Memorial services today for Musso

Memorial services for Michael Musso, a wide receiver on Orange Coast

College’s football team, will be held at 10 a.m. today at First

Baptist Church of Fountain Valley.

Musso, 19, died from injuries sustained following a four-car

collision on Beach Boulevard in Huntington Beach Friday.

Musso was thrown from the GTO in which he was a passenger and died

en route to the hospital.

Patrick Nance, a former Fountain Valley High teammate of Musso who

was reportedly driving the car when the collision occurred, is

recovering at Kaiser Hospital in Anaheim.

The initial collision occurred shortly before 11 a.m. when the GTO, headed south on Beach Boulevard in the No. 3 lane, tried to pass

and glanced against a white delivery truck, Huntington Beach Police

Senior Traffic Officer Robert Barr said.

The 1967 GTO, with Nevada license plates, then veered into

northbound traffic and collided with two vehicles.

Both Nance and Musso were ejected from the vehicle.

Barr couldn’t confirm whether Nance and Musso, both Fountain

Valley residents, were wearing seat belts, but said Nevada didn’t

require seat belts in vehicles until 1968.

The investigation is ongoing and Barr said alcohol does not appear

to be involved.

“We’re looking at all aspects of it and I’m keeping an open mind,”

Barr said. “I’m not saying who is at fault [at this time] or anything

else.”

Witnesses to the collision with any information are encouraged to

call Huntington Beach police at (714) 536-5666.

As a freshman last season for the Pirates, Musso, who stood

5-foot-10 and weighed 170 pounds, saw action in six games, catching

two passes for 40 yards with a long of 24.

OCC Coach Mike Taylor was out of town and could not be reached for

comment.

The church is at 17415 Magnolia St.

This is the second death to hit the Coast football community in

the last 15 months.

Craig Zaltosky, a two-time Junior College All-American free safety

for the Pirates in 1970 and ‘71, died at the age of 52 in an

automobile accident in Kona, Hawaii, in May 2004.

Zaltosky, who would later play at Stanford, set OCC records for

interceptions in a game, season and career along with punt returns

and punt returns for touchdowns.