1. Michael J Pecarovich was an American football coach and actor.
14 Facts About Mike Pecarovich
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Mike Pecarovich was the son of Croatian immigrants born in Astoria, Oregon, Mike Pecarovich attended Santa Clara University, where he played on the football team from 1919 to 1921 as a guard and an end.
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Mike Pecarovich then transferred to Gonzaga University in Spokane, where he played football as a quarterback under head coach Gus Dorais.
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Mike Pecarovich graduated in 1922, and was an assistant under Dorais.
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In 1924, Mike Pecarovich earned a law degree and passed the.
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That year, Mike Pecarovich took over as head football coach at Loyola, where he installed the Knute Rockne system.
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Mike Pecarovich returned to his alma mater Gonzaga in 1931 to succeed Ray Flaherty as head While there, Mike Pecarovich appointed Bing Crosby, a friend and former classmate, as an assistant coach, and made appearances in several movies alongside Crosby.
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In 1939, Mike Pecarovich returned to coach Loyola, which gave him a three-year contract; the Gonzaga administration agreed to release him from the two years remaining on his His second stint with Loyola was not successful, his team earning a record, and he was replaced by Marty Brill.
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Mike Pecarovich coached the San Francisco Clippers in 1944 in the short-lived American Football League of the Pacific Coast.
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Mike Pecarovich led the franchise to a second-place finish with a record in the eight-team league's only season.
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Mike Pecarovich later served as an assistant coach under Flaherty with the New York Yankees professional football team, then taught at St Anthony High School in Long Beach for ten years in the 1950s.
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Mike Pecarovich earned a reputation as a skilled after-dinner speaker, and provided many lectures in his later life.
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Mike Pecarovich used his oration skills during halftime pep talks, and people who knew both men compared him to Knute Rockne, who had been a famed motivator as the Notre Dame coach.
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Mike Pecarovich died of a heart attack on March 22,1965, in his home in Rolling Hills, California, and was buried at All Souls Cemetery in Long Beach.