1997: A Year in Quotes
“I’m pretty fired up about finally getting to meet the so-called man.”
--Oxnard High’s Desmond Davis on playing against Notre Dame’s Justin Fargas
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“He’s a great player and he showed me he can really run.”
--Desmond Davis after Notre Dame’s Justin Fargas rushed for 239 yards and five touchdowns against Oxnard
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“Because I’m twice as good.”
--Taft High running back Marquis Brignac on why he switched his uniform number from 12 to 24
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“For me money has never been an issue. I took a pay cut when I came here. It was being close to my family, being at a place that I felt I could build something at a place some people didn’t think it could be done.”
--Cal State Northridge men’s basketball Coach Bobby Braswell, after signing a new contract and pulling out of running for Oregon job
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“Ryan is fixing to go from a Chevy to a Cadillac in terms of what he’s playing against.”
--Jeff McInerney, USC’s defensive line coach, on Royal High’s Ryan Nielsen, a top recruit.
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“She’s like one of those old Pac Man video games. She just dives in there and gobbles up the hurdles.”
--Taft track Coach Mel Hein on Frances Santin
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“If I were asked which I’d like to win, the California lottery or become the head coach at Ventura, I’d say I got what I wanted.”
--James Keating Jr., Shasta College men’s basketball coach upon accepting the same job at Ventura College
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“‘There was not a 100% consensus that we wanted to move.”
--James Keating Jr., who never showed up for his new Ventura College job because his wife and children did not want to leave the Redding area
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“It’s like a movie script, but this time the good guys didn’t win.”
--Ventura College men’s basketball player Exavien Browder regarding program being suspended for one season
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“I feel like they stuck a dagger in my heart and cut off my head.”
--Ventura College men’s basketball player Danny Herrera, a freshman forward from Santa Paula, after administrators suspended the program for one season
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“It breaks my heart. It’s been such a terrific program. I saw its early growth and of course it’s gone way beyond that. The baseball I learned at Northridge is one of the qualities that allowed me to move on and work as an Angel announcer.”
--Dick Enberg, NBC sportscaster and former assistant coach and professor at Northridge
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“There will be nothing sent out publicly in writing, no conclusions drawn and no announcement made without my physical presence at Cal State Northridge. I am as much a part of this as anyone. But I need my own well being.”
--Ron Kopita, CSUN vice president of student affairs, regarding why he had gone fishing instead of staying on campus to resolve athletic department crisis
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“I wish never to make another decision that would subject us to such assault.”
--Blenda J. Wilson, Cal State Northridge president regarding the decision to cut four men’s sports to meet gender-quity and budgetary requirements
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“I’m not thinking about (Oscar De La Hoya). I’ve just got to worry about what Fernando Vargas has got to do.”
--Boxer Fernando Vargas in same interview where he claimed Pernell Whitaker won a world championship match from De La Hoya, who was given a unanimous decision by judges.
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“Blenda Wilson said at one point that athletics is the front porch of the university. I guess now it’s not even the back porch. It’s the outhouse.”
--Bill Kernen, former Cal State Northridge baseball coach who is now a playwright