Stone Gardens: After winning back-to-back National Titles at USC, he spent three seasons in the NFL
Byron Burk Gentry was born on October 20, 1913, in Brawley, Scott County, Arkansas, the son of James Jackson Gentry and Marilla Evelena Burk Gentry. His mother died in 1924 and his sister Opal Marie Gentry the following year.
After the family moved to California he attended Corcoran High School and then played college football at the University of Southern California. Under coach Howard Jones he lettered three seasons and started at guard on the Trojans teams that won national championships in 1931 and 1932 and claimed consecutive Rose Bowl victories, first over Tulane and then over Pittsburgh.
He was also a member of the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity during those years when USC’s single-wing offense and hard-nosed defense set the standard on the West Coast.
Following college he continued playing in California’s independent and minor leagues before signing with the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National Football League in 1937. Wearing number 18, the 5-foot-11, 227-pound guard started nearly every game across three seasons, appearing in 25 contests with 24 starts.
In 1938 he earned first-team All-Pro honors and a Pro Bowl selection; he returned to the Pro Bowl in 1939. Those were the final years the franchise operated as the Pirates before it became the Steelers.
When the United States entered World War II, Gentry left football and entered the Army, rising to the rank of captain and serving as a combat intelligence officer. Contemporary accounts describe him as a decorated soldier who earned six battle stars for his service.
After the war he returned to California, completed his legal training, and practiced law, eventually serving sixteen years as city attorney of Pasadena. At the same time he rose through the ranks of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, serving as California state commander and, in 1962-63, as national commander-in-chief of the organization.
He also published poetry and prose, including the volumes Voices of the Airways and The Way the Ball Bounces.
In 1949 he married Ruth Genevieve Jensen, who survived him and later remarried. His gravestone records him simply as a loving husband and father.
Gentry spent his later years in the Paso Robles area of San Luis Obispo County and died there on February 10, 1992, at the age of 78. He is buried in the Paso Robles District Cemetery.
