Home Cookin': Sac State to honor ex-football coach Mattos
Bob Mattos has to reach deep in the closet for a shirt and tie again, which always makes his wife, Maureen, a bit nervous. Mattos is a football man to the core, more apt to stroll into the Sacramento State alumni offices in a green-and-gold polo shirt as a special consultant-fundraiser for Hornets Development than in anything formal.
But Thursday, Sac State's winningest football coach, who turned the Hornets into a winner in the 1980s, will be back in fine duds. Mattos will receive the 2008 Sacramento State President's Medal for years of distinguished service.
Sac State President Alexander Gonzalez will present Mattos with the award at the Alumni Center.
Yet another honor for a self-confessed "pig farmer from Newman,"
the tiny town in the valley in which he grew up in the early 1960s.
"I'm touched,"
Mattos said this week.
Mattos cracked that the last time he needed a shirt and tie was 30 years ago, when he landed the Sac State job. There were humble beginnings for Mattos, with hideous blowout losses and an 0-10 streak against rival UC Davis. In 1986, the Hornets won their first conference title in 20 years. In 1988, the Hornets fielded their best team. Led by wide receiver Mark Young from Cordova High School, they went 10-3 and beat UCD in the regular season 31-28 to end an 18-year losing streak to the Aggies. In the playoffs, it was more joy for the Hornets when they beat UCD 35-14.
Diving to success
She won three consecutive Sac-Joaquin Section diving championships at Placer, so it seemed natural that Nikka Campora would continue to slice through the water better than those around her at Sierra College. The freshman won the 3-meter California Community College State Championship while also being named the state Co-Diver of the Year and the Big 8 Conference Diver of the Year.
Campora went to TCU on a scholarship out of Placer but injured her foot and was on crutches for two months, thus stamping her ticket back home for a fresh start.
Campora is weighing scholarship offers, including from San Diego State. She also is gearing up for the June USA Junior Olympic Diving Regionals in Santa Clara.
More Hornets
Mattos will still be somewhere near cloud nine on Saturday as the Sac State Alumni Association Football and Spirit Alumni Chapter inducts 10 new members to its Hall of Fame. Honorees from the Ray Clemons coaching era of the 1960s and early '70s include Dave Hall and Bobbie Jackson. From the Mattos era of the 1980s: Marlan Meggers, Gary Lunsford and Rob Harrison. From the John Volek era: Jon Osterhout, Lonie Paxton, Ryland Wickman and Charles Roberts. The community award will go to Wally Borland.
Sac State traditionally has been a tailback school, highlighted by the induction of Harrison and Roberts. Linemen Osterhout and Paxton helped pave the way for Roberts, one of college football's all-time prolific runners. Paxton has won Super Bowls with the New England Patriots, and Osterhout is on the Hornets' coaching staff.
"We've had some great backs here,"
Mattos said. "John Farley, Donald Hair, Harrison, Troy Mills, Charles Roberts. These next two being inducted are as good as we've ever had."
This Child is a man
Dan Child is a 6-foot-5, 220-pound sophomore standout for Jesuit. He pitched the final four innings of the Marauders' 10-9, 15-inning thriller over Armijo in a Division I playoff game Monday night to earn the win, allowing one hit and striking out six. In 11 recent innings of work, Child has 20 strikeouts with a fastball that reaches the low 90s. And he doesn't turn 16 until July.
