Gamecocks’ ‘Pops’ sees game action
The legend of “Pops” Frisby continued to grow Saturday night in Columbia, S.C., as South Carolina’s 39-year-old walk-on receiver saw his first college football action.
Tim Frisby had been the focus of attention not for his play, but for his age and story of perseverance. That changed late in the Gamecocks’ 17-7 victory over Troy when Frisby got the call to go in for his team’s final four plays.
He got a loud cheer from the crowd of 79,700 at Williams-Brice Stadium, and lined up by himself wide to the right as the Gamecocks ran four times through the middle to finish off the game.
When it ended, he got back slaps and pats from teammates and coaches.
The NCAA gave Frisby, a 20-year Army vet who retired this summer, clearance to play for the Gamecocks this week and he rushed out to the opening song of “2001, A Space Odyssey,” as part of the team’s 105-man dress roster.
Frisby got a card from Notre Dame’s Rudy Ruettiger of “Rudy” fame, asking Pops to call and chat. Frisby did this week, according to South Carolina spokesman Gavin Lang.
During his military career, Frisby was a Ranger-qualified member of the 82nd Airborne. He served in Desert Storm and Kosovo.
He carries a 3.8 grade point average in broadcast journalism, which he hopes becomes a second career.
Sun Devil, Cardinal suspended
Loren Wade, a starting running back for No. 22 Arizona State, has been suspended from the team indefinitely, the school announced.
Wade, a sophomore, violated team rules, athletic department officials said. No further information was released.
Wade was the team’s leading rusher through three games with 185 yards in 50 carries.
•David Bergeron, a starting inside linebacker for Stanford, was suspended from the Cardinal’s game against top-ranked USC for an unspecified violation of team rules.
Bergeron, a senior, had started 23 consecutive games for the Cardinal.
Tough day for Penn State
Penn State quarterback Michael Robinson was taken off the field in an ambulance in the first quarter of the Nittany Lions’ game at Wisconsin after suffering a concussion on a sack by Erasmus James.
The crowd at Camp Randall fell silent as medical personnel attended to Robinson for several minutes. He left the field strapped to a body board and was taken to University of Wisconsin Hospital & Clinics, where doctors reported he was moving all his fingers and toes.
Robinson had replaced starter Zack Mills (shoulder injury).
Third-string quarterback Chris Ganter replaced Robinson.
Penn State coach Joe Paterno flew home without his team after the Nittany Lions lost at Wisconsin when he learned his son-in-law had been involved in a serious bicycle accident.
Paterno was told after the game that Chris Hort, the husband of his daughter, Mary Kay, was in intensive care at Altoona General Hospital in State College, Pa., with a head injury, school spokesman Jeff Nelson said.