Small Colleges / Alan Drooz : Redlands Linebacker Grew Up Tough and He Plays That Way

When University of Redlands linebacker Miguel Rodriguez takes the field for the Bulldogs’ opener Saturday, he most likely will continue to demonstrate his ability to impose his will upon adversary and environment.

Rodriguez, a 22-year-old sophomore, is more than a success story. He could be the poster boy for every football coach who ever preached the positive power of sports.

The players--and crowds--aren’t as big on the Division III level, but the knocks on and off the field can be just as hard.

Rodriguez grew up in a tough, gang-ridden housing development in Upland. When he was 5, his father deserted the family. Rodriguez’s mother died when he was a sophomore at Upland High School. Most of his friends ran with gangs and remain in the barrio.

But Rodriguez says he always wanted to rise above the neighborhood, and his competitive nature drew him to sports and jobs instead of trouble. He has generally held two jobs since junior high and has used his skill as an artist commercially as well.

After supporting himself with two jobs out of high school, his desire to attend college led Rodriguez to Redlands, where he moved in last year as a starting linebacker.

“He’s an unusual young man--he has outstanding motivation and inner drive to be successful,” Redlands Coach Ken Miller said. “He has some long-range goals--they provide direction and he stays on track to achieve them.”

On the football field, Miller said, Rodriguez’s intensity and discipline allow him to avoid the peaks and valleys most young players experience.

“The discipline in his personal life carries over to football,” Miller said. “He’s consistent in his performance. He performs with high intensity all the time. He plays with a viciousness that is uncharacteristic of a lot of our other players. If we’re gonna choose up sides to go out and fight, I’m gonna take Miguel.”

Rodriguez, a smiling, clean-cut, 5-foot 11-inch 185-pounder, hardly looks vicious. Miller said, “He has that smile before and after he knocks somebody on his duff.”

Rodriguez said he has always been driven by something his friends didn’t seem to have. At 7, he began boxing, and by the time he quit Golden Gloves competition after junior high he had a 40-0 record. “I loved it,” he said. “There’s a lot of discipline, a lot of what you want to make of yourself. In the ring there’s nowhere you can hide.”

Rodriguez began taking jobs while in junior high, everything from lawn work to commercial art. He realized even then that he had marketable skills.

“I’d get jobs because I never liked to ask my mother for money,” he said.

When his mother died, he vowed to be the first member of the family to attend college. He lived with a friend’s family through high school, and has been supporting himself since then.

He characterized the housing project of his childhood as a very tough neighborhood. “You could always hear guns shooting late at night,” he said. “Growing up, it didn’t matter where I lived. I never was ashamed of who I was or where I was--but I knew my goals were different than my friends’. I really did (feel different). I always had (the ability to make) money, plus my interest in sports. To be different was hard. I took little sarcastic remarks from my friends because I had the ability to do things they couldn’t do.”

Rodriguez got into football “because it was the thing to do at Upland” and earned all-league and All-Pomona Valley honors. After graduation he took jobs as a stock clerk and a waiter. But the college dream nagged him. His high school coach, Hal Lefler, now an assistant at Redlands, put him in contact with Miller.

“When I gave up school, I felt I was cheating myself,” Rodriguez said. “When I got the chance to come here I took it.”

Rodriguez has a dual major, business and art, and already has a target after graduation--owning his own restaurant or night club. He still waits tables at a Redlands restaurant, during the school year.

A future in sports is also possible. “It’s really fun to teach little kids to do it right,” he said. “Like my boxing--I felt I was pretty good and could have been even better if someone was there who wanted to dedicate their time.”

The Bulldogs will open at home Saturday against the University of San Diego. Rodriguez’s goals for the season are to improve on last year. His best attributes: “My speed, fundamentals, and I get a sense of where the ball is always going.”

Rodriguez seems to have been born with a strong sense of direction.

Occidental College is ranked third in the country among Division III football teams by Sports Illustrated. The defending champions in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference have made two straight NCAA playoff appearances and their backfield returns this season: quarterback Pat Guthrie, who passed for 1,119 yards and 17 touchdowns, and running backs Vance Mueller and Jeff Goldstein, who combined for 1,560 yards rushing last season and will be four-year starters.

Coach Dale Widolff calls Mueller and Goldstein “probably the best pair of Division III running backs in the country.” Mueller was SCIAC offensive player of the year.

Widolff is entering his fourth season with a 23-9 record, 18-4 over the last two years. Occidental has 14 seniors returning from last season’s 10-1 squad and lost only seven starters. The defense includes four-year starter Parris Devine at linebacker, two-year starters Mike Schmidt and Scott Anderle in the line and three-year starter Mark Garcia switching from cornerback to strong safety.

The Tigers will open Saturday at LaVerne.

The Division III playoffs have been expanded to 16 teams this season, and the SCIAC winner is expected to get an automatic berth. Oxy had to go 10-0 last year to receive an invitation.

Azusa Pacific’s football team is rated 17th nationally in the NAIA Division II poll. Pollsters are impressed by the Cougars’ 17 returning starters and 33 lettermen from last year’s 7-3 team.

Coach Jim Milhon enters his eighth season with the school’s best winning percentage, .615 (39-24-1). Milhon is 33-14 (.702) over the last five years. The Cougars won their last six games in 1984, the longest winning streak in school history.

The Cougars will open at home against Whittier Saturday at 1:30 p.m.

Key returnees include quarterback Dave Russell, who passed for 1,289 yards; running backs Christian Okoye and Greg Johnson, who combined for 773 yards, wide receiver Ted Campbell and tight end Kimball Chase.

Returning starters on defense include linemen Randy Scott, 6-2, 250; and Eric Lemasters, 6-1, 245; linebacker Craig Wall and cornerback Terry Patterson. Seven Azusa Pacific players have won All-American recognition since 1980.

Cal State Northridge gave notice that it is ready to defend its top West Coast rating in soccer by winning the season-opening Cal Poly Pomona Tournament last week. With Phil Deaver in the goal, the Matadors, ranked No. 1 on the West Coast and fifth nationally in preseason polls, shut out Sonoma State, San Francisco State and Cal State Hayward.

Junior forward John Tronson, the returning Most Valuable Player in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn., scored four goals and was named tourney MVP.

The Matadors (4-0) will travel to Las Vegas this weekend to participate in the Coors Rebel Classic at Nevada Las Vegas. They’ll play San Diego State Friday night and UNLV Saturday. The Matadors are coming off a 1-0 victory over UC Santa Barbara, with Deaver again in goal.

College Notes Don Strametz has been named director of track and cross country at Cal State Northridge. Strametz has produced 24 All-Americans in five years as women’s track coach at Northridge. . . . . Northridge also named Leslie Milke its full-time women’s basketball coach. Milke, 29, has coached the Lady Matadors part time for two years. The 1979 Northridge graduate ranks fourth on the school scoring list with 910 points. . . . . Bruce Victor has joined the staff of basketball Coach George Fisher at Cal Poly Pomona. Victor, 33, is a former assistant to Jerry Tarkanian at Nevada Las Vegas and is the son of Gene Victor, the coach at Mt. San Antonio College the last 39 years. . . . . The Cal Poly Pomona women’s volleyball team enters the season ranked second behind Portland State, the defending national champion. The Broncos have eight players back from last year’s fifth-ranked 21-9 team, among them All-Americans middle hitter Clara Piersma and setter Terri Dantuma.