Greatness isn’t something that has come easily or often to the University of Oregon’s football program.  So, this year’s thrilling high-speed chase all the way up to #2 in the BCS rankings has been all the more dizzying, because of its freshness and the crisp, clean smell of championship hope.  It is new and exciting and, with every passing week, closer to being a reality.

However, while the reality of team greatness may have made only spotty appearances in Eugene over the years, individual football greatness has been painted across the school’s history for decades in wide, rich strokes.  So, as this year’s team continues to chase the collective glory of a national title, perhaps, they can draw some inspiration from the proud lineage of great players who have lined up in the green and yellow of the University of Oregon in years past.  

QB – Dan Fouts (1970-1972)

A future Hall of Fame NFL QB, Fouts threw for 5,995 yards and 37 TD’s in his career at Oregon.  Along the way, the skinny kid from San Francisco who slipped through the recruiting nets of every school except one, set 19 records for that school and became the first QB in the program’s history to pass for more than 2,000 yards in a season.  As a pro, Fouts spent his entire 15-year career with the San Diego Chargers - starting as a rookie apprentice to the great Johnny Unitas and finishing with 43,040 career passing yards, 254 TD’s, six Pro Bowl appearances, and a bronze bust in Canton.  

DE/OG – Dave Wilcox (1962-1963)

A rangy, athletic end on defense and bruising guard on offense, Wilcox was relentless in his desire to excel at his job.  And the native of Vale, Oregon with the lunch pail mentality was definitely good at his job.  Invited to the Hula Bowl after his senior year, he became the first defensive player to earn outstanding lineman honors in the game’s history.  As a pro, Wilcox moved to linebacker and carved out an eventual Hall of Fame NFL career.  He was named to seven Pro Bowls and, true to his tough Eastern Oregon background, only missed one game in his 11 years as a pro, spending his entire career with the San Francisco 49ers.

RB – Mel Renfro (1961-1963)

Mel Renfro was fast.  So fast, in fact, that he was an All-American track star at one of the nation’s preeminent track schools.  However, unlike many track stars who tried but failed to translate that speed to success on the football field, Renfro was able to make that transition spectacularly.  An electrifying running back, Renfro climbed to third on Oregon’s all-time points list (141) and seventh on the all-time rushing list (1,532) during his career with the Ducks.  Moved to cornerback in the NFL, he spent his entire 14-year pro career with Dallas, making 10 Pro Bowls and finishing with 52 career interceptions (3 for TD’s).  He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1996.  

QB – Norm Van Brocklin (1947-1948)

No one could ever accuse Norm Van Brocklin of not trying.  In fact, were anyone ever to even have made the suggestion, the fiery QB nicknamed the “Dutchman” would likely have punched his lights out, because that’s the way Van Brocklin handled things on the football field.  He fought for every yard he gained, for every pass he completed, and for every score he put on the board.  At the end of his two-year Oregon career, that fight yielded 1,949 passing yards, 18 TD’s, and a berth in the 1948 Cotton Bowl.  In the NFL, he never stopped fighting.  In a 12-year pro career, he threw for 23,611 yards and 173 TD’s with Rams and Eagles.  And that competitive fire led him all the way to Canton.

WR/RB – Bobby Moore (1969-1971)

Long before he married Mrs. Huxtable, the benign sports personality now known as Ahmad Rashad was plain old Bobby Moore.  However, there was nothing plain about his game on a football field.  During a spectacular college career, Moore set 14 school records at Oregon, including the single-game rushing (249), season rushing (1,211), and career rushing (2,306) marks.  He also set the single-season records for pass receptions (54) and career catches (131).  And in excelling as both a running back and wide receiver, Moore led the Pac-8 in scoring in 1969 and 1970 from two different positions, the first conference player ever to do that.  As a pro, he made four Pro Bowls in 10 NFL seasons, finishing his productive career with 495 catches for 6,831 yards and 44 TD’s.  

TE – Russ Francis (1972-1974)

The Hawaiian-born Francis was such a gifted athlete that he was drafted by both the NFL and MLB.  However, the playmaking TE was also an enigma.  A free spirit who somehow balanced the easy-going attitude of the Islands with the white-knuckle intensity of the gridiron, Francis missed his entire sophomore season with an ankle injury, came back as a junior and earned All-conference and honorable mention All-American honors with 31 catches for 485 yards, and then elected not to play during his senior year.  Despite missing his final season, he still held enough promise to be a first-round selection by the New England Patriots.   In a 14-year pro career with New England and San Francisco, Francis made 3 Pro Bowls, missed the playoffs one season because of a motorcycle accident, retired and un-retired, made a cameo as a pro wrestler, and finished his quirky but occasionally brilliant NFL career with 393 catches, 5,262 yards, and 40 TD’s.

