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Fiesta Bowl notebook: Family before football for Petersen
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The scare only reiterated Boise State coach Chris Petersen’s belief in family first. In 1999, Petersen was coaching at the University of Oregon when his then-infant son, Sam, fell off a bleacher during a practice and hit his head on the ground.
Petersen thought Sam looked stunned, but when he started vomiting, the Oregon medical staff decided to look into a possible concussion.
CT scans and an MRI on Sam revealed not only a concussion, but a malignant brain tumor which had spread to his spine.
Eight hours of brain surgery and a stem cell transplant was followed by three years of hospitals, brain scans and more MRIs.
“He’s a miracle kid,” Petersen said.
Today, Sam is a healthy 8-year-old. And moving from job to job in today’s college football coaching climate doesn’t suit Petersen.
“It’s further solidified to me that there’s more to life than football and your job,” Petersen said.
FOLLOWING IN FOOTSTEPS
C.J. Ah You is carrying along a family tradition he didn’t even know about.
The Oklahoma defensive end will be the third member of his family to play in the Fiesta Bowl. His uncle, Junior, won defensive MVP in the inaugural Fiesta Bowl in 1971 playing for Arizona State. His father, Charles, was a backup running back for BYU in the 1974 Fiesta Bowl.
“It’s kind of funny how it all worked out,” Ah You said. “They brought it up to me, I didn’t know anything about it.”
So, any shared memories from their time at the game?
“Shoot, it was so long ago they probably don’t even remember,” he said.
GOOD TO BE HOME
Broncos center Jadon Dailey will finish his college career where it began. Dailey graduated from Glendale Mountain Ridge High (coached by current Chandler Hamilton coach Steve Belles), then played at Phoenix College before transferring to Boise State before his junior year.
He arrived in Boise in January.
“It snowed the day I landed and I said, ‘What am I doing to myself?’” he said.
Still, the 5-foot-11, 285-pounder never tossed out his shorts, and said he sometimes wears them during Idaho winters beneath a full-length coat.
Sounds a bit sinister.
“It’s kind of dorky looking,” he said. “I try not to look like I’m creeping around anyone.”
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