THEIR INSPIRATION : Aunese’s Fight for Life Drives Colorado’s Players

He’s only 21, on the cusp of manhood, but to many Sal Aunese has become a teacher, an inspiration, a role model.

Until last March, Aunese was a successful quarterback with one more year left at the University of Colorado. He had gained the most total offense--1,401 yards--of any Colorado player in a decade.

He had set a school record by throwing 92 passes without an interception, led the team in earned first downs, passed for 1,004 yards and two touchdowns, and rushed for 397 yards and eight touchdowns.

With Aunese at quarterback, the Buffaloes were 8-3 in 1988, and were hoping to seriously challenge for the Big Eight title and an Orange Bowl berth this season.

But then he got what he thought was a bad cold, which turned out to be inoperable stomach and lung cancer. He has been hospitalized twice in six months and the football training season has started without him.

As Coach Bill McCartney leads his team through the season’s first drills and calisthenics, Aunese endures treatments of chemotherapy and radiation as an outpatient at the school’s Health Sciences Center in Denver.

He is in seclusion at his apartment, tended to by extended family that commutes from Oceanside, where Aunese was a basketball and football star at Vista High School.

One sister has taken a leave from her job and moved to Colorado to care for him. Friends say his Samoan heritage--his formal name is Siasau Pepa Aunese--as well as his religious faith and naturally optimistic outlook are bolstering his spirits.

But since his disease was diagnosed as cancer, his physical condition has deteriorated. Aunese must breathe oxygen from a nose tube around the clock. He cannot lift weights or run around the track.

Yet his determination has infused the whole Colorado football program. Aunese’s doctor, coach, trainer, and teammates say his presence is with them.

“Some of the players have re-dedicated themselves because it is an incentive for them to know how difficult life is for Sal, to see how much he suffers,” McCartney said. “They have more of a resolve and are less prone to complain about their own circumstances.”

When Aunese showed up for a few minutes at the team’s practice last week, it was the first time he had been with his teammates since last spring. But he became too emotional to talk, said McCartney, so he just told them to return to work.

Aunese has declined to discuss his illness with reporters. But its devastating impact on his friends and colleagues is revealed through their thoughts and words about the young man fighting for his life.

“I don’t think there’s an hour that goes by that Sal’s not in my mind,” said Dave Burton, the Buffaloes’ trainer. “His illness is a poignant and meaningful event to all of us. These guys become like part of your family. There was already a great deal of unity inherent in the team. Sal’s situation has united that feeling of family.”

Burton said he and his wife have taken their three children, ages 7, 5 and 3, to the hospital to visit Aunese, and the kids now write letters and make get-well cards for him.

“This has been emotionally depressing,” Burton said. “Everybody on the team considers Sal their best friend. He was the team leader. He never walked into our training room (when) he wasn’t singing. He is well loved.”

Wayne Gersoff, the team physician and head of the Sports-Medicine Department at the Health Sciences Center hospital, had never been involved in a case such as Aunese’s.

“It’s been hard for everybody,” said Gersoff, who talks to Aunese almost daily. “One minute he was sitting on top of the world and the next he was knocked out. Seeing him stricken down like this has had an impact on his teammates, who say ‘Hey, this could be me.’ ”

Describing the cancer as “very rare in people Sal’s age,” Gersoff said his patient is “hanging in there.”

“He hasn’t lost his smiling personality. It would have been so easy for him to turn into an angry young man, but he isn’t. It’s admirable to see someone who could so easily give up. But he doesn’t. He just keeps on going, looking forward.”

Aunese has told his teammates he wants to be with them Oct. 28 for Colorado’s game against Oklahoma. The Buffaloes almost beat the Sooners last season, losing 17-14.

“He’s a special person to all of us,” wide receiver Jeff Campbell said. “He’s the epitome of inspiration. If you know Sal, you know that he’ll be there.”