A Potent Blend : Ancestral Mix of Crespi’s Quinn Fauria Gives Way to a Rare Versatility on the Field

Quinn Fauria has been asked the question so many times that it has become humorous. For some, nationality is a sensitive issue, but for Fauria, a 3-year starter at Crespi High, it borders on comical.

Fauria, you see, has piercing hazel eyes, light brown skin and blond hair so curly that many people--friends included--have politely inquired about his lineage.

He shrugs it off with a smile. To Fauria, all this stuff about race is a riot.

“I get asked that all the time,” he said. “Lots of people think I’m half black. I wasn’t adopted and it wasn’t the mailman. I don’t know how I turned out like this. Nobody else in the family looks like me.”

Fauria (pronounced FOR-ee-ay) is part French, American Indian, Irish and Spanish. His mother has blonde hair. His great-grandmother was a full-blooded American Indian. Mix this together and you have a player who is Crespi’s most menacing melange on the field.

“Heck, nobody is just one thing any more,” he said. “Everybody’s a combination of something.”

With respect to football, that is quite an understatement. A 6-foot, 1-inch, 205-pound senior, Fauria is Crespi’s Swiss army knife, a player of utilitarian value who more than capably handles any situation thrown at him by coaches.

Tonight, for instance, in a 7:30 game at Glendale High against Loyola that will decide the Del Rey League title, Fauria will start at fullback and defensive end. And at times, he will be asked to play inside linebacker.

Fauria, a senior, has not started at defensive end since his sophomore year, but the switch is no real surprise. This season alone, Fauria has been a role model of a role player--he has played at 7 varsity positions.

That’s varsitility, if you will.

As a fullback, he blocks for All-American tailback Russell White. As a defensive lineman, he lines up against Southern Section Division I opponents who sometimes outweigh him by 50 pounds.

Larry Cummings, Crespi’s defensive line coach, said it is probably easier to list the positions at which Fauria has not played.

“He’s played nose guard, defensive end, outside linebacker, inside linebacker, fullback, tight end. He’s played them all,” Cummings said. “It seems that when we need someone to pick up the slack, we go to him.”

Fauria, to be sure, is no slacker. In fact, he is a workhorse. Last season, he caught 19 passes as a tight end, second highest on the team. This season, as a fullback, he has rushed for 332 yards in 69 carries (4.8 average) and scored 4 touchdowns. Thriving in Crespi’s short-range passing attack, he has caught 39 passes for 445 yards (11.4 average) and 3 touchdowns.

He also has established a reputation as the team’s most sure-handed player. According to Crespi coaches, Fauria has neither fumbled nor dropped a catchable pass all year.

“Quinn doesn’t fumble,” White said emphatically. “He does not fumble. He does not drop passes.”

Fauria even played tailback when White was injured and also plays on special teams during point-after attempts and punts.

“I can play any position on the team, seriously,” Fauria said. “I think it’s good to be able to play in the defensive line where you have to manhandle bigger guys, or to be able to play linebacker where you have to have good speed, or at fullback where you need all that other stuff.”

Fauria also has broad horizons in the off-season. He is no slouch in the classroom, carrying a 3.4 grade-point average. As a wrestler, he was never pinned during his junior year and advanced to the Southern Section Masters Meet in the 193-pound division.

But Fauria is no heavy on the football field. Though considered by players and coaches to be the toughest and most intense player on the team, he does not participate in finger-pointing or showboating.

“We’re not really a yelling group, and neither am I,” Fauria said. “If I make a tackle or make a sack, I just go ‘Yeah,’ and go back to the huddle.”

The Fauria stare, however, speaks as loudly as any taunt. On the rare occasion when he is on the sideline, he rarely cheerleads. His eyes remain fixed on the opponent. The look is almost feral.

Also consider that he bench pressed 325 pounds in the preseason, more than any teammate, and one begins to get the picture.

When he has the ball, he is like a train between whistle stops. Accordingly, he has received his share of punishing blows.

“He is kind of a stand-up runner,” Cummings said. “He finds a hole and just grinds it out. Sometimes he doesn’t know when to quit, when to go down. And sometimes that’s when you get hurt.”

Fauria, the toughest player on the team, also could have won Crespi’s hard-luck award over the past 2 seasons. As a sophomore, he broke a bone in his right wrist, an injury that still restricts his range of motion. While at the doctor’s office to have the wrist tended to, his chronically sore left ankle was X-rayed.

“There were bone chips in there,” Fauria said of the ankle. “I came back to school with two casts on and the coaches kind of went, ‘Whoa!’ ”

Improbably, he rallied from the mid-season injuries and recorded a sack in Crespi’s 49-14 win over St. John Bosco in the 1986 Big Five Conference championship game.

Last season, while playing primarily at tight end and linebacker, Fauria’s left leg went numb below the knee because of damage to a tendon. Though hobbled, he stayed in the lineup.

“The foot has been numb forever,” Fauria said. “I kept playing. The feeling in it just came back.”

Fauria has avoided serious injury this year and has played almost every minute of every game that has been closely contested. His most persistent injury has been a cut between his eyebrows. The wound begins to heal, then the scab opens from the friction of rubbing against the inside of his helmet.

Fauria steadfastly refuses to wipe the blood from his brow during games. He says it accentuates the intimidation factor.

“He’s no Bambi, I can tell you that,” said Cummings, who is also the team trainer.

Good thing. When Fauria faces the Cubs--who are ranked No. 1 in the nation by USA Today--he will be looking at an offensive line that averages 230 pounds. Three of Loyola’s starting offensive linemen are taller than 6-3. All 5 are at least as tall as Fauria.

He will be right where the action is, but he would have it no other way. Fauria feels a win would redeem Crespi, which has struggled to a 5-4 record after being nationally ranked in the preseason. He and White are the lone remaining players from the 1986 championship team, and both seek a return to glory. Fauria’s considerable pride is at stake, too.

“I think we definitely have what it takes to beat them,” he said. “If we do, since they’re the No. 1 team in the nation, then that could resolve all this record crap.”

Also riding on the outcome is a Del Rey League title, something Crespi has not won since 1973, when Fauria was all of 3 years old.

“It’s time,” Fauria said. “We have everything to gain and absolutely nothing to lose.

“It’s going to be a tough game, but if we play like we can, have everybody healthy, don’t make turnovers or have lots of penalties, then we can beat them.”