I received word of Cal Poly Hall of Famer Tom Lee’s death late Thursday night, but I wasn’t able to write anything until today for the Web and for Saturday’s paper. It was one of the toughest stories I’ve written having covered Lee’s son, Larry, as Cal Poly and Cuesta’s baseball coach for eight years now. I’d spot Tom at nearly every game I covered, sitting right there behind the plate rooting on his son’s teams.
I also interviewed Tom dozens of times about his sons, or for Hall of Fame stories and obits on other Cal Poly legends. His stories were always classic.
Tom, a former Cal Poly coach and PE instructor, died at his San Luis Obispo home Thursday afternoon. He was 90.
Tom retired from the physical education and recreation department in 1988.
He came to Cal Poly in 1952 when he was hired as the varsity baseball, freshman football and boxing coach. Tom coached all three sports until the late 1950s and continued coaching boxing for 12 years until it was discontinued in 1963.
You can read more about his legacy in Saturday’s paper, or you can find it at www.sanluisobispo.com late tonight. A funeral is planned for next Friday at the Old Mission Church in San Luis Obispo.
I talked to a bunch of people around the community today, and the stories they had about Tom Lee were almost as classic as his own tales. Everything from how he fought in WWII, had the brakes go out on the family car during their move to SLO (going down the Cuesta Grade of all places), and how he even played in the NBC World Series alongside Satchel Paige. I saw a comment had already been posted just minutes after posting a short breaking news story on Lee’s passing at sanluisobispo.com and thought this could also be a good forum for readers to post their stories/memories about Tom as well. If you have any you would like to share, please feel free to do so in the comment section below.

Former Cal Poly linebacker Kyle Shotwell, the 2006 Buck Buchanan Award winner, was officially signed to the Philadelphia Eagles practice squad on Wednesday.
The Eagles, who run a speed-oriented and blitz-happy 4-3 defense that could be well suited for the 6-1, 240-pound Shotwell, made the move to replace linebacker William Kershaw, who was signed off the practice squad by Houston.
The move comes just three days after former Cal Poly standout Chris Gocong turned in his best game as a pro for the Eagles, tallying a sack and four tackles in a loss to the New England Patriots.
Gocong’s big night against Tom Brady and company might’ve reninforced the belief that small-school products like Gocong, another Buchanan Award winner, and RB Brian Westbrook (I-AA Villanova), a Payton Award winner, can succeed at the next level.
Shotwell, however, still has his work cut out for him. As a practice squad player, there are no guarantees, and he isn’t eligible to play on Sundays until he makes the active roster. Since September, five players have been released from the Eagles practice squad. Then again, two players have been signed to other teams and two others were promoted to the Eagles’ active roster after injuries hit Philly on the defensive side of the ball. Stay tuned on this one.

The three finalists for the Walter Payton Award have been announced and, as expected, Cal Poly wide receiver Ramses Barden wasn’t one of them.
In fact, there were no wide receivers among the finalists as Barden wasn’t even among the top 10 receiving votes. Since the award was first presented in 1987, only one wide receiver has come away with the trophy — Villanova’s Brian Finneran won it in 1997. Four of the past five awards have gone to quarterbacks, starting with Tony Romo of Eastern Illinois in 2002.
The three finalists, as named by The Sports Network, were all quarterbacks: Georgia Southern’s Jayson Foster, San Diego’s Josh Johnson and Eric Sanders of Northern Iowa.
Yeah, can you believe it? Everyone’s favorite coming in, 2006 Payton Award winner Ricky Santos of New Hampshire, wasn’t among the finalists and finished fifth in this year’s balloting. Another surprise was where North Dakota State running back Tyler Roehl fell in the voting. He was eighth after a less than stellar finish for the Bison.
The Payton Award winner will be announced Dec. 13 at the Chattanooga Marriott during the annual Sports Network awards dinner.
The Buck Buchanan Award, given to the best defender in the FCS, and Eddie Robinson Award, for the best coach, will be handed out on the eve of the championship game as well. The Sports Network does not announce finalists for the Buck Buchanan, but Cal Poly does not have a player up for the honor for the first time in five seasons. Mustangs Kyle Shotwell, Chris Gocong and Jordan Beck won the previous three awards.
Delaware running back Omar Cuff was fourth in the Payton Award voting, followed by Santos, Southern Illinois quarterback Nick Hill, Richmond running back Tim Hightower, Roehl, Yale running back Mike McLeod and Appalachian State running back Kevin Richardson. That means Barden finished somewhere between Nos. 11 and 16. Here’s a list of the 16 candidates coming into the week along with past winners of the award.

The Cal Poly volleyball team earned the No. 16 seed to the NCAA Tournament on Sunday but was not rewarded with a host site.
The Mustangs will instead travel to Athens, Ohio, to play Xavier in the first round on Friday.
Cal Poly (21-7) lost to Xavier (24-10) in five games on Sept. 14 at the ASICS/Coca-Cola Invitational in San Francisco.
The winner of the first-round match advances to play the winner of host Ohio (26-15) and Purdue (18-13).
See Monday’s Tribune for more on this story. The 64-team bracket can be found here.

