University of Nevada Athletics

Football, Track & Field (1946-48)
Born in the coal mining town of Jerome, Pa., and raised in Jamestown, Tom Kalmanir was a star halfback for Nevada’s powerhouse football teams in the late 1940s. He started his college career at the University of Pittsburgh before enlisting during World War II where he served as a bombardier in the U.S. Army Air Corps. After the war, Kalmanir and his childhood friend, teammate and fellow Hall of Famer Dick Trachok accepted scholarship offers at Nevada. A running back and return specialist, Kalmanir was a member of two bowl teams in 1947 and 1948, often considered the greatest teams in Nevada football history. He was a favorite target of Hall of Fame quarterback Stan Heath and left Nevada as the school’s career leading receiver. Heled the national in touchdowns in 1946 and kickoff returns in 1947. To this day, he remains in the Nevada record book with a school-record 105-yard kickoff return vs. Montana State in 1946, while his 90-yard interception return vs. Arizona State in 1946 (which included a lateral to Trachok for a touchdown) still ranks third in school history. He was selected in the 1949 NFL Draft and played for the Los Angeles Rams (1949-52) and the Baltimore Colts (1953). He was a member of the Rams’ 1951 NFL Championship team. After retiring as a player, he coached in the Canadian Football League as well as for the Oakland Raiders before becoming a businessman in the San Francisco Bay Area. A member of Nevada’s Team of the Century and inaugural Hall of Fame class, Kalmanir retired to Fresno, Calif., and passed away in 2004.