Keith Samuels, Millennium Hall of Fame

Richard Dunn

Nestled comfortably these days on his desert ranch with three

horses outside of Tucson, Ariz., former Corona del Mar High quarterback

Keith Samuels remembers the nights when he didn’t feel quite so safe.

In what CdM football coach Dave Holland termed “the dive series,”

Samuels was the cornerstone of the triple-option threat, while teaming

with receiver Karl Killefer as a record-setting passing tandem.

As a 6-foot, 155-pounder, Samuels preferred to drop back and throw the

ball rather than serve as a human blocking sled.

“I’d hand off to our fullback, Bob Ferraro, or pitch it to our

tailback, Matt Cox, or keep the ball,” Samuels said. “But on every play,

the quarterback gets killed, and here I was a finesse passing machine.”

Samuels, a Daily Pilot headliner as the “Sea Kings’ slick southpaw” in

1970, seemed to get his wish most of the time as he threw for over 135

yards in seven of CdM’s nine games.

In an era when the ball stayed mostly on the ground, Samuels was

slightly ahead of his time averaging 140 passing yards a game, including

an unheard-of effort of 272 aerial yards against powerful Fountain

Valley, a controversial 26-21 loss in which the Sea Kings (3-6) never

recovered emotionally.

“That (loss) really tore us apart,” Samuels said.

An All-Orange Coast area selection in football and baseball as a first

baseman for Coach Tom Trager, Samuels had the most fun on the gridiron

his senior year when CdM defeated Costa Mesa, 45-12, as the Sea Kings

“aired it out” with 153 passing yards, while Samuels completed 9 of 16

throws.

“My fondest memory is the relationship I had with (Killefer),” Samuels

said. “He had incredible hands and ran crisp patterns. He always got open

and he always caught the ball. And, amazingly enough, he always got

yardage after the catch. Not bad for a slow white guy from Corona del

Mar.”

That autumn, Samuels completed 84 of 176 passes for 1,252 yards. It

was before the Daily Pilot kept receiving statistics, but Samuels

estimated that Killefer caught 40 of the tosses for over 800 yards.

“We started to click our junior year, then our senior year we really

had a blast,” Samuels said. “I’ve never had a situation before in

athletics where two people could read each others’ minds.”

CdM, which opened the ’70 campaign with high expectations, ended the

season with two losses.

In his junior year, Samuels said the highlights were beating Edison,

19-0 -- “I don’t think Edison has been shut out since,” he quipped -- and

hooking up with Killefer on an 81-yard touchdown pass against Loara. At

the time, it was the longest scoring pass in CdM history, and, to that

point in Week 7, the longest play Loara’s defense had given up in 1969.

In 1970, Samuels and Killefer were All-Irvine League selections for

CdM along with guard Tim Bandel, tackle Alec Ramsey and defensive back

Jeff Reichert.

“(Killefer) and I were joined at the hip,” Samuels said. “My theory

was, when all else failed, just throw it to Karl.”

After Killefer, John Miles and Shields Richardson were Samuels’ next

two targets.

But perhaps most significant in Samuels’ senior year was meeting

Estancia songleader Margie Campbell, who he started dating and eventually

married.

They both went to USC, where she became a songleader for the Trojans,

while Samuels tried to play football and baseball as a walk-on (both

attempts failed).

Samuels, however, didn’t like sitting in the stands at USC football

games when his girlfriend was down on the field. So he joined her and

became USC’s Yell King.

“I did it almost on a lark,” Samuels said. “This was a way to get into

the games and hang out with the guys I’d gotten to know on the team.”

Samuels was given his sweater, microphone and megaphone, and, “in

front of 15,000 drunken students at the Coliseum,” led the yells. “Not

cheers -- yells,” he said.

“I had the privilege of attending every home and away game in the 1973

football season, I didn’t have to play on the team but I traveled, I

didn’t have to practice but I’d get to go to the games and be on the

sidelines, and I was hanging out with all the titans of California,” he

said, referring to the college president and other big wigs who would

enjoy a close association with the Trojans.

That year, Samuels was named to the six-member International

Cheerleading Foundation’s NCAA All-American squad.

“I was really into crowd motivation and humor,” said Samuels, who,

these days, still sparks a fire under people.

Samuels, who has been married to Margie for 26 years, is vice

president and senior consultant for The Center for Sales Strategy in

Tucson, specializing in management and sales consulting for radio and

television stations around the world.

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

has been in Arizona for seven years, after 11 years in Seattle.

He has a 16-year-old daughter, Samantha, who enjoys competing in

equestrian and painting horses.

“We live the usual ranch life,” said Samuels, who added that his jaw

still cracks from the blows he received as CdM’s quarterback three

decades ago.