Robert Urmson, Millennium Hall of Fame

There were some cloudy nights under the lights, but fireball

tailback Robert Urmson of Estancia High was usually in the clear.

Urmson, on his way to rushing for over 1,000 yards, got poked in the

eye after Week 3 of the 1979 football campaign and ended up spending

almost two weeks in the hospital.

During a light practice before the Ocean View game that year, a finger

went through Urmson’s face mask and drew blood, forcing the junior to

miss two preleague games.

But when Urmson, a 5-foot-6, 160-pound spark plug, returned to the

gridiron, he wore a homemade mask with a protective shield, similar to

the tear-offs used by speedway motorcycle racers. Holes were drilled into

Urmson’s helmet to fit the guard, but, sometimes, it would fog up inside.

In the ’79 homecoming game against Corona del Mar at Orange Coast

College, an eventual 21-7 victory for Estancia in a Sea View League

championship year for the Eagles, Urmson carried the ball once when his

face mask fogged up and, well, he got his clock cleaned.

“I couldn’t see a lick. The (pitch from quarterback Jim McCahill) hit

me in the chest, I started running hard and no one hit me, but then all

of the sudden I got drilled,” said Urmson, who finished with 149 rushing

yards that night in a workmanlike 27 carries.

Urmson, who would usually take his helmet off and spit inside to clear

the fog away, rushed for 1,037 yards in 221 carries that season while

flirting with the Estancia single-season rushing record, held at the time

by Dan Princeotto.

Small but speedy, Urmson ended the regular season in ’79 third among

Orange County rushers, then was seventh by postseason’s end.

“Yeah, I was pretty small, but my linemen were big, and you had to get

through the linemen to find me,” said Urmson, a first-team All-Sea View

League and third-team All-Orange Coast area selection at tailback, as the

Eagles went 9-3 and tied a school record for victories in a season,

before losing to eventual CIF Southern Section Central Conference

champion Esperanza in the quarterfinals.

A three-year varsity lettermen, Urmson was a major force in a banner

year, playing alongside offensive standouts McCahill, guard Jeff Tracy,

center Brad Hoo and wide receiver Rich Amaral. Bob Larimer, an all-league

defensive back, was supposed to play quarterback that year, but suffered

a freak broken nose by his own fullback while making a handoff in Week 1.

“It was a great year and we had fun,” Urmson said of ‘79, which opened

with a 35-0 loss to Edison.

“On the first play of the game (against the Chargers), we ran a

counter and they ripped my (jersey) right off -- the bottom of my shirt,”

Urmson added. “I had only half a shirt the rest of the game. And then

playing on the defensive side in that game, it was here comes Kerwin Bell

and there goes Kerwin Bell. They also had Frank Seurer and Mark Boyer ...

all those great players. They had monsters.”

Prior to his eye injury, Urmson played cornerback, tailback, and

returned kickoffs and punts. But following the injury, he was assigned

strictly to ballcarrying measures.

As a sophomore, Urmson was a starting defensive back under Coach Ed

Blanton in ’78. Also a third-string tailback, Urmson watched the Eagles’

starting tailback get whacked early in the season opener against Buena

Park at OCC, then saw his replacement dislocate a shoulder. So he got the

nod.

On his first offensive varsity play, Urmson caught a screen and raced

24 yards to the Buena Park 20, before his own lineman knocked him down

from behind.

As a senior in 1980, Urmson repeated as an all-league player, but was

placed on the defensive team by the Daily Pilot and the offensive unit by

the circuit’s coaches.

That year, Estancia had a chance to win the Sea View League title

again, but lost to El Toro, 27-21, in the regular season finale and

finished second. The Eagles, led by Abel Cachola, Terry Thompson, Jaime

Aiken and McCahill, advanced to the quarterfinals and lost to Esperanza

again.

Urmson rushed for 740 yards in 205 carries that season with 14

touchdowns, giving him 22 touchdowns in two seasons. He scored four

touchdowns in Week 7, a 42-6 victory over Irvine, and had punt returns

for touchdowns of 59 and 55 yards during the fall of ’80.

Urmson, also one of Estancia’s leading receivers for three years, is

the latest honoree in the Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Fame, celebrating

the millennium.

Urmson also lettered in basketball and baseball, and ran the 200

meters in track. His football career ended after one year at Orange

Coast, and, in 1984, three years after graduating from Estancia, he

married the former Debbie Kane.

Today, Urmson is a software analyst for IBM in Long Beach and lives in

Costa Mesa with his wife of 15 years and two daughters, Brook, 8, and

4-month-old Blair.