OT – Gary Zimmerman (1980-1983)

Gary Zimmerman was probably the school’s greatest offensive lineman.  At 6’6”, 294 pounds, Zimmerman was a hulking figure who used his size and speed to frustrate opponents.  However, his height also mandated exceptional technique, because tall linemen have a higher tipping point.  Few knocked Zimmerman over, though.  Through technique and sheer toughness, he simply wouldn’t allow it.  He ended up parlaying his exceptional college career into a brilliant 12-year NFL stint with Minnesota and Denver that included seven Pro Bowls.

In later years, each decade had its moments and star players with each seemingly leading to bigger and better things.

The 80's brought Chris Miller throwing deep to Lew Barnes, Bill Musgrave pitching the ball to Derek Loville, and Doug Judge knocking the snot out of the people in the secondary.  The decade also brought increasing respectability to the program with successive winning records and mid-level bowl bids.

The 90's brought even more success, culminating in the school's first Rose Bowl berth in 37 years following the 1994 season.  Though the Ducks fell 38-20 to that year's co-National Champion Penn State Nittany Lions, Oregon QB Danny O'Neill set Rose Bowl records for pass attempts (61), completions (41), and passing yards (456).  And 11 of those completions were made by TE Josh Wilcox, Dave's son, carrying on the family name on the Oregon gridiron.  However, that Rose Bowl appearance would not have possible in the first place had it not been for a stunning defensive play by a freshman DB.  Now simply know as "The Pick", cornerback Kenny Wheaton intercepted a Damon Huard pass near the Oregon goal line and streaked 98 yards for a game-sealing TD against the highly-ranked Washington Huskies.

Aside from the team's magical Rose Bowl run, the decade also brought higher expectations.  Bowl bids were now expected, and the level of bowl game became the focus rather than just the invite itself.  Greater visibility also brought a higher level of talent to the program.  Ricky Whittle, Saladin McCullough, and Rueben Droughns were all 1,000-yard runners for the Ducks in the 90's.  Akili Smith and A.J. Feeley starred at QB, and it was Smith who first opened up the Oregon offense to a legitimate pass-run QB.  Defensively, Chad Cota and Alex Molden roamed the secondary, and Peter Sirmon, Jeremy Asher, and Rich Rule swept the middle of the field.  

In the new millennium, "Captain Comeback" Joey Harrington, whose father John had been an Oregon QB under legendary coach Len Casanova in the 60's, did something his father or few others ever had for the school's program - he openly entered the Ducks into the National Championship conversation.  In 2001, Harrington led Oregon to an 11-1 record and a 38-16 win over Colorado in the Fiesta Bowl and an eventual #2 national ranking.  WR Keenan Howry, RB Maurice Morris, RB Onterrio Smith (Mr. Wizzinator himself), and DB Steve Smith (who snared a Fiesta Bowl-record three interceptions) all helped to make the Ducks one of the most dangerous teams in the country.  

Kellen Clemens followed Harrington at QB, Terence Whitehead inherited the RB job, Demetrius Williams claimed the WR spot, and Haloti Ngata, JD Nelson, and Blair Phillips were the new defensive stalwarts. 

However, 2007 has been another thing entirely.  QB Dennis Dixon and RB Jonathan Stewart have brought the team as close to a National Championship opportunity as the school has had in years.  And Dixon is the current frontrunner to bring home Oregon’s first Heisman trophy.  Stewart hasn’t been too shabby, either, running for a school-record 251 yards earlier in the year and climbing to 5th on Oregon’s all-time rushing list. 

It is rarified air that is circulating around Eugene these days.  Though, with three conference games left on the schedule including the bitter Civil War game remaining with Oregon State, there is so much more to be done before anyone in Eugene can take a deep breath of that air.

However, the current team needs to look no further than the program’s four Hall of Famers – Fouts, Wilcox, Renfro, and Van Brocklin – to know that greatness has visited the Oregon campus before.  They just have three weeks to bring it back.

Stats:

http://collegefootball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID
=555878

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/Fou
tDa00.htm

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/Ras
hAh00.htm

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/Fra
nRu00.htm

http://www.databasefootball.com/players/playerpag
e.htm?ilkid=RENFRMEL01

http://www.databasefootball.com/players/playerpag
e.htm?ilkid=WILCODAV01

http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=460
4&SPID=233&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=30019

http://www.databasefootball.com/players/playerpag
e.htm?ilkid=VanBrNor01

Other:

http://www.ncaafootball.com/index.php?s=&url_chan
nel_id=34&url_article_id=9288&change_well_id=2

http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID
=500&ATCLID=250413

http://www.profootballhof.com/hof/member.jsp?play
er_id=230

http://espn.go.com/ncf/bowls01/fiesta.html>

http://www.collegefootball.org/famersearch.php?id
=60052

http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID
=500&ATCLID=249078

http://www.patriots.com/alumni/index.cfm?ac=alumn
ibiosdetail&bio=3431

http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID
=500&ATCLID=177405