Studying Under Professor Walsh : Senior Years of Stanford’s Redell, Lasley Enriched by Arrival of Legendary Coach

Each day for two weeks, Bill Walsh had gathered the 80 or so Stanford football players around him on the practice field. And when he spoke, Walsh saw 160 very wide eyes, lids straining to let in even more of the divine light.

“We were definitely in awe of the man,” said former Crespi High quarterback Ron Redell, now a Stanford defensive back. “Awe-struck would describe it.”

So Walsh, who guided the San Francisco 49ers to three Super Bowl championships and built an aura unsurpassed by contemporary football coaches, decided to break the tension.

He told a joke.

No one laughed. Not a single grin appeared on a single one of the 80 young faces.

Hey, they say the man is a genius.

They say he’s football’s Einstein.

No one ever said he was Jay Leno.

“It was really awkward,” Redell said. “No one was sure whether to laugh or not. I guess we couldn’t imagine laughing at Bill Walsh.”

So Walsh, ever the teacher, helped these young men through that awkward moment. He told his players to laugh. That it was OK.

And so, they all laughed. Big, loud, chest-vibrating howls of laughter.

“Then,” Redell said, “we all relaxed. He’s really a down-to-earth guy.”

But still, Walsh sensed tension between him and his players. So he went one step further.

“He told us to just call him Bill ,” Redell said.

And now, months after their first meeting, the toughened Cardinal football players swarm around their buddy-coach each afternoon with a hearty guffaw, a skin-reddening slap on his famous back and loud greetings such as “Yo, Billy . My main man!”

Sure.

“So far, no one has called him Bill,” Redell said. “We all call him Coach. Or Coach Walsh. I know I could never, ever call the man Bill.”

You get the feeling, though, that behind his back, when they are sure he’s far, far out of audio range, these young, vibrant and sometimes mischievous young men likely refer to him with other words. Like sir. And mister.

Well, at least Walsh tried. He attempted to dispel the mystique. He made the effort. He simply drove his own car onto the Stanford campus last spring after becoming the most famous coach in the school’s history.

According to some TV commentators who try at every opportunity to slap the genius label and oh, so much more, onto Walsh’s forehead, if Walsh had wanted to make a big first impression, he could have walked across San Francisco Bay and levitated over the campus.

But nooooo. . . .

“I was nervous at first, just with the idea of meeting the man. I was in awe of him like everyone else,” said J.J. Lasley, a teammate of Redell’s at Crespi and now a Stanford running back. “But after a few weeks he loosened up and we did too. Now I have a pretty good relationship with him.

“He and I talk about things other than football. We talk about school and about everyday things.”

Redell, Lasley and their friend Bill will take on UCLA on Saturday at the Rose Bowl in an important Pacific 10 Conference game. Stanford is coming off last Saturday’s shocking victory over Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind.

Redell and Lasley, both seniors, along with the other team veterans, have spent this week reminding themselves of what happened the last time they knocked off Notre Dame, in 1990.

“We came back just jumping up and down,” Redell said. “We were really pumped about that win. Then the next week we lost to USC and then we lost two more in a row after that. So everyone thought the win over Notre Dame that year was a fluke. We won’t let that happen again.

“We’ve got UCLA on Saturday and then Arizona the week after that. Coach Walsh will make sure there’s no letdown.”

Despite Stanford’s emotional win at Notre Dame and the team’s 4-1 record, Redell and Lasley have battled through a somewhat disappointing start.

Lasley is a non-starter, playing behind running back Glyn Milburn. At Crespi, Lasley was a brilliant runner. On the sophomore team he rushed for more than 2,000 yards, and as a senior in 1987 he rushed for 928 yards and scored 14 touchdowns. But lined up in the same backfield was a kid named Russell White, now a Heisman Trophy candidate at California. That season, White rushed for 2,269 yards and scored an astounding 38 touchdowns.

Lasley has found the same shadow at Stanford, this one cast by Milburn.

But Lasley (6 feet, 208 pounds), who hits books even harder than he hits linebackers, has it all in perspective. He graduated from a Crespi honors program with a 4.0 grade-point average and has held down a 3.0-plus GPA with majors in sociology and economics at Stanford. He will graduate in June.

“I haven’t done what I wanted to do here,” he said. “I haven’t had a 1,000-yard season and it looks like I won’t this year, either. Not everything has gone perfectly.

“I want to play in the NFL and firmly believe that I will. I know I can play with those guys. I’ll make it happen. But I am also a realist and I know that maybe it won’t happen. An injury or whatever, and that’s it.

“So as hard as I’ve been striving for the NFL the past four years, I’ve been striving just as hard scholastically. I am, you might say, covering my butt.”

The years, he said, have blasted by since his high school career ended.

“Crespi seems like a long, long time ago,” he said. “Russell and I used to rip off 20 and 30 yards, it seemed, whenever we wanted to. Now, against this level of competition, you fight for five yards.”

Lasley has carried the ball only 25 times this season, 59 fewer times than Milburn, and has gained only 105 yards to Milburn’s 493.

Lasley did score an important touchdown in South Bend last week. His 20-yard reception in the third quarter gave Stanford a 20-16 lead en route to a 33-16 victory. He gained 14 yards in five carries against the Irish and had five receptions for 45 yards.

“I’m not frustrated,” he said. “There is a lot of football left. But even if things don’t work out perfectly for me, every day I get up and remember that I’m getting a full scholarship to Stanford University. Somewhere around $23,000 a year. And I remember that without football, without a scholarship, I wouldn’t be able to afford Pierce College.”

Redell, too, is less than the standout he was in high school. Listed as the sixth defensive back, he is involved in 15 or 20 plays per game, in the five and six-back passing schemes, and also plays on special teams. In parts of four games this year, he has made five tackles, 18th on the team.

But, like Lasley, Redell (6-3, 195) brings no complaints to the table.

“I play in nickel and dime defenses and see plenty of action on special teams,” he said. “I just help the team as much as possible. It’s my last year and I wanted to end it with a bang. I wanted to be one of the starting defensive backs. But it’s a long season.

“Honestly, I wouldn’t change a thing in my football career. Crespi was a terrific time and this is a terrific time. It’s been a great four years here. The education alone makes it all worth it. I lettered in football all four years and I had some great times and I’m getting my degree from Stanford next year. Can’t ask for much more than that.”

Redell, who completed 68.9% of his passes in high school, said he would consider a chance to play pro football, in the NFL or even the Canadian Football League--where his father and former Crespi coach, Bill Redell, played. But he is realistic. Graduate school or law school are more likely bets.

And for all their blessings, there is one final gift. For another three months, both Redell and Lasley get to bask in the light that is Bill Walsh.

“Coach Walsh is incredible, and to be coached by him is an honor,” Lasley said. “I’m lucky I’m here with him. It’s only one year, but one year is better than nothing.”