STM1 Emlen L. Tunnell
U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) and Star Football Player

Background
Emlen Lewis Tunnell was born March 29. His birth year is listed as both 1923 (World War II Draft Card) and 1924 (other sources) in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. His parents were divorced when Tunnell was young, and he and three siblings were raised by his mother. He attended Radnor High School and was a football star halfback during 1940 and 1941.

In the fall of 1942, he enrolled at the University of Toledo and played college Toledo Rockets football team as a halfback. on October 26, 1942, he suffered a broken neck in a game when he was blocked while attempting to make a tackle. Afterwards, he recuperated and joined the Toledo Rockets college basket ball team and played with them to the finals of the National Invitation Tournament during 1943. Due to his 1942 neck injury, he was rejected by the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy for medical reasons.

Wartime History
On May 3, 1943, enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) with serial number 7002026. On August 24, 1943 assigned to USS Etamin (AK-93) as Steward's Mate First Class (SM1c) in the South West Pacific Area (SWPA). On April 27, 1944 at approximately 11:00pm while anchored off Aitape on New Guinea hit by an aerial torpedo hit the starboard side causing a rupture in the plating and flooding. Afterwards, Tunnell saved a fellow crew member who was set afire by the blast and beat out the flames with his bare hands and was burned then carried his shipmate to safety.

During August 1944 returned to the United States and assigned to NAS Alameda. In the fall of 1944 he played football for the San Francisco Coast Guard Pilots as a halfback. On November 11, 1944, he led the Pilots to a 13–0 victory over Amos Alonzo Stagg's Pacific Tigers football team, throwing 22 yards for a touchdowns and returning an interception 75 yards for another touchdown. At the end of 1944, he was named to the All-Pacific Coast service football team. He also played basketball for the San Francisco Coast Guard, scoring 13 points in a December 1944 game against the California Golden Bears and remained at NAS Alameda until October 1945.

Postwar
In March 1946, while stationed at Naval Station Argentia in Newfoundland, Tunnell rescued a shipmate who fell off USS Tampa (WPG-48) and jumped into the freezing water to rescue his drowning shipmate. In April 1946 he was discharged from the U.S. Coast Guard with the rank of Steward's Mate Petty Officer First Class (STM1).

Afterwards enrolled in the University of Iowa to play football and was a lead player with 541 yards of total offense and 28 pass completions and ranked second on the team with 333 rushing yards.

Memorials
On July 23, 1975 Tunnell died from a heart attack at age 51 during a Giants practice season at Pace University. He is buried at Gulph United Church of Christ Cemetery in West Conshohocken, PA in section E.

In 2011, Tunnell posthumously had the gymnasium on Coast Guard Island named in his honor and earned the Silver Lifesaving Medal for the March 1946 rescue effort. In 2017, USCGC Emlen Tunnell was named in his honor. In 2021, the Coast Guard plans to name an athletic building on the Coast Guard Academy the Emlen Tunnell Strength and Conditioning Center.

References
WWII Draft Registration Card - Emlen L. Tunnell date of registration June 30, 1942 date of birth listed as March 29, 1923
NARA Muster Roll of the Crew of the U.S.S. Etamin (AK93) for the month ending 31 August 1943 - StM3c Emlen L. Tunnell
NARA Muster Roll of the Crew of the U.S.S. Etamin (AK93) for the quarter ending 30 September 1943 - StM2c(R) Emlen L. Tunnell
NARA Muster Roll of the Crew of the U.S.S. Etamin (AK93) for the quarter ending 31 December 1943 - StM2c Emlen L. Tunnell
NARA Muster Roll of the Crew of the U.S.S. Etamin (AK93) for the quarter ending 31 March 1944 - StM1c Emlen L. Tunnell
NARA Muster Roll of the Crew of the U.S.S. Etamin (AK93) for May 27, 1944 - StM1c Emlen L. Tunnell
FindAGrave - Emlen Lewis Tunnell (photo, grave photo)
Fold3 - Emlen Tunnell (photo)
Associated Press (AP) "Coast Guard honors Black veteran, NFL great Emlen Tunnell" by Pat Eaton-Robb February 5, 2021
"In April 1944, Tunnell was unloading fuel and explosives from a cargo ship in Papua New Guinea when it was hit by a Japanese torpedo. Tunnell used his bare hands to beat out flames that had engulfed a shipmate, suffering burns in the process. Two years later, while stationed in Newfoundland, Tunnell jumped into 32-degree Fahrenheit water to save another man who had fallen from the USS Tampa."

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