Radnor High School Alumnus Emlen Tunnell served in the United States Coast Guard during and after World War II, from 1943-1946, as a steward’s mate.
According to a July 2 NAVAL NEWS press release, Tunnell was credited with saving the lives of two shipmates on different occasions.
In April 1944, Tunnell was unloading a cargo ship in Papua New Guinea, when it was hit by a Japanese torpedo. Tunnell suffered burns when he used his bare hands to put out a fire on another shipmate.
In 1946, while stationed in Newfoundland, he jumped into freezing water to save another shipmate who had fallen from the USS Tampa. Tunnell passed away in 1975 and was posthumously awarded the Silver Star by the Coast Guard in 2011.
As a second commemorative honor, last week, the Coast Guard accepted delivery of the 45th fast response cutter (FRC), named Emlen Tunnell, in Key West, Florida.
NAVAL NEWS reporter Martin Manaranche provided the details that Emlen Tunnell is the fourth of six FRCs that will be stationed in Manama, Bahrain. Stationing FRCs in Bahrain supports Patrol Forces Southwest Asia (PATFORSWA), the Coast Guard’s largest unit outside of the U.S.
The PATFORSWA mission is to train, organize, equip, support and deploy combat-ready Coast Guard forces in support of U.S. Central Command and national security objectives.
PATFORSWA works with Central Command in conducting maritime operations to forward U.S. interests, deter and counter disruptive countries, defeat violent extremism and strengthen partner nations’ maritime capabilities in order to secure the maritime environment in the Central Command area of responsibility.
Following a stellar career at Radnor High School, Tunnell played college football at the University of Toledo in 1942, served in the Coast Guard, and then rostered at the University of Iowa.
After leaving college in 1948, he hitchhiked from his home in Garrett Hill, Pennsylvania to New York to try out for the New York Giants.
Tunnell earned a spot on the team, becoming the first African-American player for the Giants.
He next played 14 seasons in the National Football League as a defensive halfback and safety for the New York Giants, 1948-1958, and for the Green Bay Packers under head coach Vince Lombardi, 1959-1961. He was selected as a first-team All-Pro six times and played in nine Pro Bowls.
He was a member of NFL championship teams in 1956 and 1961. When he retired as a player, he held NFL career records for interceptions (79), interception return yards (1,282), punt returns (258), and punt return yards (2,209).
After retiring as a player, Tunnell served as a special assistant coach and defensive backs coach for the New York Giants from 1963 to 1974.
Fittingly, Tunnell was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1967, the first African-American pro football player to receive the honor.
In addition to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, he was named to the NFL’s 1950s All-Decade Team and the all-time All-Pro team, and was ranked number 70 on The Sporting News’ list of the 100 Greatest Football Players.
The Sentinel-class FRC Emlen Tunnell features advanced equipment including command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; over-the-horizon cutter boat deployment to reach vessels of interest; and improved habitability and seakeeping.
The cutters are designed for missions including search and rescue; national defense; ports, waterways and coastal security; drug and migrant interdiction; and fisheries patrols.
The Coast Guard has ordered 60 FRCs to date. Forty are in service: 12 in Florida; seven in Puerto Rico; four in California; three each in Hawaii, Texas and New Jersey; and two each in Alaska, Mississippi, North Carolina and Bahrain.
Four additional FRCs have been delivered: three will be commissioned at their homeport of Guam later this month and one will be delivered to Bahrain along with Emlen Tunnell after their individual commissioning.
Future FRC homeports include Astoria, Oregon; Boston; St. Petersburg, Florida; and Kodiak, Seward and Sitka, Alaska.
In 2003, Tunnell was included in the inaugural class of inductees to the Radnor High School Hall of Fame.
Given all of his accomplishments, the Radnor, Wayne, and Garrett Hill communities, along with the entire Main Line, can share their pride in the life story of their hometown hero, Emlen Lewis Tunnell who died on July 23, 1975.
