By Phil Schaaf, Special To Cal Athletic Communications
As Cal fans know, Joe Roth is the only player in the history of the football program to have his jersey retired. The new documentary, Don't Quit: The Joe Roth Story, explains why he is so honored, and it has almost nothing to do with his greatness as a quarterback.
The details of Roth's all too brief life are riveting. Not recruited out of his San Diego area high school, Roth attended the local junior college, Grossmont College, where he was diagnosed with melanoma at the end of his freshman year. After undergoing an operation to remove the malignancy, Roth returned to Grossmont for his sophomore season and led his team to the 1974 state championship.
Recruited nationally, Roth chose Cal but did not earn the starting job for the Bears until the fourth game of the 1975 season. One month later, the Bears crushed the defending national champions, USC, on national television. The following week, they defeated Washington behind Roth's four touchdown passes, a feat that earned him AP/UPI Player of the Week honors. By the end of his junior campaign, the national press had tabbed Roth as an early Heisman Trophy favorite for the upcoming 1976 season and the NCAA put him on the cover of their media guide. Roth was literally the face of college football.
The story that would ultimately be written, however, took an unexpected turn when Roth's melanoma returned in the middle of his senior season. Not only did he continue to play, but Roth managed to keep his deteriorating condition a private matter. His personal battle is, quite simply, the greatest secret in NCAA history. Roth's head coach at Cal, Mike White, recalled, "No one knew what Joe was going through at the time because he kept that to himself."
As a football player, Roth never lost his composure, even in the face of a fierce rush. He faced cancer with the same equanimity.
"I think he was sideswiped by it coming back," said former quarterbacks coach Paul Hackett. "But in true Joe Roth fashion, it's like a blindside blitz. He shook it off, stood up and went to the next play. He didn't blink."
Cal’s 40-year radio play-by-play announcer Joe Starkey, whose first quarterback at Cal was Roth, still marvels at the memory.
"I can't imagine how difficult that had to be for him,” Starkey said. “He had to have read the papers that said 'what's the matter with Joe Roth? Why did he have a day like this?' How badly could he have wanted to say, 'You know what I'm going through? You know, I've got cancer. I may not live. I don't know what's going to happen to me.' But he never said that."
At the conclusion of the 1976 season, lumps appeared on Roth's body and the diagnosis was grim. He was told that he had, in all likelihood, 90 days to live."
It is at this point where Roth's story becomes transcendent, because his response to catastrophe was one of dignified courage.
"Even as things crumbled around him, he was never going to make an excuse,” Hackett said.
In December, Roth underwent chemotherapy treatments, took his final exams and then signed up for 17 units the next term.
"People throw around words like 'tough,' asking if 'people are tough' or 'are they mentally strong'" said former teammate and current Cal rugby head coach Jack Clark, "There's degrees to that stuff and Joe's just in another place. That's how tough and mentally strong he was."
As the calendar turned to 1977, Roth participated in the three college football all-star games to which he had committed and continued with his life as a regular student, handing in a paper ten days before he died. The day after turning in his assignment, Roth checked himself into UCSF where his body immediately failed him. The All-American quarterback, who had thrown a pass in an all-star game four weeks prior, was now a cripple.
Joe Roth's last request was to leave the hospital and return to his apartment for his final days. There, surrounded by his family and close friends, he died on Feb. 19, 1977.
Although Roth's story ends tragically, the 85-minute film focuses on how his kindness and humility made a difference to those around him. Tony Dungy, who met Roth at the all-star games as a fellow participant, recalls his late friend fondly.
"You can live a long time and not impact people the way Joe Roth impacted people," Dungy said. "I was only around him for three and a half weeks and I still use him as an example. That's someone special."
Today, Roth's legacy is firmly in place at Cal with the annual Joe Roth Memorial Game and his influence, for those who knew him, still resonates.
"Joe had more affect on people in different ways than anyone I've ever known," White said. "He made all of us better."
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Don't Quit: The Joe Roth Story will be distributed later on this year. For more information: joerothfilm.com
