Despite Lost Season, Bet on Lynch to Justify the Hype

A sheet of paper labeled “MEDIA ALERT” gets attention anywhere in a news room, and one came in this week hailing a press conference for a North County quarterback.

Since about the only events that will really put the media on alert are coaches’ hirings (or firings), trades and Michael Fay slinging mud at the San Diego Yacht Club, I knew immediately who had to be involved.

It had to be Dan Fouts, currently the starting quarterback for Rancho Santa Fe Country Club.

Was Fouts going to make a comeback? Or maybe switch networks from CBS to NBC?

Aha! The news release was prepared for . . . no, not NBC . . . NBG. Who? You know, the Noble Broadcast Group. This is the radio network that brings you 91X, 690 XTRA and Lee (Hack Facts) Hamilton.

However, further examination of the release, which was prepared by a rather prominent public relations firm, told me that the hullabaloo was to announce that a high school quarterback was about to announce where he would attend college.

Frankly, I was no less “alert” than previously, since I had never heard of a public relations firm issuing a news release to awaken the media to a press conference involving a high school athlete and his choice of colleges. Football coaches usually handle this chore with about three telephone calls.

Having gotten this far, I was still a bit baffled. The leading quarterback in the county was Orange Glen’s Cree Morris, and he had already announced his intention to go to San Diego State.

Did I miss someone?

I missed Torrey Pines High School’s John Lynch.

We all did.

It turned out this kid passed for an average of 70 yards a quarter last season. Unfortunately for young John, he only played five quarters.

Stupid coach, huh?

Not exactly. Unlucky coach.

And unlucky kid.

Lynch broke his ankle early in the second quarter of the season opener and did not return until the last regular-season game. He passed for 143 yards in one quarter of the opener, and that was likely a truer measure of what he might have done than the 203 yards he put together when he came back for the finale.

“If he hadn’t been hurt,” said Rik Haines, Torrey Pines coach, “that kid would have broken every conceivable record . . . maybe even the state record for total offense.”

And Torrey Pines might have been a whole lot better than 4-5-1, particularly since its offense was designed for Lynch, who passed for 1,292 yards out of an option offense his junior year.

“We might have lost a game,” Haines said, “but I think it would have been us and Orange Glen or us and Morse in the (section) finals.”

Injuries are part of the game, however, and the only nice thing about this one was that it did not lessen Lynch’s allure to college recruiters. He was still pursued by Washington State, Stanford, USC, Notre Dame and San Diego State, and that’s not exactly like having to take your 11-year-old sister to the prom.

And so it came down to this press conference, arranged by John Lynch Sr. through the public relations firm that handles the account for Noble Broadcasting. Lynch Sr. happens to own Noble Broadcasting.

With such a buildup, I didn’t really know what to expect. Maybe the kid would be driven up in a limo with Brooke Shields. Maybe he would guarantee that he would lead the college of his choice to the 1989 national championship. Maybe he would even dance a little shuffle. I was not really sure.

I found a kid who looked like he was student body president Monday through Friday, Mom’s helper around the house on Saturday and an altar boy on Sunday. Not only did he look like it, he talked like it.

He even has a hero.

“I admire John Elway the most,” he said. “He’s my hero . . . but I’m starting to admire Joe Montana.”

It should be no surprise that he wore No. 7 at Torrey Pines, and it should probably be no surprise that he chose to continue his education at Stanford.

Will he get No. 7?

“Tony Trousset of Vista has No. 7,” he said. “If he wants to give it to me, fine, but I don’t want to make a big scene.”

This press conference turned out to be a nice scene, if not a big scene. There seemed to be more family, friends, coaches and teammates than media in the small amphitheater, but that was fine. This was a nice moment for a nice kid whom fate had deprived of a senior season to remember.

Maybe there would be big moments in the fall of 1989.

“They’ve given me a promise to prepare me to compete for a job,” he said, “and that’s all I can ask. If I have the opportunity to start, I have it . . . but redshirting wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.”

I came away from the press conference feeling good for the young man. I thought the buildup was a bit overblown, but you can’t blame a father for being enthusiastic.

In a sense, this was a little coming-out party for a youngster we never got to know hereabouts. A bad break took care of that. A bad break kept him down to 346 passing yards his entire senior year. No one really noticed beyond Torrey Pines’ district boundaries, except opponents who knew he would have been passing for that much per game if he had been healthy.

And so John Lynch gets a good break.

Now let me give you a media alert. You’ll hear about this kid at Stanford.