DAVIS, Calif. -- Troy Larkin sat upright in his chair, decked head to toe in all things UC Davis. He wore a three-quarter sleeved baseball undershirt made for the 2019 Cal Aggie Athletics Hall of Fame induction of Robby Flannery, one of his football teammates, best friends, and godfather of one of his sons. A pair of crew-length socks had the same "Mustang C" logo that once adorned his UC Davis football helmet back in the 1990s. Even his New Balance shoes resembled the school's gold color. And on Larkin's right hand was his own CAAHOF induction ring.
As he posed for the photo, Larkin held out four fingers on his right hand, the gesture he and his UC Davis teammates made to ring in the final quarter of every game. The surgical mask on his face could not completely hide the hint of the smile, and the look in his eyes and the thumbs up on his left hand showed Larkin's resolve: he was going to win.
"I was a fourth-quarter player," said Larkin, about his gridiron days. "I was the guy who was ramping up and getting ready to whoop on someone in the fourth quarter. I wasn't tired."
On the field, Larkin was accustomed to victory. He hailed from Los Alamitos High School at a time when it was the No. 1-ranked prep football program in the country. As a collegian, he helped UC Davis to 37 wins and four NCAA postseason appearances in his career from 1996 to 1999. For that matter, Larkin was a winner in his profession, too – he graduated from Tulane Law School and spent most of his career as an attorney in Arizona until relocating to New Jersey.
But this victory was different: the opponent was cancer. Larkin was diagnosed with a malignant tumor in his colon, and prescribed an accelerated, four-round chemotherapy course, which he likened to the four quarters of a football game. Each time he sat in the infusion chair, he wore a specific shirt – each bearing some form of blue and gold – to honor his days with the Aggie football program. "It's because that's what I was thinking about when I was sitting in the chair with the poison pumping in my arms."
For the first round of treatment, Larkin wore a blue shirt with gold shorts – similar to the color scheme of the Aggies' home uniforms of that era. For the second round, it was a Hawaiian shirt. But this was not any old Tommy Bahama or Bonobos number worn by a tourist in our 50th state, this was the blue and gold floral shirt Larkin wore to the celebration of life for beloved UC Davis assistant Fred Arp. "I was thinking about Fred and Jane while I was sitting in that chair," he said.
In the third visit, Larkin wore a San Diego Chargers polo shirt, which bore two meanings. First of all, it was his children's first flag football team for which he served as a coach. Secondly, Larkin wore it in honor of fellow O-lineman Marc Manfredda, who had passed away earlier that spring. Manfredda was signed by the Bolts in 2005 following his own stellar UC Davis career, and Larkin had pushed for his induction into the Cal Aggie Athletics Hall of Fame.
"It's something that sits with me. I know how great he was. I didn't play with him – he came after me. But I knew of him, and I knew him to be a good dude. He was an awesome guy and an awesome player, one of the best who has ever played in this program. So I thought about him," Larkin said.
When that "fourth quarter" treatment rolled around, Larkin knew he had the cancer beat. Friends and teammates, some with whom he had not been in contact for more than two decades, reached out to him to offer support throughout his treatment. Julie Baclene, an athletic trainer at UC Davis in his playing days, sent Larkin a 12-pack of Cactus Cooler soda – a nod to an inside joke only understood by those around the team in the late 1990s – and a T-shirt that reads "Me 1, Cancer 0."
The family of Tom Watts, a man as talented with visual arts and web design as he was as a defensive back for the Aggies, sent a hand-drawn illustration of No. 72 in action on the field. Larkin still extends his heartfelt gratitude to Tom and Leigh for the gesture. And like much of the entire country hunkered down at home, Larkin took part in Zoom calls with old teammates, and got connected in text messaging groups with former UC Davis coaches, or his old offensive line, or the quarterbacks he once protected.
Aggie football, Larkin says, created bonds in his life like no other. Those who did not experience those memories on the field, in practice or even on bus rides cannot adequately understand or appreciate the connection he feels. "My kids crack up because when we're doing those Zoom calls with the teammates, they say, 'Dad, we've never heard you laugh so much.'"
While Larkin has remained connected with the university in the decades since his graduation, the COVID-19 pandemic and his cancer treatment strengthened his ties even more. "It's funny that cancer is what brought me to Davis," he said. "And it has brought me closer to Davis in this last year. It has come completely full circle. It's like it was meant to be."
Indeed, it was cancer that triggered a chain of events that led him to the Aggies a quarter of a century ago.
As a prep player, Larkin grew from a kid who only played football to fulfill a P.E. credit to one who starred for a powerhouse Los Alamitos squad. Under the tutelage of Orange County legend John Barnes, the Griffins' head coach; plus his offensive line coaches, the late Gene Vollnogle and Eric Bowman, he caught the tail end of a string of three straight CIF Southern Section championships and a 47-game winning streak. With his size – he stood 6-foot-4 and weighed 300 pounds – he began attracting looks from college programs from around the country.
