The first British team in the States
Brighton B52s 10 day tour of San Francisco - October 1986
The article below is an account of the Brighton B-52s historic trip to California in October 1986 to compete in the second Budweiser Transatlantic Bowl. Their opponents were the San Francisco City College Rams, and the game was played at the San Francisco 49ners legendary home, Candlestick Park.
On Monday 6th October 1986, they took on the Rams, and although they may have lost the game 77-6 (they lost the first one at Brighton's Withdean Stadium 76-0 in December 1985), most of the British players said it was the highlight of their careers.
Quarterback Chaz Jasicki said,
"The game was tougher than anybody can realise in England ... because the standard of play and calibre of players were so different. They hit harder and run faster."
The B52s may have lost, but they came back across to the UK with plenty of pluses. They learnt new techniques from the training sessions with the 49ners and City College Rams. They experimented with "49ners" style training one day, based on what they had seen at the 49ners practice. Instead of wearing full kit, the players wore shorts, shirts and helmets and just ran through the plays, fine tuning each one. In a 49ners practice, the receiver catches the ball and runs full speed at least 30 yards while the defense, instead of trying to physically stop him, just tries to intercept or tip the ball. With this kind of training no one gets hurt, everybody, especially the receivers and running backs, gets a work out and the coaches can see where the holes are in a team's play patterns.
The B52s visited the 49ners training camp and watched a practice one afternoon. R C Owens, the 49ners administrator, guided the group and provided loads of background information about the team and players. Jerry Rice sparkled during the training session, grabbing every ball that came his way - and making it look easy. The 49ners and Rice especially, impressed the British players with their slick professionalism. After practice, some of the 49ners talked to the B52s and offered tips and advice. Tight end Russ Francis' instruction on blocking techniques proved especially helpful. Dan Parrish, ex-defensive line coach for City College, spent a lot of time with the team explaining City College strategies and how to read their plays.
The B52s training and determination came together in the second quarter when Chaz Jasicki connected with his brother Jim with a fourth down touchdown pass. Offensive lineman Russ Parker broke his leg badly and was stretched off the field during the goal-line drive. Amid cries of "Do it for Russ", the B52s scored and the team went mad!
As well as the training and the game, the players did plenty of sightseeing. Some of their visits took them to the Muir Woods redwood forest, the Inglenook vineyards in the Napa Valley, a cablecar ride. They watched the Stanford University vs. San Diego State college football game, at Stanford, which Stanford won 17-10. Several players also watched the 49ners vs. Indianapolis Colts NFL game. B52s coach Wayne Hardman was 49ners ball boy for the game!
As for the game that they had come to play, they were well beaten by an efficient City College Rams side. Their coach was a touch unkind in his post-match analysis,
"They came out with a lot of fire, but that was about all. They didn't come together as a group of men." Indeed, this unique event, played in front of a 3,000 crowd in the magnificent Candlestick Park, rather fizzled out for the Americans.
Happiest smiles on the night belonged to the Jasicki brothers, who combined to score the lone TD for the B52s, following an impressive 9 play 80-yard drive. Mark Wynnick first raced through the middle for 43 yards, followed by a 22-yard run from Gladstone Mackenzie which together accounted for most of Brighton's rushing yardage. A penalty then helped their cause further before Wynnick gained six yards and then another one, and the B52s found themselves two yards from the San Francisco goal-line on fourth down.
Instead of going for the field-goal, Chaz Jasicki passed into the far left of the endzone to find his younger brother and Brighton, by now 34-6 down in the second quarter, were jumping for joy.
"It made the whole trip worthwhile", said a delighted Jim, the only American-born player in the 49-player party.
Yet as Chaz threw the TD, one of his five completed passes out of 14 attempts on the night, the B52s offensive lineman Russell Parker was being taken to hospital with a broken leg. Brighton also lost fullback Gordon Perry early on with a badly bruised arm.
Nigel Hoyte, of the London Ravens, sacked Rams QB Tom Martinez (who finished with 154 yards passing and 2 TD's at half time). City had discipline problems, and gave up 170 yards on 16 penalties, losing 3 TD's in the process and had two players ejected!
Gladstone Mackenzie, of the Milton Keynes Bucks, ran for 34 yards on 8 carries, and Mark Wynnick, gained 61 yards from 12 carries, but their efforts were to no avail.