The Cal Poly men’s soccer team saw its season come to an end Monday when the Mustangs were not invited to the NCAA Tournament. Here’s the bracket.
Getting left out of the tournament field wasn’t all that shocking considering the Mustangs (11-4-4, 6-3-4 Big West Conference) won just two of their final eight matches after upsetting defending champion UC Santa Barbara at home on Oct. 17.
Cal Poly had an RPI of 31 last week, and 48 teams advance to the tournament, so it will be interesting to see where their RPI is this week after splitting its two matches over the weekend. Friday’s loss to Portland might have been the one that burst the Mustangs’ bubble. Like the Cal Poly football team, and the women’s soccer team, Cal Poly might have been just one win away from the postseason.
The Big West Conference, which did not have a representative on the committee, got two teams into the tournament as conference champion UCSB and second-place UC Davis advanced. Cal Poly finished third in the conference standings, losing to UC Davis on Nov. 10. The teams split the season series.
The Pac-10, which had a representative on the committee as you can see in the previous post, got three teams in — California (11-5-2), UCLA (8-8-3) and Washington (8-7-4).
This is not the first time a Cal Poly team has seen its bubble burst in its first attempt to break into the NCAA Tournament under a new coach. Mustang fans will recall a similar situation with the football team in 2004 and the baseball and softball teams the following spring. Same thing happened to the volleyball program three years ago. It’s almost as if Cal Poly’s upstart programs have to come back the following year and prove it wasn’t a fluke to ensure a spot in the playoffs.
It will be interesting to see if Cal Poly’s men’s soccer program can bounce back from this next season and make the playoffs for the first time since 1995 .

I’m off for the next week, but will check in Sunday when the NCAA Tournament field is announced for volleyball. Cal Poly, looking for a top-16 seed, is hoping to host the first two rounds for the second straight season. The field will be announced at 5 p.m. on Nov. 25 (ESPNU).

We know the Cal Poly football team didn’t make the playoffs today. Monday, we find out if the men’s soccer team is going to the postseason. The Mustangs (11-4-4, 6-2-4 Big West) split two matches over the weekend, wrapping up the regular season with a 3-1 win over Cal State Fullerton today. The Mustangs, who came into the weekend ranked 31st in the NCAA’s RPI rankings, could have a tough time getting into the playoffs considering they dropped to third place in the league standings this week behind second-place UC Davis and league champion UC Santa Barbara. Cal Poly hasn’t advanced to the playoffs since 1995 and only 48 teams are in the field. There are no Big West Conference representatives on the selection committee either, which won’t help the Mustangs’ cause. We’ll find out Monday when the field is announced at 2:30 p.m. on ESPNews.

The selection committee is made up of:
Ken Kavanagh, Bradley University, chair
Craig Angelos, Florida Atlantic University
Elmar Bolowich, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
John Diffley, St. John’s University (New York)
Charlie Elwood, Fordham University
Mary Lu Gribschaw, University of Akron
Schellas Hyndman, Southern Methodist University
Gina Markland, Coastal Carolina University
Earl Koberlein, Stanford University
Seth Roland, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Metropolitan

As expected, Cal Poly’s football season officially came to a close today when it was not among the 16 teams invited to the FCS playoffs. Here’s the bracket. New Hampshire (7-4) was the only four-loss team to make the playoffs, which shows just how important getting to that eighth win is. New Hampshire will open the playoffs next weekend against top-seeded Northern Iowa (11-0).
Montana (11-0) and Eastern Washington (8-3) advanced from the West out of the Big Sky Conference. The Gateway Conference, where the North Dakota State and South Dakota State will be playing next season, got two berths to the playoffs. The Colonial Athletic Association raised eyebrows when it got five teams in. New Hampshire got in despite being ranked No. 20 in last week’s Sports Network Top 25, only five spots better than Cal Poly. The CAA was represented by UMass and former Cal Poly AD John McCutcheon on the selection comittee. UMass earned an automatic bid as a co-champion of the league.
As expected, no Great West Football Conference teams advanced. Neither did any of the Mustangs’ nonconference opponents. Cal Poly finished 7-4 the past two seasons after making the playoffs in 2005 with an 8-3 mark.

AUTOMATIC QUALIFIERS (8): Montana (Big Sky Conference), Massachusetts (Colonial Athletic Association), Northern Iowa (Gateway Football Conference), Delaware State (Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference), Eastern Kentucky (Ohio Valley Conference), Fordham (Patriot League) Wofford (Southern Conference), McNeese State (Southland Conference).

AT-LARGE QUALIFERS (8): Eastern Washington (Big Sky Conference), Delaware (Colonial Athletic Association), James Madison (Colonial Athletic Association), New Hampshire (Colonial Athletic Association), Richmond (Colonial Athletic Association), Southern Illinois (Gateway Football Conference), Eastern Illinois (Ohio Valley Conference), Appalachian State (Southern Conference).

