Shane Foley, Millennium Hall of Fame

With a rocket launcher for a throwing arm, a team-first attitude

and glittering Hollywood looks, Shane Foley played the perfect supporting

role at USC.

At a time when the Trojans had a cast of star quarterbacks to read the

lead scripts, Foley would wait anxiously on the sidelines and prepare for

any on-camera time available after Rodney Peete and Todd Marinovich.

“I don’t want to sound like sour grapes, or say I was a political

victim, but some things that happened I’ll never understand,” said Foley,

who ended his USC football career with broken promises and few

explanations.

Foley, who has appeared in daytime soap operas and national television

commercials, was the darling of Newport Harbor High’s glory teams of the

mid-1980s, setting an Orange County record for career passing yards

(5,364), which would later be topped by Marinovich (Mater Dei and

Capistrano Valley).

The 1985 CIF Central Conference Player of the Year, Foley guided Coach

Mike Giddings’ Sailors to the Sea View League co-championship and a berth

in the CIF semifinals, completing 220 of his 352 passes (62.5%) for 3,043

yards and 30 touchdowns his senior year.

“Being a quarterback and playing in a sophisticated system for guys

like Coach Giddings was fantastic,” Foley said of the pro-style offense

installed by Giddings, who has operated an NFL scouting business for

several years, and, from 1982 to ‘85, coached Newport Harbor to a 34-12-3

record and three Sea View titles.

“Because of the business he has, we actually were able to watch

offenses like Joe Montana and the 49ers; I was able to look at film like

that and study those type of offenses and sophisticated schemes, and (he)

was allowing me to audible. In 1985, I think we were doing some things on

the high school level that were pretty sophisticated.”

One of the most sought-after quarterbacks in the nation, Foley chose

USC over Arizona and Stanford. Larry Smith, Arizona’s head coach at the

time, recruited Foley hard, but finished second in the derby. The next

year, USC Coach Ted Tollner left and Smith replaced him.

Whether that had any bearing on how Foley was later treated in the QB

rotation in 1990 will probably remain a question mark, and the class-act

Foley prefers to say nothing publicly to tarnish the Trojan family. But

there’s no secret about the controversy.

Marinovich encountered some problems off the field and was benched by

Smith more than once. Foley made the most of his playing time as a Trojan

-- twice earning Player of the Game honors -- but several USC beat

writers at the time wondered why he didn’t get more snaps.

Foley, a 6-foot-2, 191-pound prep star who was voted Newport Harbor’s

Male Athlete of the Year in 1986, took pride in working hard and not

complaining. But an example of the injustice occurred in the first game

of the ’90 season in the Kickoff Classic against Syracuse at Giants

Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.

Marinovich was scheduled to start as a redshirt freshman, but Foley

was told by Smith that he would play in the first half. Instead, Foley

never saw the field. “I didn’t complain about it, but it was tough,”

Foley said. “It was a situation that happened on more than one occasion.”

Some reporters speculated that Foley was such a team player that Smith

might have used him to motivate or inspire Marinovich, who would become

the No. 1 draft choice of the Raiders.

In Foley’s junior year in 1989, he took his first snaps as a USC

quarterback in Week 2 against Utah State, a 66-10 victory for the

Trojans, whose defense that year featured Junior Seau, Mark Carrier and

Scott Ross, while Brad Leggett and Brent Parkinson anchored an offensive

line for Marinovich.

Foley, who earlier in his career volunteered to play on the kickoff

team so he could travel and be a part of the team, threw a touchdown pass

and ran for another score against Utah State at the LA Coliseum.

The next week against Ohio State in a nationally televised game, the

Trojans fell behind early, 3-0, and Marinovich came out with an injury

during a USC drive.

Enter Foley.

“Brad Leggett, our center, said in the huddle, ‘Foley’s in. We’re

going to go right down and score,”’ he said.

With the Trojans at midfield, Foley stepped in and the offense didn’t

miss a beat. Foley directed the offense inside the Ohio State 10-yard

line, and, when it was third and three, he begged for a pass play.

Foley got his wish, then faked on a play-action pass and caused the

Buckeye defense to bite, before finding tight end Scott Galbraith in the

end zone to put USC ahead.

Foley gained the confidence of the Trojan coaching staff, but

Marinovich’s injury was suddenly healed and the redheaded southpaw was

back on the field. In fact, Marinovich got hot and the Trojans waxed Ohio

State, 42-3.

Foley’s senior year was highlighted by Week 8, when he started at

Arizona State in a must-win situation for USC, which was 5-2 at the time

and coming off a home loss to Arizona. Marinovich was suspended for a

game and Smith turned over the reins to Foley, who led the Trojans to a

13-6 win in rowdy Tempe with his father, Mike, and Giddings looking on in

the stands.

“I think that game kind of helped to make up for all the bad times he

had (at USC),” said his grandmother, Norma Foley, who raised him in high

school.

Foley’s father is a former USC football player, while his grandfather,

John, played at St. Mary’s during the school’s powerhouse years. His

uncle, Steve, played at Newport Harbor and Stanford in the 70s.

He grew up in Los Angeles, but his family moved to the desert when he

was 12. By the time high school rolled around, Foley, an excellent

athlete and top junior high quarterback, relocated to Newport Beach to

live with his grandparents and attend Newport Harbor.

“I was fortunate to have grandparents to do that, and that was pretty

amazing of my mom, to allow her only child at 14 years old to move away

from home,” said Foley, who spent summers in Newport Beach growing up and

even worked out at the high school.

“My Uncle Steve had been a Newport Harbor football player, and I knew

a lot of people down at Newport Harbor,” added Foley, whose younger

brother, Joe, is a third generation football Tar.

Foley, 31 and single, works in the real estate industry when he isn’t

acting in soaps or commercials. The former John Wayne Memorial

Postgraduate Scholarship Award winner, who roomed with Marinovich on the

road, is a member of the Screen Actors Guild and represented by the

William Morris Agency.

Foley, one of Newport Harbor’s all-time greats, today enters the Daily

Pilot Sports Hall of Fame, celebrating the millennium.