Dad, son reunite
EUGENE, Ore. – When USC quarterback Mark Sanchez stepped off the team bus at Autzen Stadium on Saturday, his father was there to greet him with a bear hug and a peck on the cheek.
"This," Nick Sanchez said, "is the happiest day of my life."
The happiest day? Really?
"Absolutely," Nick said. "And tomorrow will be even happier – and the next day even happier than that. You've got to take that approach. You've got to count your blessings"
Nick should know.
As a captain with the Orange County Fire Authority, he's spent the last five days battling the blazes that destroyed thousands of homes and nearly 500,000 acres of land in Southern California.
Nick assumed all week he'd have to miss today's clash at No. 5 Oregon – the biggest game of his son's young career. But the heavy winds that had caused the fire to spread suddenly began to cease. Slowly but surely, firefighters gained more and more control of the flames.
On Friday Nick's crew was pulled off the front line.
"I went straight from the fire station to the airport," Nick said. "The fires are working in our favor right now with the wind dying down. All the hard work and effort of the people out there have finally helped us get an upper hand on this thing."
This wasn't the first time Nick has been involved in disaster relief efforts. As a member of the Urban Search and Rescue team, Nick was summoned to New Orleans in 2005 to search for survivors in homes ravaged by Hurricane Katrina.
In 1995 he went to Oklahoma City to recover bodies from the rubble of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building after it was bombed by Tim McVeigh.
Like each of those situations, Nick said the California fires will leave him with haunting memories.
"It was an extremely difficult thing to watch," Nick said. "It was so painful seeing people lose everything they own: their homes, their vehicles, their personal belongings, everything they cherish.
"It's tough to fathom what you or I would do in that situation. I'd be devastated. The good thing is that most everyone still has their families. As long as you've got that, you can start over."
Family is certainly important in the Sanchez household. Accompanying Nick in the stands for today's game is his wife Madeline and oldest son, Nick Jr. When he's not on duty, Nick drives more than an hour to almost every USC practice.
Mark Sanchez made his third consecutive start today in place of injured senior John David Booty. The 2004 National High School Player of the Year led the Trojans to a 20-13 win over Arizona on Oct. 13 and a 38-0 victory at Notre Dame last week.
"It's great to be here, but it's important to keep things in perspective," Nick said as he approached the Will Call gate to pick up his tickets. "This is a big football game, but it's still just a football game. We're up here enjoying ourselves in Eugene, but there are still people back home fighting those fires and people who have lost their homes.
"It's hard for me not to think of them right now."
