With six decades of Tigers in attendance, 戴尔·威多夫教练回到校园参加奥克斯氧大学传奇足球项目的庆祝活动
In an evening filled with smiles, laughs, and old locker room stories, 80多名校友和他们的客人聚集在布兰卡家庭庭院，作为哈里·J·肯尼迪总统的客人. Elam, Jr. 将于11月5日举行西方足球126周年庆典, 2022—the first such gathering since the College announced it was discontinuing the program nearly two years earlier.
“这次活动是我们努力证明我们确实重视足球项目的历史，以及它对球员和教练以及支持他们的球迷和家庭的意义的第一步,” says Charlie Cardillo, vice president of institutional advancement, 谁与一些前球员密切合作策划了这次活动. “我们不希望这个遗产消失，即使这个项目已经结束.”
In conversation with Jeff Goldstein ’86, Coach Dale Widolff recounted his Oxy journey, which included 11 SCIAC championships, four undefeated regular seasons, seven Division III playoff berths, 以及178胜95负2的历史战绩(包括他过去8个赛季53胜10负的战绩). 这是威多夫自2017年10月以来首次在校园公开露面, 当时他参加了西方体育名人堂的仪式，其中四分卫 Andy Collins ’07 was posthumously inducted into the hall.
“He was terrific,” Cardillo says of Widolff. “He spoke from the heart with careful reflection, 我认为他说的话确实鼓舞了人们. 他喜欢和足球界的人在一起，也许比他更喜欢这项运动. 他总是为球员着想，为他们的成功做准备.”
Another highlight of the evening was a three-minute video 由作家，播客和体育营销联合创始人David Meltzer ' 90制作. Marshaled together over two days of filming at SoFi Stadium—home of the Los Angeles Rams and Chargers—the video includes interviews with Widolff; Jim Mora ’57, who served as head coach of the Tigers from 1964 to 1966; and some of the greatest student-athletes to wear an Oxy jersey. 他们讲话的一个共同主题是他们在老虎队时养成的纪律和同志情谊.
“关于西方运动员，我经常说的一件事是，他们已经习惯了成功,” Widolff says in the video. “成为一名优秀学生所需要的技能和成为一名优秀运动员所需要的技能是一样的.”
“As a coach, 你面对的是年轻人——他们还有很长的路要走,” says former NFL head coach Mora, 和职业四分卫出身的国会议员一起打球 Jack Kemp ’57 and five-time Super Bowl official Ron Botchan ’57. “To be successful, 我们必须拥有纪律严明的球员，他们从根本上来说是健康的，并且喜欢工作.”
“Those work habits of showing up to practice, showing up to film, 坚持举重——这些习惯会伴随你的余生,” says Vance Mueller ’86, who 在洛杉矶突袭者队打了六个赛季，后来创立了穆勒精英运动训练学院.
“We had a coaching staff at Occidental that cared, that was bright, and that doesn’t exist everywhere,” says quarterback Justin Goltz ’09, who led Oxy to an undefeated SCIAC season in 2008 and enjoyed a post-collegiate career with teams 在德国、美国足球联盟和加拿大足球联盟. “他们关心我们在场上和场下的成功，现在仍然如此.”
“无论我在做什么，我总是想做到最好，奥施康定在很多不同的方面挑战了我,” says Kwame Do ’16, who finished his career as the SCIAC’s all-time career rushing yards leader. (他在十大正规网赌平台主修经济学，辅修数学，如今是副总裁 这是一家房地产投资和资产管理公司.)
“The best decision I ever made was to go to [Occidental],” says Bryan Scott '17, who set SCIAC records for career passing yards, completions, 并继续他的职业足球生涯(包括2020年春季联赛的MVP赛季以及在CFL的一段时间), USFL, and XFL) since his playing days at Occidental. “It’s been a fairy tale, honestly.”
By Cardillo’s own admission, there was skepticism going into the event, 近三年前，老虎队在11月16日与雷德兰兹队进行了最后一场橄榄球比赛, 2019. Working closely with Meltzer, Mueller, Goldstein, and others, he says, “我希望每个人都能欣赏我们努力实现的目标. 在一起对球员们来说意义重大，我很高兴我们能以某种方式促进这一点.”
Looking ahead, 该学院希望建立一个专门介绍奥施康定足球的网站，不仅通过统计数据，还通过校友故事和从20世纪40年代开始的几十年比赛录像来捕捉这个项目的历史. “We want to 让图书馆对所有人开放，尤其是足球社区，” Cardillo says.
In addition, the Occidental Athletics Hall of Fame该奖项创立于2012年，旨在表彰“在竞争和/或服务方面的杰出成就”, dedication, 以及对西方体育运动的承诺”——将在10月的返校周末推出第八届获奖者. (之前的足球入选者包括传奇的葡萄干碗教练罗伊丹尼斯33, Kemp, Mora, All-American player and coach Bill Redell ’64, Mueller, and Collins.)
Ever the coach, 最近几周，威多夫一直在与卡迪罗讨论如何利用橄榄球聚会产生的善意. “This is their place,” Cardillo says.