Among the schools to take an active interest was Stanford, much to his parents' delight. After all, Larkin's father David was a urologist who earned his M.D. in New Jersey, while his mother Suzanne was a nurse practitioner. For his part, Troy was already an outstanding student, accelerated in both math and humanities. Thus, academics were a top priority for the entire family, and Stanford could deliver that status while providing a high-profile avenue to continue football. Larkin visited The Farm and was shown the classic bells and whistles: the tour of the facilities, footage of the Big Game, his name on the stadium scoreboard. However, he was still relatively new to the entire football culture, and didn't know the way the college recruiting world worked. He did not follow up with Stanford after his trip, and by the time he reached out to the Cardinal staff to express his continued interest, they had moved on.
"If you ever have a chance to meet my father, and you want to see his face turn bright red in anger, tell him you heard I could have gone to Stanford on a full ride," Larkin says. "I laugh at it now, because it was meant to be."
Villanova also presented an opportunity to play Division I football, but that visit quickly soured. The Wildcats staff wanted an answer right away, but Larkin wanted to give his college future its due deliberation. "My dad's advice was always, 'go where you want to go, and go where you think you'll be happy.' It was good advice, and yet not advice whatsoever. I was thinking, 'Dad, just tell me what you want me to do so I can do it and move on.'"
By the time Larkin could respond, yet again, Villanova had given up and offered the scholarship to another player.
Columbia was more promising. The famed New York school offered an Ivy League education and relative proximity to his extended family – so close that Larkin served as a pall bearer for his grandfather's funeral while on the recruiting trip. Marcellus Wiley, the future NFL Pro Bowler and TV/radio broadcaster, served as the recruiting host on the visit and clearly made a positive impression: Larkin made up his mind and committed to the fifth-oldest university in the country.
The decision process, he thought, was over.
Larkin returned home from Columbia in time to attend a National Football Foundation banquet, which honored scholar-athletes in the area. But that night was when he learned the news: David had multiple myeloma, or bone marrow cancer. He had been diagnosed the year before, but neither parent wanted to distract their son with the information until after his senior football season was done.
"My mom told me flat-out, 'Troy, I need you think about what you're doing and where you're going, because I don't know how long your father will have. You need to go to a school that I can afford if your father passes.' And that was what was laid on me. I was going to Columbia, which didn't have financial aid packages. And this was all in my head as I was sitting at this scholar-athlete banquet."
As luck would have it, seated directly next to Suzanne at this banquet was Tony Franks, then an assistant for UC Davis head coach Bob Biggs. As Troy learned later, Franks – not even aware of the family's medical situation – asked Suzanne if they had considered an in-state, public school with high academic standards and a strong football tradition for their oldest son. Like Columbia, UC Davis did not offer athletic scholarships, but the in-state costs and the shorter distance made the Aggies a more affordable option.
Furthermore, one of Larkin's best friends and Los Al teammates, Mike Atamian, was about to make a road trip to Northern California to visit both Humboldt State and UC Davis. Atamian was interested in wildlife and nature, and those two schools were tops on his list. Larkin accepted an invitation from Atamian's father to join them on their visits, and hopped into the vehicle for a long road trip, first to Arcata, then to Davis.
Even the itinerary itself, Larkin recalls, was a "fortunate mistake." The windy and hilly drives up and down the California coast had given Larkin car sickness. When the Atamians arrived in Davis, they parked the minivan on D Street and the boys stepped out. Larkin, still trying to settle his stomach, noticed that the streets were flat and friendly to bikes. The crosswalks were paved with bricks, not unlike his early childhood in Seal Beach. Davis, Larkin said, felt like home.
His two first greeters at Hickey Gym were Biggs and offensive coordinator Mike Moroski. Larkin then joined two freshmen, Kevin Daft and Wes Terrell, for dinner at the Segundo Dining Commons. Daft, a biological sciences major, still had career aspirations in medicine at that point. (Instead, he later went on to play in the NFL and now enjoys a successful coaching career). Terrell studied managerial economics, and was starting an Aggie career that saw him earn two Academic All-America accolades, an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship Award and a nod to the AFCA Good Works team.
In other words, UC Davis was clearly a school where its student-athletes' academic priorities were held in high regard. Furthermore, while Stanford had almost literally rolled out a red carpet, and Villanova had pressured him for an answer, the UC Davis coaches did not put on a hard sell. Instead, it was a simple, polite question and a handshake from Moroski. In that moment, Troy Larkin became an Aggie.
He went on to enjoy one of the most outstanding careers in UC Davis history. He started at tackle as a true freshman, a relative rarity today but almost unheard of back then. Larkin performed so well in his first season that the football staff inaugurated the Mike Wise Award for the outstanding freshman of the year. Later in his career, he was chosen as the team's Outstanding Lineman for both 1998 and 1999, making him the first O-lineman to achieve that feat (defensive end Dave Clerici captured back-to-back awards in 1970 and 1971). As a senior, Larkin earned All-America honors from the Associated Press, the College Sports Information Directors of America, and Don Hansen's Football Gazette; and was selected to participate in the Snow Bowl Division II senior all-star showcase.
