The greatest Safeties

Originally published 8/12/10

Only three Sun Devils have been named consensus All-Americas in back-to-back seasons, and two of those were safeties, so this was one of the easiest positions on the team to select.

Mike Richardson (1979-82) was a standout safety on the Sun Devils teams in the early years of Pac-10 membership, including the 1982 team that came within one win of the Devils' first-ever Rose Bowl appearance. "L.A. Mike" want on to play cornerback for the Chicago Bears, and was a key member of their dominant "46" defense of the mid '80s. Sadly, Richardson has led a troubled life since the end of his football career, and was recently released from prison.

Following Richardson at ASU was David Fulcher (1983-85). Fulcher is best remembered for his hard-hitting but, unlike many other players with that reputation, he was a complete player and tremendous athlete.

From his biography:

David Fulcher was born and raised in Los Angeles, California and received both football and baseball scholarships to Arizona State University. During his career at Arizona State, he began as a Wide Receiver, then after requesting a shift to Defensive Back, he earned the coveted award of Standout Player at that position.

David's nickname, "Fo-Rock" was placed on him by his teammates after their game with Colorado State, where his teammates said he hit one player, "like a rock!" The nickname obviously stuck and stayed with him even to this day. While at Arizona State, David won All American honors three consecutive years. In November of 1996, he received the honor of being inducted into the Arizona State University Hall of Fame for his outstanding college career.

The greatest Cornerbacks

Originally published 2/24/07

We start the unveiling of the All-time ASU team with the cornerbacks.

Mike Haynes is one of only two Sun Devils in both the College Football and Pro Football Halls of Fame. He was all-conference in 1973, '74 and '75, and was named to six All-America teams at the end of the Sun Devils' unbeaten 1975 season. ASU's record was 40-8 during Haynes' four seasons and Frank Kush nicknamed him "luxury".

Eric Allen was a member of the 1987 Rose Bowl championship team. Listed generously at 5'10", Allen used his blazing speed and football instincts to shut down the best of them. He now appears regularly on ESPN.

Although not a condition for selection to this team, it is worth noting that both Haynes and Allen went on to stellar pro careers. Haynes arrival in Los Angeles midway through the 1983 season set the stage for the Raiders to win Super Bowl XVIII, and Eric Allen was a member of some great Philadelphia Eagle defenses during the late '80s and early '90s before moving on to the Saints and Raiders. Haynes was named to the NFL's 75th Anniversary All-Time Team.

The greatest of the great unveiled

Originally published 8/12/10

In the build up to the new football season, I will be naming my All-time ASU team. I will announce the team in a series of articles, position-by-position. Since I started this process a few years ago, I have received some great feedback from fans, and got in touch with some past players who provided invaluable insight. Many of the selections proved far more difficult than I ever anticipated. In the end, I had to make some tough decisions, so if I did not pick your favorite player that does not mean that I ignored your input.

I imposed the following rules on myself:

(1) This will be a true team, with the right number of players at each position. That means one halfback and one fullback for example. I'm not going to cheat like the NFL did when they named four quarterbacks to their 75th Anniversary All-Time team. This defeats the entire purpose: it's easy to say that Baugh, Graham, Montana and Unitas were all great; it's a lot harder to say which of them was the very best.

(2) The defense will be a 4-3. During much of the Kush era the defense was a 5-2, which is effectively a 3-4 in modern parlance. In the 80's and 90's the 4-3 was the dominant formation.

(3) Only players from the WAC era and beyond will be considered (that's 1962 onwards). It is almost impossible to fairly evaluate players from the Border Conference days.

(4) Players will be evaluated based on their college career, not their pro performance. For example, Jerry Smith was a great tight end for the Redskins, but it's his time at ASU that counts.

(5) Players will be judged at the position they played in college, not the pros, so Darren Woodson gets judged as an outside linebacker, not a safety.

(6) Football performance will also outweigh off-field contributions or all-around popularity. Nathan LaDuke was a fan favorite on an otherwise horrible team, but he wasn't necessarily one of the two best safeties in ASU history. Charley Taylor's historic contribution in breaking the color barrier for the Redskins doesn't influence his inclusion on this team.

(7) Extended careers will carry more weight. So while Derrick Rodgers' performance in '96 was one of the great single seasons in Sun Devil history, it's not enough for him to make the team.

