Mesa Musings:

The top-ranked University of Alabama and Texas football teams have been practicing in the area this week for Thursday’s Bowl Championship Series title game at the Rose Bowl.

While the Longhorns practiced at UC Irvine, the Crimson Tide squad has been using Orange Coast College’s locker room, weight room, training facility and cardio-lab. It’s practicing across the street on the natural turf of the Farm Sports Complex in anticipation of the Rose Bowl’s natural surface. This isn’t the first time that OCC has entertained football royalty.

The campus hosted the University of Michigan for several Rose Bowls, as well as the University of Illinois and Arizona State. The Miami Dolphins practiced in LeBard Stadium prior to Super Bowl VII in 1973, and the New York Giants were there in 1987 prior to Super Bowl XXI.

OCC attracted university and NFL teams over the years mainly because of the efforts of one guy: Cliff Travioli.

A native of Ann Arbor, Mich., and a huge Wolverines fan, Cliff graduated from OCC in 1973 after an Army tour of duty in Vietnam. He transferred to UC Berkeley, where he majored in exercise physiology. Cliff returned to Orange County in 1975 and was hired as a member of OCC’s grounds crew.

From 1980 to ’94, he served as head of the grounds staff and was the manager of LeBard Stadium. A perfectionist who took great pride in his work, he turned the LeBard playing surface into something special. It became one of the premier natural-grass fields in the Southland, surpassing even the L.A. Coliseum and Anaheim Stadium.

Teams loved to play at LeBard because of its pristine surface — even late in a season after nearly two-dozen college and high school games had been played there.

FieldTurf, a state-of-the-art artificial surface, was installed in 2004.

Cliff helped to attract his beloved University of Michigan several times during his OCC tenure. When the Wolverines came west to represent the Big-10 in the Rose Bowl from 1981 through 1993, they frequently stayed at a Newport Beach hotel and conducted practices at the college.

Bo Schembechler, the Michigan head coach, got to know and respect Cliff. Notoriously cantankerous, Bo deeply appreciated Cliff’s talent for making his grass gridiron look as flawless as the surface of a billiard table.

The Wolverines play at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, a facility that seats 107,000. It’s nicknamed “The Big House.” While the Maize and Blue practiced in 7,600-seat LeBard Stadium, Cliff dubbed it “The Little House.” He became a full-fledged Michigan “insider,” and was allowed to watch practices that were closed to the media and public.

Cliff traveled to Ann Arbor most summers to visit relatives, and always managed to drop by the university’s athletic department.

On every Saturday night during OCC’s football seasons, I’d see Cliff as I entered LeBard Stadium. I was the announcer for the games. He’d be standing at his customary post near the top of the ramp leading down to the perfectly coiffed field. Without fail, we’d spend a few moments discussing college football results of the day. He’d, of course, exult over Michigan’s win. On the odd occasion that the Wolverines lost, I’d give him an earful.

In 1993, Cliff developed a respiratory ailment. It seemed inconsequential at first, but quickly turned serious. The condition, called pulmonary fibrosis, severely sapped his strength.

Once, when I talked with him about the illness, Cliff told me that he’d possibly contracted it as a result of exposure to Agent Orange. Or, maybe it was due to his repeated contact with pesticides. The disease caused the air sacs in his lungs to turn into useless fibrous tissue. He found it increasingly difficult to catch his breath.

Cliff took several months off to rest. He stopped by my office in early 1994 while visiting the campus. He appeared weak and tired, but his spirits were good.

“I’m going to beat this,” he promised.

On May 30, 1994, he took his last labored breath at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, and was gone at the age of 48.

We’ve missed him.

As the Crimson Tide used OCC’s facilities this week, I couldn’t help but think of Cliff.

They may not be his beloved Wolverines, but he’d have enjoyed hosting the boys from ’Bama.

JIM CARNETT lives in Costa Mesa. His column runs Wednesdays.