If you were planning on coming out to a Cal Poly men’s basketball game during the nonconference season, I hope you made it out to Thursday’s home opener against Utah State because that might be the only good one until the start of conference play.
Utah State, favored to win the WAC this year, could be the best team Cal Poly brings to Mott Gym all season - and that’s not saying much considering the tumble the Aggies are taking - as the Mustangs were able to schedule only 12 home games this season.
Cal Poly head coach Kevin Bromley was hesitant about bringing Utah State in after losing eight straight to the Aggies, but the move paid off Thursday when the Mustangs ran away with an 83-69 victory.
“Nobody in our conference will play them because they used to own this conference,” Bromley said. “But we only have 11 home games if we don’t play them and then 18 on the road – so I have to play somebody at home. Our booster club and our student-athletes deserve to have some home games.”
Well, the part about nobody playing the Aggies isn’t entirely true. Utah State, sliding to No. 222 in the latest Sagarin Ratings, lost 70-51 at UC Irvine on Saturday night. Which makes you wonder, what the heck happened to Utah State?
Well, here’s what you get to look forward to from the rest of the Mustangs’ nonconference home schedule:
Dec. 2: Menlo College, an NAIA DII team that went 15-12 last year but returns five starters.
Dec. 15: Cal State Bakersfield, a team transitioning to Division I that did manage to beat Fresno State the other night.
Dec. 29: Southern Utah, a team that is a Division I program but is ranked No. 265 in the Sagarin Ratings.
For the record, Cal Poly’s Sagarin Rating is 156, middle of the pack for the Big West, which ranges from 101 (Pacific) to 292 (UC Riverside). Which, if these numbers hold up, means Cal Poly fans might not see a top-100 team in Mott Gym this season. With those RPI and SOS (strength of schedule) numbers it looks like the Big West is a one-bid league again this season.

Cal Poly head football coach Rich Ellerson says it all the time, the outcome of a game can “come down to one play.” The play that everyone was still talking about following Saturday’s victory over Iona College was Kole Heckendorf’s 80-yard touchdown reception from Steve Walker a week earlier as North Dakota State overcame a 19-point deficit to stun Cal Poly and crush its playoff hopes. Even Cal Poly senior linebacker Jayson Relyea referenced the play today, knowing the Mustangs (7-4) were possibly one play away from making the playoffs, again. Last year’s fourth-quarter letdown against South Dakota State likely cost the Mustangs a playoff spot during Relyea’s junior season.
“That’s kind of been our whole season,” said Relyea, whose team lost three of its games by a total of 13 points. The Mustangs’ worst loss of the year was a 48-35 defeat at Great West Football Conference champion South Dakota State.
“That one play. Those two plays that just kind of happen. That’s kind of how it’s been the past couple years.”
As luck would have it, that “one play” has made its way onto YouTube for those who couldn’t get a ticket to the sold-out showdown with the Bison. If you Poly fans can stomach it, it’s embedded below.

I know, it’s apples and oranges comparing FBS and FCS players, playing USC or LSU vs. Idaho State, but after hearing Florida QB Tim Tebow became the NCAA’s first 20-20 player today, it got me thinking about the numbers Cal Poly QB Jonathan Dally put up in his first season with the Mustangs. After Saturday’s 55-7 romp of Iona College, Dally finished with a school-record 29 touchdown passes and a 12 rushing touchdowns (four shy of the school record). Forty-one TDs isn’t a bad start for a JC transfer who was largely overlooked by most FBS and FCS schools for that matter.
It’s a stretch, but for snits and giggles and the stat geeks in the Cal Poly crowd, here’s how Dally’s numbers look when put up against the two big-name, double-threat QBs in the Heisman Trophy conversation. Dally, for the record, is not up for the Walter Payton Award, the FCS version of the Heisman, although his favorite target Ramses Barden is - and for good reason - after catching a school-record 18 touchdowns as a junior.

• Tim Tebow, Florida
  Rushing: 181 carries for 749 yards (4.1 avg) and 20 TDs
  Passing: 198-289-6 (68.5 percent) for 2,870 yards and 26 TDs
  Total offense: 329 yards per game

• Dennis Dixon, Oregon
  Rushing: 105 carries for 583 yards (5.6 avg) and 9 TDs
  Passing: 172-254-4 (67.7 percent) for 2,136 yards and 20 TDs
  Total offense: 271 yards per game

• Jonathan Dally, Cal Poly
  Rushing: 182 carries for 763 yards (4.2 avg) and 12 TDs
  Passing: 104-192-5 (54.7 percent) for 2,238 yards and 29 TDs
  Total offense: 272.8 yards per game

Comparing the stats show exactly what Dally wants to work on this offseason, passing accuracy. While Tebow and Dixon were completing close to 70 percent of their passes this year, Dally was down around 55 percent for most of the season. After getting picked off just once in the first nine games, he was intercepted four times over the final two (including three times in the red zone). The turnovers are the top concern, including the lost fumbles - which Dally had one more of in the finale. But all in all, it was a pretty good debut for the Santa Maria product, and if he improves on these numbers (with 10 starters coming back on offense) he might find his way on the Payton watch list in 2008.