Pat O Hara

USC football Coach Larry Smith announced Friday that Pat O'Hara has beaten out Todd Marinovich, a red-shirt freshman, for the No. 1 quarterback spot going into the fall workouts. "He's cut down on his errors and he's throwing much stronger passes," Smith said in evaluating O'Hara's performance in the just-concluded spring practice. "But his biggest suit is the leadership and confidence that he brings." O'Hara, who will be a junior, has thrown only seven passes in his college career, all last season.

Happy 50th birthday to Magic Johnson . . . . Eighteen years ago, when Johnson made his bombshell announcement that he was HIV positive, few expected the Lakers star would see his 33rd birthday, much less his 50th. . . . "His impact on increasing awareness that you can live with the disease has been phenomenal," says Cynthia Davis , director of HIV education and outreach at Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science. "Even today, 30 years into the epidemic, there are people who aren't educated and feel that it's a death sentence."

Former USC quarterback Pat O'Hara will be named head coach of the Avengers today. O'Hara, who spent the last three Arena Football League seasons as Tampa Bay's offensive coordinator, will succeed Ed Hodgkiss, who was fired after the Avengers failed to make the playoffs with a 5-11 record. "Any time that you go through a process, you learn about your organization and your team," Avengers owner and Chief Executive Casey Wasserman said. "And everything we went through helped us make the right choice for this team.

Former USC quarterback Pat O'Hara will be named head coach of the Avengers today. O'Hara, who spent the last three Arena Football League seasons as Tampa Bay's offensive coordinator, will succeed Ed Hodgkiss, who was fired after the Avengers failed to make the playoffs with a 5-11 record. "Any time that you go through a process, you learn about your organization and your team," Avengers owner and Chief Executive Casey Wasserman said. "And everything we went through helped us make the right choice for this team.

If anything was resolved following USC's two-hour, 131-play spring scrimmage Friday at Howard Jones Field, it's that Pat O'Hara has gained the inside track in the battle to replace Rodney Peete as the Trojan quarterback. O'Hara, a redshirt junior from Santa Monica High School, completed 13 of 18 passes for 168 yards and three touchdowns during the scrimmage, in which the first-team offense scored four touchdowns, one against the first-team defense and three against the second team.

As a teammate of Bret Johnson's at both El Toro High School and UCLA, I feel that a few facts Mike Penner failed to mention (Sept. 18) about the Bret Johnson-Todd Marinovich rivalry should be known. 1) In high school, Bret's teams won three league titles and two CIF championships, while Marinovich (Capistrano Valley teams) failed to win one of either. 2) As a college freshman, Bret earned his starting position, while Marinovich started only because of an injury to Pat O'Hara.

The 10th annual Los Angeles Prep Senior Bowl, the largest and last of the summer all-star football games, will be played tonight at 7:30 at Gardena High School. Eighty players and 35 schools will be involved as the North-East, coached by Randy Rodriguez of Lincoln and Leroy Wilson of Jefferson, seeks its third straight win. This is the first year teams from the Southern Section are participating.

Junior tailback Scott Lockwood rushed for 92 yards in 10 carries, including a 56-yard touchdown run Saturday in a USC spring football scrimmage at the Coliseum. Pat O'Hara and Todd Marinovich, battling to replace Rodney Peete, alternated at quarterback. O'Hara, a junior, completed 11 of 28 passes for 140 yards, including a 51-yard touchdown play to Joel Scott, and had one interception. Marinovich, a redshirt freshman, was 13 of 24 for 139 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions.

Pat O'Hara, who waited three years to win the starting quarterback job at USC, might have lost it before the first snap of the season. O'Hara, a junior, suffered torn ligaments in his right knee in the opening minutes of a scrimmage Friday afternoon at UC Irvine. He was scheduled to undergo arthroscopic surgery this morning to determine the extent of the injury. No estimates were given for the amount of time O'Hara will be sidelined.

For an angry and agonizing year now, he has been thinking about it. About waking up in that hospital bed and spotting the massive bandage on his side. About the morphine injections every three hours. About the loss of weight that made him feel as though he were "shriveling away." About the catheter he wore and the tubes up his nose and the screws in his knee. He didn't want to see anybody, didn't want to speak to anybody, didn't think he ever was going to be anybody. "I felt like I was dying."

