sports
Graphic by Shawn Bird
Ducks' Carson Gang
Oregon has five starters from one town
By Steve Turcotte
CM the Emerald
The Carson connection. It's not a television spy
program or a new show starring johnny.
It is the connection Oregon's football team has
with Carson High School, 15 minutes outside of Los
Angeles in Carson, Calif. In a day and age where it is
rare to obtain even two football players from the
same high school, the Ducks have no less than five
players from the Southern California school — and
all five are starters.
The connection began three years ago when run
ning back Ladaria Johnson came to Oregon. After
Johnson began carrying the ball for Oregon, the
others began filtering in
Cornerback Wendell Cason arrived a year later,
and two years ago cornerback Don Brown and safety
Doug Judge appeared in Eugene. This season the
Ducks reeled in their fifth player from Carson High in
junior college transfer Kevin McCall.
Saturday, UCLA is on tap for the Ducks at Autzen
Stadium. And with the Bruins invading Eugene, the
five see the game as a chance to show up their
friends from down south.
"There is a lot of extra incentive there," says
Cason. "It's fun to get a shot at these guys, friends or
no friends."
WHY OREGON INSTEAD OF
SUNNY SOUTHERN CAL?
The distance between Carson and Eugene is
about 1,000 miles. But that didn't stop the five from
coming to Oregon. Each of them were heavily
recruited out of high school and could have written
their own tickets to most of the country's major
colleges.
However, all five had similar reasons for coming
to Oregon and rejecting schools like USC and
Nebraska.
"I was heavily recruited by USC," says Brown, a
sophomore. “But I said to myself, 'why not get away,'
and I ended up here."
Judge wanted to get away too, and he and Brown
decided to attend the same school. When the two
made their visit to Oregon, Johnson talked to them
and pointed out that Oregon might be a good place
to play collegiately.
"Don was all set to go to UCLA, and I wanted to
go to USC," says Judge, who looked at schools like
Arizona State and Nebraska. "But for some reason,
Don didn't like USC and I didn't like UCLA.
"We just decided to go to a school where we'd
already know somebody."
For Cason, the road north to Eugene also spelled
an excuse to get away from home.
In McCall's case, it was a matter of yearning to
play major college football. Four brothers were runn
ing backs at major colleges, and with four other Car
son players dotting the Duck roster, what better
reason to come to Oregon.
"I wanted to get out and play in the Pac-10," says
McCall, who played at Santa Monica Junior College
for a year. "I liked Oregon and thought I could fit in."
CARSON HIGH SCHOOL — A FOOTBALL FACTORY
Oregon's Carson stars were coached by Gene
Vollnogle, a 21-year veteran coach at Carson High
School.
In addition to sending five proteges to Oregon,
Vollnogle has 21 players currently on major college
rosters — including starting defensive backs Darrel
Hopper of USC and Clemont Williams of Cal.
In 21 years at Carson, Vollnogle has amassed a
record that would make any high school coach green
with envy. He has captured six Los Angeles City foot
ball championships and a handful or runner-up
trophies.
"The tradition at Carson has been very good over
the years," says Vollnogle. "Once you start winning,
Continued on Page 12A
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