Born to Lead: The Sal Aunese Story

I think the entire state of Colorado and more than that, the nation has been touched by what's happened in Boulder this past week.

How will they respond to developments of the past week, and the passing of Sal Aunese.

This is going to be an emotional group today.

It's going to be hard to measure how the emotion will affect this CU team.

There's been such an outpouring of affection towards the team and the family of Sal Aunese You would hope that the kids will be able to put the tragedy behind them and come out and play hard.

These guys are in their formative years.

They've never gone through anything like this.

Whoever goes through this kind of experience, Every sports person thought that we were going to lose that game.

They underestimated who we were.

We lived in a really tough neighborhood.

It wasn't a lot of money in our household.

There was seven of us and my mom and dad.

And then we also had like aunts and uncles and cousins who would come from someone and they would stay with us.

There was like 20 people living in our crafts street home.

Back in the days when we were growing up.

It was a three bedroom home.

There was also the garage slash another bedroom and then one bathroom.

Our house was like Grand Central Station.

Sal was the youngest.

He had his older brothers and also the family.

There's a lot of athletes.

So you always aspire to be as good, if not better than them.

It was kind of like a pesky kid.

We always try to help him do his own thing.

My fondest memory from church was him and Junior Seau.

we all grew up with the church together and those two would never play with the kids their age and turn around and say, Here come the two brats again.

It was a great time.

It really was.

Having Gatorade, I was always overweight.

I was a little fat kid back in the day.

You know, they they learned an early age.

You know, you're going to play with the big boys.

Come on here.

You're welcome.

Every day we had something going on, we'd be out there playing every sport that we knew and played cricket.

Didn't know how to play cricket, but we played cricket this freshman year, this Pop Warner season.

He started taking command and he quit following us around.

He was too good for us.

Pop Warner was one of my highlights.

Sixth or seventh grade.

I was able to play football coach before.

Was our coach.

Our running back was Sal Aunese and they put me at quarterback.

You didn't have to do much.

All you had to do is just hand the ball off to Sal, he'll run it -- hand the ball off to Sal, he'll pass it.

I don't know what Junior was thinking.

They called a play and every time Junior would always throw only to Sal.

I remember the coach saying there was other players open.

You see Sal making tackles left or right.

You just try to compete against that.

He had some leadership abilities in him at a very young age.

Not too many 10-11 year old kids stay late and work on their game.

You know, he'd be doing push ups and situps while I be eatin' Pop-Tarts.

Sal was always working to beat that.

He was a measuring stick.

You know, Sal had a mustache.

He looked like a grown man.

They wanted I.D.

checks, birth certificate checks.

Yeah.

When high school came, we all were shooting to beat Sal.

He went to Vista.

I went to Oceanside.

It's the place where Sal Aunese had his start.

Vista High School outside San Diego.

He's the man who gave Aunese his start, football coach Dick Haines.

Coach Haines would go down as probably the greatest high school coach in that area ever.

He brought the program to a different level.

He would spend the spring times up with Coach Osborne.

So anything that Nebraska was doing, coach Haines would do.

He took you to the level as a coach when you didn't think you can go.

He was just a great role model for us.

Coach Haines loved Sal.

He was accessible to a little person, old person, anybody on campus.

And it was never it was never, hey, look at me.

I'm the football star.

It was, hey, I'm -- I'm one of you.

Now, here's my vote for the most exciting player in the [indistinct].

Sal Aunese.

Aunese takes it 85 yards for the touchdown.

Now, while you're watching this, keep in mind that Aunese is a quarterback.

It was just magical to watch him orchestrate things on the field.

I think he is probably the best high school athlete I ever saw.

So he was - he was unreal.

One of the things that you are going to find with our culture is that when you see another Samoan descent person he's already automatically embraced, I move up to Oceanside the summer of '84 without knowing how to speak English.

And at the time, Oceanside, as a high school football team was in that rare - very good.

And so they were hoping that I'd come in and hopefully play and help out with their -- their team at Oceanside.

Okland, you could feel his heart.

You know, he has such a great heart and he was this massive guy.

When I arrived there, the story was, is that Vista and Oceanside are - are rivals, you know, we went to the same churches.

And when you see the same churches on on that Sunday, you know, the Vista parents sat on one side.

Oceanside parents sat on the other.

It was very competitive.

It really was.

And it all was -- it all started because of Sal.

Even the kids on our own team, they never stop talking about how good Vista was.

I've asked our coach, uh, why are they talking about this kid?

He explained to me, oh, this kid is - this year - he's the number one rated option quarterback in the state.

And it's the first time I heard of a Samoan kid playing quarterback.

I was like, wow.

No one could tackle Sal.

I remember their head coach yelling out, he's got Vaseline all over him, we can't tackle him.

Word came in from their sidelines that they wanted a timeout.

The referees come running over to the huddle and start touching his jersey and rubbing his pants.

They came and pulled the socks down and they check under his shirt.

I was like, This is crazy because we know that that wasn't happening.

And they're saying, Coach, he doesn't have any Vaseline on him.

He says, well, why can't my guys tackle him?

You know, that was the top compliment he could have ever received.

Just the first time we defended, you know, won back to back.

And just gonna keep on going 'til next year, and the coming years, too.

We both have the common goals.

My dad wanted me to come up to the states for a better chance of furthering my education and hopefully be good enough to get an athletic scholarship.

It's not until our basketball season came around where I actually meet Sal, and from there our friendship grew.

Growing up, we didn't have anything.

You know, you come over to the house and you leave your shoes at the front door.

When you leave, they might not be there, you know, you know, Sal would just say, man, you know, one of us is going to -- to get the goods.

And so it was almost like this thing like, whoever does it first, let's go ahead and take of the other ones because he was our best chance.

Sal wanted to take care of my parents financially.

That was one of his main goals, and the scholarships were the only way out.

The excitement was just astounding that year.

Any given Friday there would be 15 or 20 college coaches here.

To see people like Tom Osborne and other major college coaches walking around our campus and everyone knew it - they were there for Sal.

Lincoln and Vista win C.I.F.

Crowns, going away.

Vista the three eight Title 35 seven over a Helix.

Here's a look.

Vista fans have plenty to celebrate.

Panthers opened a few eyes with their passing game Sal Aunese 60 yards to Todd Baird.

Seven-nothing Vista.

From there the Panthers don't need the pass.

Aunese puts together what has become a typical night, this 49-yarder is an example.

Aunese runs for 135 yards and two scores.

This gives Vista a 21- nothing halftime lead.

Second half it's more Aunese.

So tough on the option.

This time he goes 35 yards and the Panthers are on their way.

35 - 7 Vista.

The Panthers end the season at 13 and 0 and they win a third C.I.F.

title.

And to win the C.I.F., that's the best you can do for high school.

Coaches everywhere.

Coming over to the house to talk to Sal and my parents.

Who's this guy?

Who's this guy?

I was like, man, I don't know.

There's just too many people coming over here and too many people calling on the phone.

It was a very, very competitive recruiting battle.

It was so crazy that we were just hoping that he would just pick the right college.

Back in the eighties, it was always USC, UCLA, Oklahoma, Nebraska playing for national championship.

I didn't know Carolina have a football team Here I am coming to Colorado as an assistant coach.

Nobody's ever heard of me.

Our facilities were the worst in our conference.

We didn't have any momentum.

We had very little support.

People were frustrated.

Everything was uphill.

I was focused.

I wanted to coach championship teams.

And so when I got here, I said, We're going to build a champion.

We're going to do it the right way, but it's going to take time.

I spent the entire day at Vista High School, babysitting Sal.

He'd go to class.

I'd be waiting for him.

When he got out of class, I'd walk in the class just making sure that after every meeting he had with someone, that he was still coming to Colorado.

Tom Osborne came in while I was there babysitting Sal - just flew in to see him because they'd been recruiting.

When I saw his film, I realized that Sal was a great player.

He was not a good player.

