FIVE BEAUTIFUL DUCKLINGS
By Frank Nahigian
Asbarez
Feb 26th, 2010
ucklings/
When you and I were growing up we were always pleased and proud to see,
hear or read about an Armenian’s public achievement, so when the 1951
Stanford football team with five Armenians playing key roles won the
right to represent the Pacific Coast Conference in the Rose Bowl game
the following New Year’s Day, I paid close attention. I was mildly
disappointed they lost to Illinois by a lopsided score and felt badly
for the boys but didn’t care otherwise. Hugasian had scored Stanford’s
only touchdown and Kerkorian kicked the extra point. The glass was 80%
full. I’ve always wondered about who and what the five were and how
they spent the rest of their lives. So I decided to find out.
My first call was to Norm Manoogian, captain of the team his senior
year and a member of the Stanford University Hall of Fame. Norm was
raised only by his mother because his father died in an accident when
Norm was 18 months old, his mother’s entire family was killed during
the massacres, and his father’s brother met a similar fate. Norm’s
four year old mom survived only through the kindness of a Turkish
military officer who saved her by secretly absorbing her into his own
family. Norm became a teacher and educator his entire professional
life. I asked him what was the most important wisdom he could pass on
to his children. He said, "Thinking. Thinking through every problem
before you make a decision, and to believe in yourself". Now in his
retirement, Norm and his wife Jone remain active by supporting and
engaging in programs implemented to improve the community environment.
He said that the strongest message he got from his mom was the value
of unconditional love and of being responsible for our actions. He
recalled the closeness and warmth of the community when he was in
college, a time when an unspoken honor system existed. Shopkeepers
extended credit for purchases by students if they didn’t have enough
cash in their pockets to pay for goods they needed, and compared it
to the change he saw when he returned to the same community after
returning from military service, when the same shopkeepers required
payment at the time of purchase. He decried the breakdown in the
fundamental standard and the honor system. When we spoke about the
broken economy the country faces today, I asked him what he thought
brought us to the present condition: "Greed", which he blamed on
the mindset of Washington politicians as well as the attitude in
Big Business. On the other hand and closer to their hearts, Norm and
Jone are gratified and proud of the fact that their two children are
healthy and independent in every way.
Next I spoke to Len Kaprielian, a classmate of Norm’s and a defensive
tackle. At 250 pounds (his teammates nicknamed him "Two And A Half"),
he was the biggest player on the team. After working for Firestone
Tire and Rubber Co. for a number of years, Len achieved a lifelong
dream by buying and operating a bar and grill in San Francisco, the
Jolly Friar English Pub, for twenty years, retired, and applied the
teamwork skills he learned on the football field and honed during his
business career, to community service. In 1991 he began volunteering
for the Sausolito Arts Festival, the foremost outdoor fine arts
festival in the country, and now runs part of the operation and serves
on the Board of Directors. In recognition of his many contributions
to the community, annual grants awarded to local non-profits by the
Festival have been named the Leonard Kaprielian Grants. This project
has become almost the joy of his life, an eternal second to his wife,
Agnes. He’s twice been named Volunteer of the Year for the city of
Sausalito, has received the Spirit of Marin award, and he and Agnes
have been honored by being named grand marshals of Sausalito’s 4th
of July parade. Len attributes his successes to teamwork.
More recently, Len has been confined to bed as a result of an
accident while visiting a long time Armenian friend in Fresno who
was producing a custom car show. He’s progressed to the point where
he can eat regular food, starting with madzun so Agnes (Dervishian,
Philadelphia) has made half a gallon of madzun which unquestionably
will have him back on his feet in no time because….(you’re no going
to believe this)…..Agnes has been making madzun regularly for 32
years, continuing the same culture she got from the last batch her
mother made before she died. (Was I right? Is that a record or what?)
Chuck Essegian says of Len, "He’s the kindest-hearted, sweetest man
I ever met".
Chuck Essegian, another of their classmates, another Stanford Hall
of Famer. Chuck was a linebacker on that team. When Chuck graduated,
he had the option of trying to play professional football or baseball
and decided on the latter because for one, it paid better, and for
another, the likelihood of injury was less in baseball so, if he
failed at that game, he could still attempt football, but if he got
hurt playing football, it would also prevent a baseball career. But
he didn’t fail. His four seasons in the minor leagues and six in the
majors included hitting two pinch hit home runs to help the L.A.
Dodgers beat the Chicago White Sox in the 1959 World Series. After
his baseball career ended, Chuck went to law school and practiced
for 30 years till he retired to Canyon Country, California.
His father was a mailman; his mom was orphaned at eight and came to
this country at sixteen years. What he was taught by his parents was
to respect and love his family, and the value of Perseverance. He
learned at home as well as through sports competition that you’re
going to lose from time to time, everyone does, but the winners are
those who persevere, who get back up after they’ve been knocked down.
