BRUCE GELKER

Richard Dunn

Even though Bruce Gelker enjoyed excellent size for a tackle in

his day at 6-foot-3, 230 pounds, he was mobile and quick enough on

his feet to become a gridiron standout at USC in the 1944 Rose Bowl

game and later in the Marine Corps with future NFL stars.

Gelker was lucky more than once in football.

As a player, there were moments, seemingly, when it helped to be a

good athlete during World War II. Then, later, as a prominent

businessman in Newport Beach, Gelker was awarded operation of the

Portland Storm in the World Football League in 1974 -- and got out

just in time. He sold the team to a Canadian group before (the WFL)

folded.

“I got out unscathed,” he said.

Born in Turlock, the turkey capital of the world, Gelker was

raised in the Olive community of Orange and attended Orange High

(circa 1941), where he was a three-sport star. He played football at

Santa Ana Junior College under Coach Bill Cook for two seasons,

including the Dons’ 1942 national championship campaign, and was an

All-Southern California selection.

Gelker played for the Trojans in the autumn of ’43 and helped them

defeat Washington, 29-0, in that season’s Rose Bowl game, which was

not intersectional because of wartime travel restrictions. He was

also a baseball standout, playing first base for the 1943 Trojans --

the early years for legendary former USC baseball coach Rod Dedeaux.

Gelker earned a joint football-baseball scholarship to USC.

The Marine Corps was next for Gelker, a first lieutenant in the

South Pacific who later served in the Korean War. His sports training

led to a rather pristine position -- Pacific Ocean Area Athletic

Director.

Gelker’s football playing career continued. In fact, while

stationed in North Carolina at officers candidate school, Gelker

played with several future NFL stars, including famed tailback Elroy

“Crazylegs” Hirsch. “We had a helluva team,” Gelker said.

When Gelker was assigned to an officers refresher course at

Quantico, Va., during the Korean conflict, he was one of the few to

be kept on base, while 300 of the 325 officers were shipped to Korea.

“Most of those boys, a lot of them, anyway, didn’t make it,” Gelker

said. “I was kept. They kept 25 of us as instructors and to play

ball.”

Following his stint in the military, Gelker returned to Orange

County and started an insurance business, then built the Saddleback

Inn in Santa Ana and later owned the Storm.

A former Balboa Peninsula resident, Gelker enjoyed organizing the

team, which was coached by Dick Coury. It was also the first pro

football coaching job for Portland linebackers coach Marty

Schottenheimer.

During the time of his ownership of the Saddleback Inn, Gelker

hosted the Washington Redskins prior to Super Bowl VII at the Los

Angeles Coliseum. “We were close enough to the Coliseum and far

enough away to be attractive to teams,” said Gelker, whose hotel and

conference center also hosted college football teams.

Gelker, who also organized the Orange County Sports Celebrities,

said former UCLA great Woody Strode was the toughest opponent he ever

faced on the gridiron. Strode, who played for March Air Force during

wartime military ball, was a UCLA star from 1937 through ’39.

“Woody Strode was extremely quick and had the longest arms and

legs, and was equally strong with all four of them,” Gelker said.

“You couldn’t block him. If you tried to block him high, he’d extend

you up, and if you tried to block him low, he’d push you down. You

could never get into his body. It was just a frustrating day playing

against him.”

Gelker, the latest honoree in the Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Fame,

splits time between his Avalon and Belmont Heights homes with his

wife, Lisa. He has three children -- daughters Necia and Jodie and

son Grant, also a Hall of Famer -- and five grandchildren.

Although Gelker is semiretired, he’s still involved with

developing commercial properties.