He was a difference maker.

You could even see on film the kind of leadership that he displayed.

You could see how guys would follow, and he just had that sort of whatever it was, he had it, if you know what I mean.

We were looking for guys of substance, character, guys that cared about other people, not just themselves, but Oklahoma and Nebraska were amongst the top five teams in the country year in and year out at that time.

So we set our sights not only on the field.

We tried to beat Nebraska in recruiting.

Coach jobs was like, "Well, so you want to play with a win.

you gotta sign with a winner.

"Magic" Miles calls from California and said, "Coach, the guy we want is right here."

You got to come and help me get him Aunese had a national reputation He was a kid who was recruited outside and inside the state of California, and we just didn't want to take a chance on losing Sal.

Aunese was what you would want in a quarterback, particularly if you're an options team like we were.

He was a rugged kid.

He was smart, he was competitive, he was unselfish.

His teammates loved him.

He threw well enough, but he really could run.

But one thing Sal mentioned to me, he says, I want to build a team.

We convinced him that he could make his own mark.

He was the missing piece to our puzzle.

We started talking and he was throwing little hints about, yeah, he really loves C.U.

They're up and coming.

I said, They're a doormat, dude.

What do you mean?

Up and coming?

I said, Nebraska's just running things, man - here on TV almost every Saturday.

Sal was a natural leader.

He knew where he wanted to go.

I trusted him more than I trusted myself.

Whichever school that he wanted to go to.

Want to say, I'll go with you at that school and that Colorado, we felt like the door's open.

We could come in and compete right away.

But it just felt like it was we're walking into another family.

I get a call and then, you know, it's Sal and he said, hey you know, I'm a Buff and I go, man, you know, you're heading to college.

You have to actually be humble and he goes, what are you talking about?

I go, I know you're buff.

I know you're working out.

Come on - goes no, man, I'm A Buff.

I'm a Colorado buffalo.

And I hung up - you know I just thought he was joking 'cause like Colorado Buffaloes.

What?

Where is that?

You know, I know it's in Colorado, but where's the college?

Who - who goes there?

For incoming freshmen hoping to play sports at major colleges, New eligibility rules have just gone into effect.

To play team sports, entering freshmen must now have a total of 700 points out of 1600 on college entrance exams.

Athletes with lower scores may enter the colleges, but may not play or even practice until they earn a C average for one year.

We signed in February and sometime in June or July I knew that I was Prop48 and that I wasn't going to be able to play.

So are all these other young players.

Sidelined by Proposition 48, a new rule of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

We were the top of the recruiting class and I was devastated.

Any kid that goes away to school, he's just a freshman and he can't play with the team?

He's just got to concentrate on the books?

That's hard.

It's about time, real frankly.

We've been admitting students in the college that are not capable of doing the kind of college work they should be able to do.

Sal had a photographic memory.

You can't tell me that he couldn't compete in the classroom because he was.

But the new rule has opponents because it seems to discriminate against inner city kids who score lower on college aptitude tests.

It had nothing to do with his grades.

It was the testing; the SAT testing.

You know, I didn't really want to get caught up in the whole racially biased thing about the SATs.

And I was a 3.5 GPA, and it was embarrassing because now people were lookin' at me like, oh, that's just a dumb jock.

White folk sitting behind a desk trying to decide what's best for minorities.

They made that decision.

Minorities would never have made that decision.

They knew that's not a smart strategy.

They couldn't work out with the team and eat with us.

They were like pretty much just ostracized, just outcast.

But what - what Sal was most disappointing about - that he felt that he let his family down.

He was upset that he was Prop48, but he wasn't going to let it slow him down.

Man, we sat down, me and Sal, he sort of asked me all kinds of questions.

I say, you're okay... Well, as long as you're here, you know, I won't be able to make it over here by myself.

Sal walks up - him and Okland walk up together, actually, he was like, explain again, when are we gonna start working out?

I'm just like...just got here... let me enjoy Boulder first.

And he said, Well, we got to start working out.

We've got to get ready.

We got to get ready.

Quarterbacks have the ability to look beyond their own assignments.

Quarterback has to coordinate ten other guys.

He sees the big picture.

So off the field they think like that too.

We kept our own schedule.

Every single day you know me and Sal and Okland we met in that weight room.

We did our program, we did what we had to do in running, we hit those bleachers.

Even while they were out there practicing, we were up on the stands.

We were doing everything that we needed to do to be successful.

Sal was the one that led me into, you know, you know, just don't be discouraged.

You know, just hold onto your dreams and continue to work hard in school.

I almost didn't even want to go to the first football game that we had at home.

And here comes Sal, knocking on the door.

Come on, we're going to breakfast.

We're going to go do this.

We're going to do that.

We're going to show up.

We're going to be there when the team come out and we're going to cheer these guys on.

He was a great encouragement to JJ and Okland.

This is just a moment in time.

Our time is coming and we're going to make our mark here.

A player going through fall practice and the season usually doesn't get a chance to interact with the rest of the university.

Sal was really well respected, especially in his dorm because everybody got to know him.

It was through Sal that I met Tim.

Sal looked out for Oak -- 'cause Oak doesn't talk much.

I was kinda shy, you know, due to the fact that I really speak English that much.

We only communicated through him a lot of times through Sal.

We would say something to Okland and, you know, Sal would talk to him, you know, Okland would respond back.

Of course, it got better over the years by time we were seniors.

We were the originals.

Oak, Sal...Kristy and myself.

So we did a lot of things together.

We went bowling, we went to movies, listened to music, just hung out, watch TV, things like that.

We became real close.

Sal was an outgoing person.

He would say to - "hi" to everybody.

We used to have parties in our dorm room so Kristy's down the hall, and then the girls would come over, And Sal would ask people, What's your Social Security number?

What's your birthday?

What's your home address?

What's your home phone number?

About an hour later -- Sal would get on the table and just start spitting out the Social Security numbers, phone numbers, this, that he should have been a math major.

That's what he should have been.

So I was funny.

He's like a jokester, you know, always laugh and giggling.

Just being around him was like contagious.

I was genuinely drawn to him and he had that way about him.

And I think anyone who met him felt that way.

Jeff Campbell, he's a little bitty white boy, like 140 lbs, no fear.

And just unbelievable fast.

And not only walked onto CU, earned a scholarship, a full scholarship, in one week.

[play-by-play audio] You know it was myself and Sal and Okland that sat on the sidelines and watched this kid.

And I guess it was a little a little envious and a little jealous.

J is intimidating.

Didn't say much.

Came with a whole bunch of accolades.

I didn't really know how to approach J. This guy was a walk on.

I was highly recruited.

So I was supposed to be that guy that, you know, that that helped Colorado beat Nebraska.

He stole my spotlight.

I think we all stayed away from each other a little bit.

We didn't come into a situation where they were a real big family as a football team.

It wasn't a team then, until Sal.

Sal was, at the time, the number one option quarterback in the country.

So in the back of my mind, I was thinking well... there's only one quarterback on the field and -- he's not here now but next year he will be.

So I better figure out what position I want to play.

So I switched to defensive back.

Sal was the hope.

We projected Sal to be our quarterback, but he had to earn it.

We weren't going to give it to him.

Whoever the starting quarterback was going to be, they were going to have to beat Sal Aunese out because he was such a fierce competitor.

You know, at that time, Hatcher was a starting quarterback.

And Sal was you know, he was like on his heels.

We were struggling as an offensive team.

[play-by-play audio] Everything that we were doing was below the ground.

You know, there was -- it hadn't sprouted yet and so it was slow.

I just have to believe when no one else does.

People started calling "Sal".

We want Sal.

We want Sal.

Coach Mac and the staff finally decided to put in Sal.

And I remember Sal running over to me - I wished him good luck and then he said to me: watch.

You watch what I'm gonna do.

That was it.

And I took off from there.

[play-by-play audio] [play-by-play audio fades into music] I don't think they really have ever seen that type of quarterback before.

