Don Shinnick

Don Shinnick, who played 13 years as linebacker for the Baltimore Colts and was the first player from UCLA to play in a Super Bowl, died Tuesday at a rest home in Modesto of a degenerative brain disease. He was 68. Shinnick had 37 career interceptions with the Colts from 1957 to 1969, still an NFL record for a linebacker. He played on the Colts' championship teams of 1958 and 1959.

Don Shinnick, who played 13 years as linebacker for the Baltimore Colts and was the first player from UCLA to play in a Super Bowl, died Tuesday at a rest home in Modesto of a degenerative brain disease. He was 68. Shinnick had 37 career interceptions with the Colts from 1957 to 1969, still an NFL record for a linebacker. He played on the Colts' championship teams of 1958 and 1959.

Here's what was supposed to happen. Pete Shinnick would get his first college football head coaching job and his first hire would be his father, Don Shinnick. Don, big and strong and with a handshake that could crack a walnut, would be the defensive coordinator. Don would teach Pete's players all about being tough and being kind, about making tackles with the impact of a sequoia falling on a toothpick, about being as kind as a priest in the confessional.

Here's what was supposed to happen. Pete Shinnick would get his first college football head coaching job and his first hire would be his father, Don Shinnick. Don, big and strong and with a handshake that could crack a walnut, would be the defensive coordinator. Don would teach Pete's players all about being tough and being kind, about making tackles with the impact of a sequoia falling on a toothpick, about being as kind as a priest in the confessional.

Rick Nadeau, a power-hitting outfielder at College of the Canyons, has committed to Cal State Northridge. First baseman George Tavaglione of Riverside Arlington High and pitcher-third baseman Rick Chessman of Servite High have committed to Pepperdine. Jim DeBiase, a right-handed pitcher at Pierce, has committed to University of the Pacific. Mike Amundson, a pitcher at Newbury Park High, will sign with University of San Diego.

The year is 1953. Linebacker Don Shinnick is a star at Valley College. Marsha Tatlow is homecoming queen. The year is 2000. Receiver Kevin Carlsen is a star at Azusa Pacific who made 11 receptions and scored two touchdowns against La Verne on Saturday. Without Shinnick meeting and eventually marrying Tatlow, Carlsen probably never sets foot on the Azusa campus. Diagramed on paper, the path connecting the two events looks like a desperation play drawn up by a coach charged with caffeine.

Former Valley College football player and coach Don Shinnick--also a Super Bowl veteran--has been inducted into the California Community College Sports Hall of Fame for 1995. "From the Valley College standpoint, Don began at Valley and he ended at Valley, and he spent 13 years in professional football in between," said Dale Beck, the school's sports information director. "He's recognized by his peers as an outstanding linebacker.

Rony Seikaly, the Golden State Warrior center, may have a future in real estate when his NBA playing days are over. According to Tom FitzGerald of the San Francisco Chronicle, after he was traded by the Miami Heat, Seikaly sold his island mansion off the Florida coast to a South American businessman for a little more than $7 million. He bought it in 1991 for $2.5 million.

Gotta be as good as Dad. Gotta do what he did. Any son might find those thoughts making cutback runs through his head. Don't want to let him down. Don't want to be a failure. As parents, Don and Marsha Shinnick decided early to head off such trauma in their children. "We just told them . . . if you're going to clean your room, do a good job," Don Shinnick said. "If you're going to play football, do the best you can."

Gulp. That had to be his reaction, when USC Coach Jess Hill told backup quarterback Ellis Kissinger to go kick a field goal to help beat UCLA. Major problem here. Kissinger, filling in for an injured kicker, had never kicked a field goal before. Not even in high school. USC, holding a 7-0 lead early in the fourth quarter, had a fourth and eight at the UCLA 10-yard line. And so 43 years ago at the Coliseum, the 21-year-old Kissinger, from York, Pa.