Looking Back on the SFPAL

Many of our younger officers are unaware of how influential the SFPAL was in the 1960s and 1970s and how many PAL kids went on to have successful careers in the San Francisco Police Department. We plan to add monthly posts to our archive to share some of the PAL’s history with our supporters and the community.

The photo was taken at City College of San Francisco for the 1967 Joe Lacey Bowl. This game pitted a team of Pop Warner players against a group of local jockeys. Imagine if someone today suggested that a group of kids suit up and play a live tackle football game against a group of adult jockeys!

This young man went on to play football at Saint Ignatius High School, City College of San Francisco, and eventually, the San Francisco Centurions, a team formed in the late 70s of active San Francisco police officers.

“We had at least three guys on that PAL football team (SFPAL Eagles) who became members of the SFPD: Steve Hutzler, Tom O’Conner, and me. All four of our coaches were members of the SFPD: Chris Sullivan from Sex Crimes, ‘Pop” Myers from the Canine Unit, Jim Bishop from Tac, and Captain Gus Bruneman from Tac.”

This young man also played PAL baseball for Thelma Williams, the only female baseball coach in San Francisco in the 1960s. Thelma was recognized by the San Francisco PAL for the decades she spent as a legendary and ground-breaking coach for boys’ youth baseball in San Francisco by being placed into the initial Hall of Fame class for the SFPAL in 2009.

“I was working at Tac once and saw Mrs. Williams dragging her equipment bags to the Muni stop so that she could get to baseball practice. We pulled over, loaded her and her equipment into our radio car, and drove her to Glen Park.”

This young man became a civil service police cadet and entered the academy in 1974. He retired as a sergeant in 2010 after a successful career working numerous assignments. Standing to the young man’s right in the photo is Larry Lawson, a former member of the San Francisco Police Department and a legendary college professor at CCSF who mentored hundreds of young men and women who would go on to successful careers in the SFPD. Standing to the young man’s left is Gus Bruno, a friend of Larry’s who was also a local football ref.

For those who haven’t yet guessed, the player in the photo is retired Sergeant Mike Lawson.

In the 1960s, thousands of San Francisco boys played various sports for the San Franciso Police Athletic League, which eventually became known as the Police Activities League. The SFPAL would eventually sponsor girls’ sports teams, and every PAL activity today is open to both boys and girls.  But less well-known is that the SFPAL had one of the first PAL Cadet programs in California, and many of the young men and women who participated in the PAL Cadet Program went on to successful careers as sworn members of the San Francisco Police Department.

The young man pictured above joined the ranks of the SFPAL Cadet program in 1969, during his senior year at Riordan High School. He became a civil service Cadet, and the above photo depicts him in his SFPD Cadet uniform.

The photo below, dated September 11, 1972, depicts five officers, four of whom had been SFPAL Cadets and then gone on to work as civil service Cadets for the department. The photo depicts the four young men being sworn in as police officers by Chief Don Scott. In the photo (left to right) are Officer Steve Hardy and the four former Cadets being sworn in by the Chief: Officer Jim Selby, Chief of Police Don Scott, Officer Bob DelTorre, Officer Vince Neeson, and Officer Gile Pursley. Bob, of course, is the Cadet in the first photo.

Bob had a long and distinguished career in the department and was one of the most highly decorated officers in the SFPD’s history. Over the course of his career, Bob was awarded fourteen medals of valor. Bob worked on numerous assignments throughout his career and retired as a sergeant in 2006. Thanks to Bob for these photos.

In 1959, a group of San Francisco police officers formed the San Francisco Police Athletic League (SFPAL). One of the SFPAL’s founders was Augustus Bruneman, who retired from the SFPD as a Commander in 1979. Gus Bruneman wasn’t just a founder of the SFPAL; he was also a coach and spent many years coaching the SFPAL Eagles at Glen Park. As you might expect, two of the players on those Eagles teams in the 60s were Gus’s two sons, Mark and Kurt. Both sons went on to join the SFPD, and Kurt retired as an Acting Captain in 2013. Kurt was a dominant player in the SFPD basketball league for many years, and he has fond memories of the years he spent at Glen Park playing football for the SFPAL.

“Several of my teammates went on to join the SFPD,” Kurt recalled, including Greg Suhr, Jim Miller, Mike “Bugsy” Moran, and Mike Siebert. Kurt has fond memories of the police officers who helped his dad coach the Eagles, including George’ Moose’ Koniaris, Gabe Harp, and ‘Pops’ Myers.

This is Kurt’s original jersey. Through the years, his mom actually did all of the repairs on the torn jerseys. Kurt also participated in the SFPAL Judo program, which was located on the fifth floor of the old Hall of Justice. That program was run by the legendary Joe Mollo and included many kids who went on to join the ranks of the SFPD. When Kurt was asked about the significance of the SFPAL, he didn’t hesitate to say that he believes that the SFPAL is needed as much today as it was back in the 60’s and 70’s. Kurt feels that kids who participated in SFPAL activities “…learned to view police officers in a positive way,” even during the tumultuous years of the 1960s.

Kurt also spoke of his son Brett, who grew up playing soccer for the SFPAL and became a sworn member of the department. When Brett joined the SFPD, the Bruneman family had produced three successive generations of San Francisco police officers. Brett currently works in the Tenderloin.

The photo was taken in 1973 at the annual PAL banquet, where PAL kids received awards for stellar accomplishments during the most recent sports seasons. But also present at this banquet were our PAL Cadets, and the two young men in the photo shared the award for “Law Enforcement Cadet of the Year.” Presenting the award was a community member who donated the money for a $200 “scholarship” for the selected cadets.

For officers of a certain age, the cadets are easily recognizable as Don Woolard and Bill Maring, who both went on to lengthy and successful careers as sworn members of the SFPD. Don submitted the photo and recalled that he had joined the program while attending Riordan High and entered the department in 1978 as a member of the 131st Academy.

Don recalled that Vince Catanzaro was another PAL Cadet in these years and said that during the summer months, the cadets were allowed to work at the Hall of Justice and received stipends. Don was eventually promoted to “Captain” of the cadet program, and Bill was promoted to “Lieutenant.” Don also remembers volunteering at the annual SFPAL Circus held at the Cow Palace each year. The Circus was the main fundraising event held by the PAL in the 1970’s. Don also remembers that the cadets worked as “security” for the annual Soap Box Derby held each year on Sunset Boulevard.