’77 Devils overcame myriad obstacles to capture national championship

Nothing much was special about the 1977 Arizona State baseball team. Except for the catcher who got shot at the Jack in the Box near Packard Stadium after a big postseason win.

View most regular lineup of ASU's 1977 team

Or the star hitter who found himself in a life-threatening crisis when a simple game of catch went awry.

Or that cheery team meeting when the coach and players called each other chokers.

Sure, the Sun Devils won the national title in Omaha, Neb., behind a walk-on pitcher who forgot to bring his fastball to the big game. But nobody saw it coming.

The team had a tricky task, 30 years ago, of following the almost larger-than-life 1976 team, a powerhouse packed full of future big-leaguers that somehow fell short of winning the NCAA title.

“That might have been the best college team ever up to that point,” said Hubie Brooks, a star outfielder in ’77 who went on to play 15 years in the big leagues.

Bob Horner — who became the ’77 team’s MVP in Omaha and hit more than 200 big-league homers — said that while the ’76 team was “head and shoulders” above everyone else, “the 1977 team came back with a lot of holes and guesswork.”

Somehow, it all gelled.

The pitching staff fit together beautifully after Darrell Jackson got to fill in for an injured hurler. At the time, Jackson was struggling on the field and in the classroom.

“The last person you would depend on was an unreliable person like me,” said Jackson, who now works with at-risk kids in California.

But he struck out 15 hitters in his first start and became a mainstay.

The lineup also started mimicking the ’76 model, and the Devils reached Omaha by winning the regional at home.

Shortly afterward, backup catcher Dale Eiler was confronted by an assailant at a Jack-in-the-Box near the stadium.

The man pulled out a gun and fired at Eiler, who — showing the skills of a catcher — put up his hands to protect himself. The bullet went through a finger and hit him in the nose.

Suffice to say Dale didn’t play in Omaha. Neither did first baseman/designated hitter Dave Hudgens.

As Hudgens started to warm up at practice with first baseman Chris Nyman, coach Jim Brock yelled, “Take the field!” and Hudgens turned just as Nyman threw the ball.

Hudgens never saw it coming and got hit in the nose. The training staff tried to patch him up, but the injury was worse than appeared as a blood vessel had been broken.

By the time he finally got to a hospital, “I had lost a lot of blood,” he said. “A doctor told me later that an anesthesiologist had saved my life,” by quickly putting him to sleep so emergency doctors could repair the damage.

In Omaha, the Devils opened by beating Clemson, then suffered a stunning 3-2 loss to Southern Illinois.

Brock called for, then canceled a practice, opting instead for a team meeting.

The meeting brought into focus Brock’s relationship with his players.

Like many successful coaches, Brock was more respected than beloved. He was a demanding no-nonsense sort with a sarcastic sense of humor — a guy who could wear on his players.

On the trip to Omaha, the plane stopped in Denver. Several players went to the men’s room and commenced Brock impersonations until one realized Brock was occupying one of the stalls. They scurried out, hoping he wouldn’t recognize their voices.

Still, players said Brock brought out their best through meticulous preparation.

This was Brock’s fifth trip to Omaha in six years as the coach; he’d come up short even though he’d brought dominant teams in 1972 and ’76. He needed a trophy to join the revered class of his predecessor, Bobby Winkles, who put ASU on the map with three NCAA titles.

“Jim wanted it so badly,” said Pat Brock, wife of the late coach.

At the team meeting, “He basically said we were choking,” pitcher Larry Eiler said.

Nyman, other players said, shot back, in effect saying: “You are choking. Let us play.”

No matter who was right, “We were all fired up,” Eiler said. “No way we were going to lose.”

A key play helped turn the CWS in the Devils’ favor.

With ASU clinging to a 4-2 lead late in a quarterfinal game, South Carolina had runners in scoring position.

Shortstop Mike Henderson sauntered toward the plate, yelling, “Watch the squeeze!”

It was just a decoy.

“Mike Henderson was one of the smartest players I’ve ever seen,” outfielder Steve Michael said.

While Henderson yelled, he wiped his shirt. This was the signal for “the flap play.”

Catcher Chris Bando faced his glove down as Henderson broke behind the runner and took the pitcher’s throw for a perfect pickoff.

The game’s door was shut by freshman Jamie Allen, who became sort of a cult figure during the series.

Allen would storm around the mound, celebrating strikes and exhorting dallying hitters to “Get back in the box!”

“That wasn’t really Jim’s style, but with Jamie, it wore well,” Mrs. Brock said.

After the Devils spanked Southern Illinois 10-0 behind Jackson in the semifinals, Brock had Jerry Vasquez, a walk-on from Scottsdale Coronado High, pitch the title game vs. South Carolina.

Vasquez, perhaps anxious, started to warm up and discovered “I couldn’t break a plate of glass.”

Brock, perplexed at Vasquez’ lack of velocity, yelled at Bando to: “Throw the fastball!”

Bando looked back as if to say, “This is his fastball,” Vasquez recalled.

“But Jerry got this fire in him,” Eiler said. “He wasn’t going to come out, and he wasn’t going to lose.”

“Sometimes,” Vasquez said, “when you don’t have your best stuff, you pitch better.”

ASU led 1-0 in the seventh when one of South Carolina’s sluggers stepped to the plate. Bando called for a fastball.

“I said no, Bando said yes,” Vasquez said.

The pitcher gave in, and the hitter clobbered a game-tying homer.

Back in the dugout, Bando and Vasquez “started yelling at each other,” Vasquez said. But Bando redeemed himself with a home run for a 2-1 win.

The team went back to the hotel where a couple of players, including Allen, threw Pat Brock in the swimming pool.

“I told them, 'I can’t swim.’ So Jamie jumped into the pool with me,” she said.

Back in Phoenix, a throng that included Phoenix mayor Margaret T. Hance greeted them at the old Terminal 1.

The fun continued into the morning at the Brocks’ house in central Tempe, with people from the neighborhood joining.

The Sun Devils were champs, and their neighbor finally would be recognized as a first-tier coach.