90s football legends face off today as Russell White takes on Bobby Shaw. White has had a few trips in the CGB Hall Of Fame. Despite getting great seeds year in and year out, he has never quite cracked the top four. Is this year the year?
Shaw is a newcomer to the Tourney, but people love his talent and explosiveness. He helped Cal through some tough and dark times in the mid to late 90s. Who is going to move on to the next round?
This is the Pete Newell Regional. The winner here takes on Shane Vereen or Troy Taylor. The full bracket is here. Voting ends this Friday so go vote and GO BEARS!
(1) Russell White
LeonPowe:Superman. One of the 3 best running backs (some would argue the best ever) to play at Cal. Finished in the top 5 in Heisman as a junior. Carried Cal to a #7 National ranking at the end of the 1991 season. Hurdled a Purdue player well before anyone else did it
Kodiak: Took it to the house on a 100yd kickoff return first time he touched the ball in a Cal uniform.
Had some crazy reverse-the-field oh-no-he-didn't runs that were Marshawn-esque before Marshawn.
Put up huge #'s while still sharing the ball with another 1000-yd rusher (Anthony Wallace).
Freaky athlete. He hurdled a guy once and got penalized for it...because the guy was still standing. (yes, not diving, not tackling, not kneeling/crouching.)
For you younguns: A little taller/faster than Forsett, similar vision. Not quite as powerful as Marshawn, but similiar wiggle/athleticism.
Cal's all-time leading rusher was perhaps the biggest recruiting coup in school history. Controversy surrounded White's decision to move from Crespi HS to Berkeley, since he was a Prop 48 student who had not achieved a qualifying SAT score. A summer of tutoring revealed that Russell was dyslexic, and he would go on to earn his degree in social welfare in four years with a B average.He would also go on to become Cal's all-time leading rusher, behind 1,000 yard efforts in 1991 and 1992. Fifteen times he rushed for at least 100 yards in a game, including a 229-yard effort in Cal's record setting 52-30 beatdown of USC in 1991. With White, the Bears reversed a decade of futility and won back-to-back bowls in 1990 and 1991. His '91 season, with 1,177 yards rushing and fourteen touchdowns earned White first-team All-America honors from the Walter Camp Foundation and the FWAA.
Now thanks to Prd74, we all get to bask in Russell's greatness a little; his freshman campaign in 1990 had some great moments, including a 99 yard kickoff return against Miami in the first video and an utterly insane run starting at 4:24 in the second vid.
(16) Bobby Shaw
Unclesam22: Bobby Shaw left Cal as the school's all-time leader in receptions with 180 catches for 2,731 yards and 27 touchdowns, and was an offensive star during some lean Cal football years.
In 1996, Shaw turned in some big performances, with 12 catches for 168 yards in a game against UCLA and three touchdown scores in a 48-42 triple-overtime win over Oregon State. In that year's Aloha Bowl, Shaw scored twice on passes from Pat Barnes in Cal's 42-38 loss to the Navy. Shaw was named first-team All-Pac 10 for his performance that year.
In 1997, Shaw became captain and set single-season records with 74 receptions for 1,093 yards and 11 touchdowns. Cal only won 3 games but Shaw led them to one victory with 158 yards and 2 touchdowns in a 40-36 win over Oklahoma. He was again voted to the All-Pac 10 first team, and became the third Cal wide receiver to win first-team All-America honors from Sporting News.
Shaw was drafted in the 6th round by Seattle in 1998. He signed later that year with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and played five productive years with the Steelers, Jaguars and Bills.
CruzinBears: Personal Note: Bobby Shaw was an outstanding receiver for Cal during the dark dank cold era they call the late 90's, fan favorite (or at least for me as a kid) and the first Cal Bear I know to have a rap song about him... Later followed by Leon Powe (Mistah FAB) and of course Marshawn Lynch (Cataracts)...