Farmer Has Big Plans for UCLA Volleyball

Danny Farmer’s eyes sparkled as he admired his father’s NCAA championship ring.

“Daddy, where did you get that ring?” Farmer asked his father, George, a member of UCLA’s 1970 NCAA championship basketball team.

“It took a lot of hard work,” said George Farmer, who played football, basketball and ran track at UCLA.

Farmer played seven seasons in the NFL as a wide receiver with the Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions.

“Dad, one day I’m going to get a ring just like yours,” Danny said.

Danny Farmer finally got his ring in 1996, helping the Bruins to the NCAA volleyball championship.

“My dad’s ring got stolen,” Farmer said. “It’s something that we’ve been trying to get back. My dad isn’t cocky. He isn’t one to brag about anything. He’d never really tell you that he played and was a big [star] here.”

Farmer has become a big star for the Bruins’ No. 1-ranked volleyball team, which hopes to reach the NCAA championship match for the sixth consecutive season. The Bruins have won 16 championships, including three titles in the last five years.

Farmer, a 6-foot-4, 200-pound junior middle blocker, had five kills, five blocks, two digs and an ace as the Bruins lost to Stanford in the 1997 NCAA final.

“I’m probably the shortest middle blocker in the NCAA,” Farmer said. “But I make up for it with quickness and reading setters.”

Farmer, whose fraternal twin, Tim, is a starting outside hitter at Loyola Marymount, leads the Bruins into the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament semifinals against Long Beach State on Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion.

The Bruins (25-3) face the fourth-seeded 49ers (22-6) at 7:30 p.m. Second-seeded Pepperdine (20-4) faces No. 3 Hawaii (22-6) at 5 p.m. The winners meet Saturday with the champion receiving an automatic NCAA bid.

The Farmers were pushed into volleyball by their mother, Christy.

“We were big baseball fans, but we didn’t have a baseball team so my mom kind of forced us to play volleyball in the seventh grade,” Tim said.

After playing together at Loyola High, the twins went their separate ways in college. Loyola Marymount hasn’t beaten UCLA in the last three years.

“I’m very happy for Danny,” Tim said. “I chose to go to a school that wasn’t as successful. We talk every day and try to help each other out.”

Danny Farmer was intent on attending UCLA.

“I didn’t look into going to Loyola because I wanted to play both sports and Loyola doesn’t have a football team,” Farmer said. “He wanted to go to a school where he could start all four years.

“I think it’s been good for us. We talk every day and I think we’ve become even closer than if we went to the same school.”

Danny is as versatile as his father and his uncle, Dave, a former USC running back who went on to play in the NFL for Atlanta and Tampa Bay.

Danny became the first freshman to lead the Bruins in receiving, catching 31 passes for 524 yards and a team-best four touchdowns in 1996.

Perhaps UCLA’s most dependable receiver, Farmer caught 23 passes for first downs as a redshirt freshman.

Farmer, who came to UCLA without a scholarship, rejecting a football offer from California because the Golden Bears don’t have a volleyball team, made a big splash in his first game, catching five passes for 115 yards in the 1996 season-opening 35-20 loss at Tennessee. He scored on an 88-yard pass play.

UCLA’s second-leading receiver last season, Farmer caught 37 passes for 609 yards and three touchdowns.

Farmer’s quickness and leaping ability enable him to beat defensive backs on the football field and make kills in volleyball.

“A lot of it has to do with mental toughness,” Farmer said. “I’ve been taught that if you give it your all, then things will work out.”

Although they’re not identical twins, people still get them mixed up.

“People that don’t know us that well will come up to me and tell me that I had a good football season,” Tim said. “I just say ‘Thanks’ and don’t tell them that they’re talking to the wrong one.”