Penalty Assumes Less Importance for Spears in Wake of Oakland Fire

Former El Camino High football player Ricky Spears had a weekend he would probably rather forget.

Spears, a redshirt freshman for Cal, committed a critical penalty in the fourth quarter of the Bears’ 24-17 loss to Washington on Saturday.

With Cal trailing 24-17, it appeared to get the break it needed to tie the third-ranked Huskies.

Washington’s Russell Hairston fumbled a Cal punt after calling for a fair catch. Cal recovered on the Washington 2. But officials ruled that Spears didn’t give Hairston enough room to catch the ball and the ball went back to Washington.

Less than 24 hours later, Saturday’s interference penalty was probably the last thing on Spears’ mind.

His Oakland apartment complex was destroyed by a fire that has claimed 16 lives and caused an estimated $5 billion in damage.

Spears, who lost everything in the blaze, said he saw the fire approaching, but it didn’t concern him at first.

“Five minutes later it was getting real close and everybody was really panicking,” Spears said. “They were taking everything they could, screeching out of the parking lot.

“Three minutes later, the fire was all around the apartment . . . the whole hillside just exploded.”

Spears and his two roommates spent the night in Walnut Creek, 15 miles east of Berkeley at the home of roommate Mark Clizbe’s parents.

Classes were canceled at Cal on Monday and the athletic department also postponed for a day its usual Monday football news conference.

Spears was back in school Tuesday, but he still is without a place to live. Until the university can relocate him, he will sleep on Clizbe’s couch.

Toreros abroad: Two former University of San Diego basketball players have taken their talents overseas.

John Jerome, who set the USD single-season scoring record at 19.3 points a game in 1990, is playing in Holland. Christi English, who led the USD women in scoring last season, is playing in Israel. English is living in a kibbutz in Kilboa, Israel.

Have jumpshot will travel: For the past three summers, former USD forward Nils Madden has lived a basketball junkie’s dream. He has taken a summer vacation from his job as a new product buyer for Hewlett-Packard in Rancho Bernardo to try out for NBA teams.

Madden had a tryout with the Minnesota Timberwolves in 1989, the Phoenix Suns in 1990 and the Clippers this season.

Although Madden has never been close to making any of the teams, he has never embarrassed himself.

“Every time I go for it, I think I can play with some of those guys,” he said. “It’s been a lot of fun.”

Madden spent three days in La Jolla this month banging Charles Smith and Olden Polynice before he decided to give up the dream for another year.

“I asked them for a realistic assessment because I didn’t want to take any more time off work if I wasn’t going anywhere,” said Madden, a 6-foot-8 power forward. “Looking at the team, the Clippers are stacked at forward so the odds were against me. But I think I held my own against those guys.”

Madden played a season in Berlin after graduating from USD in 1987. His rights still belong to the Continental Basketball Assn.’s Rapid City Thrillers, where his former USD teammate Eric Musselman is the coach and general manager.

But Madden said he has no desire to play in the CBA.

“The money’s just not there,” he said. “But I told Eric if they’re ever short a player when they come to Bakersfield, I’d suit up.”

Garrett tops charts: Palomar College’s Jerry Garrett, a former quarterback at Oceanside High, is leading the state junior colleges in receiving with 43 catches for 626 yards and seven touchdowns. Garrett caught seven passes for 59 yards in Palomar’s 28-21 victory over previously undefeated Golden West Saturday.

Palomar (5-1) is ranked 10th in the nation and seventh in the state.

Gibson goes for back-to-back titles: With her five-goal, three-assist performance Friday in Palomar College’s 13-1 women’s soccer victory over Long Beach City College, Allison Gibson took over the state scoring lead. Gibson, a former All-CIF soccer player at Poway High, has 28 points (17 goals and 11 assists) with seven games remaining in her season.

She topped all scorers last year with 18 goals and 10 assists.