Los Angeles Times
1 September 1977
Services for Erny Pinckert Friday
Funerals services for Erny Pinckert, two-time USC All-American halfback in the early 30s. will be held Friday at 11 a.m. at St. Paul the Apostle Church at Ohio and Selby Aves. in Westwood. Burial will follow at Holy Cross Cemetery.
Pinckert, 69, died Tuesday in West Los Angeles.
----------------------------------------------------------
Independent
Long Beach, California
2 September 1977
Loel Schrader
ERNY PINCKERT: ONE OF A KIND
Some people said he was a Thundering Herd all by himself.
He was a human tank on offense,spraying defenders like tenpins as a blocker for Racehorse Russ Saunders, Gus Shaver, Marshall Duffield and Orv Mohler.
As a linebacker on defense, he had an innate ability to sense the point of attack and get his nose into the milling and flailing of bodies.
"He was a tough buzzard." says longtime friend and admirer Braven Dyer, former sports editor of the Los Angeles Times. "I thought he'd never die."
But Erny Pinckert's body gave out the other day, perhaps the first time in his 69 years that he achnowledged someone was tougher than he was.
USC has a long and illustrious football heritage, but no name better personifies the glory of the Trojans than Erny Pinckert.
CONSIDER WHAT he accomplished as a blocking back in Howard Jones' Single Wing offense.
An all-American in 1930 and "31, Player of the Game in the 1932 Rose Bowl and a member of college football's Hall of Fame.
Occasionally, blocking backs are acknowledged as something special.
Forest Evashevski was hailed as a victor valiant and conquering hero when he cleared the way for Tommy Harmon at Michigan from 1938 to 1940. But he never was an all-American choice.
No. Erny Pinckert was something special, something apart from the faces in a crowd.
He inspired teammates with his ferocious competitiveness and delightful sense of humor.
And, in the process, he destroyed the reputations of at least two all-American ends.
OLDTIMERS LIKE to recall his encounter with end Vernon (Catfish) Smith of Georgia at the Coliseum late in the 1931 season.
Smith came into the Southland with a lock on All_America honors. Until he met Erny Pinckert.
On virtually every play, Pinckert would knock Smith down, then pick him up.
"Get up, Mr. All-America." he would say to the Georgia star as the Trojans romped to a 60-0 triumph.
When the season ended, Smith was chosen to only two of the five acknowledged all-America teams of that era.
Tulane end Jerry Dalrymple also was a Pinckert victim in the 1932 Rose Bowl game.
Pinckert scored on reverses of 23 and 30 yards around Dalrymple's end as USC registered a 21-12 victory.
"Dalrymple never touched him." Dyer recalls. "That's the way the plays were designed."
THERE ARE other stories of his prowess.
USC had swamped Cal 71-0 in 1930 and the Golden Bears were waiting for the Trojans when they came to Berkeley in 1931.
The game was a scoreless tie until they gave the ball to Pinckert and he scored on his favorite reverse play.
When he returned to the huddle for the conversion, Pinckert told his teammates: "We're going to have to cut out this bull. My bunions are killing me."
After winding up his career at USC, Pinckert went into professional football.
The pro game wasn't much in those days, but Pinckert stuck around for nine years.
HE SOLD athletic equipment on the side until it occurred to him one day that a lot more men wore coats and slacks and sweaters than football shoulder pads.
Pinckert went into men's fashions and made a fortune.
"He was a brilliant man," says Dyer. "He could do anything. For instance, Erny built a $400,000 home and did the architectural work himself. I've never known a more talented person."
It has been 46 years since Pinckert played for the Trojans, and recollections sometimes become blurred and fantasy often replaces history.
But Braven Dyer's memories of Erny Pinckert are clear.
"Howard Jones liked to stick a new guy at blocking back to see how tough he was," says Dyer. "It didn't take him long to find out about Erny Pinckert."
Of course not. Erny Pinckert was one of a kind.
