SPOTLIGHT : Craig Hartley Occidental

Football Running back

Senior 6-foot, 185 pounds

Craig Hartley, who hopes to become a podiatrist some day, used some fancy footwork to gain 228 yards in his debut at tailback Saturday for Occidental College.

A converted defensive back, Hartley carried 39 times, although he barely made it to the field. “I started off breathing so hard, I couldn’t catch my breath because I was so excited,” Hartley said. “I was gasping because I had gotten myself so worked up.”

The reaction was understandable. For three years Hartley has been a starter at defensive back. But when Brian Madlangbayan--who was filling in for starting tailback Gary Little--went out with a sprained neck, Hartley was called in against La Verne, which Occidental defeated, 38-27.

Hartley, a history major who plans to follow his father into podiatry, got word he would be starting at tailback only three days before the game. He had been a part-time running back at McCullough High in Woodlands, Tex., located an hour north of Houston in the heart of oil country.

In Woodlands, Occidental is the name of a petroleum company, not a college. Whatever, Hartley proved to be a slippery fellow against La Verne.