(8) Individual honors carry a lot of weight, but do not make selections automatic. Multiple All-Americas (Woody Green, Mike Richardson and David Fulcher) and Hall of Fame inductees (Mike Haynes, John Jefferson, Randall McDaniel, Ron Pritchard, Pat Tillman and Danny White) are virtual locks.

Most importantly, this is "my" team. I feel comfortable that each of the selections I have made are the best at their respective positions, but in most cases there were at least two or three other candidates that deserved careful consideration.

Packard Stadium, RIP?

As reported by the Arizona Republic, ASU is considering a move to the Chicago Cubs' new stadium in Mesa in 2014.

Predictably, this has produced a strong response. I was expecting 95% of the feedback to be negative, but right now it's tracking more as a 50-50 split. You can follow the discussion on the Sun Devil Message Board and Sparky's Pigskin Forum.

As I posted, I'm really torn. I'd much prefer to keep all sports on campus, but the opportunity to play in a state-of-the-art stadium for free may be too good to pass up.

On this day in Sun Devil History: Archuleta and Heap drafted in first round

ASU has had two players taken in the first round of an NFL draft three times.  The last such occasion was on April 21, 2001 when Adam Archuleta went to the Rams with the 20th overall pick, and Todd Heap went to the Ravens at #31.  In hindsight, of course, Heap turned out to be a steal, while Archuleta's "tweener" status (too small to be a linebacker, too slow for safety) meant that he never fulfilled his high expectations, although the Redskins did sign him to the richest contract ever for a safety.  However, in many ways Archuleta may be the most successful athlete in ASU history, since his wife is one of the most beautiful women in the world.

Above all other variables, talent results in wins in college football.  There is no better way to explain Dirk Koetter's failure at ASU than to note that he did not recruit a single future NFL first round draft pick during his tenure.

A few weeks before the draft, ESPN guru Mel Kiper interviewed Todd Heap and asked him about his decision to leave ASU a year early.

The Sun Devil Photo Archive - 1962 in color

Another picture from osulmb.  In the original post, this picture is labeled as being from 1962.  It's one of the few color pictures I have ever seen from that early.

If it is from the 1962 season then I have no idea who the opponent is.  Incredibly, we played eight home games that season, and only two on the road.  So the opponent could be Colorado State, Washington State, West Texas A&M, San Jose State, Texas-El Paso, Utah State, Utah or New Mexico State.

The Sun Devil Photo Archive - 1967 @ Utah

Thanks to osulmb on the Sparky's Pigskin message board for these great images.  Consensus is that these come from the 1967 game at Utah, which the Devils won 49-32.  Love the socks!

Here's All-America Ron Pritchard coming in for a tackle:

The Sun Devil Photo Archive - Goodwin Stadium

This generation of Sun Devil fans needs to preserve our heritage.  It's very difficult to find a lot of photographic content on the web from anything earlier than the '90s.  So when I do come across some great images I'm going to try to publicize them.

I do not want to infringe any copyright, so if you own any images used on this site please let me know and I'll be happy to remove them.

To start, here's a truly beautiful image of Goodwin Stadium.  Someone sent me this link a few years ago, but I forgot to make a note of who.  So thank you to the kind person, whoever you are!

Here are two more pictures of Goodwin Stadium from the ASU Libraries archive:

Please contact me if you have images you would like to post.

Once you go black...

Quick thoughts from the public unveiling of the new ASU identity.

What I love:

• The new Sun Devil Bold font. Very clean - looks good both in the lettering and the uniform numbers.
• The consistency. One shade of gold; common look for all programs.
• The way that black was introduced. If you are going to bring black in to the color scheme, do it right. And this is doing it right.
• The matte black football helmets. Possibly one of the best helmets in college football.
• The basketball uniforms. Sharp, clean, tasteful.

Meh:

• The new "trident with flames" logo.  It may grow on me, but I feel like the handle is too short in proportion to the prongs.
• The all-white football combination (although paired with the black helmets, it could look good).
• The "ASU" lettering on the football sleeves. Not sure what the point is; would have preferred numbers.

As expected, the message boards have exploded with people whining about the changes and bemoaning the loss of "tradition". ASU has very little tradition when it comes to branding and uniforms. Heck, we were the Bulldogs for many years, then wore numbers on our helmets (Alabama-style) for some of our "glory years". Sparky has only been on the helmets since 1980.

Change is good - embrace it and let's have some fun in 2011!

Postgame celebrations

Thomas Weber spikes the pitchfork into the UNRB end zone!