Fullerton’s Hong Has His Eye on the Prize

David Hong doesn’t have the luxury of playing football only for fun, like many of his Fullerton College teammates.

Hong, a sophomore guard, is focused on getting a scholarship to help ensure he can stay in the country to complete his education.

“There’s a lot of pressure,” said Hong, 20, who was a second-team All-Mission Conference guard last season. “No matter what, I have to get a scholarship.”

The reason for the scholarship is that it would provide an education he couldn’t otherwise afford.

His family came to the United States from South Korea in the spring of 1993 looking for a better education for Hong, an only child.

But as a citizen of South Korea, Hong must serve 2 1/2 years in the military.

Hong knows the importance of fulfilling that requirement--his father was a South Korean marine for 20 years--but he just wants to do it after he completes his college education.

He plans to major in sports medicine, partly because it interests him and partly because it will be something new he can take back to South Korea.

Although it is early in the recruiting process, Hong is getting serious interest from Tulsa and Utah, which also wanted him when he was a senior at Santa Fe Springs Santa Fe High.

Not bad for a guy who spoke no English and had never seen a football when he came to this country. He never took any English as a Second Language classes and struggled at first.

He arrived in high school and took up wrestling. He was a solid athlete and also benefited academically from the support of his coaches and friends.

He started to play football as a junior at the encouragement of his wrestling coaches and took to the game quickly.

Through it all, he worked hard and did well in his classes too. He was the Del Rio League’s offensive lineman of the year as a senior, but he didn’t score high enough on the SAT to be eligible to attend Utah.

He considered several community colleges but selected Fullerton because he was impressed with the way Coach Gene Murphy cared about his players.

Hong was a solid performer last season but was bothered by a painful shoulder problem that carried over to the first week of this season. The discomfort made him consider quitting football.

“I didn’t know if I made the right choice,” Hong said, “but I decided if I played a little harder, I would be able to get a good opportunity to go on.”

Hong considers the Fullerton campus, where he arrives early each day for classes, a second home. He uses breaks to do homework and work out. He still has some language difficulties but is on track to complete his two-year degree in 1 1/2 years, thanks to his determination.

That same determination has helped Hong, who is 6 feet 2, lose 15 pounds to get down to 270 this season while increasing his bench press to 435 pounds.

“He’s the best-kept secret in football I’ve every been around,” Murphy said. “He just keeps getting better with each game he plays.

“His work ethic and tenacity are unbelievable. There are those special guys that you want everything good to happen to, and he is one of them.”

THIS WEEK IN FOOTBALL

Santa Ana (2-2) takes its two-game winning streak to Long Beach for a Mission Conference game at 7 tonight. Long Beach (3-1) is ranked 22nd in the J.C. Grid-Wire’s national poll.

Fullerton’s streak of 144 games without being shut out ended in a 33-0 loss to Cerritos last week. The Hornets (1-3) are at Pasadena (3-1), Orange Coast (2-2) is at Riverside (0-4) and Saddleback (2-2) is at Cerritos (3-1) in other 7 p.m. games.

Golden West (0-4) hosts Mt. San Antonio (2-2) at 1 at Orange Coast College.