Freitas Field

Serra High School’s football field is named after former Serra coaching legend and San Francisco 49er quarterback Jesse Freitas, Sr.

Freitas was an original member of the 49ers’ 1946 inaugural team and played two seasons in the All-American Football Conference. He began his career at Serra in 1950, where he coached baseball, basketball and football (from ‘52 through ‘54 he coached all three!) and served as a classroom teacher. But it was as the varsity football coach during three stints at Serra that he left his mark.

Overall, Jess compiled a record of 102-49-3, a .662 winning percentage that lasted until the Patrick Walsh years. He won seven league titles including the 1954 title that featured the last Serra team to go undefeated! Twenty three of his former players have been enshrined in the Serra Hall of Fame. Lynn Swann ‘70 (Pittsburgh Steelers, NFL Hall of Fame) John Robinson ‘54 (USC and Los Angeles Rams coach, College Football Hall of Fame), Jesse Freitas, Jr. ‘69 (San Diego Chargers) and Tom Scott ‘69 (Edmonton Eskimos, Canadian Football Hall of Fame) all had their starts under Coach Freitas

Freitas was inducted into the San Mateo County Sports HOF in 1995.