JENNIFER NICHOLS / GUARDSMAN

No matter how much money big Division I schools dangle before him, athletic director and football head coach George Rush felt he could have greater impact on the lives of his athletes through the City College football program.

In 31 years as Rams head coach, Rush helped thousands of young football players become responsible people both on and off the field. The lessons he taught his players in football, he realized, could help their personal lives in the classroom and out in the world.

“Academics first, and football second,” Rush said, “and don’t get it mixed up.”

Rush first joined the City College program in 1972 as an assistant coach under his mentor Dutch Elston, a charter member of the San Francisco 49ers from 1946 to 1948 when they played at Kezar Stadium near the Panhandle park.

“Coach Elston was one of the most wonderful, down-to-earth, straight-shooting guys I ever met,” Rush said.

Rush also played football as a freshman at City College under Elston in 1966 when O.J. Simpson was a sophomore. The team had great athletes, was No. 1 in the nation and won a state championship.

“Even with all the superb athletes we had on our team that year, O.J. was still head and shoulders above everybody else, as good as that team was,” Rush said.

Times were tumultuous in 1966 with riots breaking out in Watts and on Third Street in Hunters Point. Half the football players on City College’s team were either African-American or Caucasian.

“Coach Elston sat us down and said, ‘Don’t let this divide you, let this bring you together,’” Rush said.

Elston hired Rush in 1972 as defensive coordinator for the Rams, a year the team went winless in nine games. By 1976, the year before Rush would take over as head coach, City College football improved to 6-4.

“It was the first time we got over the hump,” Rush said. “We tried to change how we recruited athletes to come to this school.”

Rush’s first hire as head coach was Dan Hayes, a former City College quarterback and “a fine football mind” who would become a permanent fixture as offensive coordinator with the football program after leaving briefly for two years in 1980 and 1981 to be head coach for Archbishop Riordan High School football team.

“Rush is the best coach there is,” Hayes said, “not just at the junior college level, but at any level.

Over the years, Hayes was always impressed with Rush’s passion, not only for the game of football but for the men he coached. Rush had a relentless coaching style, a preoccupation with commitment and a boundless enthusiasm for success either on the football field, in the classroom or in day-to-day accomplishments.

“He is not going to let you take a day off on the field and in the classroom,” Hayes said. “If you don’t commit, there is going to be a price to pay.”

Hayes mentioned that Rush talked to his players about similarities in football and life and always admired his involvement and concern for the personal lives of his players.

“It is a sincere passion Rush has,” Hayes said. “He does not need pats on the back and never talks about personal accomplishments. He really has no ego. It’s all about the kids, and even though he has had countless opportunities to go on to big glam programs, he still feels he can make the biggest difference here at City College.”

That same commitment Rush preached to his players allowed him to collect his 250th victory in September 2007 when the Rams routed Chabot College 49-29 during a season that gave the team a 12-1 record and a sixth national championship after City College beat Mount San Antonio College 31-28 at Chukchansi Park in Fresno on Dec. 8.

Fresno City College head coach Tony Caviglia handed Rush his only loss, 19-17, in the second game of the 2007 season at Fresno. Caviglia faced Rush as far back as 1996 when he then coached Chabot College. He took over as head coach of Fresno in 2001 and maintained a healthy rivalry between the two schools for eight years.

“Rush’s teams are always competitive,” Caviglia said. “Rush is a great competitor. His teams don’t quit, they are well prepared and they know how to win. A football team always reflects the personality of the coach. It’s always great to play City College and we look forward to the game every year.”

Keith Simons, head coach of Santa Rosa Junior College football since 1999, also enjoyed confrontations with Rush.

“We have had a pretty good rivalry over the years,” Simons said. “You always get the same thing with Rush and City College. They have great athletes who are well coached. The faces change, but the results stay the same. And that is due to the coaching. We are friends and have a very competitive relationship.”

Rush’s lifetime 258-80-4 record and .763 winning percentage included six national and six state titles in his 31-year career with City College. Success of that magnitude made him a familiar name among Division I coaches such as former New England Patriot’s head coach Pete Carrol, University of California Berkeley’s Jeff Tedford and University of Tennessee’s Phil Fulmer.

