1955 San Francisco 49ers season

The team's sixth season in the NFL

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1955 San Francisco 49ers season

Owner| Tony Morabito
General manager| Louis Spadia
Head coach| Red Strader
Home field| Kezar Stadium
Results
Record| 4–8
Division place| 5th NFL Western
Playoff finish| Did not qualify

* <- 1954
* 49ers seasons
* 1956 ->

Shows the period uniform the team would have been seen in

The 1955 San Francisco 49ers season was the franchise's 6th season in the National Football League and their 10th overall.

They were coming off a 7–4–1 record in 1954, finishing in 3rd place in the Western Conference.

San Francisco replaced head coach Buck Shaw, who had been the club's only head coach since its founding. The new coach was Red Strader, who had previously been the head coach of the New York Yanks from 1950 to 1951, where he had a record of 8–14–2 in his two seasons there.

The 49ers started the year with 2 losses at home but rebounded with 2 road victories and sat with a .500 record after 4 games. San Francisco split its next 2 games at home and had a 3–3 record. The team then fell into a slump and lost its next 5 games before winning its final game of the season, finishing with a 4–8 record, its worst season since the team's first season in the NFL in 1950, when it finished 3–9.

Offensively, Y. A. Tittle threw for 2185 yards, completing 51.2% of his passes, and had a league-high 17 touchdown passes. However, Tittle had 28 passes that were intercepted. Billy Wilson was Tittle's favorite target, as he had a team-high 53 receptions for 831 yards and 7 touchdowns. Joe Perry led the club by rushing for 701 yards, while Dickie Moegle rushed for a team-high 5 touchdowns.

## Offseason

[edit]

### NFL draft

[edit]

Main article: 1955 NFL draft

1955 San Francisco 49ers draft

Round  | Pick  | Player  | Position  | College  | Notes
1 | 10  | Dicky Moegle * | Defensive back | Rice |
2  | 21  | Frank Morze | Center | Boston College | began play with 49ers in 1957.
3  | 34  | Carroll Hardy | Halfback | Colorado |
4  | 45  | Matt Hazeltine * | Linebacker | California |
5  | 58  | Eldred Kraemer | Guard | Pittsburgh |
6  | 69  | Bobby Luna | Defensive back  | Alabama |
7  | 82  | Johnny Dean | Back | VPI |
8  | 93  | Freddie Meyers | Back  | Oklahoma A&M |
9  | 106  | Fred Preziosio | Tackle | Purdue |
10  | 117  | Ron Ashbacker | End | Oregon State |
11  | 130  | Rudy Rotella | End  | Omaha |
12  | 141  | Lou Palatella | Guard  | Pittsburgh  |
13  | 154  | Richie Gaskell | End  | George Washington |
14  | 165  | Nick McKeithan | Back  | Duke |
15  | 178  | Burdette Hess | Guard  | Idaho | signed with Calgary Stampeders (WIFU)
16  | 189  | Jim Hall | End  | Auburn |
17  | 202  | Bob Newton | Guard  | San Diego State |
18  | 213  | Ron Pheister | Center  | Oregon |
19  | 226  | John Garzoli | Tackle  | California  |
20  | 237  | Glen Dyer | Back  | Texas |
21  | 250  | George Maderos | Defensive back  | Chico State |
22  | 261  | Pete Vann | Quarterback | Army |
23  | 274  | Tom Gunnari | End  | Washington State |
24  | 285  | Bob Heaston | Guard  | Cal Poly |
25  | 298  | Dewey Wade | End  | Kansas State |
26  | 309  | Johnny Kerr | End  | Purdue  |
27  | 322  | Dick Shockey | Back  | Marquette |
28  | 333  | Don Sanders | Back  | Stanford |
29  | 346  | Otto Kneidinger | Tackle  | Penn State |
30  | 356  | Bob Gongola | Back  | Illinois |
Made roster * Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Source:[1]

## Personnel

[edit]

### Staff / Coaches

[edit]

1955 San Francisco 49ers staff |

Front office

* Team Owner - Tony Morabito
* General manager – Louis Spadia

Head coaches

* Head coach - Frankie Albert

Offensive coaches

* Chief of Offense / Offensive Coordinator - Red Hickey

|  |  | Defensive coaches

* Defensive Assistant – Phil Bengtson

Special teams coaches

* None - N/A

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### Roster

[edit]

1955 San Francisco 49ers roster

Quarterbacks

*   * 14 Y.A. Tittle

*   * 12 Maury Duncan

Running backs

*   * 27 Carroll Hardy HB

*   * 32 Lem Harkey FB

*   * 34 Joe Perry FB

*   * 35 John Henry Johnson

*   * 39 Hugh McElhenny HB

Wide receivers

*   * 88 Harry Babcock

*   * 26 Ray Renfro

Tight ends

*   * 70 Billy Wilson TE

| Offensive linemen

*   * 69 Bob Hantla G

*   * 62 Herschel Forester G

*   * 64 Doug Hoagland LG

*   * 65 Eldred Kraemer G

*   * 73 Leo Nomellini

*   * 63 Ed Sharkey G

*   * 54 Ed Beatty C

*   * 53 Bill Johnson C

*   * 68 Lou Palatella RG

*   * 79 Bob St. Clair RT

Defensive linemen

*   * 83 Clay Matthews, Sr.

