Mark Nebeker

Richard Dunn

At his Costa Mesa High 20-year reunion, Mark Nebeker remembers

talking to former football teammates, and, after a few sodas, the

details would grow.

They would recall the down, how much time was left, what play was

called and the result. Nebeker has no such recollection of numbers,

statistics and scores. But he does remember his bone-jarring hits at

middle linebacker.

“I’d love it when some wide receiver or tight end would run

through the middle with his arms up,” said Nebeker, the Mustangs’

defensive leader in the fall of 1974.

Middle linebackers have always had a reputation -- the reason,

perhaps, they’re playing the position in the first place. When

Nebeker was growing up -- prior to becoming one of the

hardest-hitting, most intense middle linebackers in school history --

there were always references to being “like a middle linebacker.” In

other words, if you were the toughest, scariest, baddest dude on the

block, you were the Dick Butkus.

“Wide receivers and quarterbacks play the game for a whole

different reason than inside linebackers,” Nebeker said. “I played to

hit, and go head to head with people.”

Nebeker, who said his middle-linebacker mentality is still very

much a part of his life in business as a guy who can get tough

projects completed, was the centerpiece of Coach Tom French’s defense

in ’74. It was French’s first year at Mesa and one of the first

things he did was move the third-year varsity performer to defensive

tackle. But the Mustangs gave up 53 points in their first two games

(both losses to Foothill and Mission Viejo) and Nebeker was switched

back to inside ‘backer, where he thrived the rest of the season as

the entire defense was designed around him.

“Anybody who plays linebacker likes to have that inside spot,”

Nebeker said. “It’s you controlling the defense. You get to call the

defensive plays. It’s just a ton of fun.”

Nebeker, an All-Century League performer and third-team All-Orange

County selection his senior year, does remember, in his junior year,

taking on former Santa Ana Valley star running back Myron White and

giving him his best shots, despite Valley’s 40-14 romp over the Mustangs.

“We got killed, but I can remember almost being in a daze in that

game because it was so intense,” Nebeker said. “I was seeing those

holes (White) was running through on the line and then stepping in

those holes and taking him head one ... there were times I’d hit him

and take him down and he’d get up and go ‘Great stick.’ And we’d help

each other up.”

Nebeker, who enjoyed hitting his opponent hard on the game’s first

play to set the tone and make him feel he’s in for a long night, said

“You don’t just take people down. You squeeze their lower back until

their eyes get big and then you actually pick them up and drive into

them and take them back. You want him to have doubts about coming

into you.”

Nebeker, a member of the South team in the 1975 Orange County

All-Star football game, also played guard on offense, until his

senior year, when French stripped the idea of two-way starters.

Nebeker played under Coach John Sweazy his sophomore and junior

years.

The Costa Mesa Male Athlete of the Year in ‘75, Nebeker was also a

standout heavyweight wrestler. He was told his future was brighter in

wrestling than football, but Nebeker wasn’t that interested in

pursuing wrestling in college, mainly because of the countless

training hours a wrestler puts himself through before finally getting

to a match that could last only seconds.

“I didn’t actually like wrestling. It was more of a different

athletic thing to do at that point,” said Nebeker, who compiled a

30-3 record his senior year with 13 pins.

Nebeker played football on Orange Coast College’s national

championship team in 1975, attended a two-year Mormon mission in

Taiwan, then returned to the gridiron at OCC for the 1979 campaign,

his final year of competitive football.

These days, Nebeker is a project management consultant for defense

(what else?) companies like Lockheed, which hired him recently to

train many of its employees. When there are sticky issues between

government and corporate officials, references have been made about a

company “needing a middle linebacker to come in here and get our

stuff tighter,” he said. “Sometimes, you refer to it as a smoke

jumper, because you beat down a fire and then go look for other fires

to beat down. I believe that’s true -- once a linebacker, always a

linebacker.”

Nebeker, the latest honoree in the Daily Pilot Sports Hall of

Fame, is single and lives in Tustin. He has been a competitive

cyclist for about 12 years.