How much has NFL draft changed? QB waited months in 1942.
In ’42, Casanega rebuffed NFL team’s overtures
The nowstandard scene in today’s NFL: Top college players embrace Commissioner Roger Goodell on stage moments after they are drafted as thousands cheer and millions watch on TV.
It was different in 1942. How different? Consider the typed, threepage form letter that Steelers owner Art Rooney and President Bert Bell, the future league commissioner, sent AllAmerica Santa Clara halfback Ken Casanega two months after Pittsburgh had drafted him in the third round, No. 16 overall, in 1942. A purpose of the letter: to confirm Casanega was aware he’d been drafted and to have him respond immediately to let the team know “whether you are interested.”
The letter began, “Dear Cassanega” — yes, no first name and misspelled last name — and continued, “As you probably know, you were selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League. This mean that, if you are going to play professional football in the National Football League, you will play with us.”
To play for the Steelers, the letter explained, Casanega would have to furnish his own shoulder pads, hip pads and “shoes,” all of which he could “procure” from Santa Clara. Also, he was told, all players on the Steelers agreed to play in three exhibition games before the season “without pay” and the team would not pay his travel expenses to Pittsburgh.
Casanega, now 100 years old and the 49ers’ oldest living former player, decided to serve in the Navy as a pilot during World War II instead of playing for the Steelers.
The war and its impact on the NFL was mentioned throughout the letter. The 1942 draft was held at the Palmer House Hotel in Chicago on Dec. 22, 1941, 15 days after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The letter was dated Feb. 20, 1942. And the Steelers explained the delay in contacting Casanega after the draft was because it had been uncertain whether the NFL would conduct it 23rd season in 1942.
“Having received assurances from the United States Government that it desires these games to be held as usual,” the letter read, “we have decided to go ahead with our League Schedules.”
To assist in the war effort, the Steelers said, players would work in a factory or defense plant during the day each weekday and practice at night. Casanega was told he would make at least $35 per week at his job and $125 for each regularseason game.
“In following this policy,” the letter read, “we believe that there can be no just criticism of our player or the club for not doing our part in the War.”
Casanega didn’t play professional football until after the war. He received a telegram from 49ers owner Tony Morabito and head coach Buck Shaw, who was his coach at Santa Clara, asking if he wanted to play for the new team in 1946 when it debuted in the AllAmerica Football Conference.
Casanega’s son, Len, recalled that his father said his initial reaction to the invitation was confusion.
“Who the heck are the 49ers?” he asked.