Move to Tailback Fueling Hartley’s Drive

Craig Hartley hails from Woodlands, Tex., about an hour north of Houston in the heart of oil country.

So it was not surprising that, when Hartley announced people in the community that he was going to attend Occidental College, the football-crazed faithful of McCullough High crudely asked, “When did Occidental Petroleum open a university?”

The Occidental name confused even those who knew of Hartley’s intent to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a podiatrist.

“A lot of people said, ‘I thought you wanted to be a foot specialist, not a dentist,’ ” Hartley recalled.

A three-year starter at defensive back for the Occidental football team, Hartley will graduate with a degree in history in the spring, then enter medical school.

On Saturday, in Occidental’s 38-27 victory over La Verne, Hartley demonstrated his ability at running back.

With Brian Madlangbayan out with a sprained neck, Hartley made his first collegiate start at tailback a memorable one, gaining 228 yards in 39 carries as Occidental improved to 2-2 overall and 2-0 in Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play.

“I started off breathing so hard, I couldn’t catch my breath because I was so excited,” Hartley said. “When I came off the field after the first series, I was gasping because I had gotten myself so worked up.”

As a former starting defensive back and part-time tailback at McCullough High, Hartley, 6-foot, 185 pounds, is no stranger to excitement. McCullough competes in Texas’ 5-A Division, for schools with as many as 5,000 students. There he regularly played on artificial turf in stadiums full of 20,000-30,000 fans.

When he came to Occidental, Hartley said he desired only to be in one of Occidental’s starting backfields.

Occidental Coach Dale Widolff gave Hartley a choice in fall practice: Sit and wait your turn behind more experienced tailbacks or fight for a job in the secondary.

Hartley has been a mainstay in the Tigers’ defensive backfield ever since.

“We kind of played around with him at tailback in practice his freshman and sophomore years,” Widolff said. “But last year, we had so many tailbacks, we didn’t think about it for a second.”

Not that Hartley didn’t try to suggest as much to the coaching staff.

Recalls Hartley: “I was standing there near the coach on the sidelines going, ‘You know, if he needs a break. . . . ‘ “

Gary Little didn’t need a break last season when he rushed for a freshman-record 898 yards.

But Little suffered a broken leg in a scrimmage at Santa Barbara City College a week before the Tigers opened the 1990 season.

With Little out for the year, Widolff inserted freshman Madlangbayan into the lineup. Madlangbayan gained 295 yards his first three games before he sprained his neck in the Tigers’ 28-10 loss to Azusa Pacific two weeks ago.

Enter Hartley, who got word that he would start at tailback three days before the La Verne game, just enough time to familiarize himself with about 10 plays.

“There were some points where my open-field running at the beginning was a little shaky,” Hartley said of the La Verne game. “A lot of running is instinct. But when you can work on things like cutting, it comes a little better and smoother.

“As the game progressed, things started coming back and I started to leave guys behind me.”

Hartley and Madlangbayan figure to split time Saturday when Occidental plays host to Trinity University (Tex.).

Occidental, the three-time defending SCIAC champion, then has a bye before resuming conference play Oct. 20 against currently unbeaten Pomona-Pitzer (3-0, 2-0).

Hartley is confident that he’ll leave Occidental with four conference titles, but he has another goal.

Before this season, Hartley focused on becoming a three-sport All-American. Although he is a long shot in football, Hartley has achieved one-third of his goal and is on the verge of completing another.

Hartley became an All-American in track in 1988 when he helped the Tigers’ 4 x 100 relay team to finish fifth in 42.5 seconds at the NCAA Division III nationals.

Last spring, he played wing for Occidental’s rugby club and was selected to a Southern California all-star team that competed in a national tournament.

Should he be selected again for the Griffins--the Southern California All-Stars--Hartley is a good bet to earn All-American recognition.

“I’m one step away,” the budding podiatrist said. “And one step away is not that much.”