From Breaking Records To Breaking Par

Looking back to Oct. 9, 1993

Seven years later, Deron Pointer has figured out which side of the ball he wants to be on.

“Now I don’t have to get hit,” said the former Washington State University wide receiver. “Instead, I’m doing all the hitting.”

And he’s laying some vicious smacks. Threehundred yard drives. Radar wedges. Even the occasional 20-foot double-breaker. That’s right, Pointer has gone from a wideout to the wideopen spaces of golf.

“Surprising,” said the Meriwood (Lacey, Wash.) golf pro. “Because I was terrible at golf in college.

“But in between trying to catch on (in the NFL), I just started picking it up and playing,” Pointer continued. “Then I had a buddy who was an assistant (golf pro) and I asked him if they were hiring.”

He’s been hanging onto the sticks since. Just about as tightly as he hung onto the football for Washington State. And one day in particular, Pointer squeezed that ball and squeezed out more receiving yardage than any Cougar before him or after him.

“That day, I woke up with a good attitude, the sun was out, my folks were in the stands,” said Pointer. “We had been trying to get the ball to me more the week before, but that day, everything just connected.”

That day, Oct. 9, 1993, quarterback Mike Pattinson connected with Pointer for 255 receiving yards in a 44-25 Washington State victory over Arizona State. Pointer’s record nearly fell in 1998, when Nian Taylor had 254 receiving yards against Idaho.

“Levenseller (wide receivers coach Mike Levenseller) called and razzed me about that,” said Pointer. “But if Nian would’ve broken the record, that would’ve been OK. He was a Prop 48 like I was. If I was going to lose the record, I would love to lose it to another Prop 48 because I appreciate how much players like that go through.”

What Pointer went through was sitting out a year, wondering if he should’ve taken the baseball contract he had been offered out of high school. His father, Aaron, had made it to the major leagues. The younger Pointer believed he could’ve played there as well.

“But in the long run, getting my degree, that helped me out a lot,” said Pointer. “It was worth it. To see that degree hanging on the wall. And to remember the way my mom smiled when I graduated. It was all worth it.”

With a sociology degree in hand, Pointer bounced around NFL tryouts and practice squads. He also played a year with the Rhine Fire of the World League and the Toronto Argonauts of the CFL.

Then he found the greener pastures of golf. That doesn’t mean he is entirely retired from football.

“The other day, me and the head pro here were goofing around on the Internet and we saw that they had applications for the XFL on there,” Pointer said. “I filled it out. You never know.

“That league is only three months and it is during the slow months here, so I could go play and then come back here and nurse my injuries,” he added.

And get back to what Pointer believes his future is in - hitting, not being hit.