Sal could have pitched that ball Sal could have handed off to that fullback.

But Sal kept it.

Yeah, I'm on the headsets with Jerry DiNardo.

He's upstairs.

He goes, Holy cow, Barney, did you know he's that good?

And I mean, nobody could tackle him.

This kid was a warrior.

This kid was a competitor.

This kid had fire in his eyes, a fire in his belly.

He was fearless [play-by-play audio] That's not an easy thing to do to come into major college football off the bench two or three games into the year and run for 185 yards.

That's a lot of yards.

That's domination.

It was a gate opening for him and for our team.

He clearly demonstrated that not only was he going to be our quarterback, he was going to be one of the great quarterbacks in the country.

When you get a quarterback who's not afraid to get hit, who wants to run the football and can run like he could.

You got yourself something special.

Yeah, Sal was a tough guy.

He wasn't like a Tom Brady type.

He was so tough, he'd fight anybody.

[play-by-play audio] Sal was a quarterback, but he was an offensive lineman by nature.

You know, like his mentality, he was like a smash mouth.

He was a competitive guy, but he wasn't into himself.

He was into the team.

Yeah, there was a team.

We weren't close.

The white players stayed with their own race.

The black players do things on their own.

With Sal's personality, it didn't matter who he was talking to.

You're on the team.

You're my teammate, and you're my brother.

And always smile.

He always smile.

One thing I know about Sal and Oak, when you're friends with them, they will do anything for you.

You are part of their family.

Sal Aunese was at that foundation of birthing something special here in Boulder.

And then immediately the student body then everybody embrace him.

[crowd cheering] When Sal was voted the Big Eight Newcomer of the Year, it wasn't a surprise to us.

Our phone would ring off the hook constantly for interviews with Sal.

Sal wasn't stuck on himself.

Know what I mean?

He didn't tell me, but I went to the supermarket and I saw it.

So I bought all the magazines and I went home and give it to my brothers.

People were screaming, I mean, running around the house outside, just in excitement.

You know with Sal, all the success that came... he never change.

When we win?

They say it was a team effort.

When we lose it was his fault.

We didn't win the conference championship.

We didn't go to bowl that year.

So Sal was not happy because he got an award.

Sal wanted to win championships.

Every time we go to sleep, me and Sal, I would wake up, I looked up in my bunk bed.

He's not there.

I went - get ready for class.

I came back, he's in the room.

I was like, where'd do you go?

Would say - yeah I ended up falling asleep.

You know where everybody was doing it.

So beginning whenever he won't ever tell me where - what he's up to.

We were on a spring break.

He was stuck at school, and I stayed at the dorm, too.

And so we just hung out a lot.

There was an attraction there for sure, and became a little more intimate.

You know, he really told us oh, he's busy.

Kristy.

I said, holy smokes.

That's Coach Mac's daughter.

I don't think he was afraid of my dad, but it just was something we felt like shouldn't be known, you know?

I mean, we liked each other.

We hung out and, you know, I didn't know where it was going to go after that, and neither did he.

I asked him, I say, what are you doing, seeing the coach's daughter?

He say, why?

I can't see the coach's daughter?

What's he gonna do, take me to jail?

I said, okay, Sal.

That will be you to say something like that.

A person's strengths can also be their undoing.

Sal Aunese was very, very competitive, maybe too competitive.

In March of 1988, Aunese stormed a dorm room after a student yelled racial slurs from a window.

These guys that lived above us, you know, they probably said some stuff they shouldn't have said.

Sal say, okay, you wait.

I'm coming up there.

Sal got into words with them.

It was just sort of scaring the kid.

The guy press charges against Sal.

And he end up getting charged.

Aunese wound up in jail and coach McCartney suspended him from spring practice.

You got all these guys depending on you on a football team and you're going to take things in your own hands.

You can't do that even if it's racially motivated.

You want him to rise above the situation.

At the time, only minorities on campus were athletes, so everybody knew that we were on scholarship.

The rest of the student population, they were in high cotton, basically.

They portrayed it like Sal was out of control.

But it wasn't that.

With us, with the Samoan kids, he knew the handcuffs went on not only hurting the team, himself, but also -- the name of his family.

My parents didn't know and I wasn't going to call and tell our parents something like that because it was like, oh, my goodness.

They basically had him like a chain gang type deal.

My opinion, it was to try to humiliate him.

He said the worst thing and an embarrassing thing is when they pat you down, because they knew who he was.

12 days in jail is absurd.

Punishment did not fit the crime.

I never felt like they treated him properly.

Did they overreact because he was a minority?

Maybe.

Yeah.

I'm not saying that doesn't go on in Boulder.

So I think he stepped back and realized the role, the responsibility he has as the most high profile player on the team.

After that incident, there was nothing but forward.

Going to recruit Darian Hagan was a repeat of trying to recruit Sal Aunese.

The chief competition was Nebraska and we already had Aunese.

And I was trying to convince Hagan in his home that we had a guy that was really good and that he would be shaped to take his place some day.

He just said, hey, you come to Colorado, you know, I'll give you a shot to be a starting quarterback.

I had been hearing this stuff about Hagan, about Hagan, about Hagan.

I really didn't like Hagan at first.

I never watch film.

No, not at all.

I bragged a lot.

I was cocky.

I was a riverboat gambler, I would go out and just play ball and play with reckless abandon that would get me in trouble, especially my freshman year.

I don't even think I took him seriously.

You know, the first time we step into the huddle.

So then one day I told Sal, what's up with this Hagan kid?

Because we were going to scrimmage and I said, Sal I'm going to smack that kid in that scrimmage.

Sal said, Timmy, that kid's gonna be good.

You leave him alone.

Don't do nothing to him.

What was his role going to be?

You know, I came in here and I declared that I was going to be star quarterback, self proclaimed.

When we leave, this kid will win national championship.

He knew that Hagan was that good, but I knew it, too, and I fear for Sal's job.

And Sal wasn't worried at the least.

I'm from South Central Los Angeles.

Many people call it the concrete jungle.

The streets pretty much raised a person like myself.

My area was Crips, but if you walk three blocks north, you are in Blood territory, so you constantly had to know exactly where you were and you had to wear certain colors.

If you didn't wear the right colors, you would get beat up, I think every kid that came from the city had a chip on their shoulder.

They always had something to prove.

We were a team on the climb, but we hadn't really demonstrated how competitive we could be.

Iowa started the season ranked number one in the nation.

Their first home game was our first road game.

The temperature that day had to be near 100 degrees.

We get off the plane and the door opens up and it just like humidity just hit us, boom.

When you train at altitude in a place like Boulder, you're not ready for that humidity.

There's nothing that prepares you to go in because you can't hardly get enough air.

We were underdog, I guess, by 14 points.

You know, Iowa has this big tradition of leaving the locker room painted pink.

You know, try to soften you up.

Everything's pink.

I mean, the toilet seats pink, the sinks, everything.

So it kind of ticked us all off.

We came out with a determination.

This is the game that's going to propel us into the national media.

[marching band and crowd noise] That place was crazy.

Over 100,000.

We couldn't even hear himself think.

[play-by-play audio] I remember him coming to the sideline.

He was like, man, it's so hot.

I think Iowa lost three or four players to dehydration in the first half.

We lost three or four.

[Broadcast audio] A little problem with the heat out there.

Not too often you see the water boys take water to the referees and umpires.

It's really hot down there.

It was bad.

At halftime, we were so fatigued you couldn't walk up the stairs.

We had our meetings on the stairs.

Second half, it was a fistfight [play-by-play audio] Back, forth, back, forth.

It was smash-mouth football.

[play-by-play audio] As time started winding down, we're fatigued at that time.

We're down by, I don't know, four or five six points whatever and we're on our own 20 yard line with less than 2 minutes to play.

Sal came in the huddle and we're not saying a word.

We're thinking we lost this game.