Sam Anno and Pat O'Hara were destined to be teammates. Although Anno is the elder by nearly four years, the Santa Monica natives have crossed football playing paths several times since the mid-1980s. From Santa Monica High to USC, to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to the San Diego Chargers, Anno and O'Hara always seem to find each other. "I've never really thought of us being destined to be teammates," O'Hara said. "But it is kind of unbelievable."

Sam Anno and Pat O'Hara were destined to be teammates. Although Anno is the elder by nearly four years, the Santa Monica natives have crossed football playing paths several times since the mid-1980s. From Santa Monica High to USC, to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to the San Diego Chargers, Anno and O'Hara always seem to find each other. "I've never really thought of us being destined to be teammates," O'Hara said. "But it is kind of unbelievable."

As a teammate of Bret Johnson's at both El Toro High School and UCLA, I feel that a few facts Mike Penner failed to mention (Sept. 18) about the Bret Johnson-Todd Marinovich rivalry should be known. 1) In high school, Bret's teams won three league titles and two CIF championships, while Marinovich (Capistrano Valley teams) failed to win one of either. 2) As a college freshman, Bret earned his starting position, while Marinovich started only because of an injury to Pat O'Hara.

The Chargers reached a contract agreement Tuesday with Pat O'Hara, backup quarterback to the Ohio Glory's Babe Laufenberg, the once-upon-a-forgotten-time starting quarterback in San Diego. O'Hara, a Plan B free agent from Tampa Bay who lost his starting job at USC to Todd Marinovich in 1989 after a knee injury, will join the Chargers at the conclusion of World League play in early June. "We thought about drafting him last year," said Bobby Beathard, Charger general manager.

For an angry and agonizing year now, he has been thinking about it. About waking up in that hospital bed and spotting the massive bandage on his side. About the morphine injections every three hours. About the loss of weight that made him feel as though he were "shriveling away." About the catheter he wore and the tubes up his nose and the screws in his knee. He didn't want to see anybody, didn't want to speak to anybody, didn't think he ever was going to be anybody. "I felt like I was dying."

The dream began every night as Pat O'Hara dozed off. He was hunched over center on a bright, warm afternoon, calling signals. The ball slid easily into his hands, and he began to roll left, looking for a receiver. But something was wrong. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't seem to get out of slow motion. As he neared the sideline, he turned to look for his favorite target, John Jackson. There was no Jackson to be found, and an uneasy feeling began to come over O'Hara.

USC quarterback Pat O'Hara's season officially ended Saturday in an operating room at Pasadena's Huntington Memorial Hospital when doctors found extensive damage in his right knee. Inadvertently hit by onrushing lineman J.P. Sullivan during a scrimmage Friday at UC Irvine, O'Hara not only wound up with two torn ligaments in the knee, but a broken shin as well. Dr. Richard Diehl, who performed the surgery, was optimistic that O'Hara, a junior, will be able to play next season.

Happy 50th birthday to Magic Johnson . . . . Eighteen years ago, when Johnson made his bombshell announcement that he was HIV positive, few expected the Lakers star would see his 33rd birthday, much less his 50th. . . . "His impact on increasing awareness that you can live with the disease has been phenomenal," says Cynthia Davis , director of HIV education and outreach at Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science. "Even today, 30 years into the epidemic, there are people who aren't educated and feel that it's a death sentence."

USC quarterback Pat O'Hara's season officially ended Saturday in an operating room at Pasadena's Huntington Memorial Hospital when doctors found extensive damage in his right knee. Inadvertently hit by onrushing lineman J.P. Sullivan during a scrimmage Friday at UC Irvine, O'Hara not only wound up with two torn ligaments in the knee, but a broken shin as well. Dr. Richard Diehl, who performed the surgery, was optimistic that O'Hara, a junior, will be able to play next season.

Pat O'Hara, who waited three years to win the starting quarterback job at USC, might have lost it before the first snap of the season. O'Hara, a junior, suffered torn ligaments in his right knee in the opening minutes of a scrimmage Friday afternoon at UC Irvine. He was scheduled to undergo arthroscopic surgery this morning to determine the extent of the injury. No estimates were given for the amount of time O'Hara will be sidelined.