City College will be getting a blast from the past as the school honors members of the 1961 South Central Conference Championship Vaqueros football team.

Tony Perez Jr., quarterback of the 61’ football squad, is organizing a benefit on Oct. 20 for teammates to commemorate City College’s first football championship and bowl game bid. The team will also be honored at half time of City College’s game against LA Valley on Oct. 22.

“A lot of us haven’t seen each other in 50 years,” said former player Dave Goodfield. “It will be good to reconnect with the guys.”

The City College football program began in 1955 and started off slow with few wins in its first years. After Chuck Rheinschmidt was hired as head coach in 1959, the tides began to change. In the fall of 1961, the Vaqueros went 7-1-1, winning their conference and awarded the programs first bid to play in the Sequoia Bowl.

“An opportunity to play in a bowl or championship game at any level of competition is exhilarating and creates lifelong memories,” said team member Jim Murphy who was an All-American at Arizona State after his time at City College.

Only six years into the football program’s history and City College was making its mark on the junior college football landscape.  An influx of athletes from around the country, coupled with a strong foundation of local talent led to the team’s meteoric rise to the top of the conference.

“We had a very talented group of athletes and coaches who believed in excellence and pushing for the best,” Murphy said.

Local brothers Dave and Lou Goodfield were two of those players. As two of a group of military veterans on the squad, Lou said the team was close knit and highly motivated. He remembers most of the veterans playing great defense and motivating the young offensive players to do the same.

“I remember getting the ball back on defense and walking up to Tony [Perez] and telling him ‘Don’t lose the ball now,’” Lou said jokingly.

Most of these men made football a part of their life. Some have played at higher levels and coached. They have seen the game change as well as the people who play it and think that there are many lessons to be learned from the game as well as its history.

“In the good ole’ days it wasn’t win at all cost,” Perez said. “If you care and play for the fun and for the love of the game, winning will take care of itself.”

The City College football program has a storied history of winning eight bowl games, two play-off berths, two SCC Championships, and 10 Western State Conference Championships.

The City College winning tradition started in 1961 with, as Perez said, the “perfect storm” of local and national talent. The programs history is something current and future teams of Vaqueros football can learn from.

Murphy took it further by saying, “Tradition is a motivational aspect of all good athletic programs and has the power to build unity and desire.”