Sal, when he's around a bunch of adults would be very low key, soft spoken.

You'd have to pry to get anything out of him.

You put him in a huddle, there's fire in his eyes, he's a completely different person.

Sal comes in the huddle, he looks around going, what's wrong with you guys?

We're gonna go down the field, we're gonna win this game, and then, we're gonna celebrate and we're gonna get on a plane and go back home.

[play-by-play audio] Sal had something that they never had there before.

He could make things happen.

He knew he could.

He had a gift.

He really had a gift.

[play-by-play audio] And sure enough, who's the one to take us down 80 yards?

Who's the one actually get the winning touchdown?

It's Sal Aunese.

And beat the team that started the season ranked the number one team in the nation -- that was big.

That was a springboard.

That's what turned our program around.

Energized the program and all the players that was on that team.

[game announcer] [play-by-play audio] Colorado is the most impressive football team I've seen.

And I say that to this day.

[play-by-play audio] They've made it scary -- when you think about how talented they were.

We could see that we were closing the gap.

We could see that we were becoming very competitive.

And yet we are a very young team.

[play-by-play audio] We knew that it was just a matter of time before we became a national power.

But if people think that it's just a smooth, well-oiled machine, no, The year began with scandal.

A Sports Illustrated article that implied the Colorado lineup was littered with rapists and robbers.

The accusations were not always supported by the facts.

It's terribly unfair and bad journalism, by the way, to lump together different incidents of different natures from different campuses involving different players and put them under one umbrella and say, that's what's going on with college sports.

You know, we had some guys that were doing some foolish things.

And to automatically characterize us as thugs was wrong.

We don't know major stuff going on back then.

It was way out of line and over the top.

But but, you know, you can't dictate to these guys in the media what they do.

Football players at that time was on a short leash with the law.

We have a bunch of kids here from inner city that's dealing with some racial tension in Boulder and not knowing how to handle it.

There's a very fine line of being on the right path.

Take a half step the other way.

You could get in trouble.

They had this thing out event in Boulder every Halloween called the Mall Crawl.

One of the guys just breaks off from the crowd and runs all the way up to my truck and just kicks my door on the driver's side.

We get into a fight.

Police came up and -- and I was trying to explain to them, I don't even know who these people are.

I'm just trying to get out of here to go home.

The exact words that came out of the police officer that was there was, that's it.

Your black ass is going to jail.

We were always being watched.

Campus cop's driving down, he sees a bunch of blacks at this restaurant.

So they get out, they start hitting this guy with batons.

Little did they know that was Derian Hagan.

Players worked to turn around their image.

Listen guys, we can't do this anymore.

It's something that the community doesn't like, the police department doesn't like.

And it's a bad reflection on us.

So we're not going to get in trouble anymore.

Yes, we were having problems, the same kind of problems that we have in society.

But we were we're working hard to correct them.

I thought it was unfair that people blamed him as a undisciplinary coach and that he couldn't handle us because that was far from the truth.

We feared coach Mac when coach Mac walked into a room, it got quiet.

Coach Mac started reaching out to these people, meaning the police chief, the Boulder campus.

So then they start coming to our practices.

They started going on the planes with us.

They got to know us.

All of it stopped.

CJ and I, we would pray to God that Sal wouldn't get hurt so we had to go in.

[laughing] We're playing against Kansas.

This is my first time sharing a field with people other than African-Americans [play-by-play audio] Sal had bruised his ribs, they had took him into the locker room to shoot him up, and then he was gonna come back out.

So I had to at least go in, play for a little bit.

So I'm in the huddle, you know, five white offensive linemen, they all staring at me, looking for direction, and I couldn't get the play outta my mouth.

What do you think happens to a guy when he lines up across from a guy who's bigger, stronger, faster, meaner and tougher than he is?

Where do you go to hide?

There's no place to hide [play-by-play audio] Coach McCartney would call the play and all I had to do is say ready break.

And guys like, this dude from south central LA, in a huddle with these white guys, he can't call it the play.

You draw on your teammates and you learn to take on those kind of challenges.

Still, that's a difficult thing.

There's nothing that life serves up.

That's a laboratory like football is that helps a guy become a man who's been a boy.

All I remember Coach Barnett saying, okay, we have a run to pass, play some wildcat.

And I checked to a high school play [play-by-play audio] It just -- came out.

You see the offensive linemen, they all like turn their heads and looked back at me and then Eric Bieniemy is calling timeout [play-by-play audio] Went off -- Sal run out the locker room, coach Barnett puts him back in and he comes to me, he goes, You just embarrassed yourself, you just embarrassed this university.

He said, go sit your -- down.

I'm like, I didn't want to play anyway.

[play-by-play audio] I couldn't do it.

I just couldn't do it.

It was evening.

We're trying to have dinner, and Sal didn't want to eat.

I knew something was wrong.

So we all walked out of the house following him.

And I said, what's up?

You know what's going on with you?

You don't feel good?

He shook his head.

He said Kristy was pregnant.

I came home.

My parents were sitting next to each other and I just blurted out, I'm pregnant.

And my dad got up and started pacing and the first words out of his mouth were, whose is it?

And I said, you know, it's Sal's.

I don't remember his exact words, but I know he was shocked.

I was totally blindsided by that.

You know, the fact that Kristy McCartney did not tell her father that she was dating the quarterback of his team is an indictment of the father.

At that point, it was just straight fear.

But I know a lot of guys were talking and afraid for him, you know, because he did have to take that long walk upstairs to go talk to coach Mac.

[exhales] Glad it wasn't me.

I held my daughter accountable.

So when I confronted him, I told him very directly, this does not affect your position on team.

Just like it didn't affect Kristy's position in our family.

We still loved her.

I found out about Kristy's pregnancy from Kristy.

I was shocked.

Why the coach's daughter?

Hello?!

I didn't even know that Sal and Kristy were dating.

It was pretty obvious to me that he was not in love with my daughter.

He was not shirking the responsibility of having gotten her pregnant, but he wasn't intending to marry her.

And I know that that hurt, Mac.

I know that hurt him a lot.

Kristy, you know, because of her last name, she had it tough.

My daughter was humiliated.

She was made out to be a public scandal.

They made it appear as if she was giving herself to all the players.

As a father... it just broke my heart.

It does to this moment.

The only reason she was subjected to that kind of notoriety and suspicion is because she was my daughter.

No other girl would have to go through that.

So I could see all that.

And, and really, the truth is, is she liked Sal.

It was a very lonely time for me.

When young men get a disproportionate amount of attention in high school, they have to be corralled.

You have to help them make that adjustment and it's not smooth.

A lot of guys, when you're highly recruited and they've been getting all this press, you know, it goes to your head, you kind of think, okay, well, I just came from high school.

I set all these records, I'm not siting on the bench.

Eric was getting a lot of playing time and I wasn't, and I was bothered by that.

Here we are watching our counterparts and they're talking about Heisman trophies.

We wanted to be a part of that.

There's probably not an NFL scout knew who I was.

Well, it's exciting.

You know, what happened when I got the thousand yards.

Seemed like I got a little too excited and fumbled on the next play.

The locker room was divided.

It was awful in there.

It was a me first attitude that a lot of guys had, including myself.

Everyone wanted to be the star.

We thought that we were the epitome of football.

We hadn't done anything yet.

[broadcast audio] The problem with Colorado is Oklahoma and Nebraska.

Tonight they have Oklahoma, one of the great programs in the history of college football.

They have beaten Colorado 11 straight times.

They have not given up a touchdown in the last three games.

Yet this is a game Bill McCartney is convinced his team will win.

He has spent the last few days very emotionally trying to get his team ready to play.

We went toe-to-toe with Oklahoma.

[play-by-play audio] We gave them the best punch that we could give them.

[play-by-play audio] [broadcast audio] You surprised Colorado's been as good as they have on offense?

Well, they've had the big play, They've big-played us to death and they had a hot hand.