*   * 89 Ted Vaught DE

*   * 74 Bob Toneff

*   * 77 Sid Youngelman DT

*   * 75 Ed Carapella

*   * 76 Marion Campbell

*   * 87 Charley Powell

|  | Linebackers

*   * 55 Matt Hazeltine

*   * 33 Hardy Brown

*   * 86 Tom Stolhandske DE/LB

*   * 57 Paul Carr

Defensive backs

*   * 23 Rex Berry SS

*   * 40 George Maderos

*   * 47 Dicky Moegle

*   * 42 Lowell Wagner DB

*   * 22 Joe Arenas

Special teams

*   * 82 Gordie Soltau

*   * 49 Bobby Luna

| Reserve lists

* Vacant

rookies in italics

Source:

## Schedule

[edit]

Week  | Date  | Opponent  | Result  | Record  | Venue  | Attendance  | Recap

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1  | September 25  | Los Angeles Rams | L 14–23  | 0–1  | Kezar Stadium  | 58,772  | Recap
2  | October 2  | Cleveland Browns | L 3–38  | 0–2  | Kezar Stadium  | 43,595  | Recap
3  | October 9  | at Chicago Bears | W 20–19  | 1–2  | Wrigley Field | 41,651  | Recap
4  | October 16  | at Detroit Lions | W 27–24  | 2–2  | Briggs Stadium | 50,179  | Recap
5  | October 23  | Chicago Bears | L 23–34  | 2–3  | Kezar Stadium  | 56,350  | Recap
6  | October 30  | Detroit Lions | W 38–21  | 3–3  | Kezar Stadium  | 44,831  | Recap
7  | November 6  | at Los Angeles Rams | L 14–27  | 3–4  | Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum | 71,832  | Recap
8  | November 13  | at Washington Redskins | L 0–7  | 3–5  | Griffith Stadium | 25,112  | Recap
9  | November 20  | at Green Bay Packers | L 21–27  | 3–6  | Milwaukee County Stadium | 19,099  | Recap
10  | November 27  | Baltimore Colts | L 14–26  | 3–7  | Memorial Stadium | 33,485  | Recap
11  | December 4  | Green Bay Packers | L 7–28  | 3–8  | Kezar Stadium  | 32,897  | Recap
12  | December 11  | Baltimore Colts | W 35–24  | 4–8  | Kezar Stadium  | 33,471  | Recap
Note: Intra-conference opponents are in bold text.

### Standings

[edit]

NFL Western Conference

* view
* talk
* edit

| W | L | T | PCT | CONF | PF | PA | STK
Los Angeles Rams | 8  | 3  | 1  | .727  | 6–3–1  | 260  | 231  | W3
Chicago Bears | 8  | 4  | 0  | .667  | 7–3  | 294  | 251  | W2
Green Bay Packers | 6  | 6  | 0  | .500  | 5–5  | 258  | 276  | L1
Baltimore Colts | 5  | 6  | 1  | .455  | 5–4–1  | 214  | 239  | L2
San Francisco 49ers | 4  | 8  | 0  | .333  | 4–6  | 216  | 298  | W1
Detroit Lions | 3  | 9  | 0  | .250  | 2–8  | 230  | 275  | L2

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "1955 San Francisco 49ers Draftees". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved February 20, 2024.

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San Francisco 49ers

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San Francisco 49ers seasons

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Bold indicates Super Bowl victory
Italics indicates Super Bowl appearance

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1955 NFL season

| Eastern Conference| Chi Cardinals | Philadelphia| Baltimore| Green Bay | Western Conference

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|
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|
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Cleveland | Pittsburgh| Chi Bears| Los Angeles
New York | Washington| Detroit| San Francisco

* 1955 NFL Draft
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Related articles|

* History of Monday Night Football
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| Chicago Bears (home games)|

* 1953
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|

Chicago Cardinals (home games)|

* 1953
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Los Angeles Rams (Pacific Time Zone affiliates)|

* 1955

San Francisco 49ers (Pacific Time Zone affiliates)|

* 1955

Washington Redskins (home games)|

* 1954

Commentators|

* AFL All-Star Game
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| Postseason commentators|

* AFL Championship Game
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Lore televised by ABC|

* "Body Bag Game"
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* Joe Theismann's career-ending sack
* "The Night That Courage Wore Orange"
* World Bowl '91
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| Postseason lore|

* "Music City Miracle"
* "One Yard Short"
* "The Star-Spangled Banner" (Whitney Houston recording)
* "Wide Right"

|

Music|

* Charles Fox
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| Songs|

* "All My Rowdy Friends Are Here on Monday Night"
* "Heavy Action"
* "The Party's Over"

|

NFL Championship|

* 1948
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Super Bowl|

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AFL Championship|

* 1960
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Results and standings|

| Yearly results|

* 1970–2005
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NFL draft|

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NFL Honors|

* 2022

Website: ABC News - NFL News
*[HB]: Halfback
*[FB]: Fullback
*[TE]: Tight end
*[G]: Offensive guard
*[LG]: Left guard
*[C]: Center
*[RG]: Right guard
*[RT]: Right tackle
*[DE]: Defensive end
*[DT]: Defensive tackle
*[DE/LB]: Edge (defensive end / linebacker hybrid)
*[SS]: Strong safety
*[DB]: Defensive back
*[W]: Wins
*[L]: Losses
*[T]: Ties
*[PCT]: Winning percentage
*[CONF]: Win–Loss record within their conference
*[PF]: Points For (Total points scored)
*[PA]: Points Against (Total points allowed)
*[STK]: Current Winning or Losing Streak
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template