Bruce Bosley

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Bruce Bosley
Bosley-Bruce-1961.jpg
Bosley in 1961
No. 77
Position: Guard,
Center
Personal information
Born:(1933-11-05)November 5, 1933
Fresno, California, U.S.
Died:April 26, 1995(1995-04-26) (aged 61)
San Francisco, California, U.S.
Height:6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Weight:225 lb (102 kg)
Career information
College: West Virginia
NFL draft: 1956  / round: 2 / pick: 15
Career history
Career highlights and awards
Stats at Pro Football Reference

Bruce Lee Bosley (November 5, 1933 – April 26, 1995) [1] was an American professional football player who was a guard and center for 14 seasons with the San Francisco 49ers and the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL). He was selected to four Pro Bowls (1960, 1965–1967), and was named All-Pro four times (1959–1961, 1966). He played college football for the West Virginia Mountaineers (WVU). He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1982.

Contents

Early life

Bosley was born on November 5, 1933, in Fresno, California. He attended Green Bank High School in Green Bank, West Virginia. [2] Bosley was a third-team Class B all-state fullback at Green Bank High School, and played in the North-South High School All-Star game. [3] [4] He was recruited to WVU to play football for the Mountaineers by head coach Art "Pappy" Lewis, who first saw Bosley playing high school basketball. [4]

Collegiate career

Bosley played from 1952-55 at WVU. He was a two-way tackle. [4] Bosley was an immediate starter his freshman year, and contributed to West Virginia going from 5–5 in 1951 to 7–2 in 1952. [3] In 1954, after a dominating performance against Penn State, Bosley was named Associated Press (AP) Player of the Week. [4] His WVU teams defeated Penn State three consecutive times, with Bosley being named the AP's National Lineman of the Week in two of those games. [2] In 1953, he was selected second team All-American by the International News Service. [5] He played in the 1954 Sugar Bowl, a 42–19 loss to Georgia Tech. [6]

He went on to earn consensus All-America honors as a senior in 1955, only the second WVU player to do so at the time. [5] [7] In 1955, he was also selected captain of the All-Southern Conference team. [2] West Virginia won 31 of 38 games Bosley played in during his four seasons from 1952 to 1955. [8] One of his teammates during those years was fellow two-way lineman and future College Football Hall of Fame and Pro Football Hall of Fame member Sam Huff. [9] [10] In 1955, he was a WVU team captain, along with Huff and Fred Wyant. [5] At the time of their graduation in 1955, some thought Bosley to be the better player over Huff. [11]

Bosley also was an Academic All-American with a degree in chemical engineering. [3] He was invited to play in the College Football All-Star Game, the North-South Game and the Senior Bowl. [4] He made 12 different All-America teams in 1955, including the All-Players team, being chosen by 93% of the opposing players voting. [2]

Professional career

Bosley with the 49ers. Bruce Bosley.jpg
Bosley with the 49ers.

The San Francisco 49ers made Bruce Bosley their second-round selection in the 1956 NFL draft (15th overall). [12] Bosley played his entire rookie season at defensive end. [13]

By 1957, Bosley switched to offensive line and was the team's starting left guard, being named second team All-Pro in 1959 by the AP, and earning his first Pro Bowl berth in 1960. [14] [15] [13] In 1960, both the Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA) and United Press International (UPI) named him second team All-Pro; and the NEA did so again in 1961. [13] In 1962, when the team was searching for a center after an injury to starter Frank Morze, [16] all-pro guard Bosley started at center. [13] Morze left the 49ers in November to join the Cleveland Browns, and Bosley was San Francisco's center for the next six years. [16] [13] Bosley was named to the Pro Bowl again in 1965 [17] and was honored two more times in 1966 and 1967. [18] [19] The NEA named him second team All-Pro in 1966. [13]

Bosley spent another season with the 49ers in 1968, starting all 14 games, [20] and a year with the Atlanta Falcons in 1969, starting in nine games before retiring. [21] [13] During his time in San Franscisco, Bosley played alongside 1960s All-Decade team member guard Howard Mudd, [22] [23] and on the same line with future hall of fame tackle Bob St. Clair. [24] [25]

Post-football

By 1967, Bosley was cultivating his other passion: restoring old homes. NFL Films visited his Hillsborough W.S. Crocker Estate carriage house for a show called “They Lead Two Lives,” which chronicled his career as both a star football player and respected home builder. [26]

