NICK SCHAUMBURG

Richard Dunn

Even with three championship rings from his collegiate football

playing days, Nick Schaumburg still never played a down before high

school, unless you count an occasional pearl dive along one of

Newport Beach’s best breaks.

A typical Newport Beach kid who grew up surfing, Schaumburg never

considered playing organized football until his freshman year at

Corona del Mar High, then enjoyed high-flying success in the gridiron

trenches and later a modest career at Colorado State.

“Actually, I surfed way before I ever played football,” Schaumburg

said. “I pretty much grew up (surfing) and just ended up playing

football in the ninth grade because all my friends did it. Jeff

Bogdan made me do it. He was the (offensive) guard right next to me.

He’s one of my best friends. He made me play football. And then I got

a scholarship. Now I’m done with football and still surfing.”

In the case of Schaumburg, who pass protected and opened holes for

celebrated double-threat Sea King quarterback Josh Walz in the fall

of 1995, he came equipped with size (6-foot-4, 260 pounds) and a

surfer’s athleticism, which often goes unnoticed in the greater

sports world. It was a lethal combination quickly recognized by

former CdM head coach Dave Holland, an offensive line guru.

“It was definitely a new thing for me as a freshman,” said

Schaumburg, whose first tour of duty was at defensive tackle, before

moving to the offensive line his sophomore year. “I didn’t really

feel I had the hang of it until my sophomore year, then I started

getting more comfortable. Then, I guess by my senior year, I was

playing all right.”

Schaumburg, a two-time first-team All-Sea View League selection by

the Daily Pilot (1994-95), lined up with fellow all-leaguers Richy

Nichols and Tim Goode to help the Sea Kings’ offense score a

school-record 322 points in the ’95 campaign.

Also a two-time All-Newport-Mesa Daily Pilot Dream Team member,

Schaumburg was a primary cog in the Sea Kings’ run to the CIF

Southern Section Division V semifinals, in which a valiant comeback

effort fell short in a 21-16 loss to Servite at Cal State Fullerton

as Corona del Mar finished 9-4. It was the third-highest victory

total in the school’s first 34 years of varsity football, topped only

by the school’s back-to-back CIF title squads of 1988 (11-3) and ’89

(12-0-2).

An All-CIF Division V performer at tackle, Schaumburg used his

strength, quickness and imposingly long arms to keep opposing

defenders off CdM ballcarriers. CdM offensive line coach Pat Kelly

once said Schaumburg was the best pass protector he had ever coached.

It wasn’t long before every school in the Western Athletic

Conference started knocking on Schaumburg’s door, and, based on the

Colorado State Rams’ success, he signed with them over Fresno State,

Arizona, UNLV and virtually every WAC school.

Switched to tight end after his redshirt year, Schaumburg saw

plenty of action in his career, mostly as a blocking tight end. Once,

in fact, his block against Air Force sprang teammate Cecil Sapp on a

long touchdown run. “My parents said they isolated me [in television

highlights later that evening] and put a circle around me,” said

Schaumburg, who caught one pass at Colorado State.

Schaumburg, the son of two school teachers (father Gary and mother

Suzanne), played on CSU teams that captured two Mountain West

Conference titles and one WAC championship.

“Both my parents are in teaching and I think I could see something

in football and teaching [in my future],” said Schaumburg, the latest

honoree in the Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Fame. While deciding on a

career path, he said he also wouldn’t mind working in the surfing

industry.

Since leaving Colorado State two years ago, Schaumburg has spent a

summer traveling and backpacking throughout Europe and taken surfing

trips to Costa Rica and Panama. “My dad’s getting on my (butt) that

it’s taking so long [to enter a full-time career],” he quipped.