San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
More than great all-around athlete
Sez Me … Sports gurus will grapple with this trivia question, Greco-roman it in their noggins, and not get the answer.
Name the athlete who did this?
Never played organized football until his junior year in college and after a few months in pads set a then-ncaa record with 11 catches for 363 yards and four scores in one game. Played in the NFL and CFL. Played in a Rose Bowl victory.
Threw the javelin. Competitively.
Played basketball against Lew Alcindor’s (Kareem Abduljabbar’s) fabled UCLA freshman team.
Qualified for and played golf in the U.S. Open.
Was one of the greatest Over-the-line players in history.
The answer is a bit deceiving, but San Diego’s Tom Nettles, who passed away last week from natural causes, could be a bit deceiving. He also could be walking next to you and suddenly disappear.
He was deceptive that night in 1968, when, as a novice Aztecs receiver played pitch and catch with Dennis Shaw, setting the NCAA record, and pounding Southern Mississippi (which lost to Alabama by 3 the week before). I was there. Southern Miss couldn’t find him with a satellite, and Don Coryell took full advantage.
The Rose Bowl? In 1969 the Aztecs beat Boston U. in the Pasadena Bowl, which was played in the Rose Bowl.
UCLA? Tommy, nicknamed “Skippy,” threw the javelin at City College after graduating from Hoover High. and also played basketball. City played the Bruins’ frosh that year, and Tom’s assignment was to guard Tommy Curtis, an absolute rocket. How’d he do? Years later, Tom told me: “I’m still looking for him.”
The U.S. Open? He was a terrific golfer and qualified for the 1975 Open at Medina. He didn’t make the cut. But he did years later as a commentator for the Golf Channel, where he worked following stints as a sports TV anchor here, San Francisco and L.A.
I rank Tom up there with Buzzie Bavasi among the great storytellers I’ve known.
He’s a rookie lounging in his dorm room at the Chiefs’ training camp when Hall of Famer Len Dawson walks into his room. “He wanders over to my dresser and picks up a pile of my mail. One of the letters was addressed to Skippy Nettles. He puts it down, and leaves the room without saying a word.
“We’re in the huddle during the first exhibition game and Len’s in there rubbing his hands together, giving us the play. Suddenly, he points to me and says: ‘That’s a reverse to you … Skippy.’ ”
Whip smart, Tommy. He also served as president of the Breitbard Hall of Champions. And I’m still ticked at not getting a straight answer as to why he hasn’t been inducted into the Hall.
San Diego has known few greater all-around athletes, and Tom hails from one of our greater athletic families, up there with the Powells (Charlie, Art and Jerry). Tom’s big brother, John, was an ALL-CIF receiver at
Saints. His first cousins were MLB’S Graig and Jim.
I can talk about Tommy all day, but I’ll leave you with this.
Once a week during the season, Coryell, who could be playing the Yuma High Criminals and sing their praises, would bring a player to the Sportswriters-sportscasters luncheon. One day he made the mistake of bringing Tom.
I can’t recall the school State was playing (but surely pounding) that weekend, but one of the writers asked him about his opponent’s defensive backs. Said Tom: “They’re a bunch of stiffs.”
Needless to say, Coryell nearly passed out. Tommy got an earful on the way back to campus, but with Coryell driving, he was more concerned for his life than anything coach could say.
Tommy was right about his opponent. He was right a lot.
He was a friend. He was a help. He was one of those onesof-a-kind.
Tommy Nettles was a Renaissance Man. …
There haven’t been many great decisions made by The NFL Team That Used To Be Here in its history. The best was moving to San Diego from L.A. The worst was moving back to L.A.
Up there is hiring Jim Harbaugh away from Michigan as its latest head coach. He is a program resurrector, as was Marty Schottenheimer, except Jim has done it at every level, and now has a collegiate championship.
The Spanoses have many more bad coaching hires than they have good. Harbaugh may not win a Super Bowl for them — as if they really deserve one — but I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t make them a threat.
No chance he takes the job if Justin Herbert, heretofore under wayward direction, isn’t the quarterback, and Harbaugh is a QB whisperer.
He will need luck, and he isn’t
exactly entering a House of Good Fortune. …
Is Harbaugh a stand-up guy? While coaching at USD, he was arrested on a drunk driving charge and granted me an interview the following day. Opened up. Owned it. Apologized profusely. Not many coaches do that. …
Among the six NFL coaching hires thus far, three have been African American and one has been Mexican American. Is The League taking off its shades? Washington and Seattle to go. …
Could happen: What are the odds of a mother, who’s the wife of a coach, giving birth to two sons who become football coaches, one who wins a collegiate national championship, and another who wins a Super Bowl — in the same season? …
Tom Telesco finally gets a chance to be a real general manager (kinda), getting the job in Vegas. But he’s still going from one dummy corporation to the next. …
On competing today against
Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson says: “I don’t like competing against him at all.” Lamar has to quit quoting Custer on Sitting Bull .…
During the Chiefs-bills game,
Tony Romo said K.C. has one of its best defenses in decades. He then said that D gives up 5 yards per rush. Meaning? It’s not a great defense. …
Josh Allen is on his way to being Jim Kelly. Terrific player, but he’s a clean bathtub. Without ring. …
That man in Green Bay can flat coach football. …
There’s talk Travis Kelce may join his brother in retirement. Why? Genius defensive coordinators keep putting linebackers on him. Besides, Taylor Swift loves the attention. …
Just looking at Luka Doncic, when we were kids choosing sides for a pickup game, he would have been the last guy picked, and hopefully on shirts, not skins. Remarkable (offensive) talent. …
Todd Helton gets voted into the Hall of Fame. The best Padres draft choice they sign. …
Bill Lee: “I can’t get Cubans
out. I can’t get anybody out who has a vowel at the end of their name.” …
RIP, Norman Jewison . If “Moonstruck” were the only film he directed, his body of work would have been great. A wonderful touch. …
Ham & Eggers: Passed by the shores of the Great North India Street Pothole after the recent deluge and ran into a group of Louis Vuitton scouts who told me it’s in consideration as a site for a future America’s Cup. …
Saw a snippet of Steve Garvey’s senatorial debate the other day. The Garv still needs an oar to handle those low and outside pitches. …
Yankees broadcaster Bill White once noticed a few “WWS” on his partner Phil Rizzuto’s scorecard and asked what it meant. “Wasn’t watching.” …
Just realized football players look faster in black pants. No wonder I always looked so slow.