Sport: Saturday's Hero

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Mark of Zorro. Plunkett is happy to have the opportunity to graduate. His late father, afflicted with progressive blindness, was a news vendor who had to support his sightless wife along with Jim and two older daughters. Raised in San Jose, Calif., Plunkett chose for his childhood hero Zorro, the Spanish Robin Hood. (Plunkett says that he is 90% Mexican; an Irish-German great-grandfather passed on the Anglo surname.) He became seriously interested in football at the age of 14, when he grew to 5 ft. 11 in. and 150 Ibs., an advantage that helped him star in basketball, baseball, track and wrestling as well. At Stanford, though, his size almost caused a change in careers. Weakened by a thyroid operation, Plunkett was so unimpressive as a freshman quarterback that Coach John Ralston wanted to switch him to defensive end. But Plunkett was adamant. "I," he informed Ralston, "am a quarterback."

Determined to prove it, Plunkett went home that summer and "worked my tail off. I threw almost every day to my old high school receivers." He worked even harder in his sophomore year as a "redshirt," practicing with the varsity but not playing in any games —so that he would have an additional year of eligibility. Finally, he started his first varsity game in 1968 against San Jose State College. Connecting on 10 out of 13 passes for 277 yds., he buried San Jose by throwing for four touchdowns and running for a fifth. A few spectacular performances later, and the usually blase Stanford fans took up a new chant: "Plunkett to 'em!" Though hobbled by a knee injury in his last seven games that season, he completed 142 out of 268 passes, for 2,156 yds. and 14 touchdowns.

Ten for 15. The next season he exploded for 2,673 yds. and 20 touchdowns, breaking virtually every passing record in the Pacific Eight Conference. This season, deftly mixing short bullets with long bombs, Plunkett was all but untouchable. In the opener he led Stanford to a 34-28 win over Arkansas by constantly outfoxing the defense. Noting that Plunkett completed ten first-down passes in 15 third-down situations, Arkansas Coach Frank Broyles marveled: "That's great quarterbacking!"

Against Southern Cat, a team that Stanford had not beaten in twelve years, Plunkett completed a remarkable 61% of his passes to down the Spartans 24-14. Said U.S.C. Coach John McKay afterward, "Plunkett is not just a drop-back passer. He can roll out, run when he's in trouble, and get rid of the ball with guys hanging all over him."