Los Angeles Times
1 September 1977
Services for Erny Pinckert Friday
Funerals services for Erny Pinckert, two-time USC All-American halfback in the early 30s. will be held Friday at 11 a.m. at St. Paul the Apostle Church at Ohio and Selby Aves. in Westwood. Burial will follow at Holy Cross Cemetery.
Pinckert, 69, died Tuesday in West Los Angeles.
----------------------------------------------------------
Independent
Long Beach, California
2 September 1977
Loel Schrader
ERNY PINCKERT: ONE OF A KIND
Some people said he was a Thundering Herd all by himself.
He was a human tank on offense,spraying defenders like tenpins as a blocker for Racehorse Russ Saunders, Gus Shaver, Marshall Duffield and Orv Mohler.
As a linebacker on defense, he had an innate ability to sense the point of attack and get his nose into the milling and flailing of bodies.
"He was a tough buzzard." says longtime friend and admirer Braven Dyer, former sports editor of the Los Angeles Times. "I thought he'd never die."
But Erny Pinckert's body gave out the other day, perhaps the first time in his 69 years that he achnowledged someone was tougher than he was.
USC has a long and illustrious football heritage, but no name better personifies the glory of the Trojans than Erny Pinckert.
CONSIDER WHAT he accomplished as a blocking back in Howard Jones' Single Wing offense.
An all-American in 1930 and "31, Player of the Game in the 1932 Rose Bowl and a member of college football's Hall of Fame.
Occasionally, blocking backs are acknowledged as something special.
Forest Evashevski was hailed as a victor valiant and conquering hero when he cleared the way for Tommy Harmon at Michigan from 1938 to 1940. But he never was an all-American choice.
No. Erny Pinckert was something special, something apart from the faces in a crowd.
He inspired teammates with his ferocious competitiveness and delightful sense of humor.
And, in the process, he destroyed the reputations of at least two all-American ends.
OLDTIMERS LIKE to recall his encounter with end Vernon (Catfish) Smith of Georgia at the Coliseum late in the 1931 season.
Smith came into the Southland with a lock on All_America honors. Until he met Erny Pinckert.
On virtually every play, Pinckert would knock Smith down, then pick him up.
"Get up, Mr. All-America." he would say to the Georgia star as the Trojans romped to a 60-0 triumph.
When the season ended, Smith was chosen to only two of the five acknowledged all-America teams of that era.
Tulane end Jerry Dalrymple also was a Pinckert victim in the 1932 Rose Bowl game.
Pinckert scored on reverses of 23 and 30 yards around Dalrymple's end as USC registered a 21-12 victory.
"Dalrymple never touched him." Dyer recalls. "That's the way the plays were designed."
THERE ARE other stories of his prowess.
USC had swamped Cal 71-0 in 1930 and the Golden Bears were waiting for the Trojans when they came to Berkeley in 1931.
The game was a scoreless tie until they gave the ball to Pinckert and he scored on his favorite reverse play.
When he returned to the huddle for the conversion, Pinckert told his teammates: "We're going to have to cut out this bull. My bunions are killing me."
After winding up his career at USC, Pinckert went into professional football.
The pro game wasn't much in those days, but Pinckert stuck around for nine years.
HE SOLD athletic equipment on the side until it occurred to him one day that a lot more men wore coats and slacks and sweaters than football shoulder pads.
Pinckert went into men's fashions and made a fortune.
"He was a brilliant man," says Dyer. "He could do anything. For instance, Erny built a $400,000 home and did the architectural work himself. I've never known a more talented person."
It has been 46 years since Pinckert played for the Trojans, and recollections sometimes become blurred and fantasy often replaces history.
But Braven Dyer's memories of Erny Pinckert are clear.
"Howard Jones liked to stick a new guy at blocking back to see how tough he was," says Dyer. "It didn't take him long to find out about Erny Pinckert."
Of course not. Erny Pinckert was one of a kind.
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