With their first touch of the ball, the Rams scored on Andre Alexander's 58-yard punt return to open the scoring. From the home teams first offensive drive, Pete Russell had it just as easy to score from 13 yards out. City College running backs Eric Phillips and Louis LeDay both went on to score two TD's while there was one apiece from Arthur Tautalatasi, Eric House, Howard Smith, Gary Merriweather and Kelvin Magee. Steve Albrecht kicked 9 extra points, and defensive lineman Ronald Brooks bagged a safety.
While the Brighton coach felt much of the damage was done due to his special teams not performing, City College coach George Rush hit the nail on the head when he said that the Brighton team did not play as a team. For as much as the 21 players loaned from other clubs contributed individually, the task of knitting them together proved to difficult in such a short space of time.
Coaches and players at the end of the game embraced each other and pledged to make this an annual fixture. Sadly, however, the two teams never played each other again.
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
FT
S.F. City College
27
21
13
15
77
Brighton B52s
0
6
0
0
6
Scoring sequence
First Quarter:
Andre Alexander 58-yard return from Mason's 30-yard punt (Steve Albrecht XP) 7-0; Pete Russel 13-yard run (Steve Albrecht XP) 14-0; Arthur Tautalatasi 4-yard run (Steve Albrecht XP) 21-0; Eric House 16-yard run 27-0
Second Quarter:
Louis LeDay 4-yard run (Albrecht XP) 34-0; B52s Jim Jasicki 2-yard pass from Chaz Jasicki 34-6; Howard Smith 12-yard pass from Martinez (Albrecht XP) 41-6; Gary Meriweather 7-yard pass from Martinez (Albrecht XP) 48-6
Third Quarter:
Louis LeDay 5-yard run (Albrecht XP) 55-6; Eric Phillips 1-yard run 61-6
Fourth Quarter:
Ronald Brooks sacked quarterback John Gill for a safety 63-6; Eric Phillips 11-yard run (Albrecht XP) 70-6; Kelvin Magee 10-yard run (Albrecht XP) 77-6
Brighton B52s Squad
No.
Name/Team
Pos
1
Peter Masson (Basildon)
K
7
Chaz Jasicki
QB
15
Ian Turk
CB
16
John Gill (Bobcats)
QB
20
Shaun Carter (Wight Rhinos)
CB
21
Anthony Biggs
FS
22
Dennis Dale (Orpington)
CB
23
Jeremy Burr
WR
26
John Cunningham
CB
27
Wayne Dodson
CB
28
Marcus Breeds
SS
29
Doufre Wayne
SS
30
Joe St.Louis (Ravens)
HB
32
Graham Court
HB
33
Fitzroy Miller (Crawley)
HB
35
Gladstone McKenzie (Milton Keynes)
RB
40
Mark Wynnick (Ravens)
FB
44
Gordon Parry
FB
50
Neal Gatenby
LB
51
Neil Kennedy (Torbay)
OL
53
Mike Warrell (Eastbourne)
LB
54
Clive Pullinger
LB
55
Tim Radmall
DL
59
Darren Blundell
LB
64
Martin Turner (Crawley)
OL
65
Russell Parker
OL
70
Nicholas Cressey
OL
71
Dean Locke (Plymouth)
OL
72
Chris Cooke (Cambridge)
DE
74
Phil Cregreens
OL
74
Andy Hurst Smith (Ravens)
OL
75
Darren Bray
NT
77
Chris Bowers (Basildon)
OL
79
Ashley Gaughan
DL
80
Jim Jasicki
WR
81
Dave Slater (Bobcats)
WR
82
Tony Elms
TE
85
Steve Downton (Bobcats)
WR
86
Wesley Peppiatt (Slough)
TE
87
Calvin Holder (Ravens)
TE
88
Mark Irving
WR
90
Graeme Watson
WR
92
Nigel Hoyte (Ravens)
DE
97
Gareth Alyson (Bobcats)
DL
99
Paul Taggart
LB
John Hinkson (injured)
WR
Paul Evans (injured)
DL
Steve Livesey
CB
Kevin Trott
RB
Cheerleaders - Nicky Jones, Alex White, Amanda Jones, Louise Krige, Anja Heasman, Maria Rolfe, Laura Hardin, Toni Ormerod
Coach & Co-Owner - Wayne Hardman
Defensive Coach - Bob Coe
Co-Owner - Essam Barakat
Doctor - Mike Redfern
Physiotherapist - Burk Parker
Article adapted from Gridiron UK December 1986 issue