When he arrived at UC Davis, Larkin and fellow freshmen R.J. Starr and Jay Suesens joined a front line anchored by veterans T.J. Brown, Vince Dostal and Erik Lawrence. To this day, Larkin admits being a "fan boy" of Brown's: the 1996 Outstanding Lineman winner was blessed with O-line size but with sufficient speed to play with the Aggies' kickoff crew. When NFL scouts visited the modest Howard Intramural Field to see Brown, Larkin resolved that one day, pro scouts would come to see him. Sure enough, when the spring of 2000 rolled around, the St. Louis Rams signed Larkin as a free agent.
As for Lawrence, Larkin finds any occasion to voice his gratitude for that friendship. "Erik doesn't get enough credit for what he did for that offensive line," he says. "Erik was my host my freshman year. I loved Erik so much that I would not leave Davis. That's the God's-honest truth. I always felt bad that when I went into the Hall of Fame, I didn't give him enough props. I thanked all of my teammates but I did not thank Erik enough. He's the reason I stayed at Davis. He made it so fun. Erik Lawrence was the glue that held that group together."
Larkin also praises the influence of Dan Gazzaniga, an Aggie star from the early 1980s who later returned to his alma mater to mentor the offensive line. Gazzaniga brought a tough mentality to the O-line, but off the field, he helped establish the very culture Larkin still cherishes. "He was fun to be around and always made time to talk and be with us. He was a young father when I playing and some of my best memories are of him running around with his kids after the game. We're all still close to Dan to this day."
Larkin did not make the Rams active roster but instead followed his undergraduate aspirations in law. He attended Tulane, perhaps due to his fondness for John Grisham novels, and graduated with his J.D. in 2004. Most of his career as an attorney took place in Arizona, where he served the Pima County Attorney's Office, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office. Larkin even had an opportunity to return to California for an immigration judge position in San Francisco, but ultimately opted to relocate to Fanwood, New Jersey – not far from David's upbringing and his own birthplace.
For his part, Larkin came through his four quarters of chemo in victorious fashion. He still undergoes some peripheral neuropathy, but all in all, he knows he came through it more positively than others. Furthermore, he has been very open and candid about sharing his experience. Larkin urges every man of his age group to be diligent about getting screened for colon cancer. Part of his willingness to share his story is the hope that more cases will be caught in time.
"I try to be respectful with my tone when I'm talking about my cancer, because not everyone's experience is the same, and I know that," he said. "I watched my father go through it, and my siblings head to deal with the day-to-day of it. I knew what chemo can do to somebody. I knew what faculties can be lost. I've had that in my head since 1996."
Then again, sharing his life experience is Larkin's modus operandi, and certainly this tendency has long applied to any his time at UC Davis. "When someone brings Davis up, I'll talk about it until they tell me to shut up or they just walk away. But that's the way it is," he says.
It bears repeating: even before cancer reconnected Larkin with many of his old teammates, he was already a big part in his alma mater. He and his wife Kimiko met at UC Davis and remain loyal Team Aggie members. Larkin served on the board for the CAAHOF and even spearheaded the cause of presenting inductees with a ring rather than the traditional brass plaque. He supported the Marc Manfredda #58 Memorial Fund, and now that he's no longer on the board, Larkin is committed to seeing Manfredda enter the Hall of Fame. When Kevin Blue and Michael Lorenzen launched the Aggie EVO student-athlete outcomes program, Larkin vowed to make connections with current Aggies interested in law.
Even now that he lives in New Jersey, Larkin has another Aggie resolution: to take his father to an Aggie football game and watch together alongside Chancellor Gary May from the press box suite. David remains a cancer survivor and still undergoes treatment. In fact, the two Larkins found themselves in their respective infusion chairs at the same time but on opposite ends of the country. They passed the time conversing with each other via text message, and even exchanged selfies from their respective chairs. David and Suzanne have also recently unearthed old news clippings from Troy's career, and sent them to Garden State to keep their son's Aggie memories burning strong.
"It's hard to explain Aggie Pride to those who don't understand it," Larkin says. "When UC Davis hired Hawk [Dan Hawkins], I thought it was great because he understood it. There's something special about UC Davis athletics. It's that combination of the athlete and the scholar, about wanting to compete at a high level but also wanting to compete professionally with your academics. There is no shame in being smart, and Davis puts that front and center.
"I can't speak enough for what UC Davis has given me. It has given me my life, my purpose, my wife and family. I will sing Davis' praises for the rest of my days."
ABOUT UC DAVIS:
With the addition of equestrian and women's beach volleyball in 2018, more than 700 student-athletes represent the fifth-ranked public school in the nation on one of 25 intercollegiate athletics teams.
UC Davis, a national leader in Title IX gender equity and leadership, is centrally located between San Francisco, Lake Tahoe, and the Napa Valley; and offers an unrivaled student-athlete experience that features the ideal combination of elite academics, Division I athletics and personal growth.
Ranked annually in the top 10 in diversity and students' social mobility, UC Davis is uncommonly committed to preparing student-athletes for life after graduation with Aggie EVO — an innovative student-athlete outcomes program that helps young women and men develop passions, gain real-world experience, and enjoy a successful launch to full-time employment or graduate school. Through Aggie EVO, Intercollegiate Athletics provides unmatched resources and a vast network of working professionals to ensure post-graduation success for its student-athletes.
