ROGER CARLSON
The Orange County Chapter of the National Football Foundation and
College Hall of Fame has always been a favorite of mine, for a number
of reasons.
First, of course, are the individuals who make up this body.
Secondly, a pretty amazing display of their love for the game.
Monday night at the Anaheim Convention Center they put on their
34th annual Scholar Athlete Awards Dinner with a record number of
honored athletes.
What began in 1970 with seven standouts from around Orange County,
has now ballooned into a massive array of 54 honorees, all with a
minimum of a 3.3 grade point average and first-team all-league
laurels. And, even with those credentials, selection is not
automatic.
Ten of them were 4.0 or better and one of them boasted of a 4.7.
They dressed their honorees up in tuxedos and toasted them in the
best of style.
The guest speaker was former USC All-American and Kansas City
Chiefs standout Brad Budde, whose own son, Beau, was in the mix a
year ago.
In 1979, Budde was a unanimous selection for All-American honors,
and won the Lombardi Trophy as the nation's No. 1 lineman for the
national champion Trojans.
He recalled a scene just two years earlier when as a sophomore at
USC, his opponent across the line was named the conference's lineman
of the week for an outstanding effort and the reaction on the
practice field the following Monday by his line coach, Marv Goux.
Goux, one of the game's great coaches and known for an abrasive
and very noisy style, got into Budde's face without mercy. No one
could do it better. The result: Two years later Budde was a
first-round selection in the NFL draft with the Lombardi Trophy under
his arm.
Budde's topic was "Why are you here and they are not?" and it was
a moving description of his own experiences, revolving around the
topics of the "savage [within], the ability to change and to
produce."
I want to tell you more about Brad Budde, but today we'll stick
with the event, which is one of the genuine acts of the love of the
game and the hopes and challenges which await these 54 seniors.
Twenty of them received scholarships of $1,000 each. All of them
were recognized for their achievements and potential.
Among the major players were Orange County Chapter President Ken
Purcell, master of ceremonies Paul Salata (who else?) and Dick
Whitney.
Salata, who claimed to be a "Serbian Prince" at one time during
his stint, had the 54 honorees virtually agape, or agog, in the early
