Aunese’s son plays for LSU

BATON ROUGE, La. – Colorado football coach Bill McCartney was on the couch with his wife, Lyndi, watching college football on a Saturday night. “We’d played that day, and after a game I was always very drained,” he recalls.

This was the fall of 1988 in Boulder, Colo. McCartney does not remember the foe for his Colorado Buffaloes that day, but he remembers what happened next. His 19-year-old daughter, Kristy, a student at Colorado, came to visit.

“She came up behind me and put one hand on my shoulder and her other hand on my wife’s shoulder and said, ‘Dad, I’m pregnant,’ ” McCartney says. “We just got up. We both hugged her and told her we loved her.”

That was only the first shock.

“Then she said the father is Sal, which came as a complete surprise,” McCartney said. “I did not know he was dating my daughter.”

Sal Aunese, 20, was Colorado’s junior starting quarterback.

“Had I known he was interested in her, I would’ve asked his intentions,” said McCartney, who two years later founded the Christian organization Promise Keepers for men.

McCartney’s first reaction was not rage toward Aunese, a star out of Vista High in Oceanside, Calif., whom a Colorado assistant named Les Miles beat out Nebraska to sign in 1986.

“I never felt any anger toward Sal,” McCartney said. “How could you say it was his fault? She was there, too. They did this together. I didn’t blame Sal.”

Aunese died Sept. 23, 1989, of a rare form of stomach cancer at age 21. Kristy was at the packed memorial service with a 5-month-old boy she named Timothy Chase, or T.C., McCartney.

McCartney spoke at the service, looked at his daughter and said, “Kristy McCartney, you’ve been a trouper. … You’re going to raise that little guy, and all of us are going to have an opportunity to watch him.”

Kristy moved next door to her father, who retired after the 1994 season at 54 and raised T.C. as his own.

That “little guy” is 18 now and a freshman walk-on quarterback at LSU. He will be in uniform Jan. 7 when No. 2 LSU meets No. 1 Ohio State in the BCS title game at New Orleans. The Colorado assistant who signed his father is now his head coach.

“It’s a small world,” McCartney said. “He was recruited by some smaller schools, but in his heart he wanted to go to a top program. I spoke at LSU’s football camp last spring and brought T.C. with me and introduced him to Les. It meant a lot to T.C. that Les was genuine with him. He felt like he could trust him.”

Miles gets to coach the son of one of the best players he ever signed.

“I’m thrilled that he’s with us,” Miles said. “I’m glad that he’s around me. I kinda want to talk to him about his dad, but I want him to make his way here first.”

Sal Aunese was just less than 6-foot and close to 200 pounds. T.C. is 6-3 and leaner at 202 pounds. His grandfather thinks he could become a linebacker or tight end.

Aunese remained the starter through 1988 and led the Buffaloes to an 8-4 record, passing for 1,004 yards and running for 397.

Diagnosed with cancer March 30, 1989, Aunese died six months later. Colorado dedicated the 1989 season to him and went 11-1, losing 21-6 to Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl.