September 23, 1989: Sal Aunese dies of stomach cancer, less than 9 months after his last game as quarterback for the University of Colorado, under coach Bill McCartney. He was 21 years old.
Without him, wearing "SAL" patches on their uniforms, the Buffaloes won the Big Eight Conference title -- despite fans of rival Nebraska ruining their reputation for class by chanting, "Sal is dead, go Big Red" -- and going undefeated in the regular season, before losing the Orange Bowl, and thus the National Championship, to the University of Notre Dame.
The next year, they won the Big 8 again, partly thanks to an officials' goof allowing a 5th down to allow them a win over Missouri -- ironically, McCartney's alma mater -- and then got revenge, beating Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl, and winning one of the most controversial National Championships in college football history.
Also controversial is that, before he died, Aunese fathered a child with Kristi McCartney, the coach's daughter. This made the coach look like a hypocrite, because he was the founder of an evangelical Christian organization called Promise Keepers, yet he couldn't teach his own daughter, or his quarterback, his values. She would later have another child out of wedlock with another of her father's players, defensive end Shannon Clavelle. Bill left the Colorado job after the 1994 season, with a record of 93-55-5.
Kristi's sons also played football. Timothy Chase McCartney played for his uncle at a Boulder high school, and for his grandfather's former assistant, Les Miles, at Louisiana State. Like the father he never knew (he was 5 months old at the time Sal died), T.C. played quarterback and wore Number 8. He and played for 2 Southeastern Conference Championship teams and the 2007 National Champions at LSU. He became an assistant coach at Colorado, and has now moved into the professional ranks. Derek McCartney became a defensive end at Colorado, like his father.
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September 23, 1989 was a Saturday. The way things worked out, Colorado, then ranked Number 5 (or 6, or 7) in the country, had the week off. These other notable games were played that day:
* Number 1 Notre Dame beat Michigan State, 21-13 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana.
* Number 2 Miami beat Missouri, 38-7 at Faurot Field in Columbia, Missouri.
* Number 3 Nebraska beat Minnesota, 48-0 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. Losing a Number 2 vs. Number 3 game to Colorado cost Nebraska the Big Eight title, and they went to the Fiesta Bowl.
* Number 4 Auburn were idle. They lost 2 of their next 4 games, and were out of the running in the SEC.
* In what might have seemed like a preview of the Rose Bowl, even played at the stadium of the same name in the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena, California, Number 5 Michigan beat Number 24 UCLA, 24-23. Michigan did go on to win the Big Ten Conference, and represent it in the Rose Bowl.
* As I said, Number 6 Colorado were idle. They won the Big 8, and went to the Orange Bowl, where they were beaten by Notre Dame.
* Number 7 Clemson beat Maryland, 31-7 at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, South Carolina.
* Number 8 Arkansas beat the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss), 24-17 at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium in Jackson. Arkansas won the Southwest Conference title.
* Number 9 West Virginia beat Louisville, 30-21 at Cardinal Stadium in Louisville, Kentucky.
* Number 10 Syracuse were upset by Number 13 Pittsburgh, 30-23 at Pitt Stadium in Pittsburgh.
* Number 11 University of Washington were upset by Arizona, 20-17 at Arizona Stadium in Tucson.
* In another possible Rose Bowl preview, Number 12 University of Southern California beat Number 25 Ohio State, 42-3 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. USC did go on to win the Pacific-10 Conference title, and represent it in the Rose Bowl, where they beat Michigan.
* Number 14 Tennessee were idle. They won a share of the Southeastern Conference title, but because they lost to Alabama, they didn't go to the Sugar Bowl. Instead, they went to the Cotton Bowl, where they beat Arkansas.
* Number 15 Alabama beat Kentucky, 15-3 at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. 'Bama went on to finish in a 3-way tie for the Southeastern Conference title, and were awarded the SEC's bid to the Sugar Bowl. But they lost to Miami. Notre Dame's defeat of then-Number 1 Colorado vaulted then-Number 2 Miami to the National Championship.
* Rivalry: Number 18 North Carolina State beat North Carolina, 40-6 at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, North Carolina.
* Number 22 Oregon were upset by Stanford, 18-17 at Stanford Stadium in the San Francisco suburb of Palo Alto, California.
* In another possible Rose Bowl preview, the University of California beat Wisconsin, 20-14 at California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley.
* Florida State beat Tulane, 59-9 at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Florida. FSU rose as high as Number 5, and beat Nebraska in the Fiesta Bowl.
* Rivalry: Iowa beat Iowa State, 31-21 at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, Iowa.
* Rivalry: The University of Cincinnati beat Miami University, 30-14 at Yager Stadium in Oxford, Ohio. It would turn out to be Cincy's only win of the season, going 1-9-1. Miami went 2-8-1.
Among the service academies, Army beat Wake Forest, 14-10 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York; Air Force beat the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), 43-26 at Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs, Colorado; but Navy lost to another military school, The Citadel, 14-10 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland.
* Penn State beat Boston College, 7-3 at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania.
* And New Jersey's team, Rutgers, beat Northwestern, 38-27 at Dyche Stadium outside Chicago in Evanston, Illinois.
These games were played in Major League Baseball:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Baltimore Orioles, 10-2 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Eric Plunk only lasted 4 innings. Don Mattingly and Cal Ripken each went 0-for-3 with 2 walks.
* The New York Mets beat the Montreal Expos, 13-6 at Shea Stadium. Frank Viola was the winning pitcher. Gregg Jeffries, Tim Teufel and Mark Carreon hit home runs for the Mets. Ex-Met Hubie Brooks hit a home run for the Expos.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Atlanta Braves, 11-5 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.
* The Cleveland Indians swept a doubleheader from the California Angels, 4-3 and 6-2 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 6-1 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 3-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Mitch Webster singled Curt Wilkerson home with the winning run in the bottom of the 9th inning. Barry Bonds went 0-for-3 with a walk.
* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 4-1 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Robin Yount went 0-for-2 with 2 walks. Paul Molitor went 2-for-4 with a home run.
* The Minnesota Twins beat the Oakland Athletics, 5-3 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. Rickey Henderson went 0-for-2 with 2 walks and a stolen base.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 11-5 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.
* The Seattle Mariners beat the Kansas City Royals, 8-0 at Royals Stadium (now named Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. Rookie Ken Griffey Jr. went 1-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. George Brett went 0-for-4.
* The Texas Rangers beat the Chicago White Sox, 6-4 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.
* The San Diego Padres beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, 7-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Calvin Schiraldi outpitched Fernando Valenzuela. Tony Gwynn did not play.
* And the San Francisco Giants beat the Houston Astros, 3-1 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
And in English soccer, Arsenal beat South London team Charlton Athletic, 1-0 at the Arsenal Stadium, a.k.a. Highbury, in North London.
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