Duck football adds to staff
■Oregon hires an
experienced wide receivers
coach, Southern California
assistant Dan Ferrigno
By Scott Pesznecker
Oregon Daily Emerald
Oregon head football coach Mike
Bellotti may not have left to coach
Southern California, but the Ducks’
coaching staff will import a former
Oregonian from the Trojans.
Dan Ferrigno, a 16-year assistant
coach in the Pacific-10 Conference,
has been hired to coach the wide
receivers for the Oregon football
team, Bellotti announced in a re
leased statement Wednesday.
Ferrigno doubled as wide re
ceivers coach and special teams co
ordinator in his first, and only, sea
son with USC. The 47-year-old San
Francisco native spent his previous
four seasons with California, serv
ing as tight ends coach the first
three seasons and wide receivers
coach in 1999.
Last season, Ferrigno helped de
velop USC sophomore receiver Ka
reem Kelly, who finished third in
the Pac-10 in receptions with 55
catches for 796 yards. The Trojans
ranked third in the league in pass
ing offense with 262.3 yards per
game.
He’s coached other standout
players during his 26-year coaching
career, including Tony Gonzalez,
NFL All-Pro tight end; Nick Harris
and Deltha O’Neal, first-team all
conference special teams stalwarts,
at California; and NFL defensive
back Reggie Tongue at Oregon State
in 1995.
For the Ducks, he replaces Chris
Petersen, who left to become offen
sive coordinator at Boise State.
“I have known Dan for almost 30
years and have personally been ac
quainted with him for the last 20
years and have come to know him
as an exceptional football coach, re
cruiter and a person,” Bellotti said.
“He develops great rapport with his
players and fellow coaches and
brings with him extensive experi
ence in the Pac-10.
“I believe he will have a tremen
dous impact on our program.”
Ferrigno is no stranger to North
west life. He spent nine seasons
(1987-1995) at Oregon State, coach
ing the running backs through the
first four years, then the secondary
in 1991, the outside linebackers
from 1992 to 1994 and the second
ary again in 1995.
He began his coaching career as
an assistant at
St. Ignatius
High School in
San Francisco
in 1975, then
advanced to the
college ranks in
1978 as the
wide receivers
and tight ends
coach at San
Francisco State,
his alma mater.
Ferrigno worked with the tight
ends and offensive line for the
Golden Bears as a graduate student
in 1980 and 1981.
Ferrigno was then an assistant at
Western Michigan for five years,
coaching running backs the first
two seasons, the offensive line the
next two seasons, and the quarter
backs in 1986. He was also offen
sive coordinator in 1985 and 1986.
Did Giants steal ’51 pennant?
NEW YORK — The Giants stole
the pennant! The Giants stole the
pennant!
For a half-century, fans of the old
Brooklyn Dodgers claimed that’s
what Bobby Thomson and the New
York Giants did in 1951. Now,
there’s evidence that maybe it hap
pened just that way.
The Wall Street Journal on
Wednesday quoted Hall of Fame
outfielder Monte Irvin, catcher Sal
Yvars and pitcher Al Gettel as ad
mitting they stole catchers* signs to
overcome a 13 1/2-game deficit and
win baseball’s most famous pen
nant race.
“Every hitter knew what was
coming,” Gettel said. “Made a big
difference.”
Irvin said the Giants have nothing
to be ashamed of.
“Everything we did was on our
own,” he told The Associated Press
on Wednesday. “Our accomplish
ments were true and genteel.”
The AP reported the sign stealing
on March 22, 1962, citing an
unidentified source who was with
the Giants.
Stealing signs by players and
coaches is a long-standing tradition
in baseball. Opponents suspected
New York Mets manager Bobby
Valentine of employing cameras to
do it in 1997 and Boston manager
Jimy Williams accused Cleveland of
doing it in 1999.
Valentine, by the way, is the son
in-law of Ralph Branca—the pitch
er who surrendered Thomson’s
homer that ended the 1951 pennant
playoff.
Thomson’s three-run drive in the
bottom of the ninth inning at the
Polo Grounds lifted the Giants over
the Dodgers 5-4 in the deciding
Game 3.
The “Shot Heard ’Round the
World” became the most replayed
moment in baseball history, with
Giants announcer Russ Hodges
screaming, “The Giants win the
pennant! The Giants win the pen
nant!”
Thomson said he didn’t take
stolen signs when he connected off
Branca.
“It would take a little away from
me in my mind if I felt I got help on
the pitch,” he was quoted as saying.
“My answer is no.”
“Stealing signs is nothing to be
proud of,” Thomson said.
Several players said the Giants
stole signs during home games in
the last 10 weeks of the 1951 season.
New York trailed the Dodgers by 13
1/2 games on Aug. 11 before mak
ing up the deficit in only 53 days.
The Journal said infielder Henry
Schenz and coach Herman Franks
relayed signals from the Giants’ cen
ter-field clubhouse — the wall was
483 feet from home plate — to the
bullpen with a buzzer system creat
ed by electrician Abraham Chad
wick. Yvars said he then relayed sig
nals to hitters.
“My wife never liked me to talk
about it,” Yvars told the Journal.
“She gets embarrassed”
Franks refuted the account.
“I haven’t talked about it in 49
years,” he said. “If I’m ever asked
about it, I’m denying everything.”
Irvin contradicted him, saying:
“He’s sitting there with a telescope,
and he’d relay it to the bullpen. ”
Thomson homered with one out.
At the time, Whitey Lockman was
on second base and Clint Hartung
was on third.
Lockman said he was unable to
pick up thasigns by Brooklyn catch
er Rube Walker, who was playing in
place of injured Roy Campanella.
With a runner on second, as is the
practice, Walker switched the signs
and made them more elaborate.
“I didn’t recognize the sequence,”
Lockman said.
Thomson and Branca are sched
uled to appear together Sunday
night at a Manhattan hotel at the
New York Baseball Writers’ dinner,
starting the 50th anniversary cele
bration of that great moment.
A few years after Thomson home
red, rumors began to circulate that
the Giants had stolen signs in late
1951.
“When I heard those rumors and
innuendoes, I made a decision not
to speak about it,” Branca said. “I
didn’t want to look like I was crying
over spilled milk.”
“Bobby and I are really, really
good friends,” he said. “He still hit
the pitch.”
The Associated Press
Super Bowl bet gets best of Giuliani
NEW YORK — Mayor Rudolph
Giuliani ate crow — uh, raven —
Wednesday, when he had to pay
up for losing a bet with Baltimore
Mayor Martin O’Malley after the
Giants lost the Super Bowl.
“This is not easy. I’m not used to
this,” said Giuliani, accustomed to
winning bets with rival mayors
when the Yankees play in the
World Series.
The Baltimore Ravens beat the
Giants 34-7.
So Giuliani reluctantly pulled
on a white baseball cap embla
zoned “Baltimore Ravens, Super
Bowl champions,” and displayed
the booty O’Malley won: Tickets
to the Broadway show of O’Mal
ley’s choice; one case each of
Brooklyn Lager beer and New
York City tap water; a copy of the
Encyclopedia of New York City;
several pounds of fresh striped
bass (“right from the East River,”
Giuliani joked); and a few knishes
(“they’re like rocks”).
Giuliani had also been sched
uled to hoist the Ravens flag atop
City Hall and bathe the building in
purple light (one of the colors of
the Ravens), but said he will wait
until later this week so O’Malley
can see for himself.
“We were going to do it today,
but he’s going to be in town Friday
and wants to see it,” said Giuliani.
The Associated Press
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