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Gesser earns top billing for his role PASADENA, Calif. - There's no business like show business, so we might have expected something straight off the big screen to happen here on Saturday. Jason Gesser, playing like a modern-day Gary Cooper with a Hawaiian accent, needed only one good leg to beat UCLA and turn Pasadena into his own personal movie set. Gesser's courageous performance led Washington State to a 48-27 win that lifted the Cougars to the Pac-10 title and their second bid to the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day in the last 67 years. Pick up your Gesser poster now. There will be no more heroic performance on an athletic field this year. No, the WSU quarterback won't win the Heisman, and he's not eligible for an Oscar, but he won over the hearts and minds of everyone who watched him bravely hobble around and make big plays. Gesser's performance created a situation that demanded caution against hyperbole, but no one who watched him play could help themselves. "He's the most valuable player in the history of football at Washington State," gushed WSU coach Mike Price, a tear in his eye. "He's incredible. Just watching him I had chills going up and down my arms. It was unbelievable. Last Monday he couldn't even walk. On Tuesday I knew he would play." Even UCLA coach Bob Toledo could help but admire the gimpy, gutsy Gesser. "He's a warrior," Toledo said. "To play with the ankle injury he had speaks volumes about his courage. He's obviously their spiritual leader." Fred Shavies, WSU's fine defensive end who usually takes delight in administering pain to quarterbacks, said he admires just how tough Gesser is. "Forget quarterbacks, people from Hawaii aren't supposed to be that tough," Shavies laughed. "Jason has been tough ever since I've known him. It gave us a little extra energy to have Jason out there fighting through pain. We knew he was going to play unless his leg was broken." Gesser said he never considered sitting out, even when doctors told him it was possible he could do more serious damage to his ankle by continuing to play on it. "You can't think about things like that. You have to enjoy this moment and take advantage of it," Gesser said, sounding more philosopher than quarterback. "I couldn't worry about tomorrow. That wouldn't have been fair to my teammates. If the doctors said I could play, I was going to play. This is a dream, a dream come true." When Gesser was first told he would be out four to six weeks, he didn't believe it. "I knew as soon as I hurt it in the Apple Cup that I'd be playing in this game," Gesser said. "If I was a linebacker like some of ours who have had high ankle sprains and had to do a lot of lateral movement, I wouldn't have been able to play. But as a quarterback I could." After Gesser threw an interception, he caused himself even more pain when he tried to make a tackle. And when there was a broken play, he tried to throw a block. Price had seen enough and pulled him out of the game for a play. "I told him to quit blocking and quit tackling and if that he just played quarterback I would put him back in," Price said. Asked if Gesser was irritated with his decision to lift him for a play, Price needed to make up a new word to describe it. "Irritated?" Price asked. "He was in a state of total pissivity." So Gesser returned but refused to change his attitude. "I don't know any way to play other than 100 percent," Gesser said. "It's football and that's the way you play football. You have to play with pain. You have to put it out of your mind and concentrate on what you need to do. There was never a moment in the game when my ankle felt good." When it was over, when the Rose Bowl bid had been won, Gesser broke away from the reporters who surrounded him at the 50-yard line of this historic field and took a moment to enjoy himself. He held up a single red rose as WSU's giddy cheering section chanted his name. Later, when he described it, Gesser showed that even tough guys can show emotion. "To have a moment like that at the end of my career makes everything worth while," Gesser said, his voice cracking. "It's why you put in all the hard work. It's why you play the game." | ||||||||||
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