Salisbury's number gets call at auction

By: TERRY MONAHAN - Staff Writer | Monday, March 5, 2007 11:12 PM PST ∞

It has been 26 football seasons since Sean Salisbury, a three-sport star, graduated from Orange Glen High.

The former USC, NFL and CFL quarterback will return to Orange Glen on Saturday for the annual Dick Disney Celebrity Auction. Now a studio analyst for ESPN's "NFL Live," Salisbury is donating two spots in his annual Sean Salisbury Golf Classic, June 4 at StoneRidge CC in Poway.

Proceeds from the auction, which begins at 5:30 p.m., go toward the Patriots' athletic program.

But Salisbury is also coming to have his No. 12 football jersey retired. Salisbury is the first Patriot to have a number retired.

Quarterback Evan Perkins, who played in 2005, will be the last Patriot to wear No. 12.

"Whenever I hear about guys having their jerseys retired I think that is so cool,'' Salisbury said from Frisco, Texas, where he lives. "There are games at USC, the Grey Cup and in the NFL that stick out, but my fondest athletic moments are at OG.

"This is as humbling a thing as I've ever experienced. I was very shocked when they called me about it.

"It seems like just yesterday I was at OG.''

Salisbury, an All-CIF selection in football and basketball as a Patriot, has made a name for himself since leaving Orange Glen. He is the No. 7 passer in USC history. In front of the largest crowd ever in Ottawa, he guided the CFL's Winnipeg Blue Bombers past British Columbia for the 1988 Grey Cup title.

He played 10 seasons of professional football before getting a shot on "BattleBots" on Comedy Central, which eventually led him to ESPN, where he's been talking about the NFL the past 10 years.

"I can't believe I'm having my number retired like John Elway, Marcus Allen, Larry Bird or Magic Johnson,'' Salisbury said. "In my own little world, I will always cherish being the first at OG to be honored like this.

"Now I won't have to stand around the table and just listen to guys talk about retiring their jerseys. I can actually sit at the table and get into the discussion.''

Salisbury's only regret is the late Disney, his former coach, and his father, Richard, won't be there. Richard Salisbury is at M.D. Anderson Hospital in Houston preparing for surgery after he was diagnosed with mesothelioma, an aggressive form of cancer, in his right lung.

"I shaved off my hair in honor of my dad,'' Salisbury said. "There's nothing else I can do for him to fight cancer.

"I had to do something so he'd know every day he sees me on TV that I'm thinking about him.''

That includes Saturday night in the old gym.

"I know exactly where the gym is,'' Salisbury said, laughing, "and I won't need a GPS to find it.''

Kevin Brown, the Orange Glen athletic director and the school's boys and girls tennis coach, was two years ahead of Salisbury at Orange Glen.

Brown once hit two home runs off Salisbury in Pony League.

"But he hit me the next time up, so he got the best of me,'' Brown said, joking. "I was out on the football field when I was a senior and some of his teammates taunted Sean that he couldn't throw a football end zone to end zone.

"Well, he got it about 90 yards. I never saw anything he couldn't do.''

Kudos

Cheers to Torrey Pines for reporting an ineligible player on the boys soccer team to the CIF San Diego Section office during the playoffs.

That couldn't have been an easy decision to make.

At Torrey Pines, though, it was an easy call. Because it was the right call.

The clerical error cost the Falcons the Palomar League championship as well as a chance to continue toward the CIF San Diego Section Division I championship game.

But once the mistake was discovered, it was dealt with and the penalty, which turned out to be severe for the Falcons, was accepted.

Teaching how to celebrate the bright moments and how to learn from the dark moments is part of the growing up process. Covering up mistakes and not accepting responsibility is not what schools are supposed to be doing.

Torrey Pines taught the lesson and moved on.

-- Terry Monahan is a staff writer for the North County Times. He can be reached at (760) 739-6648 or tmonahan@nctimes.com.