Heritage \ Sports \

The Bay City Blazers "Semi-Pro" Football Team.
Member of the semi-pro Canadian-American Football League.

The Bay City Blazers football team was established in 1949 as a part of the new Canadian-American Football League, which consisted of six teams from Michigan and Ontario. The first officers of the league were Clarence "Buck" Short of Bay City, president; Cliff Date of Flint, Secretary-Treasurer; Ken McCann, coach of the Bay City Blazers was the Publicity Director.

The founding teams in the league were: Bay City Blazers, Windsor-Ontario Bulldogs, Flint Blue-Devils, Fenton Independents, Detroit All-Stars and Port Huron. Each team was required to post a $500 forfeiture bond.

Game Program -- Sunday, October 30, 1949. Shown here are reduced size images of each of the eight pages that appeared in the game program for October 30, 1949 when the Bay City Blazers took on the Toledo Sylvania Merchants of Ontario, Canada, which was held at St. Andrews Field in Saginaw. A large team picture is below the program images. Click a page to see a larger image with greater detail. The program was contributed by Kathy (Stroemer) Czuba, the daughter of Clarence Stroemer who was a member of the team. Kathy came across this gem while browsing Ebay.com and was able to placed a successful bid. She wanted to share it on Bay-Journal for other families to see it who may also have had a member that played on the Bay City Blazers team. If you can contribute additional photos or information about the Blazers team, please let us know so we can add it to this history. Advertisers in Program Al's Service Station Woodside & Belinda Anderson Paint Shop 410 Third St. Balcer Bros. Motor Coach Co. Banks Hardware & Supply 1014 Marquette Bay City Printing & Engraving 1604 Broadway Bill's Cafe 1345 N. Johnson Boehringer Greenhouse Inc. 355 Park. Chamber's Paint Shop 105 N. Dean Charlie's Market 3511 U.S. 23 DeWaele & Regan Jewelry 200 Fifth Ave. Dobson Pest Control 1006 E. Indiana Faygo Soft Drinks "Bud" Manyen Goddeyne Sport Shop 1201 N. Johnson Joe's Radiator Shop 2101 Broadway Harris Moving & Storage 701 Salzburg U & I Cafe 302-1/2 E. Midland Rex Bar 1210 Henry St. Robt. Gage Coal Co. Water & Tenth Russel Callender Bay City Bank bldg. Sears Roebuck & Co. 711 Washington Ave. Serve-Us Dairy 1203 Salzburg Short Freight Lines, Inc. 220 Saginaw St. Short's Garage 201 S. Henry Smith-Maynard Electric, Inc. 1108-10 N. Water St. Staudacher's Gulf Service Midland & Litchfield Steve's 24-Hour Service 105 Garfield Ted Schumann & Son Cleaners 3680 E. Schumann Rd. Valley Electric Service 1110 N. Madison Van's Sporting Goods 805 Broadway

GAME PROGRAM - SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1949. (Click images to enlarge.) ALPHABETICAL LISTING OF PERSONELL ON 1949 TEAM. # Name Lbs. Position 26 Braman, Bill 175 Guard-Tackle 38 Braman, Frank -- -- 9 Braman, Fred 190 Back 7 Brooks, Jim 175 Back -- Callender, Russel -- Advertising 22 Clifford, F. 165 Back -- Cook, Woodrow --- Equip. Mgr. 11 Feiske, Don 165 End-Guard 52 Felke, Harvey 160 End 3 Heintz, E. 160 Back 4 Hugo, Art 160 Guard-Back 50 Hurst, Nelson 160 End 54 Klepser, Andy 180 End 60 Kraut, E. 195 Back 22 Martins, Carl --- --- 40 Mason, John 160 Guard -- Maxson, James -- Asst. Equip. Mgr. -- McCann, Ken --- Asst. Coach 32 Middleton, George 170 Center-Back 36 Mount, Gene 200 Center -- Mueller, Vernon --- Mascot 10 Northrup, E. 200 Guard 38 Nowak, Ben 165 Back # Name Lbs. Position 56 Pelletier, Jake --- --- 56 Pero, Don 160 Back 58 Powell, Art 195 End 48 Rafferty, Jim 170 Back -- Revette, R. 160 Back 6 Rohrer, Ken 160 Back 28 Roth, Howard 225 Tackle -- Short, Clarence "Buck" --- Sponsor 1 Simon, Herman 165 Back 2 Snable, Carl 180 Back 5 Stanley, Louie 170 End-Back 24 Stroemer, Clarence 190 Center 8 Tobin, C. 185 End 30 Townsend, Hank 200 Tackle 34 Van Gaal, Al 235 Tackle 29 Waterbury, Doug 165 End-Guard 44 Watkins, Bob --- --- 42 Welter, Bernie 210 Back 3 Weiske, Don --- --- 44 Widman, Bill 190 Guard 46 Wosewoda, John 240 Back