Gaynor Chose Long Beach to Get Specialized Education in a Fine Art

He could have been the big man on so many campuses where quarterbacks with golden arms are bowed to, but he chose a commuter school where football isn’t king, stadium crowds are small and the national sports spotlight rarely shines.

Doug Gaynor selected Cal State Long Beach--home of coaches enthralled by the forward pass--for a special education.

“I wanted to learn to be a better quarterback,” he said.

It turned out to be a wise stopover on a journey toward a dream.

“All my life I’ve dreamed of playing pro football,” Gaynor said. “Now I think I’m prepared to go on.”

Recognition, he knew, would not come easily at Long Beach, but if that was his top priority he could have chosen USC, Oklahoma, Florida or other prominent football schools that wanted him when he was a junior-college All-American in his hometown of Fresno.

But Gaynor has learned so well that a nation finally has to take notice.

He made history Saturday when he completed 26 passes against Cal State Fullerton for a single-season NCAA record of 320, surpassing Brigham Young’s Steve Young, who completed 306 in 1983.

Gaynor’s arm, which threw for 3,559 yards and 19 touchdowns this season, isn’t his only noticeable attribute. Good-looking and 22, he would finish high in any campus popularity contest. He is polite and modest, and never hides after a tough defeat, of which there have been many in his two-year 49er career.

There is also the hint of a free spirit about him that manifests a desire to live dangerously, especially on bicycles.

“I’ve always done crazy things on bikes--wheelies, flips, I’d go 40 m.p.h. down the freeway,” he said.

And then on a November afternoon last year, maturity arrived with a jolt.

Gaynor, who was breezing through his first season in Division I football and becoming the country’s third-ranked quarterback in total offense, was breezing down the freeway after practice--illegally, on his bicycle--when the bike hit a storm drain.

He went down in an embarrassed heap, hurt enough to have to miss the 49ers’ next game, which they lost to San Jose State, 42-7.

“We like to say it knocked some sense into his head,” Long Beach Coach Mike Sheppard said. “When a great athlete has something taken away from him--like not being able to play in a game--he sometimes looks back and says, ‘I can’t be doing things like that.’ ”

Sheppard said it was a different Gaynor who came back the following week and led the 49ers to an 18-17 victory in a rainstorm at San Diego State.

“Nothing was going to stop him from winning,” Sheppard said. “He got tough, became more committed and has been that way ever since.”

Gaynor’s commitment helped account for only a 6-6 season for Long Beach this season but he had the 49ers on the brink of comeback victories in three of those losses, only to have to watch victory slip away because of defensive lapses, fumbles or missed field goals.

His forte is moving his team on long drives by throwing mostly short and intermediate passes that rarely miss. He completed 71.2% of his passes this year, and was just shy of breaking Young’s single-season record of 71.3%.

“In this system, unless the passes are perfect, we have a high-interception potential,” Gaynor said, still trying to master what he says is a quarterback’s toughest task, throwing under pressure. He threw 18 interceptions this season, one more than in 1984.

Gaynor is not a rah-rah type of quarterback. He rarely shows emotion, especially when things go bad, although after a close loss to UCLA at the Rose Bowl during his junior season, he cried.

After a game, he never remembers the names or numbers of his opponents or how much blood they had had in their eyes.

“They’re just X’s,” said the analytical Gaynor, the O they were after.

Gaynor’s style made for a familiar scene:

He drops back to pass while his receivers run graceful routes that formed patterns as intricate as latticework. His right arm cocked, he waits patiently for the precise time to throw.

And if that time didn’t come, he lives dangerously again, convinced that he survives because he is quick, fast and big--6 feet 2 inches, 210 pounds--with muscles highly developed through an obsession with weightlifting. He can bench-press 420 pounds.

And so he runs--often for big gains, six times for touchdowns, but also often into trouble.

When chased, he retreats far and wide as opponents bore down, clawing at him, clinging to him.

“Throw it away,” coaches and the fans screamed. The ball, which usually comes off his hand so quickly, is reluctant to leave. And then he is on the ground, sacked. It happened 56 times this season.

But Gaynor gets up, unflustered. Faced then with, say, third down and 25, he passes 26 yards, straight into a receiver’s hands with just enough touch to clear a defensive back. And the 49ers are out of trouble again.

“You see him scramble for two, three plays in a row, and you think normally something has to give, his arms or his legs, but his throws are still accurate,” said Coach Harvey Hyde of Nevada Las Vegas.

“He’s a great quarterback, certainly with the ability to be an outstanding professional player.”

Kirk Mee, director of pro scouting for the Washington Redskins, agrees.

“He will be looked at seriously by a lot of clubs,” Mee said. “He reminds you of Joe Theismann, the way he maneuvers and because of his ability to escape. He’s a competitive, tough kid and he plays smart. It’s hard to find a negative about him.”

Gaynor knows it will take more than his arm to make it in the NFL.

“Everybody can throw at that level,” he said. “But I have the ability to run, make the big play and read defenses.”

Some Gaynor critics say he took sacks instead of throwing the ball away because he was concerned with his statistics.

“They might as well ask if I put myself above the team,” Gaynor said. “They are questioning my integrity, and that makes me mad.

“I like pro football because it’s not so stat conscious. You’re measured more on winning and losing, what kind of character you have, how you lead a team.”