Although Rush sent hundreds of players into Division I programs and a few into the NFL, he prepared his athletes for an education and not for the less-than-one-percent chance of making it to the professional ranks.

“To be honest,” Rush said, “I do not prepare guys for the NFL. I prepare them to go to college. The basics are always the same. You have to have a passion for what you do. So if you have a passion to play football, you have to have a comparable passion in the classroom. You would be surprised, but NFL teams place great value on people with degrees.”

Only a few talented former Rams players have gone onto the NFL after attending Division I schools. Former City College linebacker Desmond Bishop, who played for the team from 2003 to 2004 and was drafted 192nd overall in the 2007 NFL Draft, now plays for the Green Bay Packers.

“It was a great experience playing for coach Rush,” the 6-foot-2, 235 pound outside linebacker said. “He was the most intense coach I’ve ever had. He motivated you to do better, motivated you to go forward and he definitely pushed me to compete at this level.”

During the 2007-2008 NFC Championship game at Lambeau field in Green Bay, Wis., Bishop faced another former City College defensive back, New York Giants free safety Gibril Wilson.

“It was a cool and fun game,” Bishop said. “I have a lot of respect for Gibril, and it’s nice to see a City College football player doing well in the NFL. City College guys know each other in the league, and we have an unspoken bond.”

Gibril Wilson just recently signed a $39 million contract with the Oakland Raiders out of free agency. Wilson started at safety for the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII, beating the heavily-favored New England Patriots 17-14 in perhaps the most stunning upset in Super Bowl history.

“George Rush taught me how to do all the little things that are important,” Wilson said. “The competition at practice every day with coach Hayes and Rush pushing us every day, making us compete at our fullest potential, that gave me the things I needed to succeed at Tennessee and now in the NFL.”

Rush joined Wilson on the field after Patriots quarterback Tom Brady heaved a desperate 70-yard pass that Wilson swatted away for the final play of the game.

“He had one ticket and could have asked anybody to come down on the field with him after the game. He gave it to me,” Rush said. “It meant the world to me. I was just so happy for him. To see him so happy made me happy. It was a culmination. Every football player’s dream is to play in a Super Bowl and win it. He did it!”

Two former City College athletes went into the 2008 NFL draft in New York City. Ohio State outside linebacker Larry Grant played for the Rams in 2005. The 6-foot-1, 235 pound defensive back was picked seventh in round seven and 214th overall by the San Francisco 49ers. Lavelle Hawkins played for the Rams in 2004 and 2005 before joining Cal football. The 5-foot-11, 187 pound wide receiver was just recently drafted by the Tennessee Titans as a 27th pick in the fourth round.

As much as George Rush loves the game of football, he places greater emphasis on the importance of education and feels privileged to have coached for City College.

“This college is about nothing but opportunity,” Rush said. “We have a faculty and staff that really believe in the value of the student. This college is one of the crown jewels of the city of San Francisco.”

Rush and Hayes have fun together. The two have been through heartbreaking defeats and joyous triumphs along the way. A football team is composed of many different personalities, and that creates complexities.

“Somebody may have had a wonderful life,” Rush said. “Somebody else might come from deprivation, poverty and abuse. They bring that to your team. It’s trying to understand that and getting people to function on the field as a team and, at the same time, trying to deal with their personal issues that will allow them to function better outside the football field.”

So big, glamorous Division I football programs will dangle lucrative $2 million contracts in front of George Rush, but he remains loyal to his players at the junior college level. For Rush, coaching football is more than just success on the field, or winning another national championship; it is about using football as a vehicle to change the lives of young men, to give them a passion for life. Football, Rush learned, can open the classroom door.

When asked about his future as head coach, he smiled and his eyes glimmered.

“As long as I am having fun, I will keep at it,” Rush said. “And I am having a whole lot of fun right now.”

Rams football head coach and Athletic Director George Rush drills his football players to prepare them for next year’s football season at the Rams stadium May 6.