The 75th anniversary of Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor is full of memorable stories. Only one of them has to do with college football and for 25 players from San Jose State. No one has ever made a movie about their experience. Someone should.

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Then the players heard the planes and explosions.

Twelve miles away, the Japanese were bombing U.S. Navy ships in a surprise assault that would kill nearly 2,400 American servicemen and spark the country’s entry into World War II.

None of the players is alive today to recount their experiences. But in 1981, tackle Gray McConnell shared his memories with the Mercury News.

“We saw these geysers of water spouting up from the Honolulu ship channel to the west,” McConnell said. “At first, we thought they were waterspouts. Then, we realized they were bombs because we began to see the planes. We didn’t know Pearl Harbor was being attacked because you can’t see Pearl from Waikiki.”

Eventually, McConnell made his way to the combat area.

“We saw the planes diving and the battleship Oklahoma capsizing and slowly sinking into the mud,” he said. “The flames and the smoke from the Arizona cast a dirty brown pall over the whole scene. It was horrible, but it was fascinating, too.”

No athletes were injured in the attack. But back at the team hotel, players began to realize the gravity of the situation when soldiers began setting up machine guns outside the property. And when the smoke cleared, many were at a loss of what to do next.

Obviously, their games were cancelled. Travel back to the mainland was not going to be available for weeks. Some of San Jose State’s players were deputized by the Honolulu police department and told to patrol the streets as marshal law was declared. One of them, lineman Ken Stanger, wound up helping deliver a baby late on the night of Dec. 7 during the blackout.

Seven other Spartans, including co-captain Robert Hamill, decided to enlist. One was rugged lineman Hans Wiedenhoefer, who would go on to fight at Iwo Jima. Another lineman, Kenneth C. Bailey would be killed in action.

The other players waited for passage back to the Bay Area. They ended up with a ride in steerage on an overloaded civilian ship that also carried badly wounded soldiers and many military families.

“To get aboard, to get passage, we had to sign a paper saying we’d help the wives and children,” said two-way end Jack Galvin, the last surviving Spartan of Pearl Harbor, during an interview before he died a few years ago.

The boat sailed through the Golden Gate on Christmas Day as passengers sang and applauded. The San Jose State players who’d returned were put on a Greyhound bus. When it stopped in San Carlos en route to the South Bay, Galvin got off and walked to his parents’ home. To that point, they weren’t sure he was still alive.

“We were just a bunch of kids,” Galvin said in a television interview before he passed away. “It took us a long time to absorb, even though it was all right in front of us.”

In 1991, the 17 surviving Spartans from the Pearl Harbor episode were honored at halftime of a game against Hawaii to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the attack. No special ceremony is planned Wednesday to commemorate San Jose State football’s role in the Pearl Harbor saga. But while a few short documentaries have been made about it, the whole thing begs for a fictionalized film, perhaps with Liam Hemsworth starring as Gray McConnell. You’d go see that movie. Wouldn’t you?

1941 San Jose State Spartans Travel Party For Hawaiian Trip

(Provided by Lawrence Fan, San Jose State athletic department)

Don Allen, G

Kenneth Bailey, G

John Brown, T

Stu Carter, HB

Verne Cartwright, T

Chet Carsten, FB

Charles Cook, C

Bill Donnelly, E

George Foote, HB

Jack Galvin, E

Bob Hamill (co-captain), T

Allan Hardisty, FB

Gene Kasparovitch, E

Jack Lercari, QB

Fred Lindsey, FB

Gray McConnell, T

Frank Minini, QB

Aubrey Minter, HB

Walt Meyer, T

Bill Rhyne, HB

Bert Robinson, HB

Ken Stanger, G

Paul Tognetti, QB

Ed Wenberg (co-captain), E

Hans Wiedenhoefer, G

Wilbur Wool, C

***

Ben Winkleman, head coach

Sebastian Squatrito, senior manager

Tom Taylor, head yell leader

Mrs. Ed Wenberg

Bob McGovern, photographer