Sandifer Looking for His Kicks : UCLA Senior Glad He Stayed On Despite Infrequent Playing Opportunities

Dominic Sandifer, the most prolific kicker in Harvard High history, brought his thumping foot to UCLA in 1987.

The good news is that he has made many highlight films. The bad news is that he hasn’t been in any of them.

The films he made, of baseball, golf, boxing and tennis, were put together while he was working as an intern in the production department of the Prime Ticket cable network.

On the football field, Sandifer, who once boomed a 59-yard field goal in high school and was recruited passionately by Bo Schembechler at Michigan and coaches at Cal, Stanford and USC, has been, well, quiet. Like a mouse in a muzzle. The savings and loan business has contributed more to American society in the past four years than Sandifer has to UCLA.

Not his fault. He kept trying and kept quiet.

And UCLA kept finding someone else to trot onto the field for those eyebrow-plucking moments when a stadium falls silent and a football is sent soaring toward the goal post.

Now, weeks before his final season of eligibility begins, Sandifer finds himself in a familiar spot: fighting a trio of kickers for a chance to spend just a few moments a game somewhere else but on the sideline.

On the field would be nice, right out there with the football players.

“The job is up in the air,” UCLA kicking coach Bob Field said Thursday. “Four guys are going after it, but no one is clearly ahead at this moment. The next week will decide who gets it.”

In three seasons on the team (he redshirted as a freshman), Sandifer has donated four extra points to the cause. All four came in 1988, two against Cal State Long Beach and two against San Diego State on successive Saturdays.

In his two seasons since, zip. Nada.

So a guy who goes four-for-four is banished to the bench for the next two years, and as you might guess, the guy wonders why.

“Maybe they thought I could go five-for-four,” Sandifer said, smiling.

And that is it from Sandifer in the moaning and whining department. While some high school stars who feel left out in their college program quickly solve the problem by blasting the coach and finding a new college, Sandifer would have none of it. He stayed and he worked and he tried and he kept his lips sealed.

“I went through a period where I thought about going someplace else, finding a chance to play somewhere,” Sandifer said. “But it passed quickly. I made a choice and I decided the thing to do was to stay with that choice and make the best of it. School, I think, is more important than football.

“You’ve got to look at the pros and cons of everything. Most athletes tend to look at the cons, the negative aspects, of all situations. I look at the pros. I’ve gotten the chance to be at UCLA, to get an education and to have a great social life.

“If football works out for me this season, I’ll be a very happy guy. If it doesn’t, I’ll still be a happy guy.”

Coaches, who sometimes notice only things that happen between the sidelines, have been unable to help noticing Sandifer’s character.

“Whether he wins the job or not, Dominic is a great kid, a really special kid,” Field said. “He works hard and he doesn’t get discouraged. That alone makes him unusual. It’s easy to get discouraged in a situation like this, but to be honest, this is the situation we want.

“If he does win the job, then we know he’s earned it under fire, under tough conditions. And a kicker who has come through those pressure situations repeatedly is the kicker you want.

“A guy who just inherits the job, who doesn’t have to compete and kick under great stress just to get the job, you never know what happens to that kid in a game.”

Ah. A game. Wouldn’t that be nice?

There were games in Sandifer’s career. Honest. But they were a long time ago.

“I remember so much about Dominic,” said Gary Thran, the Harvard football coach. “I remember a game his senior year against Alemany--we were huge underdogs--and Dominic kicked two field goals and we won, 6-0. And I remember a playoff game that season against Yucaipa and Dominic scored every point for us. He kicked two field goals and he ran for two touchdowns as a tailback.

“Dominic is quite a guy.”

Sandifer said he also remembers those days. He hopes, however, that they are not the only days he remembers when he gazes back, decades from now, on his kicking career.

“You might want to get back to me after the season on that one,” he said.

“If I get to kick this season, I’m sure those will be my best memories. One season of kicking for UCLA can erase a lot of bad memories. If not, I’ve got the high school memories.

“Either way, I’ve been pretty lucky.”