CAL STATE FULLERTON NOTEBOOK : Collins Isn’t the Retiring Type, but His Number Is Put to Rest

A kickoff reception for the Titan Athletic Foundation’s annual fund-raiser turned into a Mark Collins fun-raiser Monday night.

Collins, a former Cal State Fullerton football standout who is now an All-Pro defensive back for the Super Bowl-champion New York Giants, had his Titan jersey No. 5 retired during the reception, held at the Fullerton Marriott.

The cornerback-turned-comic also entertained the gathering with a laugh-a-minute speech and question-and-answer session.

Collins on Atlanta Braves defensive back Deion Sanders: “He talks so much trash, but he gets beat like a drum every week.”

On San Francisco 49ers receiver Jerry Rice: “He’s a nice guy. Next question.”

On his recruiting trip to Nevada Las Vegas: “A coach gave me $150, and I thought, ‘Cool, I’ll take it.’ At the time, I guess it was illegal to take money.”

On being recruited by Fullerton: “When (football Coach) Gene Murphy was recruiting me, I thought, ‘Where the hell is Cal State Fullerton?’ I didn’t know where it was.” Note: Collins lived in San Bernardino.

On playing in New York: “I hate the East Coast. I just work there.”

But seriously, folks, Collins had no idea his number was being retired when he was invited to the reception, and he was genuinely surprised when his framed jersey was displayed.

Two Titan assistant coaches marked the occasion by dumping a Gatorade cooler full of confetti on Collins, who became the eighth Titan to have his number retired. The others are football player Obie Graves, baseball players Tim Wallach and Bob Caffrey, basketball players Greg Bunch, Leon Wood and Genia Miller, and softball player Kathy Van Wyk.

“I gotta tell you, I didn’t expect this,” said Collins, who played for the Titans from 1983-85. “This is better than winning (two) Super Bowls. This is classy. I don’t know what to say. I’m usually not at a loss for words.”

Neither is Murphy and he wasn’t Monday night.

“He’s the same guy now that he was in college, when he took half his scholarship check and gave it to his mother every month,” Murphy said of Collins. “He’s like (sons) Tim or Mike Murphy to me. When I watch the Giants, I’m not watching the team, I’m watching that left cornerback.

“He’s a Titan No. 1 and a Giant No. 2. He’s just playing for a bigger scholarship now.”

Fullerton baseball Coach Augie Garrido is known for his motivational speeches, but he didn’t take any credit for the Titans’ three-game sweep of third-ranked Cal State Long Beach over the weekend.

“The players did it for themselves,” Garrido said. “Nothing we said or did provided any incentive for the weekend. They realized Long Beach was a great club, and they rallied around themselves.”

Garrido hopes NCAA tournament selection committee members noticed the results, which moved Fullerton into a second-place tie with Long Beach in the Big West Conference.

The Titans (27-20, 10-5 in conference) are three games behind Fresno State (13-2 in the Big West) with six conference games remaining and could pick up some ground this weekend. Fullerton plays three games at fifth-place UC Santa Barbara, while Fresno State is at Long Beach.

But Fresno State appears to have a firm hold on first place, and if Fullerton doesn’t win the title and the automatic NCAA tournament bid, the Titans, two-time College World Series champions, can only hope for an at-large berth.

“This will help a lot,” Garrido said of the Long Beach sweep. “They’re the third-ranked team in the nation, it’s late in the season and we’ve showed dramatic improvement in recent weeks. If we finish strong, we have a shot.”

Despite heavy rains in March, construction of the Titan Sports Complex is still on a course to be completed in January, 1992, according to Samuel Verna, project manager for Taylor Woodrow Construction California Ltd.

The major excavation portion of the project is complete, and workers are presently pouring concrete for the football stadium bleachers. The baseball field has been graded, and dugouts have been built. Most light standards for the complex have been erected.

There has been speculation that the Titan baseball team will play its 1992 season on the new field, and Verna said it was possible, but it will depend on the stability of the turf.

“As with any plant, the grass needs enough time to germinate and take root,” Verna said. “That depends on when it’s planted, the climate--there are so many different variables. A lot of schools have destroyed their fields because they played on them too early.”

With the recent additions of Rick Redden and Jim Wachenheim, football Coach Gene Murphy’s staff, which lost six assistants after a 1-11 season in 1990, is almost rebuilt.

Redden, 25, formerly a graduate assistant at Oregon and Washington, will coach defensive backs, and Wachenheim, 34, formerly an assistant at Pacific and Arizona State, will coach defensive lineman.

Graduate assistants Tom Cable (offensive line) and Rich Sheriff (wide receivers) have been promoted to full-time assistants, and Murphy said he will hire one more coach by August, giving him eight full-time assistants.

Titan Notes

Fullerton swept Big West Conference baseball player of the week honors Monday when Chris Robinson was named pitcher of the week and catcher Matt Hattabaugh was named field player of the week. Robinson earned one victory and two saves in the Titans’ three victories over Long Beach, and Hattabaugh hit three home runs, including the game-winner in the bottom of the ninth Friday against the 49ers. . . . Tiffany Boyd, who threw a perfect game against California Saturday, was named conference softball pitcher of the week. Boyd won four games, all by shutout, struck out 20 and allowed only eight hits last week. She also hit .353 (six for 17) in six games. . . . Titan wrestler Michael Grubbs, an NCAA qualifier at 118 pounds, has been named to the National Wrestling Coaches’ Assn. All-Academic second team. Grubbs has a 3.84 grade-point average in business.

Fullerton fans can get up-to-the-minute sports information with a touch-tone telephone beginning Wednesday with the inauguration of the Titan Sportswire, an automated audio service that can be reached by dialing 1-900-VIP-CSUF. The charge is $1.50 per minute, and a portion of the proceeds will benefit the Titan Athletic Foundation. . . . An entry deadline of July 1 has been set for the fourth annual Jerry Goodwin-Titan Booster Golf Tournament, scheduled for July 8 at the Yorba Linda Country Club. Corporate sponsorships of $1,500 for a foursome and $2,000 for a group of six include greens fees, a table for 10 at the post-tournament banquet and recognition in Titan game programs. For further information, call 773-CSUF. . . . DiJon Bernard, a 6-foot-4 swingman who averaged 15.2 points a game for Ventura College last season, has signed a letter of intent to play basketball at Fullerton. . . . Titan pitcher Dan Naulty, who left Friday’s game against Long Beach after six innings because of a sore back, also sprained his right ankle during the game. His status for this weekend’s series at Santa Barbara won’t be determined until later this week.