“Thomas Duarte … continues on his mission,” the Pac-12 commentator declared. “The crowd loves it.” The junior receiver had just caught a 20-yard pass from freshman quarterback Josh Rosen , fended off five Cal defenders and broken three tackles on his 19-yard run to the red zone. It was a play that epitomized the willpower […]
Category Archives: Features
Pac-12 first to include student-athletes in official governing capacity
It was a century ago when the Pacific Coast Conference came into existence. The name has changed, schools have come and gone, but one thing remained constant for the long history of the league: Administrative decisions went largely without the input of the hundreds of thousands of student-athletes who have competed in the conference. Until […]
Five-star recruit Oluwole Betiku excels with only two years of experience
GARDENA — Rewind to 2013, and no one had ever heard of Oluwole Betiku. A tall and bulky teen who was too large for soccer but not tall enough for basketball, the Nigerian native settled on football. At first, he couldn’t figure out how to put on his helmet. Two years later, the 250-pound high […]
Bruin Jonathan Garrick aims to be top college golfer
Jonathan Garrick wants to be the best player in college golf. After leading UCLA with an average score of 71.2 last season, Garrick is currently the No. 16-ranked player in the nation by Golfweek. One of three seniors on the Bruins’ team, he’s impressed this fall, winning the Oct. 6 Erin Hills Intercollegiate with a […]
Men’s water polo coach inspires with intense, friendly approach
If it wasn’t for his high school counselor, Jason Falitz may have never raced a lap or gripped a water polo ball. He also may never have become John Burroughs High School’s all-time career scoring leader, the Los Angeles Times 1999 Player of the Year or the 2006 Western State Conference Player of the Year […]
UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame inducts softball alumna Janice Parks
Feared. Humble. Reliable. Contagious confidence. The best player in the country. These are just a handful of words used to describe UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame inductee and former softball powerhouse third baseman Janice Parks. When Parks, class of 1989, first put on a Bruin jersey, however, she was told she didn’t have much of […]
Ka’imi Fairbairn goes from kicking at trees to UCLA starting kicker
Ka’imi Fairbairn had one chance at a Division I college football scholarship. It came in 2011, during his junior year of high school. The young placekicker asked his parents if they could help him pay for a trip to Las Vegas, so he could attend the prestigious Chris Sailer Kicking camps. That national camp was […]