Titans’ Gibbs and Siragusa Try to Focus on Football

John Gibbs and Carlos Siragusa will make their official return to the Cal State Fullerton football team today when veterans report to camp, and the two players say they want to put behind them what Gibbs calls “a terrible thing that happened.”

Gibbs and Siragusa were exonerated in late April for their involvement in an April 7 fight in which an El Toro Marine sustained fatal injuries. But although they say they want to focus on football, the incident is still with them.

“I don’t think we’ll ever be able to get away from it,” Gibbs said in a recent telephone interview. “The memory will always be there. It’s something we have to overcome.”

The Orange County district attorney’s office decided not to press charges in the death of Staff Sgt. Richard W. Bottjer, calling it an “excusable homicide” brought on by the victim’s drunken state. The Orange County grand jury in May agreed with the district attorney’s decision not to prosecute, and the state attorney general’s office concurred in June.

“It’s in the past,” Siragusa said in a telephone interview. “I don’t want to talk about it. At this moment, I’m still trying to take care of myself.”

Neither Gibbs nor Siragusa would talk about the incident itself.

The incident, which took place in a parking lot across from a Fullerton bar where the altercation began, drew attention not only to Gibbs and Siragusa but also to the Fullerton football program.

This season, that is reflected in a rule in the Fullerton playbook that makes local bars strictly off limits. Any player who breaks that rule is subject to suspension for one or more games or dismissal from the team.

Gibbs and Siragusa return to the team somewhat behind the other veterans after being suspended from spring practice because of the incident.

“It’s like we have to come in with a handicap because they learned some new things we haven’t learned,” Gibbs said.

The two players, who spent the summer at their homes in the San Diego area, say they worked out on their own. And in the days preceding the official start of practice, they have worked out on their own at Fullerton.

Gibbs, who was the Titans’ second-leading receiver last season, appears to be a certain starter.

But Siragusa, who would have been the top returning quarterback going into spring drills, has fallen behind Dan Speltz, a community college transfer who claimed the No. 1 quarterback spot during the spring.

“We just are going to have to work hard,” Siragusa said. “It’s hard to say (if Siragusa can become the starter) because I don’t know where I am right now.”

Although Gibbs and Siragusa have been cleared officially of wrongdoing, they remain under scrutiny, said Stephan A. DeSales, whom Gibbs and Siragusa retained as their attorney last spring.

“(In a sense,) they’re never cleared,” DeSales said. “It’s like unringing a bell: It can’t be done. . . .

“I don’t think Gibbs and Siragusa, tragically, will ever be able to put this behind them,” DeSales added. “Unfortunately, they are two kids who did something, perhaps stupidly, that turned out tragically. . . . I don’t think people ever fully overcome this type of stigmata. The public doesn’t forget.”