UC Irvine’s Field of Dreams : Audition: About 260 pro-football hopefuls performed for scouts from the NFL, Canadian Football League and Arena Football. For some, this was the last opportunity to make a play for the big time.

Bob Frasco was a big man on the El Modena High School campus in 1978.

Frasco took over as the Vanguards’ starting quarterback after the fourth game. The team then won 10 straight and the CIF Southern Conference championship.

On Saturday, Frasco was just another face in the crowd.

The 28-year-old was among approximately 260 pro-football hopefuls, some coming from as far away as Florida and Georgia, performing for scouts from the NFL, Canadian Football League and Arena Football. They turned fields at UC Irvine into fields of dreams. The players ranged in age from the early 20s to 35-year-old Frederick Warde Brand III.

Brand’s resume mentioned his graduation from George Washington University Medical School in 1989 and his desire to play tight end, but added that he also could play quarterback, guard, linebacker and strong safety, and was “an animal on special teams.”

Welcome to the seventh annual Nationwide Professional Football Search, light years away from the pro football played at Anaheim Stadium.

The biggest difference here was that, instead of being paid to play, in nearly all cases, the aspirants had to pay to play, or have an agent pick up the $75 fee assessed by the Laguna Niguel-based Nationwide Professional Football Search to cover field, staff, equipment and insurance costs. Another tryout will be held next weekend at Cal State Fullerton.

For some, the $75 was just the start of the total costs.

University of Minnesota teammates Brent Herbel, J.J. Lennon and Shane Strain flew to the Southland on Saturday from Minneapolis and expect the weekend here to cost them $1,000 each.

The trio attended the camp after being told about it by their agent, Alan Reid.

“This is one of the few opportunities I’ll have to show myself to pro scouts,” said Herbel, the Gophers’ punter the past four seasons and a second-team All-Big 10 selection in 1988. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime shot.”

Saturday could have been the final punt in Herbel’s life. He said if he is not invited to an NFL training camp this summer, he will enter medical school at the University of North Dakota in September.

While Herbel’s pro-football dream could end this weekend, it is a continuing quest for Frasco.

Frasco attended the tryout at the request of the Canadian Football League’s British Columbia Lions and was exempted from paying the $75 fee. This is Frasco’s fifth attempt to land a job in professional football.

If all had gone as planned in Frasco’s last attempt to make a pro-football roster, he would be in Europe now, quarterbacking a team in the International League of American Football, an eight-team circuit scheduled to begin play April 14.

Although Frasco made the team, the ILAF suspended operations for this season after it was unable to get playing dates in stadiums in Italy because of soccer’s World Cup and lack of work permits for players.

“That was a big disappointment,” Frasco said. “I organized everything around that. I sold my car and didn’t get a job because I thought I’d be in Europe for six months.”

Not only is Frasco’s life affected by his dream, it also dominates the life of his fiancee, Diane Davis.

“Our whole lives are run by it--where we live and how we live. Growing up with football, I can understand how players can’t let go,” said Davis, whose father, Bill Davis, was an NFL executive.

The ILAF suspension was the latest setback for Frasco, who was cut by the Raiders during training camp in 1985. During the 1987 players’ strike, he signed but didn’t play for the Rams replacement team. Undaunted, Frasco is still trying.

“My whole life, I’ve been trying to make it in pro ball,” Frasco said. “It would be a different story if I didn’t think I could play. I still think I can play, and I am not going to give up until I wake up in the morning and that feeling’s not there anymore.”

Frasco also will attend next weekend’s audition, at Cal State Fullerton, in the hopes of being signed by the Lions.

“If I could go up there and play for two or three years, I’d be satisfied,” said Frasco, who played for Italy’s Legnano Frogs the past three seasons.

“I could end my career on a happy note,” he said. “I understand that one in a million makes it in the NFL, but it doesn’t have to be the NFL for me.”

Tim Leedom, president of Nationwide Professional Football Search, said Saturday’s turnout was the largest of the five camps his firm has held at UCI. He estimates between 15 and 20 players will be signed by pro teams.