Saturday's Hero

The hero is a poor Mexican-American kid. He delivers newspapers to help support his parents, both of whom are blind. At age 14, he enters a schoolboy contest, and, while officials look on in disbelief, he flips a football 63 yds. He soon becomes a star high school quarterback, rushing from practice each day to work long hours as a gas-station attendant and grocery-store clerk. A scout from a big college watches the hero passing and shouts: "Lookit the ball! Lookit where the ball is! Right on the chest every time!" The hero wins a scholarship to a big college and, overcoming injuries and a serious operation, wins a starting assignment. A crisis arises when pro scouts storm the hero's frat house and try to persuade him to turn pro. But the hero refuses. He tells his coach that he will play out his final year to help the team and set a good example for youth. "I rate team achievements," he says, "above individual attainments." The hero breaks school, conference and national passing records, wins the Heisman Trophy as the most outstanding college football player in the U.S. Then, in a slambang finale, he leads his team to a thrilling upset victory in the Rose Bowl.

The scenario is straight out of the Late Late Show. It is the kind of rah-rah rouser that might have starred Pat O'Brien as the coach and Ronald Reagan as Saturday's hero. Yet it all happened—all, that is, except the finale. Last week Jim Plunkett of Stanford University won the Heisman Trophy by a large margin. But the climax of his college career will not come until New Year's Day, when he will lead the Indians to their first Rose Bowl in 18 years. Stanford will meet unbeaten Ohio State in a classic confrontation that will pit Plunkett's passing against the Buckeyes' vaunted running attack.

If anyone is capable of providing a Hollywood finish to this year's Rose Bowl, it is Plunkett. In three seasons. he has completed a remarkable 55% of his passes (530 out of 962 attempts) for 7,544 yds. and 52 touchdowns. His career mark of 7,887 yds. in total offense eclipsed by an astounding 1,319 yds. the N.C.A.A. record set last year by North Texas State's Steve Ramsey. A shrewd field general, Plunkett has a sharp eye for reading defenses, and his strapping size (6 ft. 3 in., 210 Ibs.) allows him to shake off tacklers as though they were so many rag dolls. "Plunkett is the best drop-back passer I've seen in college football," says U.C.L.A. Coach Tommy Prothro. "He has real strength and good speed. If you go all out to blitz him, he'll eat you alive." Adds University of Oregon Coach Jerry Frei, a 33-10 victim of Plunkett's passing: "I'm very happy to see him graduate."