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A couple of years ago, former UC Davis quarterback Ken O'Brien and I were talking about the 1983 NFL draft.

O'Brien, a Division II All-American, arguably was the first Aggie to perform under the white-hot lights of modern media. That '83 draft, conducted in New York City, saw six stick-and-stay quarterbacks taken in the first round.

Among John Elway, Jim Kelly, Todd Blackledge and Tony Eason, O'Brien went to the New York Jets with 24th overall pick.

Normally, pretty heady stuff for a 22-year-old from a school everybody on television was calling "Cal-Davis."

But there was a rub...

Some guy named Dan Marino was still off the board — and Big Apple fans were apoplectic.

One newspaper screamed "Jets Take QB; Wrong One." Most East Coast fans had never heard of "Cal-Davis," much less Ken O'Brien. One New York scribe called our campus Cal — University of California — Davis.

I had the fortune of being in NYC the day of that draft. My interviews with casual fans included comments like "We don't need no hippie-types from Berkeley" and "The Jets haven't had a good quarterback since Broadway Joe. They still don't."

It seemed the only New Yorker happy with the choice was Jets' Director of Player Personnel Jim Royer.

O'Brien laughed in 2016 when he talked about that draft day.

He told me he didn't blame Jets fans for bending out of shape: "I probably would have reacted the same way ... especially knowing Dan was next up."

But O'Brien thrived. He was twice an All-Pro while becoming the only Jet in history to lead the NFL in passer rating. He was the first QB to throw for 400-plus yards and earn a perfect passer rating (158.3). He threw for more than 25,000 yards in an 11-year career (a much-different NFL era). O'Brien was good and he helped put his school on the new-wave sports map.

As a bonus for his exploits at UC Davis, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Over the years brilliant professional and Olympic athletics matriculated from UC Davis. Thanks to O'Brien, when media mentions former Aggies like Chicago Cubs Daniel Descalso, DC United's Quincy Amarikwa, New York Red Bulls Roy Boateng and Denver Broncos punter Colby Wadman, at least they're getting the school's name correct (thanks, Ken).

And now here we are in April and already the month has been a bounty of notoriety for the Aggies.

On April 10, post player Morgan Bertsch became the first UC Davis women's basketball student-athlete drafted into the WNBA. Taken in the third round by the Dallas Wings, the hoopla surrounding her selection made news throughout the Northern California sports pages.

A standing-room-only press conference gave radio, TV and print mediums a chance to get to know Bertsch a little better. What that found is what we in these part already knew: Dallas is getting a personable, determined, unique-style basketball player who will carry her school's name into the professional ranks with typical Aggie Pride.

A quick check of the Wings roster sees Bertsch's name sitting right at the top. Already exciting ... go see for yourself at wings.wnba.com/roster:
"Morgan Bertsch • F • 6-4 • 165 • California-Davis."

What? Ooops. That's UC Davis, please.

But even before the excitement of the shrewd Dallas choice of Bertsch (the NCAA's No. 4 scorer this year) tempers, here comes the NFL draft with all-everything Aggie wide receiver Keelan Doss working his way into position.

Doss was brilliant in the recent UC Davis Pro Day and has worked out since with both the Raiders and 49ers. His career receiving numbers speak volumes:

School records include career receptions (321), receiving yards (4,069) and 100-yard games (19). Doss ended his college career with other UC Davis Big Sky-era program records like receiving touchdowns (28), total touchdowns (29) and all-purpose yards (4,218).

NFL teams, raise your hands if you can use somebody with those kinds of stats, the personal drive and grounded character to help your program.

With the NFL draft starting Thursday, April 25, the guessing game has already started. "Experts" who predict such things see Doss going from the third round to the seventh. They've forecast that the Alameda native is headed as far away as Carolina or Detroit or staying within a 15-yard sideline route to Oakland or San Francisco.

Wherever he goes, we know it's not long before Keelan also is carrying high that Blue-and-Gold Aggie banner. Can't you just see and hear him before an NFL telecast's introductions?

"Keelan Doss, wide receiver, UC Davis."

While I Have You Here: The Aggie basketball programs collectively have had their recent share of the limelight: The women's appearance in March's NCAA Tournament and the men's First Four victory in 2016 before a first-round loss to Kansas in Tulsa, Okla. All three Aggie games were nationally televised.

"It's worth a million dollars in advertising," UC Davis Chancellor Gary May told me recently. "We get a chance to share how strong our university is, not just in sports. Sports is the front porch to any school ... Davis is no different."

And that's been a crowded front porch over the years.

The student-athlete reputation began in 1914 when Colby "Babe" Slater would play football, basketball and baseball at the University Farm at Davis. A veteran of World War I, Slater would go on to lead the U.S. to back-to-back Olympic rugby gold medals.

Since our own version of The Babe in the Roaring '20s, Olympians like swimmers Cathy Carr West and Scott Weltz, runners Peter Snell (a three-time world-record holder for New Zealand in the 800, 1,000 and mile) and Kim Conley, the father of the Ironman Triathlon Dave Scott, 15 NFL players like O'Brien, Mike Moroski, Casey Merrill, J.T. O'Sullivan and Rolf Benirschke, MMA Hall of Famer Urijah Faber, pro golfers Matt Marshall, Ben Corfee and Demi Runas, hard-court wizards Corey Hawkins and Mark Payne and coaches Jim Les, Jennifer Gross, Mike Bellotti, Chris Petersen, Jim Sochor and Dan Hawkins are part of a mighty legacy that's taken UC Davis around the globe.

— Reach Bruce Gallaudet at bgallaudet41@gmail.com or 530-320-4456. Also read Gallaudet's "Aggie Corner" weekly in The Davis Enterprise.
 
 
 
AGGIE EVO
Established during the 2017-18 academic year, the Aggie EVO System is UC Davis Athletics' investment in the primary mission of preparing student-athletes for a successful "launch" after graduation.
 
Thanks to a collaboration of alumni, university resources, corporate partners, coaches and Student-Athlete Outcomes staff, all Aggies are guided over four years to acquire the skills, knowledge, opportunities and tools to better know and navigate the "World of Work" after graduating from UC Davis.
 
Follow the Aggie EVO system on Twitter and Instagram at @AggieEVO.
 
ABOUT UC DAVIS
Providing a small-town community feel while providing a world-class academic experience, UC Davis is home to more than 37,000 students and centrally located between San Francisco, Lake Tahoe, and the Napa Valley.
 
The No. 5-ranked public university in the nation, according to the Wall Street Journal and Times Higher Education, offers nearly 100 graduate programs and more than 100 academic majors across four colleges and six professional schools, ranking among the world and nation's best in numerous disciplines, including veterinary science, agriculture, and plant and animal programs.