84's got a hot hand.

Sal did a good job.

But I kept thinking, we're way behind, but we're still ahead in the ballgame and now it's tied, so I believe we're winning.

There was an internal turmoil that he had to deal with that -- that he wasn't showing.

When he found out about Kristy it was a heavy weight on his shoulder.

His personal life is getting to him.

[play-by-play audio] That's not something that you can just turn on and off.

Your focus gets shifted a little bit.

I don't care how strong of a person you are, it's just going to happen.

[play-by-play audio] They put us on the ropes and we couldn't get ourself off.

[play-by-play audio] When we lost that game he was the first one to address the media.

He came straight out and told, we lost because of him.

And I know he took every loss that we had hard, all of 'em.

It probably felt worse to him because he felt like his focus was off and it probably was a little bit.

If we had beaten them it would have been an upset.

One day in practice, coach Barnett and I got into it.

And Sal just pulled me aside, and he was like, look, you need to start paying attention.

You need to start doing the little things that cause you're going to be a great player, he said, you're better than me already.

You just don't know it.

And just those words right there brought us closer together and I just start hanging with him more and start emulating him in practice.

We targeted Nebraska.

They were the team we wanted to beat more than any other team.

I made it my my personal vendetta to make sure that when we suited up against Nebraska, they was going to get nothing but the best from me.

We were measuring our program by our ability to compete with Nebraska.

In that game, JJ Flannigan, the fastest guy on the field, breaks into the open to score a touchdown.

He's all by himself.

He drops the football.

Nebraska gets the ball... and they beat us seven to nothing.

You know, we were in shock.

I tried over and over, and over again to figure out why I dropped that ball, you know?

And it all comes back to; I just wasn't there.

That like the final straw of '88 for me.

Nothing was going right and the opportunity I was getting to play was pretty much just scrap plays and I really wasn't contributing to the team.

I just wanted to get out of there and prove to a whole different crowd that I still had it.

I was ready to walk away from the bickering instead of sticking it out.

And that's when it all started coming out that guys were talking about leaving and stuff like that.

I mean, we had a bunch of 'em that were our top guys that wanted out.

You know, coach Mac always stressed the fact that we're a better team than our record shows.

It just got bitter and we sort of lost the point of what we're there for and what we're trying to accomplish as a team.

McCartney didn't want to lose this program that he had built.

He wanted us to be good men.

He didn't just want us to be good football players.

The season was built on highs and lows, but the best thing that happened was that we finished eight three and we knew that we were on the cusp.

So we go down to Anaheim to play in the Freedom Bowl.

Our goal was a lot higher than the Freedom Bowl.

That's a stepping stone.

But I know it meant a lot for Sal to be there, just like the rest of us from Southern California.

This guy was get locked up in jail, called a thug, and he wanted to prove everyone wrong.

He wanted to be the best athlete that he could out there.

The first cousins, second cousins, third cousins, friends, high school people, local people.

They were all going.

[play-by-play audio] I remember sitting on the sideline watching Sal play and going, something's not right.

[play-by-play] There you'll see McCartney a little upset with that play.

Watching him live, you could tell that he was a step slow.

You know, he was trying to be the motivating style that he could, but it was almost a glossy look in his eye, like something wasn't right.

He was tired, he was breathing hard.

[play-by-play audio] So they pull him out of the game.

They put in the backup quarterback.

[broadcast audio] And I see him on the sidelines, and, you know, they're giving him oxygen.

[broadcast audio] I was like, oh, maybe he's just tired, you know... Coach Barnett doesn't want to play me.

Coach Mac, you know, made him play me.

And in my mind, I knew I wasn't ready for that game.

[broadcast announcers] Are you surprised that McCartney is keeping Hagan into the ball game?

The first thing that come to your mind, you know what?

He's punishing Sal.

[broadcast announcers] I am surprised, unless Aunese's hurt that's been their bread and butter all year.

[play-by-play audio] 4th quarter's a very important drive.

Game is tied and we came through it with Sal throughout the whole season.

The offensive line, they're wondering, you know, what's going on.

Turned out to be a dumb play.

[play-by-play audio] You know, I get out there I just stunk the place up.

And then BYU drove it back.

[play-by-play audio] They kicked that winning field goal.

[play-by-play audio] It was probably, at the time the toughest loss that we had ever suffered.

You know, I just felt so bad.

It got to the point where I didn't want to play the quarterback position anymore Because in my opinion, it was just too tough and I didn't want to be that guy that let everybody down.

I went to Coach Barnett and I'm like, I want to be a running back.

And he was like, aw, whatever, come back to spring ball and we'll have a plan.

And I was like, I don't want to think about it.

I want to be a running back.

I'm done with it.

So after the game me and Sal actually rode home together by ourselves.

He goes, man, I sucked tonight and I let our whole family down.

I'm just proud that I got to see you play, you know?

I said, are you okay?

And he goes, yeah, you know, just this nagging cough.

The season itself was a success, but we weren't where we wanted to be.

In 89, we went through winter conditioning with a lot of bickering and we had guys fighting for positions all the time.

Everybody was about to fold under the pressure and Sal stepped up and really started to say no more.

You know what?

Suck it up.

Let's go get back to practice.

Next play.

There was communication that started to happen, and that's when you started to see that bond on the field.

And it was snowing, cold.

You know, all the guys in Southern California would make a mad rush to the training room with tape on our facemask so air couldn't get through, only thing you could see is eyeballs, and Sal would be like, he's at the beach.

Nothing on his arms, probably no socks on, you know, just ready to go to practice.

And I used to always say, but how can you do this?

And he goes, I don't feel it.

We were at home.

He starts coughing, you know, got to the point where he coughs.

It never stop coughing.

We just told him, oh, man, you're coming down with the flu or something.

And even Sal himself, he say, yeah, I think so.

One day in particular Sal doing all the workouts, but never finish it.

That wasn't Sal.

Sal was a finisher.

I would just notice it you know, Sal is constantly throwing up.

And he was puking up blood and I'm like, something ain't right.

A couple of days later, he developed like a ball underneath his like his glands.

That's not a cold.

That's not normal.

[broadcast announcer] When you're 20 years old and on a football scholarship, the biggest battles in life seem to be those played against the Nebraskas and Oklahomas.

But Sal Aunese has a bigger battle looming - against cancer.

Sal has a serious condition where he's developed a rare type of cancer in his stomach.

Never in our wildest imagination did we anticipate something very serious.

They're telling you that it's terminal, it's inoperable, and it's spread.

Everything kinda stopped.

Because he's a young individual and that these people often do respond well to chemotherapy that we'll have some success in battling the cell's cancer.

What are we going to say?

Who's going to talk first?

Who's going to ask question first?

What do you say -- to a kid -- who is your hero?

We got to the hospital, went up and we saw everybody was there.

It was crowded.

Sal sat up from the bed, he's laughing.

He said, man, I'm gonna beat this.

That was the first words that he -- came out of his mouth.

You guys worry about me too much.

I said, that's how it is.

So, it was wonderful to see that outpouring of support from his teammates.

On Monday, Aunese starts chemotherapy treatments here at University Hospital.

After a couple of weeks, he has a choice.

He can stay here in Colorado and continue the treatments or go back to Oceanside, California, go home to continue the treatments.

Aunese says right now, he wants to stay in Colorado close to his teammates.

Whatever we need to do, we're here for you, Sal, and we're going to just go through this together.

We put it all in God's hands, -- pray.

You will never see a small family.

When this happen, they will fall apart.

That's where they come close.

And I think that's -- that's what keeping Sal going.

We were devastated.

No one saw that coming.

I got the call from Mac and I just sit there and I can tell you just, you know, I just couldn't believe it.

And he didn't deal a whole lot with it.

His next statement was, you got to get Darian ready.

Coach Barnett calls me and he's he said, What are you doing?

And I knew if I told him the truth, I would be in trouble.

So I told him I'd just finished working out.

