breitbard Hall of Fame, was an All-American at Stanford and a star tight end for the Chicago Bears.

Peters played his first year out of high school at Compton College and then transferred to USC for the 1948, 1949 and 1950 seasons. His senior year at USC he played for a team that finished with a losing record of 2-5-2 and in seventh place in the Pacific Coast Conference standings.

Players from winning teams gain most of the post-season honors, but USC’s poor record didn’t prevent Peters from being named honorable mention All-America and a first-team All-Pacific Coast Conference pick.

His All-American recognition earned invitations to the 1951 East-West Shrine Game and the College All-Stars Hula Bowl. College all-star games were much more prominent in those days and in both games Peters was named a first-team pick after the games.

Following Peters’ collegiate career, he played for the Marines Corps and later continued his career in pro football in the NFL for 10 years from 1952-1961.

He was drafted by the Chicago Cardinals and also played for the Washington Redskins and Philadelphia Eagles. He had his best season in 1956 when he was named to the Pro Bowl.

Because of injuries, Peters retired briefly and returned home to San Diego. But before long he received a phone call in 1960 from the late Sid Gillman, who had taken over as general manager and head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers for the newly formed American Football Leagaue. Gillman convinced Peters to make a comeback.

He played for the upstart Chargers in 1960, but wasn’t with the team when it moved to San Diego in 1961. He was signed by the Oakland Raiders in 1961 and he finished his career that season with the pre-Al Davis Raiders.

At Hoover High, he was a three-year letterman in football and track and field. In Peters’ high school years, the Hoover-San Diego High rivalry was a major sporting event in town.

San Diego now enjoys the Chargers in the NFL and San Diego State playing Division I-A football in the Mountain West Conference, but players such as Peters brought San Diego early national acclaim in football.

Contact Tom Shanahan at 619-699-2334 or toms@sdhoc.com.