Siasau "Sal" Aunese (May 8, 1968 – September 23, 1989) was a

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

player who played for the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University of Co ...

. Aunese was from

Oceanside, California Oceanside is a city on the South Coast (California), South Coast of California, located in San Diego County, California, San Diego County. The city had a population of 167,086 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. The city is a popular ...

San Diego County San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634, making it California's second-most populous county and the fi ...

and was of Samoan He died at age 21 from

stomach cancer Stomach cancer, also known as gastric cancer, is a cancer that develops from the lining of the stomach. Most cases of stomach cancers are gastric carcinomas, which can be divided into a number of subtypes, including gastric adenocarcinomas. Lymph ...

.Remembering Sal Aunese: Friends Pay Tribute to Aunese
/ref>

Early life

Born in Oceanside in northern San Diego County, Aunese was raised there with his six

sibling A sibling is a relative that shares at least one parent with the subject. A male sibling is a brother and a female sibling is a sister. A person with no siblings is an only child. While some circumstances can cause siblings to be raised separat ...

s. His parents spoke Samoan at home growing up. He was an All-American Quarterback at Vista High School, where he and his teammates won not only the C.I.F. San Diego section championship, but also the state championship. He attracted interest from several college programs including the

University of Nebraska A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

and the

. Aunese's final high school transcript and his low ACT scores caused him to fall under the 1983 Convention Proposal No. 48, commonly referred to as Proposition 48. Because of this provision, he missed the freshman year of his college career.

College career

Aunese chose Colorado after heavy recruiting from assistant coach

Les Miles Leslie Edwin Miles (born November 10, 1953) is a former American football coach. He most recently served as the head coach at Kansas. His head coaching career began with the Oklahoma State Cowboys, where he coached from 2001 to 2004. Following t ...

and head coach

Bill McCartney William Paul McCartney (born August 22, 1940) is a former American football player and coach and the founder of the Promise Keepers men's ministry. He was the head coach at the University of Colorado Boulder for thirteen seasons (1982–1994), ...

.All in the family: Miles coaches son of late QB recruit
/ref> Because of the Prop 48 conditions, Aunese missed his first year of eligibility with the team in

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

. He came into the

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

season and soon took over the starting job at quarterback that same year; he led the Buffaloes to a 7–4 record, but no postseason bowl game. Aunese was awarded the Big Eight Newcomer of the Year award after the season. Colorado was 8–3 in the

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

regular season, but lost to

Brigham Young Brigham Young (; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second President of the Church (LDS Church), president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), from 1847 until his ...

in the

Illness and death

During his participation in the Freedom Bowl, coaches, players, and family noticed that Aunese was not his usual self. Teammates told him he looked sluggish on the field and family members wished he would be taken out of the game. In the months following the bowl game, Aunese experienced a multitude of symptoms, including coughing consistently, a loss of appetite, and

vomiting Vomiting (also known as emesis and throwing up) is the involuntary, forceful expulsion of the contents of one's stomach through the mouth and sometimes the Human nose, nose. Vomiting can be the result of ailments like Food-poisoning, foo ...

blood, which caused him to miss many workouts and drills. Aunese was examined in March

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

and doctors diagnosed him with a rare form of inoperable stomach cancer. He was given six months to live after his initial diagnosis. Over the course of the next several months, Aunese continued to visit Colorado games and practices, but he continued to get weaker from the cancer and died at

University Hospital A university hospital is an institution which combines the services of a hospital with the education of medical students and with medical research. These hospitals are typically affiliated with a medical school or university. The following is a l ...

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

on Aunese's memorial service was held in

Boulder In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In c ...

at Macky Auditorium on the university campus. It was filled to capacity with over 2,000 mourners, and hundreds more outside. He was buried at Eternal Hills Memorial Park located in Oceanside, California. The football team dedicated the season to Aunese, customizing the team's jerseys with the name "Sal" sewn into their sleeves. They went 11–0 in the regular season, but lost to Notre Dame in the

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game in th ...

. The Buffaloes did win the Orange Bowl rematch against Notre Dame by a point the following season, earning its only

national championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...

– a title it shared with

Personal life

Aunese is the father of former

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

football player and

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

assistant coach T. C. McCartney.

References

External links

ESPN: ''Full Circle''
– Sal Aunese & T.C. McCartney * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aunese, Sal 1968 births 1989 deaths American football quarterbacks American sportspeople of Samoan descent Colorado Buffaloes football players Deaths from cancer in Colorado Deaths from stomach cancer People from Vista, California Players of American football from California Sportspeople from Oceanside, California University of Colorado alumni