So he told me to sit down.

You need to grow up and be a man.

He said, it's time for you to lead this team.

Sal has six months to live, and I'm like, what!?

Are you kidding me?

They, no, he has six months to live.

You're the guy.

And then from that point on, my life changed.

That first round of treatment, it was like, did you have chemo?

He wasn't feeling sorry for himself.

He didn't want us to feel sorry for him.

So he carried on his life as normal as possible.

You think a kid like that can fight it off.

He fought off everything else.

He'll - he'll win this battle, too.

I know I'm going to beat this with the help of the lord and all the support I've been getting.

You know I'd like to thank everybody for all that.

I appreciate it, and uh I'll be back on the field sooner than most people will think.

...just has probably one of the best attitudes of any person I've ever seen that's had -- that's faced with such a such a serious threat.

I mean, we were up there for a week, with Sal, everything was encouraging.

So heck, we were thinking, wow, Sal is going to beat this.

If anybody can beat it, it is gonna be Sal.

It was a record attendance for any spring alumni CU game.

The magnitude of it, it was beyond what we could have ever imagined.

He came out on that field and it was -- it was emotionally uplifting for everyone, a part of their family at the time.

And they did honor Sal at halftime.

It was beautiful.

It's no surprise to see so many of you, because Sal's been inspired and led others since he was a youngster.

I'd like to thank god for bringing me here today, and he is one who's given me the strength.

I'd like to thank the City of Boulder, the state of Colorado, my teammates here, god bless and see you next year.

The people of Boulder and the CU family were so hospitable and caring and loving towards us.

I looked into Sal's eyes and go, I'm going nowhere.

He would tell you all the time, I love you.

He respect you.

It changed me, you know, for the better.

He was the big brother I never had.

People tell you they love you and believe in you, you do anything for 'em.

All we wanted was him to come back and get in that huddle with us.

We're gonna ride this thing out.

He'll be back in the fall to join us.

And that was an uplifting moment for us.

We got the call from Kristy that she was going into labor.

His mom and sister were in the room with me when I had TC.

Sal was one of the first people to hold him, and he had the biggest smile on his face.

It was just comforting to have him there, even though he had hurt me.

When I saw him hold his son in his hands and just as a part of him, it was resonating.

There was no look of sadness.

It was only he was elated.

He was so happy.

He was like a proud father.

That was his boy We went down to San Diego I seen him after chemotherapy we were at some bar down there.

Something happened.

I look up and Sal's fighting with this guy.

He just come out of chemotherapy.

Despite chemotherapy, he looks the picture of health now.

But people treat him differently.

I think sometimes they don't know what to say, which I can understand in their situation, but I just want them to treat me normal, just like any other person, because I feel I'm not sick.

And if I am, I know I'm going to get better.

In his heart, I could see that he was determined to beat it.

So when he would say that to the press, he lived that even behind the scenes with us.

There was a point where Sal had gained weight back.

And I say, Sal, how you feel?

And he put his arm up.

He said, see you this year.

And all Sal would say stop crying.

I'm gonna be there in the opening.

You know, he's gonna be the quarterback.

No, I'm not.

If I'm 85, 90%, I'm not going to play.

I'm just risking myself, you know, to further injury.

But if I'm 100% and the doctor gives me okay, I'll be out there giving it my best.

I was really, you know, satisfied with letting Sal, you know, play it out.

And then once, you know, I became a junior, you know, I would I would take over.

I never forget the day he came back and he look good.

Sal is gonna beat this thing.

Once the news was out, letters were coming in to the hospital calls and just people just offering to do this, offering to if our family needed anything.

We were overwhelmed.

You know, in regards to, my gosh, why are all these people caring and just coming out?

And, you know, it was wonderful.

It was really wonderful.

It was a different kind of dribbling for the CU basketball Buffs and Lady Buffs.

A benefit car wash at a Texaco station for the Sal Aunese Scholarship and Medical Fund.

A lot of people across the country follow sports know all about Sal, the kind of things that he did for our athletic program or the football team, all the teams up here.

And that's why these kids are out here.

So we really want to support Sal and Sal's family because he he supported us and we just want to show the thanks.

That's right.

Sal supported us a great deal last year and he supported the Lady Buffs, too.

He used to come out to the games and we didn't have a real great season last year, but that didn't matter to Sal.

He was at every game and cheering us on and he liked to ride those officials -- real hard.

We were having prayer and -- the phone rings and I look over at Ruta, and Ruta's letting the phone ring.

She finally picks it up.

The person on the phone on the other end said he would like to speak with Sal, please.

And I said, okay.

And I said, can you please call back?

We're getting ready to pray.

And so the guy says, oh, sure, no problem.

And I could tell from Ruta's face expression that it was someone important.

Then I see her hanging up, so I'm waiting for my dad to end the prayer.

And I ask Ruta, Ruta, who was that?

President Reagan.

They said he'll call back.

And everybody's looking at me like: you hung up on President Reagan?

I said, we're getting ready to pray.

I was like, yeah, Reagan ain't going to call back.

Sure enough, the phone rings again Ruta picks it up and gives it to him.

Sal's face just -- the glow -- that he was so happy.

You know, he's got a whole nation to lead, but, you know, he gave me a call.

Sal would make it out the days that he feels good, he will come out to practice.

I always remember him saying, you know, just keep fighting.

Don't think about him, don't feel sorry for me.

He goes to Darian and said, I'm going to give this to you.

I'm going to be here for you.

I'm going to mentor you.

I was thrust into the situation where I had to play just like him, had to master our offense, just like him.

And if I was going to do that, I had to study, I had to prepare.

You know, coach Barnett and I would meet twice a day, you know, before we had our regular meetings for spring ball.

I would have Sal come in and meet and be in the meetings with our quarterbacks as many times as he could.

Sal was in Hagen's ear every step of the way.

I got to grow up, you know, I've got to be dedicated.

I've got to learn the system.

I couldn't read a defense to save my life and the only way I was going to play, and I got this from Sal, is if you can master reading defenses.

Like prepping your younger brother to eventually take over what Sal was doing.

Sal motivated Hagen more than anyone else.

He realized that he had big shoes to fill.

He had to grow up fast.

Didn't want to let Sal down, and I didn't want to let coach Barnett down.

He continued to give everybody the hope that he was going to beat this thing.

He never once said, I'm losing the battle.

When we went to camp in August, coach Mac was running 3-a-days, and it was tough.

I hadn't seen Sal in three weeks.

Somebody was driving around on a golf cart.

I didn't even recognize Sal.

He was probably 90 pounds, his hair was gone.

He had a breathing tube.

He looked like, you know, he was 89 years old.

He just drove by, I looked at him, he went like that.

It was everything for him to be able to go and see the guys.

It was medicine for him.

He's battling a tougher opponent than we're going to see.

He's uh -- he's uh courageously battling and he isn't giving an inch.

He's tough.

You know, Sal wouldn't want us being depressed And so, you know, we're keeping him in our prayers and praying for him every day.

But we're just going out here, we're thinking about him, and we just want to enjoy it.

We're dedicating the season to him.

And that's when it really hit home, you know.

Sal is actually really, really fighting for his life.

He could have been laying up in the hospital or show up to practice, you know, when it was out there and it was hot, Sal was there, you know, and whether he had to bring his breathing machine and with his oxygen, Sal was there.

It was like, why are we sitting around talking about how tired we are?

We can be out there.

Another play.

Let's get it done.

Let's make this play right, because we have no excuses.

There is no excuses.

So if Sal can deal with it, you know what?

We can deal with a little bit more.

Guys tend to get selfish playing the sport.

You couldn't be selfish and think about Sal at the same time.

If this guy can fight and do the things that he's doing, your ankle injury, your mental makeup or whatever you're going through, it doesn't matter.

And that's just what he resonated.

You know, he was a team guy and you just wanted to be just like him.

It was the opening game of that season is where.

