HARD LESSON : USC’s Tim Ryan Remembers Only Time He Ever Quit--in Ring When He Was 11

Tim Ryan quit.

Flat-out quit.

That’s right, Tim Ryan, all 6 feet 4 1/2 inches and 270 pounds of him, the USC media guide cover boy, anchor of the club’s highly touted defense, candidate for this year’s Outland Trophy and Lombardi Award, and the man who looked Tony Mandarich in the eye in last year’s Rose Bowl and never blinked.

That Tim Ryan.

But on this particular day, he was a beaten man. Actually, he was a beaten boy, since the event occurred a decade ago.

Ryan was then an 11-year-old amateur boxer. He had already been fighting for six years at that point. And fighting well. Having first put on the gloves when he was 5, under the guidance of his father, Gary, Tim began by sparring with his brother, Jim, who was 18 months older. Gary Ryan took his two boys down to a high school gymnasium near their San Jose home, where a boxing team trained.

And the two Ryan boys trained right along, jumping rope, doing push-ups and sit-ups, sparring and hitting the heavy bag.

By the time he was 7, Tim was fighting in tournaments. By 10, he was going away to a camp to train, and traveling up and down the West Coast to compete. He won Junior Olympic titles five years in a row. Tim and his brother had to run two miles a day before school, and then go through a complete workout after classes. Tim knew the meaning of two-a-day workouts long before he went to his first football camp.

But at 11, he was matched against a 14-year-old in a tournament in Eugene, Ore.

“I always had to fight guys that were older because I was so big for my age,” Ryan said. “Or I’d fight kids my age that were just short, little, fat guys.

“But this one kid in Eugene had been fighting longer than me. A real good fighter and he was a southpaw. He was big. I remember when he came out and raised his hands, he had hair under his arms. When you’re a little kid, you look at those things.”

The intimidation factor had taken hold. For the first two rounds, Ryan didn’t do too badly, but he was beaten psychologically.

“He hit hard,” Ryan said. “In the third round, he hit me square in my forehead. He just drilled me and knocked me down to a knee. I’ve never, ever quit in anything in my life, but I said to myself, ‘I ain’t getting up.’ The ref counted and, when he got to 10, I just jumped up and was out of the ring.”

But not out of range of his father. Gary Ryan, livid with anger, let his son know in very loud terms that there was no room for quitters in his family.

Tim Ryan hasn’t taken a step backward since.

He soon left boxing for football, winding up a prep All-American lineman at Oak Grove High School in San Jose.

Highly recruited, he turned his back on the colleges in his neighborhood to come south.

“USC sent me my first letter and ever since then, I’ve been partial to them,” he said. “UCLA people came into the weight room at school my junior year in high school and they were so businesslike. No personality. They came in in suits and just kind of stood there. I just told them, ‘I don’t think so.’ Joe Kapp at Cal would not leave me alone. He would call and call and call. Finally, I said, ‘Hey man, leave me alone!’ ”

It didn’t take Ryan long to justify the recruiters’ faith in him. He became an instant starter at USC in 1986, the first non-redshirt freshman to make the Trojan starting lineup in a season opener since linebacker Riki Gray-Ellison in 1978.

It wasn’t easy at first. Many critics tried to sack him . USC wound up 7-5, Coach Ted Tollner wound up losing his job, and the defensive line-- inexperienced and the weak link in the chain--wound up taking much of the blame.

By the end of last season, however, the awards and praise were pouring in for Ryan. He became USC’s first All-American defensive lineman since George Achica in 1982. He was All-Pac-10 first team and UPI All-West Coast first team.

“He got a lot of experience early,” said defensive line coach Kevin Wolthausen of Ryan. “Whether it was before he was ready to play or not, I don’t know. You look back on it, he didn’t do badly.

“But he’s just really progressed and gotten better. This year, he came in stronger and faster than he’s been in the past and that can only help him. He’s got great quickness off the ball. His first step is as quick as anyone I’ve ever seen. He’s really into a guy quickly.

“He’s not the fastest guy. If you were to race him in a 40 against somebody, you wouldn’t win that very often. But, hopefully, your defensive linemen don’t have to run 40 yards every time. He’s as quick in a five-yard square as anybody you’re going to see. He’s one of the most intense, toughest individuals who ever played.”

You can’t help but notice Ryan’s size when you meet him. Also noticeable is his maturity.

“It is like coaching a pro player,” said Coach Larry Smith. “I find myself up there in a meeting and Ryan’s eyes are always that big around. He takes in every word you say. He has very high standards for himself.”

Pretty heady stuff, but with all the praise comes pressure. And with quarterback Rodney Peete gone, leaving a big hole in the USC offense, the pressure on Ryan and his defensive teammates only figures to grow in this, his senior year.

Ryan tries to deflect it with the same finesse he shows in trying to get by opposing linemen.

“I don’t think I feel it as pressure,” he said. “I feel it more as a challenge. I do think the defense may have to carry the offense a little bit at the start of the season, just because of the new quarterback. It takes more time for the offense to get their timing down than the defense, especially since our defense has been together for so long.

“I don’t feel any pressure about the Outland and the Lombardi and all these awards. I just want to get better. Those honors will come if everything works out.”

For a defensive lineman the last few years, there has been no greater honor than beating Mandarich, Gargantuan offensive lineman from Michigan State who is already being hailed as the next great lineman in the pros.

Ryan has faced him twice.

“The first time I played him was my sophomore year,” Ryan said. “It was his junior year. He had these big old arms. I was maybe 250 (pounds) and he was like 300. On the first play--it was at Michigan State--he just slammed me. He was strong, strong, strong.”

It was a situation much like the one he had faced in the ring so many years earlier. But this time was different. This time, he didn’t stay on his knees.

“I wasn’t intimidated,” Ryan said. “I got right back up and I ended up having a real good game. I think maybe I did well out of fear. I wound up being named defensive player of the game. Then we played against him in the Rose Bowl and I played well. I wasn’t intimidated at all by then. I knew I could go head up with him and he would respect me. And I respected him at the same time. But he was, by far, the best offensive tackle I ever played against.”

Now if Ryan could only get a rematch against that 14-year-old . . .