During the next 11 years he remodeled two other estates in Hillsborough as president of Interior Design, a home building, remodeling, interior decorating, furnishing and real-estate company.[ citation needed ]

Personal life

Bosley became part-owner of a wholesale electrical supply house [27] in addition to his home remodeling business and was also known for his civic and charitable activities in San Francisco. Outside of football, he was a member of the board of directors for the San Francisco Annex for Cultural Arts, the mayor's committee for the San Francisco Council for the Performing Arts, and a long-time volunteer role with both the San Francisco Film Festival and the San Francisco Ballet. [4] [26]

Bosley also served a stint as the president of the NFL Alumni Association, and established the NFL Alumni San Francisco Chapter, working 16-17 hours a day fundraising for it. The chapter's focus was to create programs for children. He was called "the lifeblood of the charity" by his executive assistant. In 1999, the chapter posthumously dedicated its new headquarters at the Bruce Bosley Memorial Building in Redwood City. [4] [26] [28]

Death

He lived in San Francisco,[ citation needed ] or San Mateo, [27] until his death from a heart attack on April 26, 1995. [28] He was attending a United Way awards dinner, sitting at the head table with NFL hall of famer Jerry Rice whom Bosley had recruited as a host, when stricken. [28]

Legacy

Bosley is listed on the San Francisco 49ers “Golden Era” team from 1946 to 1969 and he was named to the college football's 75th Silver Anniversary Team in 1981. [4] [3]

In 1982, Bosley was inducted as a member of the College Football Hall of Fame. [2] He was a part of West Virginia University's second Sports Hall of Fame induction class of 1992, and had his number 77 retired by the school in a pregame ceremony on September 3, 2016. [4]

He was named the state of West Virginia's 30th greatest sports figure in a poll conducted by CNNSI.com.[ citation needed ]

References

  1. The Associated Press (April 29, 1995). "Bruce Bosley Football Player, 61". The New York Times . p. 29.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Bruce Bosley (1982) - Hall of Fame". National Football Foundation. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Bosley succeeded wherever he went". shepherdstownchronicle.com. August 16, 2019. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Bruce Bosley (1992) - WVU Sports Hall of Fame". West Virginia University Athletics. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
  5. 1 2 3 "West Virginia University Record Book, Mountaineer Football (pp. 150, 153, 173)" (PDF). static.wvusports.com.
  6. "20th Annual Sugar Bowl Classic ~ January 1, 1954". Sugar Bowl. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
  7. "Consensus All-America Teams (1950-1959)". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
  8. "West Virginia Mountaineers College Football History, Stats, Records". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
  9. "Sam Huff (1991) - WVU Sports Hall of Fame". West Virginia University Athletics. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
  10. "Sam Huff (1980) - Hall of Fame". National Football Foundation. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
  11. Hickman, Herman (November 7, 1955). "THE OUTSTANDING LINEMEN IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL". Sports Illustrated. 3 (19).
  12. "1956 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Bruce Bosley". pro-football-reference.com. Sports-Reference, LLC. Retrieved October 13, 2023.
  14. "1959 NFL All-Pros". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
  15. "1960 NFL Pro Bowlers". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
  16. 1 2 "'Big Fat' Contract Causes 49er to Weigh New Offer". The Rocky Mountain News. November 16, 1962.
  17. "1965 NFL Pro Bowlers". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
  18. "1966 NFL Pro Bowlers". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
  19. "1967 NFL Pro Bowlers". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
  20. "1968 San Francisco 49ers Roster & Players". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
  21. "1969 Atlanta Falcons Roster & Players". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
  22. "NFL's All-Decade Team of the 1960s - OFFENSE | Pro Football Hall of Fame". pfhof. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
  23. "Howard Mudd Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Draft, College". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
  24. "Bob St. Clair Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Draft, College". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
  25. "Bob St. Clair | Pro Football Hall of Fame". pfhof. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
  26. 1 2 3 "Bruce Bosley – a hometown hero worth remembering". Pocahontas Times. June 4, 2014. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
  27. 1 2 Press, The Associated (April 29, 1995). "Bruce Bosley Football Player, 61". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved February 8, 2025.
  28. 1 2 3 "Bruce Bosley: former 49er, Pro Bowler". sfgate.com. Hearst Communications, Inc. Retrieved October 27, 2023.