Sal came to practice and he whispered to Hagan, it's your team.

[broadcast announcers] A crowd of 50,000 is here to see Colorado face the Texas Longhorns.

Good evening, everybody.

Mike Patrick along with Jean Washington.

And it's great to have you with us on ESPN for Texas and Colorado.

Colorado has dedicated its season to their ill quarterback, Sal Aunese and they have his name emblazoned on their jerseys.

And it's been a very emotional roller coaster ride for this ballclub.

But this is a team that has an awful lot of talent.

You look at the quarterback, Darian Hagan, I have to tell you, with butterflies and that kid's stomach must be huge.

First game here, playing Texas, the one thing they will not do is put it in Hagan's hands early, trying to keep the pressure off of him.

I had all the weight in the world on my shoulders.

I had to lead older guys so they were not as confident as I was, and once they seen what I could do, everything just took off.

[play-by-play audio] It was a pivotal moment you know, from that point on, we had a different mindset.

All the guys in the huddle, they were like, Now we ready to play.

[play-by-play audio] Every time I would hear "Hagan", I'd think of Sal.

I took on Sal's personality.

How he, you know, talked in the huddle, his quarterback stance, his cadence.

[play-by-play audio] I never heard a quarterback call cadence like those two.

[play-by-play audio] Almost overnight, he was a changed kid.

For Hagan to be able to go out there and get himself focused so quickly, It's a testament to his talent and to what Sal told him.

That's how good Hagan was.

Hagan was the real deal.

[play-by-play audio] Did you think about Sal before the game?

Yeah he was there tonight and inspired all of us we all saw him in the stands and in a lot of ways that really helped us win this game.

I was you know, I was telling him I don't want to mess up.

I didn't want to get the team down on me early.

He just told me, just go out there and take that first hit, and after that first hit, everything was downhill.

Everything was good plays.

That's what happened.

That was the first time that guys really started respecting me.

I wanted to make sure these guys realized their dreams and their aspirations.

Well, the goal of the Colorado Buffaloes was to get to the Orange Bowl this year, and the man who wanted to lead them there was Sal Aunese.

He's been their leader for the past couple of years, and Sal is not on the sideline this year, he's battling inoperable stomach and lung cancer.

The Buffs still striving toward that goal of the Orange Bowl with their quarterback in mind every step of the way.

The Colorado Buffaloes end each workday on one knee with one prayer; for the survival of their friend and quarterback.

[repeating shout] We are 1!

Sal Aunese is fighting cancer.

Inoperable tumors are attacking his stomach and lungs.

We dedicate this season totally to Sal and even going far as putting - having his name sewn on our jerseys.

And we want him to know that he's always on our mind.

He's going to be with us everywhere we go.

There's a feeling that I can't really explain, but I know deep in my heart that he'll -- he'll be... Yeah, it was a freefall for me.

I wanted to give up.

Coach Mac reach out; say, Sal wouldn't want you to do that.

Need you to finish the journey.

It's true that you know, a best friend, a brother would not want you to give up.

You know, it was something that Sal would want.

Because Sal has difficulty breathing, he's forced to take in oxygen 24 hours a day through tubes in his nose.

Each and every day his sister or his brother bring him here to the University Hospital in Denver for short sessions of radiation therapy designed to attack the cancer cells.

It just tore me pieces -- just to -- to see him go from this big, healthy guy to now this fragile person, you know, like seemingly overnight?

He just wants to live so bad and and that's what I see in him.

That's what I see in his eyes.

He just wants to live.

I haven't seen the bitterness.

I haven't seen the denial.

All I've seen is is the hope in his eyes.

We'd go see him at the hospital and everything, and he would take off his oxygen mask and just waved to him and say, hi son, I love you.

Kristy would bring him by on certain days after chemotherapy.

It'd just lift our spirits and even helped Sal, it didn't matter that he was so sick.

Was just only about enjoying him.

Seeing him, and that's all that mattered.

He'd never let you know he was sick, you know, he was always joking around and always being the same guy.

He always wanted to have a scouting report and watch films.

And that's just the kind of guy Sal was.

Through his oxygen mask he would tell us you know, this is where I think that they're weak and this is, are you going to run this play?

And you guys are going to run 60 go for and here's what you're probably going to see.

And he was into it and it took his mind off of something for a while that he was fighting where he could just kind of be normal in a way.

When I went to the hospital, walking into the room and he said, J, don't ever be sad.

I'm going to be all right, I remember asking him, how do you do this?

And Sal says, I live each week to watch you guys play.

I told him, I said, Sal, we are going to get to this national championship game and we are going to win it.

We're not just going to get there.

We are going to win this thing.

And he was like, I hear you, Soup, I hear you.

The Buffalo is back on the roam in the Great Plains of college football.

Colorado is emerging as a force in the Big Eight conference.

They have a high powered offense led by tailback Eric Bieniemy and a Houdini-like sophomore quarterback, Darian Hagan.

This, coupled with a relentless defense, has the Buffalo faithful thinking of the Orange Bowl for the first time since 1977.

Down below this breathtaking backdrop today we''ll witness a rugged showdown between 10th ranked Illinois and the 8th ranked Colorado Buffaloes.

Okay, Ralphie, it's all yours!

[crowd cheering] You know, Jim, you and Pat and I have already talked about the way the Colorado team has supported their cancer-stricken quarterback, Sal Aunese.

Well, it's not just Colorado, it's also Illinois.

The Illini came to town bearing gifts this week, autographed footballs, signed banners, cards - an outpouring of good feeling.

Obviously, Illinois realizes also that Sal's battle transcends any football game.

We knew it was going to be tough.

Illinois was coming in highly ranked.

I remember that week was really stressful 'cause Sal was really not doing well.

We'd been over to the place a couple of times to see him and you could tell that he was going downhill and was kind of talked about with our team that we didn't know if he was going to make it much longer.

But when we got out there, Illinois, typically they bring their captains out and Illinois had showed up and all their team was out where their captains were standing right behind them, ready for war from Folsom Field.

Jimmy, these teams have never played one another.

It's not like it's a grudge match or anything.

Well, the intrepid Sal Aunese is here today.

He has been here at the two previous home games.

He's in a private suite.

So he'll be watching his Buffaloes today battle against Illinois.

We're looking at number three, Darian Hagan, [play-by-play audio] As soon as I got eye contact with him, I put both my hands in the air and wanted him to know that he was right there with us To see him fight like that?

We were inspired.

[play-by-play audio] We couldn't stay the duration of the game.

Sal was getting weaker.

So we went home, and we turned on the TV.

[broadcast audio] They've dedicated the season to their cancer-stricken quarterback and spiritual leader Sal Aunese, and they won again to increase their record now to three-and-oh.

The Chevrolet most valuable players of the game are Sal Aunese for Colorado.

The inspiration for this team, a team that is now looking forward to big eight play.

We didn't know that that was going to happen.

His eyes welled up, and he excused himself.

He was so moved by that.

It was, uh -- It was -- it was surreal.

Everybody had Sal on their mind.

We had a bye week.

And I know that everybody was concerned that Sal wasn't going to make it because he didn't have something to look forward to that weekend and he was not in good shape.

Mac calls us all together, Mac said, you guys need to pray for Sal.

They don't think he's going to make it another day.

We had gone to the hospital in the room with Sal's family and coach Mac was there, Kristy was there, Lindy was there.

We started singing songs.

It was very emotional in the room.

My brother looked at me and he squeezed my hand and he closed his eyes.

He had this glow and a peaceful smile, just radiant.

Colorado Buffaloes finally have the talent to challenge for the Big Eight title, the former Colorado quarterback won't be around to enjoy the season.

Sal's been a tremendous inspiration for all of us and he really is a tremendous warrior and put up one of the greatest fights that anyone could ever imagine.

Tomorrow, a couple of thousand folks from across Colorado will gather inside Mackey Auditorium, hoping to find some explanation or at least some comfort to ease the pain.