We’re accustomed to hearing people rave about their grandchildren,
how remarkably good looking and intelligent they are, and we tolerate
it because we understand it, right? Chuck surprised me; he said his
mom is the greatest person he ever knew in his life, and I believe him
because of one of several stories he told me. In his words: "She just
was so full of wisdom for someone who didn’t have a formal education,
never got beyond sixth grade. I’ll tell you a funny story that I laugh
at to this day. I came hope one day after my fourth or fifth season in
the big leagues, and had been in a World Series and had hit some home
runs so I thought I knew a little bit about hitting. She only saw me
play in one football game and in maybe two baseball games, during the
World Series. When I came home after maybe my fifth season in the big
leagues she came to me one day and said would you get a bat and come
outside, I want to show you something? I said "What do you want to
show me, Mom?" She said, "I just want to talk to you about something.
You know sometimes you walk up to the plate like the pitcher’s already
going to get you out before you even get there. You drag the bat behind
you, and I want to show you how I want you to walk up to that plate
and take your stance and swing the bat." "I thought, God bless you,
Mom, you never give up. I never forgot that. Even when I was fifty,
she was giving me advice all the time but I never forgot that.
"She thought that your mind and your attitude could govern what your
body did. She absolutely had that understanding." (I say, that poor,
uneducated woman may have known more about the power of positive
thinking than Dale Carnegie did.)
Two of the most prominent players on that team were Gary Kerkorian,
the quarterback, and Harry Hugasian, the feature running back, who
were Stanford 1952, one year in college ahead of the other three.
Local sportswriters labeled them "The Shish Kebab Twins" and they’re
still referred to as such to this day. Ironically, in the mid-forties
Harry’s parents moved his family from Wisconsin to Pasadena to start
a new life. They opened an eatery, "The House of Shish Kebab" and as
Harry tells it, "In 1947 Los Angeles, nobody ate shish kebab, so we
went broke". A local friend, Sam Salesian, a Stanford alum, found jobs
for Harry’s parents and helped Harry get a football scholarship to
attend his alma mater. Harry went into the Air Force after graduation
and, when he returned from the service, played professional football
for two of the most storied coaches in NFL history, the Baltimore
Colts coached by Weeb Ewbank and the Chicago Bears coached by George
Halas. Kerkorian was a quarterback on the Colts at that time and of
course he favored Harry whenever he had the opportunity to do so. For
those of you who are interested, the two highest paid players at that
time were Frankie Albert and Otto Graham who were making $25,000 per
year. Harry was getting $6000. After football, Harry went into the
bowling alley business, one in Long Beach and one in L.A. Eventually
he sold the alleys and went into the corrugated box business and paper
pad manufacturing business for six or seven years until he retired.
Harry resides in a retirement home in Arcadia owned by Armenians
where he’s very pleased with the lifestyle.
Gary Kerkorian was a three year starter, was named first team
All-American by United Press Intl., and a Stanford Hall of Fame
inductee. He was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1952
draft and played for them for one season before signing on with
the Baltimore Colts where he was their starting quarterback for the
1954 season. He played for two more years and then left to get a law
degree at Georgetown, but rejoined the Colts as a backup quarterback
for their last two regular season games and the 1958 NFL Championship
game won by the Colts over the New York Giants in "the greatest game
ever played". Gary practiced law until he became a superior court
judge in Fresno in 1990 and retired in January 2000. Gary and Harry
remained such close friends after college that Harry was the best man
at his wedding and godfather to four of Gary’s six children. Harry
said when they played together for the Colts, Gary mentored him. When
Gary became a judge in the Fresno federal court, Harry called Gary to
congratulate him and asked him, tongue in cheek, whether if he got a
parking ticket, Gary could fix it for him. Gary’s response was, "No,
that’s minor league stuff, but if you murder someone or rob a bank,
now I can help you" J.
As outstanding an athlete as Gary was, his track record indicates
he was an even more meritorious human being. When I asked Joyce,
his widow, about his Armenian background, she said he was very proud
of his ethnicity and culture. When I asked her what Gary felt was
his most outstanding life achievement, Joyce repeated a story told
by another judge who had attended a law symposium with Gary where,
in response to a question asking what he considered his greatest
accomplishment in life, Gary answered, "My six children". She said
some constant, consistent messages he repeated to his kids over the
years were, "Study hard, get good grades, don’t outsmart yourself by
overanalyzing problems and most important of all, do what your heart
tells you to do". All his life, the main principle by which he lived
was to be fair and honest in every situation. Gary died of lung cancer
on May 22, 2000. I wish I could have spoken with him.
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