Hardware Man Is Back : Playing UCLA Will Be ‘Kind of Like a Homecoming for Me,’ Says Cal’s Hardy Nickerson

Hardy Nickerson will have his own personal cheering section at the Rose Bowl Saturday evening when Cal’s football team plays UCLA.

Nickerson grew up in Los Angeles and played a big part in Verbum Dei’s Southern Section titles in 1981 and ‘82, so he can expect the backing of family and friends, former coaches and teachers, perhaps even present-day Verbum Dei players.

But Cal’s junior linebacker is likely to grab the attention of everyone else in the crowd, too.

Nickerson has gone from good to better to best in his three years at Cal.

He’s known for being a man of few words, but he doesn’t need to explain how good he is. His play tells the story. And there are always coaches who will be happy to comment on his play.

UCLA Coach Terry Donahue is one of those. “Nickerson is as good a performer at linebacker as there is in the country,” he said.

Nickerson’s own coach, Joe Kapp, was even more emphatic: “If Hardy Nickerson isn’t an All-American, nobody is. He’s a Les Richter type. A Ron Rivera type. He’s worth the price of admission.”

Richter was an All-American at Cal in 1949-1951. Rivera was an All-American at Cal in 1980-1983.

As a freshman, Nickerson played a lot and finished the season as a starter. Last season, as a sophomore, he led the Pacific 10 with a conference-record 96 unassisted tackles and set a Cal record with 141 total tackles.

This season, he has already been credited with 108 tackles, more than twice as many as the next defensive player in the Cal statistics. He has had three tackles for losses, two fumble recoveries and an interception.

Nickerson, 6-3 and 230 pounds, is strong and quick. According to Kapp, he plays football with a smile on his face.

What does that mean?

“Just that I enjoy playing football,” Nickerson said. “It doesn’t mean that I’m out there to be a nice guy.

“Off the field, I’m an easygoing person, a caring person. I think I’m one of the nicest guys a person would like to meet. But on the field, I let all anger out. If there are any bad feelings stored inside me, that’s the place to let them out.”

Nickerson is known to his teammates as Hardware Man, Hardware, for short. It comes as a package deal with all the expected puns about hammering running backs and nailing receivers.

He inherited his real name, Hardy, from his father, a probation officer in Los Angeles. It was his dad, too, who got him started in football, signing him up with a team in the L.A. Sheriff’s League when he was 11.

Football has had top priority ever since. Nickerson did not even play basketball at Verbum Dei, where basketball has a high priority. “I don’t think I was good enough to play there,” Nickerson said. “Instead, I tried to help get Verbum Dei known for football, too.”

Verbum Dei had a 25-game winning streak during his junior and senior seasons.

Nickerson said he was interested in playing for UCLA, but UCLA wasn’t especially interested in recruiting him. “But don’t try to make it a revenge-type thing,” Nickerson said. “I’m just looking forward to playing UCLA because it’s kind of like a homecoming for me, and because UCLA is a good team that we would like to beat.

“And because a lot of people are going to be there to watch me.”

Cal-UCLA Notes One of the outstanding offensive players at Cal is Marc Hicks, a freshman running back from Davis who has been drawing rave reviews all season. He leads the team in all-purpose yardage, rushing for 372 yards, catching 10 passes for 178 yards and returning 5 kicks for 95 yards. He has played the last few games with an injured shoulder. UCLA Coach Terry Donahue said: “We had him rated really high last recruiting season--right along with Aaron Emanuel. He’s that good.” Washington Coach Don James said: “After the game, I compared him with Charles White (USC Heisman Trophy winner) coming into the league, but the more I’ve had a chance to think about it, I think he’s the best football player to come into our league in 11 years (James’ tenure in the Pac-10). I can’t recall a freshman coming in and being in a dominating position like this.” Said Cal Coach Joe Kapp: “He’s an exciting player. He has that star quality. They’ll love him in L.A. He brings with him that confidence factor. He’s a great talent. In another era, he would have been a triple-threat single-wing tailback. I can’t say enough nice things about him--and he’s tough.” . . . One of Cal’s two quarterbacks, Kevin Brown, is the son of Jim Brown, an All-American guard at UCLA in 1955. Donahue said: “We could only give a scholarship to one quarterback the year he came out. We thought he was a good player at Hoover High School in Glendale. We tried to get him to walk on. But he had the chance to go to Cal, and I don’t blame him for doing that. It worked out well for him.” . . . UCLA officials are expecting about 60,000 Saturday for the game, which will begin at 5 p.m.