An overflow crowd came to share in the tradition of Sal Aunese's Samoan homeland.

[singing] Here at Vista High School, the students, the coaches and the teachers have been remembering their hometown hero.

A moment of silence in Friday night's game.

A special tribute on the field, a memorial service in the school gym.

Now it's the town's turn to remember.

Hundreds packed the first Samoan Congregational Church.

Family, friends, football teammates from CU, all came to shed some tears and remember the good times.

We saw Sal, the competitor, beyond fighting the greatest of odds.

But we never saw him down.

We never saw him drop his chin.

We never saw him when he wasn't upbeat, spirited and positive and calling us on.

We knew he was suffering, but we didn't see the pain.

I get an advantage over most of you because, you see, he left me a grandson the same flair for life and the same mischievous streak that we saw in the left-hander from Vista.

Not only does he care about others, he taught others how to care.

That was Sal Aunese.

I'll see you, Sal.

Can't explain it, but, I'm fortunate -- I 21 years - of Brother like this?

I don't think he lost.

I think maybe there's a greater plan for Sal somewhere because I think he still won.

'Cause he certainly was never a loser in -- in life.

We went to play Washington.

And nobody knew how we were going to show up.

You don't know how they're going to respond 'cause they're dealing with this.

We were all living it out the first time through.

I didn't know what to expect.

And a big game at Husky Stadium, the Huskies, hosting Colorado, the Buffaloes with perhaps their finest team in history.

They rolled over Texas, Colorado State and Illinois and come into this game ranked fifth in the country.

Now emotion could play a large role in tomorrow's Washington-Colorado game at Husky Stadium.

The unbeaten Buffaloes lost a teammate this week, when quarterback Sal Aunese died of cancer.

Everything that we work for was all going to be dedicated to him because he fought his life to try and get back on that field, to share those glorious moments with us.

And we were going to do whatever it took.

And here comes a moment of silence for number 8.

Sal Aunese.

What it did was it brought us together.

It bonded us in a way that you almost never see.

As soon as we came up from that knee, it was it was on [crowd cheering] [play-by-play audio] I was going to leave everything that we had on that field for the rest of the year.

[play-by-play audio] And sure enough, I pick the ball off in the end zone.

And I thought, wow, 'cause it's Sal, you know this is like I'm thinking, wow, because that's him, you know, [play-by-play audio] I tell you what, University of Washington didn't have a chance, did they?

I can say that now.

They didn't have a chance.

We became a team with a mission.

[play-by-play audio] Whatever the coaches asked the players to do, they said, how high, how far, how much?

They just subscribed.

Because they were playing for someone other than themselves.

They were playing for Sal.

Sal was a big factor in this game.

This is a game that he wanted when he was here.

We had a plane seat for him, we had a table at dinner for him.

We had a bed for him and he was here right here with us [broadcast audio] Coming in at eight-and-oh on the season And no one has even been within 17 points of Colorado this year.

They will come right at you.

The Buffaloes.

Every time we stepped on the field, you wanted to play at your best.

That was your way of giving an ultimate respect to an ultimate warrior.

[play-by-play audio] That team was as united as a team can possibly get.

[play-by-play audio] [play-by-play audio] [play-by-play audio] [play-by-play audio] This was a great football game.

There's no doubt in my mind that Sal Aunese was their leader.

None whatsoever.

An emotional victory, it's the biggest game of your life, - can you tell us?

- Oh, yeah.

It's the biggest it's as sweet as it gets.

And I couldn't be prouder of our players and coaches.

[broadcast announcer] They've won it for Sal.

We all did it because we love him.

And you know, a lot of people try to, you know, throw salt at it and say that it was fake, it was made up and all that stuff.

But no, it was true brotherhood, true love, true passion for for our fallen leader.

Had I not seen that look in Sal's eyes, I don't know where I would be today.

I think -- I made him proud.

[broadcast announcer] They've won it for Sal.

They've won it for themselves.

We're here.

We can carry on his legacy.

It taught me about love.

It taught me about respect.

It taught me about time.

You have way more fight in you than you ever think you had.

And you got to dig deep into your heart to go get it.

[broadcast announcer] This team, driven by the courage and memory of their deceased spiritual leader, Sal Aunese, who only hours before he passed away on September 23rd, wrote these words to his teammates.

It was signed, Love, Sal It's very emotional simply because the fact that our friends fell in this, we wanted to live for this.

It wasn't God's blessing for him to live to see this, but I know he was there with us.

[chanting "Orange Bowl"] Never in my wildest dream.

You know, I'll be one of the player on the team that will be playing for the national championship.

We were 11-and-oh that year, only undefeated team in the country.

And we took that momentum and we just - we just built on it.

I think with Sal, I think that the team loved and respected him so much that they were willing to give more of themselves as a team and less of themselves as individuals.

And that's really where championships are won.

There are many times when football was first and family was last.

I think our family got stronger through this and got closer and that's the bond that has emerged there as a result of this.

TC has brought so much joy, not just to me, but to so many other people, including Sal's family.

From the moment he could, he loved football.

He wanted to be just like his dad in every way.

And he's always wanted to be number eight.

My dad has been a huge influence in his life.

And I'll always appreciate the fact that I've got a grandson.

TC is a tremendous young man.

I want to be a head coach someday, and I want to win a national championship.

Multiple.

I mean, that's that's the goal.

I bet he's going to become a great coach.

And I'll betcha he won't make all the mistakes his grandpa made.

He was more than a football player to Colorado.

He was more than a leader.

Sal Aunese, his spirit has been with this team, some feel that -- that should have worn, eroded away during the course of the year, it has not, believe me.

A thing with this young team and their coaches throughout this week.

It is a very real, almost mystical strength that they're finding religious.

They're marked in various ways.

Sal, on the back of the linebacker, Michael Jones shaved into his head.

You'll see his number eight throughout the uniforms and bodies of this Colorado team.

There is something that drives this team beyond just a national championship as Sal Aunese, in his final letter, was read at his funeral.

[play-by-play audio] That year We kind of blew everybody out and we get to the championship game and it's more of a contest than we've had all year and I don't think we knew how to respond The next year every game went to the fourth quarter and we had to dig deep.

You know, we had to, you know, reach for things that would never, you know, reach for.

[play-by-play audio] [broadcast audio] the winning coach, Bill McCartney.

Well, you wanted to wear down Notre Dame Notre Dame in the 4th quarter - you did, to win the national championship.

Well, that's the way I feel.

And I think you got to give credit to our defense holding that team to 9 points because that team is very prolific.

And then, of course, we were lucky there.

They clipped on Rocket's run back.

But you got to give our kids a lot of credit.

We've come back all year and we feel great right now.

Thanks, Bob.

Congratulations again.

Thanks, Bob.

That was as focused and as well-coached a football team as I've competed against not only that year, but in my entire career.

[broadcast audio] Led by backup quarterback Charles Johnson, Colorado has defeated Dame 10 to 9.

Indeed, they did get a second chance and they have made a first impression.

Charles Johnson, what a job coming off that bench, not getting the practice time that Hagan got by any stretch.

And the poise he showed, the poise he demonstrated, the character of this ballclub.

The night of the national championship game, Hagan tried to convince me.

He said, I had a dream that we won the national championship but I wasn't the quarterback.

You were the quarterback.

And I said, Hagan, look, you know, I came here to watch be a part of this team.

I don't I don't plan taking his baseball cap off and I'm holding this clipboard.

So you go out there and do what you've done for this university for four years.

You lead us to victory.

I don't hear anything else about some crazy dreams.

He said, okay, I'm just letting you know that's that's exactly what I just had this.

I got this funny feeling The night of the game I still wasn't convinced that I would be thrust into the role and that I found myself in.

I think there was a divine intervention.

It made us tougher, made us not give up.

It made us appreciate the little things.

And in the end, you know, I think Sal was looking down on us and, you know, helping us out.